The Thursday morning session again featured Stuart Murray and Juliet Kilpin — really a great combination of question, wondering, and putting forth theology and frameworks: a great blend of academics and on-the-ground experience. It leads me to hope that Urban Expressions should publish a book about what they are learning.

Stuart opened yesterday’s plenary by pointing out a shift in the last ten years. In years past when we went into a neighborhood we assumed that God had not been there until we showed up. Now we assume the opposite — that the Spirit goes before us and has already been at work. So we look for signs of the kingdom and we watch and listen to see and hear what God is doing.

The second shift. growing out of the perspective above, is that increasingly we do not focus on building a congregation but on partnering with what God is already up to. As Juliet later pointed out, this translates into saying “yes” to many things we would have considered distractions in the Christendom frame of church planting. We say “yes” to participate in neighbourhood initiatives, “yes” to hospitality, “yes” to lending and borrowing equipment, yes to helping neighbours with projects, and yes to advocacy. We find ways into the warp and woof of neighbourhood life. The feel is more like chaplaincy with missional intent, entering as priests of a parish where the buildings are our homes.

One of the implications, often pointed out by David Fitch, is that planting missional communities will take much longer, and metrics along the way will be completely different. Instead of quantitative, they will be qualitative, found mostly in stories of belonging and care.

As a result, the scope of church planting is both larger and smaller than we previously thought. It is smaller — so much is already happening and our part is only to attend, to notice what God is already doing and join with him. Moreover, the kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is beyond our vision.

It is larger — it moves toward shalom with the wide scope of the meaning of that word — reconciliation, justice, peace, sharing, beauty, healing, and no one left behind.

In this morning’s session Juliet pushed at some of the things that restrain us from embracing a missional vision. Our Christian sub-culture has increasingly assumed that safety is one of God’s gifts to us — this in spite of the nature of the sacrifice that brings us to a common table. We have become risk averse — and more so as we and our structures age. The more we attain, the more we might lose. She used a clip from “The Bucket List.” The patient is on a death-bed — do we simply call it quits or do we try to find the joy again?

Stuart called us to STOP starting with church. Missiology must precede any renewal of ecclesiology, and this is going to call for a freedom to experiment and attention to context. His thoughts here reminded me of Hugh Halter’s take on process in The Tangible Kingdom. Our temptation is to begin with structure — structures are familiar, offer a sense of control, and provide a sense of safety. But if we begin with structure we will limit what God can do (the problem of wineskins). Instead we must start with people and listen to the Spirit. Forms will follow function and relationships built in the context of kingdom life.

This isn’t easy for people who are used to success via tried and true methods, who are used to being at the center and not on the margins. Yet there is so much GOSPEL here.. leaven in a lump, the mustard seed that is small and annoying and persistent. Much of the push back we hear during an event like this comes from men and women who want a new method handed out in a box.. a quick fix.. or a three step solution that allows things to remain more or less as they are. Sadly, we don’t have this luxury. Instead we are invited into a risky adventure with God — called to lose our lives in order to find them, called to the same vulnerability that characterized Jesus incarnation. We are called to a city we have not seen. Newbigin writes of Roland Allen that,

“[his] charge against modern missions was that they had been tempted by their alliance with colonial powers to act as though the mission of the church could be pursued in the style of a cultural educational campaign, as though the object was to multiply replicas of the sending churches. In contrast Allen rightly saw that in the New Testament portrayal of mission the central reality is the active work of the living Holy Spirit himself. It is the Spirit who brings about conversion, the Spirit who equips those who are called with the gifts needed for all the varied forms of ministry, and the Spirit who guides the church into all the truth. The Spirit is not the property of the sending church or the missionary who is sent. It is not part of the missionary’s duty to mold the new church in to the style of the old. The Spirit is sovereign and free…”
Newbigin, The Open Secret, 130

My first time in Calgary in almost two years. My first time ever at Center Street. This cavernous building is fairly recent, if I heard right, and seems counter-intuitive as the site for a missional training initiative.

But.. I think the Lord appreciates irony.

So after being led in worship by a group that is a home church, Cam Roxburgh took stock of the crowd. It seemed like nearly half the seven hundred people present were at their first Congress. That kind of freshness can only be generated if God is up to something. There is a stir in Canada and God’s people are responding by following him on mission.

Then it was Mike Frost’s turn. Mike offered us about forty minutes of stories as a frame for what God is all about in this world: redemption. Mike storied the missio Dei with force and passion, taking us from Cambodia to Australia and then ending in Texas. These were great stories, and hopefully the irony of the first was not missed by those who train and resource young church planters. The young man in the leather jacket and dark glasses who stood out to Mike at the pastors conference in Cambodia was the one who was not adopted by church planting or mission agencies. He didn’t fit the profile. But he was the unlikely “David” that God was using dramatically among the poorest of the poor.

Mike’s stories of neighborhood transformation are a strong reframe for what has traditionally been considered church planting, but is often merely the extension of an existing congregation, too often lacking context and a sensitivity to place. But God is endlessly creative, and is more interested in our faithfully following him into new territory than in simply cloning what already exists. Mike closed by asking this question: “If your church disappeared tomorrow, would the neighbors notice?” What impact are we making on the places where we dwell? Are we “good neighbors,” bringing peace and healing to the neglected places in our cities? Do we “add value” where we live?

The data collected in this survey helps Canadian church planters, denominational leaders and researchers develop a better understanding of church planting activities in Canada. The theme of Renov8 is “Transforming Neighbourhoods.” Thus, the current survey is focused on collecting information about how churches, pastors and planters engage their neighbourhoods.

You can participate in this survey online, right now, at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=RHMHkOgZfr5UKES9SK6L6w_3d_3d.

Until May 31st, 2009, you can register for just $169.00 per person (rate applies for 20+ people).

Registrant names must be given for each person by August 31st, 2009.

You can regist

Tuesday night will be free of charge for those who are interested but are unable to come for the entire congress. Michael Frost, dynamic speaker and author of Exiles, will be our plenary speaker for the evening. This evening will be a great opportunity for church planters and their teams to get a fresh perspective on what God is doing through church planting.

Also please take a moment to get the word out by sharing a link to our site, http://www.thecongress.ca.