Greenhouse Toronto

Bible Study

2007-11-08T17:00:00.000-08:00

The Greenhouse in Toronto seems to have gone underground for awhile, but that doesn't mean nothing's going on. A lot of the members are engaging in various projects throughout the city, but are keeping the conversation alive on the sidelines.

That said, if there are any out there interested in starting a Study of biblical themes surrounding planting (seeds, fields, tilling, compost, fertilization) please let me know. I would love to discuss how these themes relate our current ecological situation, and are intricately tied into our processes when planting a church.

Vital Church Planting

2007-03-02T14:48:00.000-08:00

This week I had the privilege of attending what was certainly an exciting first for the Anglican Church here in Canada. The Vital Church Planting Conference, hosted by Bishop Colin Johnson of the Toronto Diocese, and Doctor John Bowen of the Wycliffe College Institute of Evangelism, spanned three days from Tuesday through Thursday.

Let me point out first that this was an incredibly historic occasion, demonstrating the burgeoning desire for church planting to become an integral part of the church's mission here in Canada. We've heard for some time of the great things going on with Fresh Expressions UK, and so it was nice to see an initial show of interest here in Canada.

Nearly 60 people participated, most of whom, Anglican clergy, and we were addressed by Glenn Gibson (Outreach Canada), Canon Victoria Heard (Diocese of Dallas), and George Lings of the Church Army's Sheffield Centre in England. George was ill, but sent on his lectures in written form, delivered by Dr. Bowen.

One of the coolest things for me was seeing members of the Anglican clergy, and especially bishops, in workshops and lectures reflecting on the possibility of church planting, and giving a real go of it. They were all highly engaged in the conference over its three days, were asking questions, seeking to learn more, and reflecting an active desire to, in time, become a denomination with a church planting culture.

A very exciting prospect indeed. Hopefully some of their prospective planters will join with us in the coming weeks and months to engage in more conversation around the topic of planting, right here in Toronto.

We'll meet again on Monday March 12th at my house. Directions will be sent out on the yahoogroup.

Monday's Meeting

2007-02-09T15:04:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note to say that Monday's meeting has been changed to our home for this week. It might be easier to have some conversation in the confort of a living room. Check the yahoohroup for exact directions or email me.

We'll make coffee and tea - tho you may feel free to bring snacks if you wish.

Eight Strong

2007-01-09T12:07:00.000-08:00

It was really great to have eight(!) people out at The Rhino last night. Sometimes it's just good to get together and chat about the Kingdom. I know that I sure benefitted a lot from the discussion, the resources pointed out, and just hearing each others' stories of where they've come from and where they think they might be headed.

Church Planting. Intentional Community. Moving Across the World.

We're in all different situations, and yet I find it great to come together and talk about all of these things together, to share our hopes and dreams, and to encourage each other in pursuing those things that God has given us to do.

I suggest that our group, and this yahoogroup are good places to throw out ideas, bounce them off of others, and to be held accountable for those projects that we say we want to follow up on, especially when talking about developing new forms of church.

Naomi pointed out a thought-provoking resource (www.dyingchurch.com), and there was brief mention of the Evolving Church Conference featuring Ron Sider (Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger), Shane Claiborne (Irresistable Revolution), and Jim Wallis (God's Politics: Why the Right Gets it Wrong and the Left Doesn't Get It). Should be a good lineup full of challenge and insight.

In the meantime, I'd love to hear more from you, about what's going on, and would love to pray for those things...so let me know what's going on.

See you in a month!

Why YOU Should Plant a Church

2007-01-05T12:41:00.000-08:00

From Bob Hyatt's Blog, a great article outlining some of the struggles and joys of being someone called to plant a church. Bob is a planter of the Evergreen Community in Portland, Oregon.

In the early days of our church planting adventure I spent some time seeking out other church planters, hoping for some wisdom and encouragement. Man, did I get a wake up call.

There seem to be two distinct schools of thought in the church planting community. The first is “This is hard. Are you sure you want to do this? You don’t look like you’ve got what it takes… I’m not so sure you should do this! Have you prayed about it?”

Gee… thanks.

The second school of thought starts off sounding much like the first, but then takes a dramatic turn: “This is hard. What do you need? How can I help you? Man, what an adventure! Let me pray for you.”

Do you hear the difference?

The sad truth is I heard a whole lot more of the first than I did of the second. To be honest, it was discouraging to hear such defeatist talk from those on the front lines of the revitalization and renewal of the church- church planters themselves.

*I KNOW I CAN DO IT... IT'S YOU I'M NOT SO SURE ABOUT*

Let’s just put it out there. You have to be a certain type of personality to jump ship from the institution, the known, the safe and head off into the uncharted waters of church planting. It’s not for everyone… and for the A-type personalities who often make up the ranks of those who have jumped, those who are sailing those uncharted waters, when we see others getting ready to do the same, a common first impulse may be to wonder who they think they are… don’t they know that this church planting thing is for the few, the proud, the best of the best? And since we’re doing this different, emergent-type thing… we really don’t need more competition, do we?

Better to weed out the weak.

I actually had church planters tell me disdainfully that church planting was the “sexy” new thing and I better think twice before I just jumped on the bandwagon. I was “assessed” in a 45 minute conversation and found lacking.

It’s a good thing I didn’t listen to the discouraging talk of the A-type personalities I encountered… that I felt called to do this, that I realized that God loves it when people step out in faith and start new churches… and it’s a good thing I remembered that this is kingdom, not competition.

*WHY NOT?*

It makes sense to weed out the weak when you start with the basic assumption that no one should step out and plant a church unless specifically instructed to by God and unless they have “what it takes.” I like to approach it from a different viewpoint.

Why shouldn’t you plant a church?

Most people when asking themselves that question usually come up with three common reasons…fear, finances and failure.

Fear? Is it scary? Yes, of course it is. But for me, a turning point was realizing that I had never really done anything in my life that required actual faith. Yes, I had picked up and moved to Europe for two years. Did that require faith? I had a great salary waiting for me, a church community to integrate me, and the knowledge that if it didn’t work out, I could always just find something else to fall back on. Faith? Sort of, but not really.

I came to the point in considering church planting where I realized that I simply didn’t want to get to 70 and look back never having taken an actual step of faith… never having started something, never having begun a journey whose end I could not clearly see from the beginning. I didn’t want the regret of not having taken a shot at a dream of mine.

Finances? Sure- that was a consideration. When we decided to plant the church we had just bought a house and gotten pregnant. I knew that looking back this was either going to seem like a great step of faith or a complete lack of common sense. I suppose the jury is still out on that…

But we had to decide, my wife and I, that if taking this step cost us our house, set us back financially… that simply wasn’t too big a price to pay for God’s kingdom. If we did what we felt we needed to do, and there were financial costs, so be it. We’d rather see people come into relationship with God than have a house. We’d rather see those who have given up on church find community again than have a new car. We had to ask ourselves “What is the absolute worst thing that could happen if we do this?” And when we really started looking at it, it just didn’t seem like that big a deal.

Failure? In a conversation with a good friend on the day we decided to plant this church, he asked me a great question: How will you define failure? I realized through our talk that failure wasn’t if we did this and had to close the doors in a year because not many people showed up and we couldn’t pay the bills. Failure would be if we failed to love the people God did bring us, if we failed to love each other in community, if we failed to feed, clothe and otherwise care for anyone. That would be failure… not if we simply failed to achieve any type of long term momentum and institutional stability.

I realized that for me personally, failure would be if I didn’t even try.

If you do this might you fail? I guess it depends on how you define failure. They say 80% of church plants fail. I don’t know about that… all I can say is that I think that many church plants that seem to be failures by the standard of “Did they make it?” were probably great adventures for many involved, probably introduced people to Christ and probably made a practical difference in the lives of some people who really needed those small, “failing” churches.

I think that the biggest failures in the church planting world aren’t the ones who function as a community for 1, 2 or 5 years and then disband to go do something else. I think the biggest failures in the church planting world are the churches that never even get started, for whatever reason- whether because of fear, because of lack of encouragement or simply because no one asked “Well, why shouldn’t we?”

*ENCOURAGING CHURCH PLANTING BY ENCOURAGING CHURCH PLANTERS*

All this has left me at a place where I really want to encourage those who are at the end of their rope, banging their head against the institutional wall, feeling like those they really love and want to see introduced to Christ are beyond the reach of modernistic, institutional churches.

You can do this.

It’s not rocket science.

Through my experience in church planting I have learned that there’s a hard way to do this and an easy way. The hard way involves plans and proposals, hundreds of thousands in seed money, denominational strings and a host of headaches. “Start with a bang!” they will tell you. “Mailers to every home in three zip codes!” they will advise you. A full band! Complete children’s ministry! Advertising!!!!

Don’t listen.

Start small. Raise some support, trust God for the rest and get a job at Starbucks if need be. Let your community be what it will be. Refuse to do for the people who come the ministry that they should do for themselves. Concentrate on laying a foundation of community and common core values and let your church grow organically without superimposing a grand “vision” on it.

When we were still in the dream phase of this thing people would ask me- “What will it look like?” I grew to love answering “I have no earthly idea.” All I could say was that if a bunch of cloggers and bluegrass musicians showed up, well… we’d be the clogging church. If a bunch of skate punks showed up, we’d be the skate church. I wasn’t out to niche target-market our community, and so felt great freedom to just sit back and watch what happened. I still feel that freedom…

Like I said, it’s not rocket science. You can do this thing. Just look at the guys Jesus started with…

*THE QUESTION*

No- not everyone should plant a church. Not everyone is called, gifted or able… but just the fact that you’re thinking about it says something. Just the fact that you want to tells me a lot. And if you actually step out and do it? Well… that says volumes about you, about your courage and about your faith in the God who is advancing His kingdom all around this world.

The question isn’t “Why should I plant a church”… it’s why shouldn’t you! Here’s what I know: God loves it when His people take a step of faith. He will go ahead of you, with you and behind you in this adventure. If you love those He brings you, you will be a success whether it lasts for a year, two years or the rest of your life.

So go ahead- take the leap. Plant a church! And let me know how I can help.

Monday's Meetin'

2007-01-04T10:35:00.000-08:00

We're meeting at the Rhino (1249 Queen Street West) at 7pm on January 8th. Hope to see everyone there for some good conversations on where God is leading you in your service here in Toronto!

January Meeting

2006-12-11T10:32:00.000-08:00

We'll be getting together on Monday January 8, 2007 somewhere in Parkdale (TBA). More details to follow in early January. Hope people are able to make it out!

Encarna: A Christmas Worship Art Installation

2006-12-02T09:30:00.000-08:00

This is just a quick note to let you know about thisyear's ENCARNA Christmas Worship Installation. It's happening on Fri. Dec. 15 and Sat. Dec. 16, doors open from 7pm-10pm, at St. James United Church (306 Parkside Dr., Waterdown, ON).

Next Meeting

2006-11-05T17:26:00.000-08:00

Since it seems few were available for a meeting this week, we've decided to reschedule for a date later in November. We are tentatively scheduled for Thursday 23 November, 2006 at Cafe Taste (1330 Queen Street West) in the heart of sometimes-sketchy, often beautiful, Parkdale.

Please post comments or contact me directly about whether you'll be able to make it or not. Thanks for your patience everyone - we're looking forward to getting this group back up and running.

andrew

Book Recommendation

2006-09-27T11:31:00.001-07:00

For any and all interested in what it might mean to "be church" in the changing city, I highly recommend Mark Gornik's "To Live in Peace: Biblical Faith and the Changing Inner City." The book provides a vision of an integrative urban ecclesiology that is challenging and firmly routed in scripture.

If there's one book you read this fall, I think this should be it. Gornik's book is written out of the experience of planting the New Song community in Sandtown, one of Baltimore's roughest inner-city neighbourhoods.

For those of us thinking about church in our various neighbourhoods, whether rich or poor, sane or crazy, this book adeptly examines community building from the perspective of someone who has been engaged in that type of project for over ten years.

Church Planting Celebrity

2006-09-07T08:13:00.000-07:00

Some thoughts from Pernell worth reposting here:

To all you young 'uns (and other assorted riff raff) who have ever thought about - or are thinking about - planting a church: Before you embark on your "rock-star-like" career, I think your perception of church planting may be a little clouded by the bull crap you see in the church, and on blogs, and at conferences.

Allow me to wipe that crap away: being a church planter will not make you cooler nor will it make you any more popular or more attractive to the opposite sex.

It will not make you any more spiritual and almost no one will respect you more for your courage, risk taking, or intrinsic motivation.

It will not make you braver or more disciplined.

It will not teach you to 'take it like a man' or 'be a real woman', it likely won't help you to get on TV and it won't allow you to buy nicer clothes, shoes, or hair gel either.

It won't allow you to finally be part of the perfect church, or to shed institutional politics, nor will it guarantee that people will accept you for who you are - authentic community.

It will, however, expose every limitation you have and defeat you at almost every turn.

It will bite you on the butt whenever it gets the opportunity, it will choke you, break you, wind you, bruise you, cut you and batter you, emptying any sense of self-sufficiency along the way. It'll wind you up like a clock until you feel like tearing your own face off and walking away in snivelling submission.

It's probably the most fun you'll ever have.

Or maybe it's just me.

A Good Night

2006-08-24T17:40:00.000-07:00

Even though our normal campy office was out of commission, being repainted, we had a great time meeting in the reading room with all the dead people on the walls. They're old.
A few new faces were out (Welcome, Naomi and Jonathan!) and we heard some interesting stories from Jared, who talks a lot. What's becoming clear in our discussions is that there really is a desire to see change and transformation happen here in Toronto.

While things seem a bit nebulous at times - while God's plans and visions seem unclear, it's those glimpses of certainty, and those times in which we're convinced that God is doing a brand nu thang in our midst. To our relief (or is that dismay?) he's using some pretty ordinary folks to accomplish these things.

Why not people with the dollars, the power, the influence? The people who have time to be interrupted, who have time to sit on their asses, and could instead be doing something for the life of the world? Why is it so often a struggling person or people that comes to the aid of others in their struggles?

In short, why does it have to be us?

And yet God is speaking. He's revealing new things in our hearts, putting us in brand new situations daily that challenge us, and teach us new things about Him. My prayer over the coming days, weeks and months, is that we give the Holy Spirit room to breathe into our lives, to accept the crazy visions of transformation and renewal He's given us, and to do something about it.

Next meeting will be September 18th, Wycliffe College, 7pm.

Next Meeting

2006-08-18T05:13:00.000-07:00

The Resonate Greenhouse for Toronto is meeting again next week. Here are the details:

We'll meet again next Wednesday August 23 for those who are interested. Same deal as last time - Wycliffe College basement, near the Crux Bookstore (7pm). I'll be flying in from Ottawa that afternoon, so please pray my flight's not terribly delayed.

We'll take some time to share more of our stories with one another. We'll update each other on the progress and challenges of our projects. Most importantly, I think, we'll spend time in prayer for the city and for one another, as we seek to be agents of God's shalom here and now.

Any questions? Hit me back with a comment, or join our listserv (look at the bottom of the right-hand column)

thanks!
andrew

Community (or something like it)

2006-08-01T17:09:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking about this for a little while lately, and usually when I start thinking about something, I have to start writing about it. It's the way my head works. I think on paper a whole lot better than I think out loud. My real-time interface needs some fine tuning.

But since this blog thing involves writing, I should be okay.

One of the things that the modern (post-modern, whatever) church stresses these days is community. But in what ways do we actually mean "community" when we use that word? What constitutes a community? What are its characteristics?

Do communities regulate particpation, or are they open to all others? My question, I think, has a lot to do with the way in which sub-culture Christian communities interact (or don't) with neighbourhood communities.

We place a great deal of emphasis on supporting one another within the church (as, I would like to affirm, we should), but how much time do we spend doing the same things in our neighbourhoods? Aren't these the places to which we are called to minister? Aren't these the types of places Jeremiah 29 alludes to, speaking to God's children in Babylonian exile?

Our church communites are hosted by larger communities, communities we are called to serve. But how do we serve if we rarely have interaction with the outside world? Why are we not constantly seeking new ways to live our Christ-focused lives in the midst of our exile?

What would the world look like if we engaged more deeply our neighbourhood associations, our community housing organisations, our peace and security committees, parents' associations, and the rest? Are these viable ways to live out our faith in this world? Are we called to invest here?

They don't look like Christian communities, but I wonder how they can be transformed if God's hands and feet are unwilling to be the change wherever they are - to enter into these communities and groups, humbly and boldly to bring God's kingdom closer to us poor and destitute of this modern empire.

Eye of Mordor

2006-07-05T20:35:00.000-07:00

Hey. So last night's meeting was a great introductory meeting. Sure it was deep within the walls of the empire, but you know, I'm sure that's okay. A place with a coffee maker is always a good place for conversation.

We had a bunch of people out who had met several months ago at the Greenhouse Mississauga meeting, as well as some new faces. As we grow, as we talk and dream together, it will be interesting to see where God takes us, and to see the plans he has for the various corners of Toronto.

We're still looking for more people interested in meeting and dreaming and acting on what God has in store for this city, and as such, will have another meeting on Wednesday August 23rd, 2006. We will meet again at Wycliffe College (5 Hoskin Avenue, Toronto), at 7pm.

It's a good central location, and if you sign up for the email list on the right-hand side of the blog, I'll even tell you where you can park for free.

Keep your eyes on the blog. If Jared ever gets around to sending them, we might even post some photos online. Take a hint, wouldya?

Meetup, the First

2006-06-14T04:37:00.000-07:00

Our first meeting will take place a month from now. We're meeting for prayer, for discussion, for encouragment, and to challenge one another in our various projects. The greenhouse format is one that we hope will foster both growth and understanding of the various ways in which we can minister amongst the people of our incredibly diverse city.

As with any gardening project, it's important to know the lay of the land, what nutrients are there and which ones have to be replenished for life to flourish there again. It's important to recognise weather patterns on the horizon, and to know how we can prepare ourselves for potential storms that will affect our fledgling communities.

When we learn to garden, we learn by gardening, and by entering into conversation with other gardeners. We share advice, we share successes and we share our failures. That's what this greenhouse is all about. If you're interested in joining us, post a message here and we'll make sure you get out to the first meeting

Tuesday July 4th
Wycliffe College (UofT)
7:00pm

Future Home

2006-06-07T05:10:00.000-07:00

This is the future home of the Resonate Greenhouse - Toronto Edition.