Missional Church? Be Prepared To Work Together
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Other posts in this series:
Local churches that are networked locally and regionally have the best possible chance to incarnate the gospel in a neighbourhood. Whether a denominational church or an independent church, whether a house church or an established church, local Jesus-communities need to help each other, inspire each other, resource each other, and "work together for the good of the city" [that's TrueCity's tagline - TrueCity is one of the networks The Freeway is involved in].
Gone are the days when, like an island unto themselves, local churches could hoard their resources, build their own kingdom, run all their in-house programs, and maintain "their" thing alone, etc. Well, maybe those days are not gone... but they should be.
What we need to continue to do is re-imagine ways to work together. We need to ask the question together, "What is God up to in this place?" and then find out how we can collaborate in order to join him.
How has that played out at The Freeway over the years? Or what networks are we a part of?
Resonate - www.resonate.ca
A few years ago a group of friends and I decided to start a Canadian network "of people seeking out Jesus Christ in a world and country that is transitioning from the modern to the postmodern era. [Resonate] is a group of people who are looking at new ways of living out the faith in holistic ways."
Through Resonate we have started regional Echos [a series of conversations hosted by Resonate on theology, worship, church and Christianity in today’s rapidly changing culture], a national e-mail discussion list, and local Greenhouses [which are basically organic networks for church planters and those interested in creating new forms of church. We get together about every six weeks all across Canada, we tell stories, we inspire one another].
Cultivate Gathering - www.cultivategathering.com
A couple years ago, tired of the "same old, same old" conferences and big name speakers spouting off what they wrote in their latest book, and realizing that networking and conversation was the way we wanted to learn, we started a learning party to gather folks and create conversations, tell stories, and inspire one another.
Cultivate has allowed us the opportunity to hob knob with very cool people who are doing new and exciting and innovative things in the church in a distinctly Canadian context. Most of these folks "fly under the radar" of traditional networks/conferences/etc.
TrueCity Network - www.truecity.ca
TrueCity is a local Hamilton network of "churches working together for the good of the city." They host a conference once a year, They have neighbourhood networks of leaders and people from various geographic regions in Hamilton. They help and inspire each other.
We are still really finding our way in TrueCity [and they are continuing to find their way as well] as we have only recently gotten involved, but the friendships we and partnerships we are making so far have been invaluable to us. On Thursday this week I will be attending an all-day meeting with the TrueCity to help figure out the next steps for the network.
Allelon - www.allelon.org
We, at The Freeway, have been learning from Alan Roxburgh and others at Allelon for just over a year now. Him and I have really hit it off on a personal level as well.
This spring we are launching an Allelon Training Centre [the first one in Canada] which aims to "provide practical, affordable and flexible training for all church leaders. Delivered by men and women with hands-on experience of mission in the United States and Canada, the program aims to enable leaders and potential leaders to transform their thinking, their lives, and their ways of being church." You should go and read all about it, and consider registering for our Summer Institute.
Local churches that are networked locally and regionally have the best possible chance to incarnate the gospel in a neighbourhood. Whether a denominational church or an independent church, whether a house church or an established church, local Jesus-communities need to help each other, inspire each other, resource each other, and "work together for the good of the city" [that's TrueCity's tagline - TrueCity is one of the networks The Freeway is involved in].
Gone are the days when, like an island unto themselves, local churches could hoard their resources, build their own kingdom, run all their in-house programs, and maintain "their" thing alone, etc. Well, maybe those days are not gone... but they should be.
What we need to continue to do is re-imagine ways to work together. We need to ask the question together, "What is God up to in this place?" and then find out how we can collaborate in order to join him.
How has that played out at The Freeway over the years? Or what networks are we a part of?
Resonate - www.resonate.ca
A few years ago a group of friends and I decided to start a Canadian network "of people seeking out Jesus Christ in a world and country that is transitioning from the modern to the postmodern era. [Resonate] is a group of people who are looking at new ways of living out the faith in holistic ways."
Through Resonate we have started regional Echos [a series of conversations hosted by Resonate on theology, worship, church and Christianity in today’s rapidly changing culture], a national e-mail discussion list, and local Greenhouses [which are basically organic networks for church planters and those interested in creating new forms of church. We get together about every six weeks all across Canada, we tell stories, we inspire one another].
Cultivate Gathering - www.cultivategathering.com
A couple years ago, tired of the "same old, same old" conferences and big name speakers spouting off what they wrote in their latest book, and realizing that networking and conversation was the way we wanted to learn, we started a learning party to gather folks and create conversations, tell stories, and inspire one another.
Cultivate has allowed us the opportunity to hob knob with very cool people who are doing new and exciting and innovative things in the church in a distinctly Canadian context. Most of these folks "fly under the radar" of traditional networks/conferences/etc.
TrueCity Network - www.truecity.ca
TrueCity is a local Hamilton network of "churches working together for the good of the city." They host a conference once a year, They have neighbourhood networks of leaders and people from various geographic regions in Hamilton. They help and inspire each other.
We are still really finding our way in TrueCity [and they are continuing to find their way as well] as we have only recently gotten involved, but the friendships we and partnerships we are making so far have been invaluable to us. On Thursday this week I will be attending an all-day meeting with the TrueCity to help figure out the next steps for the network.
Allelon - www.allelon.org
We, at The Freeway, have been learning from Alan Roxburgh and others at Allelon for just over a year now. Him and I have really hit it off on a personal level as well.
This spring we are launching an Allelon Training Centre [the first one in Canada] which aims to "provide practical, affordable and flexible training for all church leaders. Delivered by men and women with hands-on experience of mission in the United States and Canada, the program aims to enable leaders and potential leaders to transform their thinking, their lives, and their ways of being church." You should go and read all about it, and consider registering for our Summer Institute.
Labels: church planting, leadership, the freeway, training centre, writing
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