I thought I'd take some time and recap my church planting experiences here:

In June of last year my time of ministry at Langley Evangelical Free Church came to an end, and so did seven years of paid youth ministry. It was time, after over 12 years of dreaming, hoping and waiting, for me to start preparing to plant a church. I checked and double-checked with my wife Taralyn - are you sure we're ready to do this? She responded with a hesitant 'yes', which was much further than she was able to go two years prior when we had broached the subject previously. In 2007 I was between jobs, wondering if that was the time to strike out and plant a church. Taralyn assured me it was not. I thought she wasn't ready, but as it turned out she was discerning enough to identify that really, WE weren't ready. Now, in 2009, we were ready. To plant a church? Maybe. To have the faith to step out? That's more the case.
Taralyn and I started to think, dream, and strategize about the church. Two things we did first: 1. we identified the place and people we were called to - Aldergrove, BC. 2. we developed a strategy for starting up, including planning a launch date, enlisting a team of supporters, moving to the area, planning a series of pre-launch preview services, etc.
In hindsight, what we didn't do was develop a MISSIONAL strategy. We didn't, at that point, identify many ways to make inroads in the community, other than finding a job and hoping to get a membership at a fitness club. We're still playing catch-up with that.
So, let's talk about some things that, so far, have 'worked':
- we moved to Aldergrove on September 15. Taralyn found an amazing little house for rent on Craigslist and set up an appointment to see it. It was the first place we looked at, and we were the first to see it. Two days later, we were invited to rent it. That was a step of faith, because rent is a little more than what we were paying previously, and we had no income as of the end of September. But, we figured, to pay ANY rent would be a step of faith - we might as well get this place which we see is 'perfect' for our family and our mission. It's part of a family-oriented neighbourhood - a playground is a 2-minute walk away, kids are always playing in the street... there's plenty of opportunity for ministry here. Plus, it's a house - 2 stories, 3 bedrooms, laundry room, an office/toy room, and the real 'must' - a dishwasher!
- We've developed a good network of prayer support, and started to build a financial support base. We still have a way to go on this, but God has stirred peoples' hearts to give to this mission. I took Ministry Partner Development with Power to Change in September, where I learned how conversations go with prospective donors. I've met with a number of people, sent letters out, and have seen God respond with peoples' generosity.
- I got a job at Dead Frog Brewery. I prayed that God would open up opportunity for work at a place where I could shine the light of Christ brightly, and that place ended up being Dead Frog. I've met some great people there, and had some really good and interesting conversations. I continue to work at Dead Frog one day a week.
- Monthly Pre-Launch services. We have a team of people from North Delta and Langley Evangelical Free Churches who come and help us once a month to put on our pre-launch services. These have been moderately well-attended, and very successful, but not in the ways that we were hoping/planning. The people who have come have been able to hear the Gospel, and engage in dialogue, as well as start to develop relationships with one another.

Okay, now the things that haven't worked as we had expected.
- First, with the Pre-Launch Preview services. Apparently, Field of Dreams is a lie. 'If you build it...' they still might not come. It takes more these days than inviting people to a service to build a church. Although I've been consistently inviting people personally to COME TO us, and attend our preview services, they don't (for the most part). Yes, people are very interested in what we're doing, but no, they don't make coming to us a priority. What might be a better idea? Probably finding ways to GO TO them. That sounds like what we have come to call "being missional" and it's much different, much more difficult in some ways, much less program-oriented, than putting on services.
- Secondly, our whole strategy that we worked out for building our church centered on the gathering, the prelaunch service and the 'church launch'. I see this now as a mistake. In fact, I wish I could take back out 'launch date' and develop a strategy instead of building relationships. I say "I wish", and I probably can, but at this point I'm playing catch-up. I HAVE BEEN building relationships, but that needs to be my first priority, even over starting services. Yes, I still think that gathering is important for a church, but not at the expense of relationships; rather as a conduit for relationships. If the gathering isn't achieving that goal (which it is, and isn't) then things need to be adjusted, for now.
- Third, support-raising. It's tough! And people saying 'no' or not following through isn't a great motivation to keep going on. I haven't met with anyone for a while, but I will be getting back on the phone in the next week.

On January 10, we held our fourth pre-launch service, but this time we diverted from our plan slightly. Instead of keeping with our series "Journey to Hope in Aldergrove", we diverted and gave our 'vision spiel'. Our plan is to discover who else is in Aldergrove, who God is calling to partner with us in this. We've come to realize that we can't do this on our own, we need what they call a 'core team' to build this church together with. As missional as we want to be, we need others to do it with us, to encourage us, to connect with people in their own spheres. So we invited everyone we know in Aldergrove, even those who go to other churches. If they hear what we're about, God may call them to join us. It's not about stealing sheep either, as one Aldergrove pastor told me; they're not "my" sheep or "your" sheep anyway, they belong to the Shepherd, Jesus. It's the enemy, Satan, who steals. If God calls one of His sheep to join another flock then so be it. Still, it's been hard for me because I don't want to build a church from 'transfer' growth, but rather through conversion growth. But I need Christians involved as well.
So we gave our 'vision spiel'. It's for a church with three pillars: FAITH, MISSION, COMMUNITY. You can read about that here. Or you can hear it here.

Over 20 people showed up, more than ever FROM ALDERGROVE, and we gained some momentum. The next steps are to gather those people to do some acts of service in the community, and make ourselves known as being as much for Aldergrove as we are for ourselves. We're calling people together for mission, for community, and in faith. That brings us up to date.

I'm working with the Temporary Access Leadership Team on Access Strategy 2.0, and we'll roll it out to you as soon as it's prepared! This is an interesting journey, and we're learning tons along the way. Please keep checking in to http://candteddy.blogspot.com to join our journey!

Chad.

I was recently asked, "when you say 'missional', do you really mean 'servant evangelism'?"

Now, I'm no stranger to servant evangelism. Steve Sjogren, the grand poo-bah of that stuff is as familiar a name to me as any treasured Christian writer. I've been following his work for over a decade. I was introduced to "Conspiracy of Kindness" back in 1998, when Pat Bjurling, the youth pastor at Christian Life Assembly where I was the youth intern, took out our youth group under the influence of Sjogren (I always thought there was a connection in their names; Bjurling and Sjogren) to one of the communities near our church to hand out packets of seeds, and to tell our neighbours that we were simply "showing God's love (for them) in a practical way".

Textbook Servant Evangelism.

I loved it. For me, it took off. At my first official post as youth pastor in Winnipeg, I took kids out at Hallowe'en to give out lightbulbs, showing that Jesus is the Light of the World (but what we said is, "to show God's love in a practical way" - don't want to divert from excellence!). Later, when my ministry took us to North Delta, I started a festival called "Explosion", which was termed "an Explosion of Kindness" in the local paper. The whole premise was a week of worship and servant evangelism (or simply, 'worship and service in our community'). Explosion grew 100% in year two, bringing in 25 youth to take part, and it hasn't stopped in the six years since I left North Delta.

Yes, when I think of missionality, I do tend to think 'servant evangelism'. But yes, I know that there's more to being missional than handing out seeds and light bulbs, painting houses and picking litter.

'Missional', I think, is more of an attitude. It's an awareness that just like those sent to the Philippines or Samoa (or even somewhere less exotic), those of us who live 'normal' lives here in Canada can and (if we're Christian) SHOULD be intentional about our mission, which is Jesus' mission: to seek and save the lost.

Living missionally means intentionality in relationships. Yes, we need to be careful here that relationships aren't JUST about conversions. The way I see it, Jesus was intentional about His relationships - who He spent time with, and why. Yet not everyone He spent time with chose to follow Him. Neither will those He brings into our lives. Our job is to love them, to care for them, to show them God's love in practical, and intangible, ways.

Missional living ALSO means intentional action. This gets a lot of criticism, even from people I admire. They say that if missional living becomes a service event, then it ceases to be a lifestyle. Well, I guess you could say that the same threat exists for worship. Worship, like missionality, is meant to be a 24-7, everyday life attitude, yet most Christians say that worship is an event, what happens before the sermon on Sundays. Sad, yes. But I'm not sure many would argue that we need to stop 'worshiping' on Sundays so that a worship lifestyle could be cultivated (note: Soul Survivor kind of did this for a season and it seemed to work out for Matt Redman...). Social Kindness events can be a conduit through which missionality is practiced, exercised, and encouraged, but no it isn't the be-all and end-all of what missional living is. That is, however, an important distinction to make.

Yes, a week of servant evangelism/social kindness/whatever is coming up with Access Church. Please stay tuned for more information. If you're into missionality but not into a week of serving others, by all means stay home. But if you want to bless the community of Aldergrove by showing God's love in practical ways, then we invite you to be involved with us.

We've received so much, so freely; that's why we're giving it away freely.

Please take note of the absence of the plural 's' following the word 'Mission'. This is NOT a 'Missions Week' like the sort that have become run-of-the-mill in many missions-oriented churches (God bless them!). We will NOT be standing up missionaries to foreign lands, night after night, hearing over potluck cream pie and bad coffee stories of orphaned children, slim getaways, and miraculous healings (as cool as those stories sometimes are!).
MISSION Week instead is a week of mission. I've been thinking of this for a while, and struggling with it.
Access Church NEEDS TO BE a 'Missional' church. We can't exist unless we are one. But how do we establish that ethos, that core value, that DNA right from the get-go. The threat, or the really good reason NOT to do a "Mission Week" can be read about here. Basically, mission becomes an event rather than a lifestyle. I understand that threat, and I get those who would criticize Access Church as being another event-driven-quasi-missional-but-really-not-so-much church plant.
My argument, however, is that to BECOME a missional community, we need to invite people to MISSION, not to some worship service program. Whatever we invite people to, however we start out as a church plant, is what will continue to mark us for years to come. Whatever we invite people to WILL HAVE TO BE AN EVENT - otherwise, what could it be?
"Hey do you want to come get involved in my church with me?"
"Sure... how?"
"well, we're really missional, which means intentionally loving people the way Jesus does, so uh... yeah..."
"okay, so how could I get involved?"
"well, yeah.. you could start by um... praying for .... uh, the people you work with..."
"okay, so how is that getting involved with your church?"
"um, well you'll be doing the same things we're... um I mean I'M... doing, and that's sort of like being involved.... ya gotta understand we're MISSIONAL, not ATTRACTIONAL, so we don't really have anything we're calling people to..."

I gotta be honest with you... whether you're trying to reach Christians or non-Christians, that's a really difficult way to start a church.

So, it's important, no ESSENTIAL, to have something to invite people to. The question is, 'what?' Most churches start with a worship service, build a group of people, who they then plan to take on mission in their community (ok, some churches don't have a grasp of mission, but I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt). That's OK. In fact, that's what we've been trying to do. And in a way, we'll continue to do something like that.

But what if the MISSION exists before the worship service? What if we start by bringing together people who really want to impact the people of Aldergrove, start by practically serving our town, and from there build worship and discipleship times?

So, there's where I get the dream of Access Mission Week. We can call people in Aldergrove to a week of loving others, serving others, giving freely as we've received freely, showing God's love in practical ways. We'll organize projects, like free car washes, litter pickup around the town, lawn mowing, dog walking, babysitting, yard cleanup, business exterior scraping and repainting... We'll make the name Access Church first synonymous with caring for the community, then associate it with FAITH, MISSION, and COMMUNITY.

When? I don't know yet. Who? People in Aldergrove, and hopefully Mission Teams (again, no 's') from other places. Am I crazy? Probably. Stay tuned for more information.

Faith | Mission | Community

This past Sunday, we 'launched' or 'unveiled' (or whatever other word you want to use) our vision for Access Church. The idea was that we would gather a group who might be somewhat interested in joining us, cast the vision, and see who sticks around. Our hope was to gain a greater 'core' of Aldergrove residents to join in the vision and mission of Access with us. Did it work? To a degree, yes. But I think that the real 'results' of the vision spiel (as I like to put it) will be seen in the lives of those who heard and were inspired, whether or not they join us at Access Church. To that end, I would like to make our vision spiel available to you, our faithful blog reader, to inspire you whether or not you ever enter into community with Access Church.

Our vision for what our church will become rests on the three pillars of faith, mission and community.

Faith is what comes first. A church that doesn't start with that isn't a church - it can be a service organization or a social club, but it's not a church. Our faith is more than a few creeds listed on the wall - it's a living faith which directs and reflects all that we do. Our faith is more than scripture memorization, a love for Old Testament stories, and a belief in a god. Rather, it's rooted in the Gospel of Jesus - and we see all of Scripture through the lens of that Gospel, as pointing to that Gospel, as telling the story of that Gospel. In the vision for Access Church, faith isn't separate from mission and community; rather, it gives structure and purpose to those other pillars. Our faith is in a God who stepped out of heaven to come to earth, in order to seek and save the lost (mission) and to bring reconciliation between God and man, man and man, man and himself, and man and creation (community).

Mission is essential to any church. A church without mission is nothing but a relic, a castle, a fortress for the faith. Sure, it defends its creed, but at the expense of living what it claims to believe - to go into all the world and preach the Gospel. Mission is about going into the world, living in the world, being involved in the world. What's the big deal? You ask? Aren't we all in the world? Yes, but there's a tendency for Christians to try their best to stay away from the world, to build up the fortresses and protect themselves and their loved ones from the big, dark world. But instead, Jesus told us that we ARE the light of the world. Our job is to take the light of Jesus into the dark world. We can no longer blame the darkness for being dark - we can only look at ourselves and ask why the light hasn't gone into those dark places. So the vision for Access Church is to be involved in our world, our neighbourhoods, our community, Aldergrove. It's not easy, especially in a culture where individuality and self-reliance are high values. We need to be bridge-builders between people, builders of community, not just between culture and the Gospel, but between people and people. We need to show God's love in practical ways intentionally. We need to give freely as we've received freely, to live generously.

Community has received a lot of lip service in a lot of places. Already I've mentioned it here. But a church that isn't a community isn't a church. This is the attractional piece to what it means to BE church - and attractional isn't bad when it's balanced with mission. How can we do mission together, if we don't have community with one another? What are we calling people to in inviting them to the Gospel when community doesn't exist? The vision for Access is that it will be a Gospel Community - one that involves Christians and non-Christians, one that's a movement, on a journey, one that's intentional and enjoyable and life-giving. Friendships between men, between women, and between men and women need to be central and purposeful. Somebody has said that friendships are the building blocks of spirituality - where relationships are stunted, friendship with God and spirituality is stunted. But Gospel Community goes beyond friendships. Somebody else has said that community is where your least favorite person lives. This kind of community takes commitment, and this kind of intentional commitment to community is what will mark Access Church as much as what we believe and how we live it out.

I dream of a community of restoration, of reconciliation. I dream of transformation in Aldergrove - economic, relational... people caring about their neighbourhoods in new and radical ways. I dream of recovery, of hope, of vision and purpose. I dream of Aldergrove in the nation's news as a community turned around, a source of light for all of Canada. This can happen as we embrace Faith, Mission and Community.

I dream of people swarming to the heart of downtown Aldergrove, the corner of 272 and Fraser, now known for violent acts and exploitation, and lifting up unshakled hands and voices in praise to Jesus, who has set them free from the oppression of sin, both in their personal lives and in their community.

Join us in dreaming and visioning a new future for Aldergrove, for what will happen when the Gospel impacts this town, as we live out our faith, mission, and community.

(to hear the Vision Spiel audio, click the title link or click here)

Last week I returned to door-to-door. It was almost 8 years ago I last ventured out onto the pavement making cold calls. Then, I worked for Spectrum Marketing, a division of a large 'own your own door-to-door marketing business' organization, and we worked hard to raise money for Manitoba Special Olympics, Pizza Hut, Fountain Tire, etc.

I've been doing this gig for 13 years now and there are two things I've learned in that time; namely what I'm good at, and what I'm not good at. The things i'm good at can be listed in another entry. Today, I need to address two things I haven't been so good at for whatever reason, and welcome your helpful suggestions for getting better.
The skills of Gathering a group and truly inspiring others are the things I need help with. Looking back to when I tried planting a youth group out of Fresh Wind, that was my biggest problem. Through the next three youth ministries I led I had a lot of vision and even determination to grow the group (even an amount of success) but not the results I would have liked to have seen, or the success others have had, even with the same groups. I can't blame the groups or the people or the church supports or structures. The common denominator in all these situations is ME.
OK just so you know I'm not whining. I'm not sorry for myself. I'm simply adressing one of my issues and seeking help. Because what I'm doing now, what I'm spending my life on requires these skills that I lack. How can I start a new church when I can't inspire others to dream with me, to go with me, to invest their time and their journey and their energy and their life with this mission? How can I build a church when I can't gather a crowd? Yes, it's easy to say that I need only to be faithful with what I have and let God accomplish the rest. It's fun to think 'if I build it, they will come'. But this isn't Field of Dreams. This is real, and I'm serious. I need some help.
Do you have some suggestions for me? Books or articles, podcasts or coaching materials, time you can spend with me to address some of this stuff? Please leave a comment below.
Thanks.

After years of dreaming, months of planning, and frankly weeks of stressing, we have begun our journey - the "Journey to Hope in Aldergrove", as we're calling our Access Church pre-launch series. Last Sunday, October 4 2009, we held our first pre-launch 'preview' service for Access Church at the Kinsmen Community Centre in Aldergrove. There were about 15 people in attendance; some of those were family, some part of the 'Access Mission Team' from other churches, and some were interested in becoming participants in our new community. Others were there just to check it out.

Hello everybody. There's a reason for my recent blog hiatus. It's this - busyness. I know, I know we're all busy, that's no excuse and of course, you're right. But check it out.

Over 8 years ago in springtime 2001 I joined 22 of my best friends on a two-week houseboat trip on Shuswap Lake.  It was a great time of young adults hanging out together, partying all night on the deck, sleeping away the hot days, watching movies piled up on top of each other on a single couch, playing card games, praying and worshiping, just doing life together for two weeks.  We decided on the last night to do communion together, so we got the bread and wine out, I said a few words about 'where two or more are gathered', together we are a church, and we partook.

About a month and a half ago, I went to check out Aldergrove Kinsmen Community Center, to see if it would work as a place to hold Access Church meetings. After seeing it, praying and processing, I decided it was the 'perfect' place, so a week or so later I went to book it. Too bad, I was told - the fencing club has it booked on Sundays. As I am convinced we should hold services on Sunday mornings, that was obviously problematic. Ah well, I figured, God has another plan for us. After leaving, however, I kicked myself for not asking if/when their reservation runs out, and whether I could have a contact name to talk with about switching days.
Over the past few weeks I've looked at other places that we could potentially rent, but I've kept the vision of meeting at AKC in my mind. Well, yesterday I decided to revisit the issue. I drove to Aldergrove, praying for some change. When I got there I spoke with a staff member who told me that the fencing club meets Sunday afternoons, and the mornings are free! So I asked to book them right away for the dates we need it, thanking God for once again going ahead of us and clearing the way!
Darren at LEFC helped me to learn the importance of tenacity, and had it not been for that lesson, I probably would have resigned to the fact that the facility was booked, rather than pursue it further. I find that i'm learning so much more than ever before in church planting. This is an exciting adventure!