Raising up the Next Generation

Since the inception of our diocese, the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic has had a strong commitment to raising up young leaders to serve the Church. In my workshop at Synod last year, I stated my belief that young leaders are “made, not born.” Regardless of our God-given talents, we learn to lead by leading. That happens best when senior leaders place their confidence and trust in young leaders and give them opportunities to discover and develop their gifts for ministry. Ask any clergy person and they will tell you about the people in their lives who believed in them, opened doors for them, and walked alongside of them as they mastered the difficult skills of leadership. Experience really is the best teacher.

Many leading authors and church planters have written about Jesus’ Paradigm for Leadership, including Dr. Bob Logan, John Maxwell, and Dave Ferguson. Simply stated, it looks like this:

If Jesus had not invested in The Twelve, The 72, and The 120, we would not be here today having this conversation. The church was born because of the first-hand opportunities Jesus gave the first disciples to learn from him how to minister and become leaders. St. Paul was equally concerned about this and provided a great example in the many young leaders he trained. He was emphatic about this with his best known protégé, Timothy, when he said to him, “Pass on what you heard from me…to reliable leaders who are competent to teach others.” (2 Timothy 2:2, MSG) In a similar passage, he exhorts Titus with these words, “This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you.” (Titus 1:5, ESV). When we take young, emerging leaders under our wing as apprentices, we’re not only providing more laborers for the harvest today, we also ensuring that there will be a harvest tomorrow. 

The Anglican Church in North America considers this so important that The Next Generation Leadership Initiative has been established as one of the five primary ministries of the province. In the words of Canon Esau McCaulley, leader of this initiative and our guest speaker at Synod last year, their vision “is to raise up the next generation of leaders for our churches, communities, and cultures.” Concerned about the severe shortage of church leaders that currently exists and promises to worsen in the next decade as a significant number of our existing clergy retire, the Next Generation Leadership Initiative is committed to “discover, develop, and deploy” leaders to serve four specific populations: Communities of Color, Children/Families, Youth, and College Students.

In our own diocese, we have focused on providing summer internships for high school, college, and seminary students. A number of our congregations are now offering these 3-month programs, which provide an environment where interns can gain valuable ministry experience while exploring a possible calling to church ministry. This summer we have eight interns serving with us in a variety of capacities. In addition to the work in their own congregations, the group will also spend time together, getting to know one another and building relationships with each other to see their role in ministry through a wider lens. Under the tutelage of Wes Buckley, Youth Minister at Truro who will facilitate these gatherings, the interns will have time with Bp. John and myself, do some shared reading together, and reflect together on their experiences and futures.

We’re excited to see them responding to God’s call and pray that this summer will be a rich and rewarding one for all of them. Many thanks to the Great Commission Committee for providing matching grants, and especially to the congregations sponsoring interns this year: Christ the King, Ascension, Truro, and Christ Church (Vienna). Without your vision and financial support, these opportunities to “raise up the next generation” would not be possible.

Praying in the Harvest

Praying in the Harvest

By The Rev. Tim Howe, Executive Assistant to the Canon for Church Planting

In Luke 10:2, Jesus tells His disciples: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

This verse has been one of the key components of the work of the Great Commission Committee from its inception in the early days of the Diocese of the MId-Atlantic.  The Committee is charged with supporting our congregations in the work of evangelism, discipleship, church planting, and congregational health and well-being.  It is a broad mandate that requires the input and work of a large number of volunteers from all across the diocese.

 At the heart of the Committee’s work lies this word from Jesus, to pray in the laborers to gather the harvest.  

Seven years ago, Bishop Guernsey asked me to develop an intercessory prayer ministry to cover the work of the Great Commission Committee, including this mandate from Jesus to pray in new laborers to gather the harvest. We had two mini-conferences on intercessory prayer very early on in this process from which we got a committed core of intercessors to get the ministry launched and running. Many of them are still praying with us to this day.

One of our goals has been to help provide intercessory prayer cover for our church planters who are already “out in the field,” as well as praying in new planters for the Diocese. So, as churches are planted, we develop an ongoing prayer relationship with the planters and the churches, praying for each one on a regular basis.

We currently have about 140 folks receiving the bi-weekly email prayer requests.  These folks are divided up into four teams so that we can get all of our church planters prayed for at least once a month and we can pray for new laborers to come and plant in the areas of the Diocese where we lack a church. 

Our goal is to pray in laborers who have a heart for the lost and who will succeed as church planters, establishing viable congregations for the long term.

In one sense, the ministry of intercessory prayer is very much a “behind the scenes” type of ministry.  You don’t always see the folks who are praying, but you can often tell when they are.  God’s hand becomes evident when people are lifting the effort to the throne of grace on a regular basis.  

We have seen a number of answers to our prayers.

We have prayed for Columbia, Maryland since we began.  Now, Trinity Anglican Fellowship, under the leadership of Galen Carey, is meeting regularly in Columbia.

We prayed for the Lord to launch a work in the panhandle of West Virginia for quite some time.  Now, in answer to those prayers, the Rev. Darryl Fitzwater and his crew have planted the Church of the Ascension in Kearneysville, WV. God heard our prayers, prepared Darryl and his wife Becki, and the church is growing. We continue to pray for Church of the Ascension now as one of the Diocese’s Mission Churches. 

At Diocesan Synod, 2019, Incarnation Anglican Church, Arlington, was admitted as a new, full congregation of the Diocese. During the proceedings at Synod, the Rev. Liz Gray, rector of the church, asked everyone to stand up who had supported their effort through prayer. Scores of people stood up all across the room. Many of them were our intercessors who have been praying regularly for Liz and the new church. 

These are just a small sample of God at work through our intercessions.

One of the things we have seen is that the work of intercession for these efforts is a vital, if unseen, component of the success of our church planters. By interceding, we help clear the way for God to work in and through our church planters to reach new communities with the vital message of Christ’s gospel. 

And, by praying in obedience to Jesus’ words in Luke 10:2, we have seen Him raise up new laborers and the resources they need to become successful church planters.

If you might be interested in joining us in this effort, please contact me at the email address I use to administer this prayer program: domaprays@gmail.com. I would love to hear from you and have you join us as we pray down God’s blessings on His church and pray in the laborers needed to gather in the harvest all over the Diocese.

Fond Farewell from Tom Herrick

With a great deal of mixed feelings, I’d like to announce that I’ll be retiring at the end of this year as Canon for Church Planting. It’s been a great privilege for me to serve Bp John and all of you in this role. When I began five and a half years ago, the Great Commission Committee and I sensed God’s leading to cast the vision of becoming a church planting diocese. It’s a bold vision that needs all of us working together to fulfill it. We began by creating a church planting infrastructure with 7 essential systems: assessment, coaching, training, leadership pipeline, planter care, oversight, and funding.

Having these systems in place would greatly expand our capacity and enable us to move from planting a church every so often to planting multiple churches every year. Now that the Vision for 50 Fund has been established and is helping to fund our newest church plants, all seven system are up and running. We still have a lot of work to do, but my sense from the Lord was that my particular assignment had been completed.

As this ministry has grown, it became evident that the current part-time position was not sufficient for us to plant 50 churches by the end of the decade. Bp. John and the Great Commission Committee decided it was time to make this a full-time job. Working together with the Finance Committee, the budget was revised in such a way that would not impact the diocesan budget. A search committee has now been convened under the leadership of the Rev. Rick Wright and the position will be posted later this month. I wanted to share this news with you myself and ask your prayers for God to send us the person he has selected. Please join us in spreading the word and recommending this position to those you know who may be interested.

I also ask your prayers for me as I approach this milestone in my life and begin the process of leaving a job I have loved and about which I have been passionate for a very long time. I plan to continue my teaching at Gordon-Conwell, as well as my coaching and consulting after stepping down as your canon. I’m not sure how easy it will be for me to make this transition, but, as Paul said to the Philippians, “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

The Rev. Dr. Tom Herrick is the Canon for Church Planting

Same Prayers, Different Day

A recent blog post from the Franconia/Springfield Church Plant, helps to answer a common question:

“Are we being faithful and authentic by praying written prayers?”

In addition to answering this question, The Rev. Morgan Reed reminds us that during a pandemic, believers are connected in a unique way when daily praying from the same Book of Common Prayer:

In this pandemic, I believe this Book of Common Prayer forms the rule of prayer that our hearts need to order what feels unruly and ever changing. It teaches us how to come to God in grief and lamentation, in repentance, and in authentic joy for His great acts of salvation. This season is forming us into one of our core values, which is to live the kind of life outlined in the Book of Common Prayer. Growing as a disciple of Jesus does not stop during a pandemic and although we cannot be in physical proximity together, we can share a prayer life.

Read more here.

Starting a New Church During a Pandemic

The Welcome Brunch was our very first meeting together as The Franconia-Springfield Mission, so when the pandemic became bad enough that all public gatherings were required to have less than ten people at 6 feet apart, we were not thrilled with the prospect of canceling it. What ultimately kept us from canceling was recognizing the need that people have for human interaction — even if virtual is the best we can do. One of our core values at TFS Mission is hospitality and in this world of virtual conversation we wanted to create a virtual table for everyone to gather around. One difficulty with Zoom is that it does not facilitate good large group communication patterns. What started as a 'get-to-know-one-another' event became a 'get-to-know-the-plan-for-this-new-church' event, which changed a gathering that would have been primarily a conversation into primarily a presentation. Going through a presentation about this new church was a helpful start, but using Zoom that morning forced me to think about how to virtually facilitate the kinds of conversation we want to have in larger groups.

Different types of services need different types of virtual media, or at least different settings within one medium (i.e., livestream, conference call, etc). If I want to turn a presentation back into conversation then I need to think about how to manufacture it. We are going to have a Bible Study together once per month where we discuss the occasions where Jesus describes what it means to be his disciples. There will be food, discussion, and prayer; and yet, it will all be virtual. We will take this larger group and break it down into small discussion groups by using Zoom breakout rooms and see how that works. 

We have begun doing Compline together on Wednesday nights through Zoom and the presentation format works well in this instance (I also pray the responses, but invite others to join me). This need arose from conversations about how unstructured a day feels for people. The service is simple, quiet, contemplative, and where there would normally be a reflection I lead us through an examen. Several have told me they appreciate the discipline of building in silence and reflection into their day. (See all events on the Facebook page or website.)

The database we use is Planning Center Online and one of the many reasons I have appreciated this database is its ability to create forms. Security is a concern when we do things virtually, but one solution I am trying is asking people to RSVP for a virtual event. The Database form will filter out any bots and if I see a name I do not recognize, this provides me an opportunity to follow up with that person. The automatic response to someone's RSVP has the Zoom information.

The Rev. Morgan Reed has been called to plant a church that will have real gospel impact in Franconia, Springfield, and Kingstowne, Virginia.

Creative Ministry in an Unexpected Time

Creative Ministry in an Unexpected Time

 
By David Comeau & Tee Feyrer 
 
When university presidents at both VCU (Virginia Commonwealth University) and U of R (University of Richmond) announced the transition to remote learning we were shocked. This virus was moving so quickly. Something that not long ago had barely been on our radars was now drastically affecting our lives and the lives of people we love. Each of us felt like we were beginning to see momentum in these new ministries. Our living rooms were beginning to fill up. Relationships were being built. The gospel was being shared. Some students were learning of the love of Jesus for the first time, others were joyfully discovering the richness of the scriptures they had read in church or with their families since childhood. Students were trusting us with their pain, opening themselves up to prayer. We were looking forward to returning from spring break fresh and ready to finish our semester strong. Now what?  

As we write this - one week after schools announced closure - we recognize the tragedy and the gravity of this situation (which of course goes far beyond college ministry). Yet we are also very hopeful. We know this is not the first time the church has faced a challenge like this, and we remind ourselves as the psalmist does (Psalm 42) that we serve a Lord who “commands his steadfast love by day” and whose “song is with us [and those we love] by night.” We believe we serve a good and loving God who longs for his children - in our case, these particular college students - to know him and trust him as Father. We also believe that, though we will not be together physically, our ministries will continue to reach students and even grow in this season.  

This week, with the wise counsel of our church staff, we are making a hard pivot and looking ahead to a spring and summer of what we will in this article call “creative ministry in an unexpected time.” Our discipleship meetings will continue virtually by phone or video-call, weekly large groups with teaching, prayer, and fellowship will be held at our normal times on Zoom, and we will see the very few who have remained in town in safe socially distant ways (i.e going on a run or walk six feet apart). We are hearing exciting reports from other ministries moving to this platform who are reaching more and more students and believe this is a time ripe for the gospel to be shared. Recognizing however, the massive shift in which most of our lives are going online, mediated by a screen, we are sending our students handwritten letters through the mail, a guide for silent retreat, personally bound books with devotional resources steeped in our rich tradition yet contextualized for today, good stories (think Wendell Berry, CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien),  and discipleship resources (think A Common Rule, Liturgy of the Ordinary, Drama of Scripture). Tee is even curating Spotify playlists for his students to accompany them while they work.  

We believe this is a unique time in which the Lord may use us to enter into the soft places of students' hearts with the hope of the gospel. Their security is compromised. Their plans, for the most part, have gone by the wayside. Many of them have a growing amount of material need. Many of them are afraid.

Would you join us in prayer for our ministries and our students? 

The Rev. David Comeau & Tee Feyrer are college ministers with Redeemer Anglican Church in Richmond, VA.  David is a college minister at VCU and Tee is a college minister at U of R.

Welcome Brunch for the Franconia-Springfield Mission

We are having the first ever welcome brunch for the Franconia-Springfield Mission! Come enjoy good food, community, and discover more about the vision for this new church. The brunch is potluck style, so bring a brunch favorite, but if you cannot bring anything please come anyway!

RSVP here for the address.

Contact Morgan+ if you have any questions at morgan.d.reed@gmail.com or text at (707) 318-4934.

Sweet 16

SWEET 16? OR IS THAT 21?

By Liz Gray

Actually, on Feb 9, 2020 Incarnation turned 17 months from public launch… but that doesn’t have quite the same ring!

But, oh what a sweet 17 months it has been! Incarnation soft launched from our wise and wonderful mother church, Restoration Anglican in May 2018, initially meeting in my sitting room - so I guess that could make us 21 months old now? We moved into Greenbrier Baptist on Sept 9, 2018 where we enjoyed 14 months of public worship as we began to learn how to be a new community of Jesus followers in a South Arlington context, sharing the space with our wonderful Baptist friends.

And then, as 2019 drew to a close we had the opportunity to move into a space owned by the Arlington United Methodist Church which we could call home - a chapel, two rooms for our kids, two offices (even our own little half-bath!). What more could we need or want? The space needed a bit of a spring clean so our Saturdays in November were full of paint and scrubbing brushes…. getting us ready for Advent.

"So, now - how’s it going?" I hear you ask.

Honestly? It’s lovely.

• We are just two blocks from Columbia Pike - where they say 100 languages are spoken. Part of our dream is to be a place of welcome for people with any heart language - which is why every Sunday we include singing, or praying, or Bible reading in a mix of languages in our worship time.

• We share the complex with three other churches and two pre-schools, a clothing bank and a jobs program, though the chapel and offices are our own. On Sundays we hear singing in Amharic, Spanish and English echoing around the halls. When we are working in our offices during the week we meet people who are in the building for so many different reasons, who often want to pause and chat. We’d love to have more of those conversations in the days ahead.

• Our Incarnation neighbors are  - literally - our neighbors. We love welcoming the people whose homes are next to our homes into our extended community. The people who see how we live every day. We love it when they come and visit our services or come to a ‘common table’ event. This Shrove Tuesday we are encouraging everyone in our community to invite their neighbours to pancake suppers in their homes wherever they live. And so the numbers in our community are gradually increasing as we welcome people in; most Sundays around 60-70 people worship with us, and we are delighted to welcome both those who are used to our liturgy and those who have never heard the word ‘liturgy’. People coming and belonging.

Worship. Wonder. Welcome. These are the words that frame our choices and decisions. We are having such fun learning what wide and deep and joyous words they are.

And, so, as I look back over these last 17/21 months I am consistently reminded of how grateful we are for God’s hand on our community, and to so many people who have helped to shape and form us: ‘mom’ Restoration Anglican Church and David Hanke, the Great Commission Committee with Tom Herrick and our favorite Bishop, John Guernsey, and of course the team that have done so much of the heavy lifting and without whom Incarnation would not be what it is: Beth DeRiggi, Josie Ortega, Morgan Reed, Amy Rowe. Not to mention, in addition, the hundreds of people who have prayed, given, loved, encouraged and delighted in all God is doing. And, as a Mid-Atlantic Messenger reader, thank YOU for the part you have played in helping this little church plant to find its feet and begin to flourish. We are very, very grateful.

The Rev. Liz Gray is the Rector of Incarnation Anglican Church

The Franconia/Springfield Mission

Nearly 5 years ago on a sunny afternoon my wife, Ashley, and I were driving through North Springfield in search of a special house; not one to live in, but the one in which her grandparents had lived and in which her mom had grown up. We both grew up in California and had only heard about Springfield through stories, but now that we had moved to Virginia, we had to take up this opportunity to see this familial landmark. As we passed by the house, Ashley looked at me and said, “Wouldn’t it be crazy if we raised a family where my mom grew up?” That question, although it was said half-jokingly, was actually prophetic. Little did we know that years later God would call us to begin a new work in this region with a fresh vision for a church!  

The Vision 
A few months after I was ordained to the priesthood in 2017, Ashley and I were led to be a part of the original team that planted Incarnation Anglican Church in South Arlington. These three years at Incarnation taught me the ins and outs of beginning a new church and served us well in preparation for beginning a new work. We had been praying about God’s call to start a new church (where it might be and what it might look like) and in Sept 2019 I began a church planting residency program with Anglican Associates Inc. in Little Rock, AR. This program has helped me narrow down the place God was calling me to plant as well as the vision of the church: A common people in common prayer for uncommon transformation. 

The idea of becoming a common people through common prayer comes from my reading of Acts 2:42-47 where we discover a prayerful, sacramental, Spirit-filled community following after Jesus. The vision also comes from my history of the Church, specifically the Rule of St. Benedict (RB). RB seeks to create “a school for the Lord’s service” (RB, prologue) that brings an individual to the place of preferring nothing to the love of Christ (RB, IV). The same pursuit of preferring nothing to the love of Christ should be at the center of the interior life of every follower of Jesus; and such an interior type of monasticism can be found in the Book of Common Prayer. To say this another way, Rev. Dr. Greg Peters says, “...Liturgy leads to theology, and theology, when absorbed leads to godliness.” (The Monkhood of All Believers, 104). The liturgy of the BCP is a unifying act of worship that God uses for our transformation, just as the catechism says, “Anglicans worship with a structured liturgy because it embodies biblical patterns of worship, fosters reverence and love for God, deepens faith in Jesus Christ, and is in continuity with the practices of Israel and the Early Church.” (To Be a Christian: An Anglican Catechism, #245). As people join the Franconia-Springfield Mission and live out the life outlined in the BCP, we hope to become a common people in common prayer for uncommon transformation. 

Franconia-Springfield 
Franconia, Landmark, Springfield, and Kingstowne have well over 100,000 people according to 2010 census data (surely this has increased in 10 years!). Because of the lower cost of housing than other parts of the beltway, the region attracts a good number of commuters (single and married) between the ages of 24-55 who often feel untethered from a sense of place and isolated from a sense of community. Combine this with the large military population of Fort Belvoir, and the fact that there is no ethnic majority, and one begins to see the picture of fragmented disparate communities that make of the region of Franconia, Springfield, Landmark, and Kingstowne. The disparate nature of the region and the need for Gospel transformation has led us to our mission, which is to become an authentic and invitational community growing in the love of Christ through rhythms of hospitality, prayer, relationships, and service. To become this kind of church, we will go through four phases before we launch. 

Phases of Growth 
As you think about this work, please pray for us. There are several phases that we will move through as we seek Gospel growth in this area:  

1. Over the next year I (Morgan+) will be fundraising, seeking out ministry partnerships, and holding monthly interest brunches to share what God has put on our heart. We would like to raise enough financial and prayer support that by 2021 my wife, son and I can move down to the target region.   

2. Once we move, we will hold biweekly small groups during the week where we will have a common meal, a group discussion, talk through the needs of the region, pray for people by name, and finish our time with family evening prayer.   

3. After several months of meeting for small group we will hold an Alpha course. Through our ministry partnerships with local churches, we hope to hold an ecumenical alpha course so that we can not only learn more about communicating with the unchurched/de-churched, but also form gospel partnerships with other churches in the region.  

4. Finally, we will begin renting space for Sunday worship (though this will not yet be our “launch service”). At this time, launch team members will fully commit to being a part of the church and we will do the liturgy in the Book of Common Prayer with the historical and global church as our guide to the ceremony in the liturgy (e.g., incense, vestments, processions, feast and fast days).   

How to help with the mission 
There are several ways that you can partner with what God is doing at the Franconia-Springfield Mission: 

1. Visit our website (http://tfsmission.org), like us on Facebook, and join our mailing list.

2. Join our financial support team with a one-time or recurring gift. Instructions on how to give can be found here.

3. Join in for one of our interest brunches over the next year and bring others along to hear about this new church (Our first one will be March 28!)

4. Offer a very practical skill toward this work (sewing, photography, woodwork, pottery, etc.).

5. Please pray for us. The Gospel goes forth as God’s people pray (Col 4:2-6).

Please contact me anytime with more questions at morgan.d.reed@gmail.com.  

The Rev. Morgan Reed has been called to plant a church that will have real gospel impact in Franconia, Springfield, and Kingstowne, Virginia.

Giants in the Land

March is one of my favorite times of the year. Spring begins to awaken the earth out of its slumber, calling forth new growth. Lent is in full swing, calling the Church to long-established disciplines that nurture new growth in our souls. Then, of course, there’s “March Madness,” the NCAA tournament to crown as champions the best men’s collegiate basketball team in the country. You don’t have to be a sports fan to appreciate the zaniness of this annual American pastime. Every year, I find myself surprised at the size of these young men, most of whom are still teenagers. The clear winner of the “Giants in the Land” award this year is Tacko Fall, from Senegal, who plays for the University of Central Florida. At 7’6” he towers over most other players in the tournament by at least a foot. You could say he is a modern-day giant. Every coach’s strategy has to focus on how to distract, get around, or otherwise neutralize his impact on the court. He’s just too big to ignore.

Watching him play reminded me of another teenager who had to square off with a giant – only there was a lot more at stake than a trophy. David’s epic battle has inspired generations of Jewish and Christian believers, not just because of his courage, but also for his amazing faith in God. He has reminded me many times that there will always be giants in the land. Unlike the Israelites in the desert who almost stoned Moses out of their fear for the “sons of Anak” (Numbers 13 & 14), David ran into the battle confident that God would protect him, and he would prevail. In fact, this showdown was just the beginning for David and prepared him for many other battles to come. I’m convinced that God arranges these battles for us, ordering them, if you will, to build our capacity and increase our endurance. Jeremiah challenged the Israelites of his day with the question, ““If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses?” (Jer. 12:5). Indeed, God calls us to square off with giants, not avoid them. As much as we would like to be on Easy Street, we can’t escape the fact that God’s work will always be opposed, often fiercely. The battles we face may not be with physical giants, but they are very real and will call forth from us every ounce of strength and courage that we possess.

What are the giants in your land today? What is that one thing posing such a huge challenge that it’s just too big to ignore? Giants come in many varieties, shapes and sizes. The common thread is their ability to paralyze us in fear and stop us in our tracks. In those moments, God calls us to remember that the battle belongs to him and the victory is secure. Finding that peace and resting in that trust is what the battle is all about for us. God will never fail us or forsake us (Heb. 13:5,6). Nor will he allow us to be tempted beyond our ability to endure (1 Co. 10:13). James reminds us that the roots of our temptations lie in our own desires (James 1:13-14), those unhealed, unrestored places in our souls. I would add that our journey with God is both individual and communal in nature. While we each have to face our giants, unlike David, we don’t have to face them alone. Many brothers and sisters in Christ have gone the way before us, including and especially, our brother Jesus, who “in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). 

During this Lenten season, let God call to mind the giant he stands ready to defeat for you. We may have no idea how to overcome and move beyond this giant, but God already has a plan and is getting us in shape to carry it out. Like Caleb and Joshua, who saw the same giants as the other spies, let’s keep our eyes focused on the Promised Land and all that awaits us on the other side, for God is already giving it into our hand.

The Rev. Dr. Tom Herrick is Canon for Church Planting in the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic.

Planting a daughter church requires vision

By Clancy Nixon

Like most church planters, even before we planted Holy Spirit by God’s grace, my wife Ginger and I had a vision to plant new churches out of our church. Christians are called to bring people from darkness to light, and we knew that conversion ratios were highest in new church starts. Planting was part of our mission statement that we said weekly. We did succeed in launching a new campus in another town (which I led), a house church (led by gifted lay people), and a campus at a retirement village (led by a priest on staff). However, we never seemed to have critical mass or money to send off a team with a full-time pastor, even though we have averaged about 170 in Sunday attendance for several years. We had vision for planting, which is the most important factor of all, but we did not muster a traditional mother-daughter plant on our own. Money was an issue; but I’ve learned that money follows vision! 

Soon, we got help with both. The Diocese piloted a model of “Incubator Church Planting” with our church. The Diocese adopted a funding model of giving $15,000 per year, which we as the Incubator Church matched. The balance of the planter’s salary would come from the planter’s raising of his own support, and from our church budget. That is how we funded Darryl Fitzwater to plant our daughter church, Church of the Ascension, in Ranson, West Virginia. Ascension launched in March of 2018, and is doing well.  We will continue this funding level for at least 3 years, as will the diocese. Other churches in our Diocese have now adopted this Incubator Church model.

One key to the success of Ascension is the vision of people from our church who live in our area, but who believe in the mission of Ascension, so they are willing to drive over the mountain to West Virginia every week to support it. When we planted Holy Spirit out of Truro 17 years ago, four families came with us for one or two years until we were established, and then went back to Truro. Martyn Minns, then Rector of Truro, gave me a “fishing license” to recruit whoever would come with me, and I gave Darryl the same encouragement. These families see themselves as suburban missionaries. They caught the vision for church planting.  Finding gifted lay people to help start a church is an issue; but people follow vision! 

Of course, none of this would have been possible without finding the right planter.  In our denomination, and especially in our Diocese, both lay and ordained people can plant churches. Several churches near us were started by lay people. For the incubator model, though, we needed to find a planting priest. I had known Darryl for a few years, as he had applied for a job as our youth pastor, and we stayed in touch, as God clarified his vision for planting. As he came on staff at Holy Spirit, he was ordained a deacon, and then a priest. 

We pray every day for leaders who will multiply—we pray Luke 10:2—“to the Lord of the Harvest to raise up laborers for his harvest field.” God sent us Darryl. He sent us our other clergy—Dave Prosser, Dean Schultz, and John Nuzum— who all came to me and asked how they might serve. Finding good leaders is an issue—but leaders follow vision!  

If God does not give your leaders a vision for multiplying churches, and if this vision is not embraced by your church body, your leaders will think they do not have the money, people, or leaders needed to plant. Money, people, and leaders follow vision.  

Is your church called to plant a daughter church soon?  

Why not?  

Pray for vision from God to multiply. 

The Rev. Clancy Nixon is rector of Church of the Holy Spirit in Leesburg, VA

50 new churches—really?

By Tom Herrick

What began as an outrageous idea at the Great Commission Committee’s planning retreat last year has grown into a full-fledged plan to plant 50 new churches in the next 10 years. God challenged us that day to dream big dreams (see my February 2017 Messenger article “Dream Big Dreams”), and the result is the Vision for 50 campaign. It’s so much more than our big, hairy, audacious, goal. It’s a promise from God, and, if we will believe him to act and step out in faith to partner with him, he will send us the church planters and the necessary resources to see these 50 new churches come into being.

But, really—50 new churches? Why not a reasonable 5 or an overachieving 10? Why 50?

The biggest reason is our belief that God is asking this of us. It’s hard to argue with somebody when he says that sort of thing, but, truly, that is the primary reason. Granted, it’s a goal we could never pull off in our own strength. So, that’s a good beginning point. But, our sense is that there are a number of really good reasons for giving us this number. For starters, we believe that planting new churches is a biblical mandate. Tim Keller, founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, claims, “Jesus’ essential call was to plant churches. Virtually all the great evangelistic challenges of the New Testament are basically calls to plant churches, not simply to share the faith.” He bases this statement on the fact that when Jesus gave the Great Commission in Mt 28:18-20, his directive was not simply to perform the sacrament of baptism. Rather, baptism meant incorporating believers into a worshipping community where their newfound faith could be strengthened and grow to maturity, as we see in Acts 2:41-47. Keller goes on to explain that “decisions for Christ” often fizzle and disappear like New Year’s resolutions if they are not nurtured into transformed lives within the Body of Christ, the local church. For that reason, St. Paul was determined to plant churches in every city (Titus 1:5) and left Titus, Timothy, and his other disciples detailed instructions for selecting and commissioning the leaders who would plant these new churches. His vision, and that of others like St. Patrick, St. Columba, and John Wesley to name a few, led to large-scale church planting movements. These movements changed the course of entire nations as the churches they planted transformed the lives of their members into testimonies for Christ.

Another compelling reason for 50 is the sheer need for new churches. Researchers estimate that an average of 3700 churches close every year in this country. For years following World War II, the number of new churches being planted annually was less than the number closing, but in recent years, plants have exceeded closings and we are now averaging 4000 per year. While this net growth of 300 churches is cause for rejoicing, we must put this in the context of the dramatic growth of our population. In order to keep pace and maintain the current ratio of one church for every 1000 people, we need to net 1900 new churches each year (recent study by the SEND Institute). In other words, we need to think bigger. 

As we have prayed into the Vision for 50 the past 18 months, God has steadily helped us to focus on the systems we need in place to attain our goal. This includes developing partnerships with those congregations who will become “church planting churches.” We now have 7 congregations who are committed to being “Incubators” that will regularly plant new churches. As part of this strategy, we are also placing an increased emphasis on reaching colleges and universities. This requires that we develop our leadership pipeline, such that we can offer sufficient support and encouragement to emerging young leaders as they grow in their faith. Funding for internships and residencies is also a part of this effort to see more young people become leaders on the missional journey. 

Another reason for the large goal is the hope that we can create a culture of multiplication within our diocese where church planting becomes the norm for us. That is exactly what is already happening, and it’s taking a number of different forms. Several congregations are planting second campuses, such as Holy Spirit, Leesburg (at Ashby Ponds) Church of the Apostles (at George Mason University) and Restoration (in South Arlington). We’re also seeing a number of “Fresh Expressions,” such as the work being done by The Rev. Matt Hemsley in the Mosaic District with Truro, the Rev. Jessica Fulton Lee in Virginia Beach and Maura Hampton in Newport News. And it can also be a typical church plant such as Church of the Ascension (with Holy Spirit, Leesburg), which launched on Palm Sunday in Kearneysville, WV. However it happens, it is a work for all of us to be a part of and to celebrate together. So, yes, God really is asking us to plant 50 new churches. And these “first fruits” of that harvest are just the beginning. 

The Rev. Canon Tom Herrick is Canon for Church Planting for the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic.

Part Two: What you didn't learn in seminary—and why it matters

Editor's Note: This is the conclusion of a two-part series.

Three components of self-awareness

• The first aspect is understanding how we have been uniquely created—our particular bent if you will. Some people have called this the Element. Others term it our ‘sweet spot.’ Still others call it are unique talent pool or our Hedgehog Principle. We call it your Intentional Difference. Whatever you call it, it involves the hardwiring internal to each of us that makes us uniquely who we are.

• The second aspect that is critical is our own personal story. Each of us has come from a particular background. We grew up in a family. In that family we were a particular gender and occupied a particular birth order. Our parents exhibited certain traits, habits and behaviors towards us and the world. We grew up in a community that had a special DNA, and that community molded us in certain ways.  We had seminal events that occurred in our lives, with special people entering our lives at critical moments. The sum total of all of these life events I call our unique story or narrative out of which each of us now live. We use this unique story as a ‘pair of glasses’ to give us perspective on everyone and all that is going on around us. It is from this story that our Red Zone emerges.

• The third aspect is the culture that surrounds us. As stated above, our present community (home, church, town, state, country) has a particular DNA or what we call Code, that shapes us into its own image.

These three aspects of our selves shape who we are and affect our thoughts, emotions, and ultimately our behaviors. 

The problem is always in the room—and begins with me! Conflict raises anxiety, and once anxiety is raised, the focus becomes reducing the anxiety (even when the anxiety is helpful in moving people in more useful directions). One sure-fire way to reduce anxiety is to focus on issues outside of the room (such as a problem person within the congregation). 

This allows us to avoid the present conflict unfolding between us, and focus on something/one who is not present. Another way to reduce anxiety is to marginalize those in the room who bring up conflicted topics that demand resolution. Unfortunately, this runs completely counter to good leadership, which always protects the voice of dissent, knowing that dissenting opinion often ripens the conversation, bringing in different perspectives that have been overlooked. It must be noted that not everyone is adept at dissenting in an effective manner. But no matter, differing opinions are critical to effective conversations.

By the way, avoiding conflict means that there will always be an ‘elephant in the room,’ that unspoken, unprocessed something that continues to gum up the works. If we could talk about it, we could figure out how to resolve it. But we can’t talk about it, so it just simmers there gaining more power within the organization simply because it has never been discussed.

We only grow when we are uncomfortable. That’s right, life is about pain, though we live in a culture that avoids pain at all costs, and always seeks the win-win happy place (which is the immature place noted above). Hopefully this white paper is currently making you uncomfortable, as you begin to see some of your own shortcomings. That discomfort is not a bad thing (though you will experience it as anxiety, and intuitive think to turn away from this paper and not consider its merits). 

Your job with the congregation (as in parenting) is to work yourself out of a job. If you are leading a consumer congregation, and being well-supported for not upsetting the apple cart by raising anxiety too high, then you rest firmly within the majority of clergy. But you may have been reading all of that literature about how to be missional and how to see effective ministry as community-focused, not pastor-focused (where often the most dependent members of your organization set the agendas, thus moving leadership toward weakness rather than strength, and leveraging power to the recalcitrant, the passive-aggressive, and the most anxious members of the institution rather than toward the energetic, the visionary, the imaginative, and the most creatively motivated). This literature is dangerous, for it will stimulate you to begin the transformative work of changing paradigms, which will of course raise congregational anxiety, which will provoke push-back and therefore raise your own anxiety. 

Why not just leave well enough alone? The congregation is content with you in the role of paid Christian who runs all over the place doing the ‘real’ ministry while everyone settles back and watches you sweat. Well, you say, I just can’t. This laissez-faire way of ministering just doesn’t seem to square with what Jesus had in mind, and the way he operated. Just remember, when the status quo is upset, people feel a sense of profound loss and dashed expectations. Then they exert inordinate amounts of pressure on the powers that be (i.e. you) to return things to the status quo.

Transformational Leadership
You decide to change the culture of your congregation, to begin to make them aware that authentic ministry is a community pursuit—not a one person professional Christian pursuit, that every member is uniquely gifted to build up the body and make it healthy. First, understand that you have just stepped into the transformational arena of leadership. That means that simple technical answers (such as having a class after worship that teaches everyone what their responsibilities are, or having everyone read a book) won’t work. 

You are going to have to become very adept at transformational leadership (which involves a number of skills you can find in The Leadership Triangle). You’re going to have to manage your own anxiety as those around you become more anxious (“What? I’m going to have to now exercise my gifts and become an intentional part of this ministry? I didn’t bargain for that. I’m leaving!).  And you’re going to need a game plan. An excellent place to look is the movie Moneyball (with Brad Pitt). This movie explains how Billy Beane, GM of the Oakland A’s baseball team, went about changing the whole paradigm of how baseball is understood, beginning with how players are selected. It also shows the ups and downs he experienced along the way.

You absolutely cannot go it alone, even if you’ve been a Lone Ranger in ministry for many years. As mentioned, I coach and have coached dozens of ministers in many different traditions around the country and in Canada. Over and over I discover these ministers to be isolated in their ministries. And this isolation brings with it a whole host of problems and dysfunctions. Folks, get a clue! You’re on the front lines! You’re taking all manner of incoming fire. How can you possibly be effective, maintain your sanity, uphold clear boundaries, and lead effectively if you’re doing this completely alone? 

You need the support of people who are in the same position as you. (Be advised that people who have not experienced being in ministry have no idea as to the pressures you face, none!). Within your communities undoubtedly there are minister gatherings where you can find understanding and guidance as you navigate the troubled waters of ministry. 

Dr. Jim Osterhaus, Ph.D, is a Senior Partner with TAG Consulting. He also serves as Vice President of the Standing Committee of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic and is a member of Truro Anglican Church in Fairfax, VA.

Part One: What you didn't learn in seminary—and why it matters

By Jim Osterhaus

Editor's Note: The is the first part of a two-part series.

Seminaries in every religious tradition operate across this country and across the globe. Their stated objective is to raise up men and women who can effectively move forward those respective traditions while ministering to the needs – both spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical – of the audiences to whom they have been called.

Over the centuries, seminaries have crafted curricula that religious organizational leaders have judged to contain the essential elements for effective ministry – theology, hermeneutics, homiletics. More recently, courses in human psychology, counseling, culture, and organizational processes have crept into syllabuses to round out a core preparation. Even more recently, seminaries have begun to offer courses in leadership.

And yet, as I coach ministers across this country and across the traditional spectrum, I hear again and again the complaint that these pastors have been ill-prepared to face the realities that day-to-day ministering. And this inadequacy often appears when the newly minted minister first sits down in the church board meeting (whether it be elder, session, vestry, council, or what have you). Often the fearful thought emerges, I’m the leader. What do I do now? What’s important? What’s not? This is intensified the moment conflict begins to develop. And panic often ensues when that conflict devolves on the pastor.

David Gortner, the director of the doctor of ministry program at Virginia Theological Seminary, conducted a 15 year study of students transitioning from students to pastors. He writes: "I have found a consistent pattern among Episcopal clergy of what my colleagues and I call “talented but tenuous”: highly creative people nonetheless lacking in self-confidence and decisiveness, who can come up with wonderful ideas but have neither the skill nor the will (nor feel the permission) to help communities bring ideas to fruition. They are kind, dedicated, and full of ideal visions of what the church could be; but they are also conflict-averse, uncertain how to manage their own anxiety, and unclear about the nature of human systems and organizations."

Added to this is the fact that the vast majority of Christian churches focus ministry on the pastor rather than the community. This sets up the church in the consumer mentality, where congregants come to be ‘entertained,’ and when they feel they can get more entertainment in some over venue, they merely pull up stakes and move on the next venue. The pastor turns into an overworked functionary who bounces from one meeting to another because, “It doesn’t count if you’re not there.”

So let’s consider several lessons that should be essential to any seminary curriculum, but will undoubtedly be absent in the near future.

Lessons

Leadership isn’t a noun, it’s a verb. It’s not a person, it’s an activity. When people talk about “born leaders,” they are typically describing a particular style of leadership that takes on a command and control character. People feel most comfortable when a strong leader of this genre steps up and takes responsibility to lead people in some prescribed direction. These leaders clarify direction and are good at mobilizing people to move in that clarified direction. This activity of leadership, what we often describe as true leadership, is merely one activity that is effective in certain situations (e.g. when there is an emergency), and horrible in other situations (when the community must take responsibility to navigate tricky transitions).

Unfortunately, all too often people in positions of leadership have only one leadership activity in their minds. This brings up the old adage, If you only have a hammer in your toolbox, everything looks like a nail. Applying the same failed activity over and over in the wrong situation will only lead to failure and disillusionment. 

Effective leaders have learned to wield several key leadership activities, depending on the demands of the situation. A very helpful book with regards to what we consider the three different activities of leadership is The Leadership Triangle. The book details the three situations demanding leadership: Tactical, Strategic, and Transformational. Each of these situations demands a different response and posture in order that the leader be effective.

Conflict is absolutely necessary to healthy church functioning, and it will always bring anxiety with it. We’re not saying that all conflict is healthy and constructive. Quite the contrary. Much of conflict is destructive. And learning the difference between healthy (Blue Zone) and unhealthy (Red Zone) conflict is critical. But understanding conflict, and how it affects and provokes issues resident within myself is key to its successful management and utilization. That brings us to the issue of self-awareness.

Your greatest resource is yourself.  You may have already scanned the above points, and said to yourself, There’s no way I can do these things, especially the one about conflict. I’m totally conflict averse, and entertaining and nurturing conflict runs completely contrary to my nature. If you thought that, you’ve taken the first step to becoming more effective, i.e. knowing yourself. At least, at this point, you have a sense of what causes anxiety for you (conflict).

Keep in mind that the threats to your ministry are not external, but internal. It is our tendency to adapt to the surrounding immaturity we find everywhere. It is this immaturity that currently permeates our culture and virtually all its institutions that is so apparent and so destructive of progress forward. In the church, it is expressed by “Feed me! Nurture me! Take responsibility for me! (What Paul addresses in the first letter he writes to the messed up church in Corinth). This kind of emotional climate can only be dissipated by clear, decisive, well-defined leadership.

Dr. Jim Osterhaus, Ph.D, is a Senior Partner with TAG Consulting. He also serves as Vice President of the Standing Committee of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic and is a member of Truro Anglican Church in Fairfax, VA.

Part Two: Why do churches reach a growth ceiling?

By Dr. Jim Osterhaus

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second of a two-part series. Read Part One here.

 Pain and Resistance

One of the hardest concepts to grasp for those who wish to grow is that fact that growth will bring about pain, pain from the loss of important things valued by the pastor and the congregation. What losses are you talking about? you might ask. Growth looks like a good thing, right?.

The first loss for the pastor is the loss of her/his role as the sole minister in the congregation’s life. Pastors of small churches are jacks of all trades. Their responsibilities extend from administration, to public speaking, to hospital visitation. They are the go-to people for practically everything. And many ministers truly cherish this go-to aspect of their lives. In addition to this, having all of these functions gives the pastor a great deal of control, control that often is hard to relinquish. But failing to relinquish this can-do-everything role means the pastor becomes the bottleneck to growth. 

But there’s not only pain for the pastor. There’s pain for the whole congregation, pain from the loss of a small, tight community, and pain from the loss of their familiar role as a congregant as they have known it.

Pain, or the anticipation of pain, causes anxiety. And anxiety creates resistance. I don’t want the pain, so I’ll resist what is creating the pain, which in this case is change.

Here’s an important concept to keep in mind. Resistance is not a foe, but an ally, an ally because it’s giving you information, nothing more, nothing less. But it also tends to screw up plans for moving forward, so most people don’t think of it as an ally.

However, a better way to understand it is merely the forces that exist within each of us that resist change and the pain that change creates. Our brains are structured in such a way as to feel most comfortable during steady state, when nothing is altered. Introduce the hint of change, and our brains tend to react and resist.

The first signal resistance sends is, I don’t like this change. In fact, I don’t like any change.  The second thing resistance signals is, Okay, I can tolerate some change, but you’re going too fast! When the signal inside of us, or from our mentees or direct reports activates, it is up to us to figure out what the signal means. The same as when your smoke detector goes off in your house late at night. You can say to yourself, ‘Damn smoke detector’ while you rip it off the wall and destroy it. Or you can try to figure out what the detector is signaling to you. If there’s a fire, you sure want to know about it.

Competing Values: How I continually manufacture non-change

Because the pastor becomes a facilitator when the issue is transformational, don’t think that the pastor is unimportant. The key element in growth still defaults to the pastor. The leadership role changes depending on the demands of the situation, but he is still the leader, and central to success. And probably the most important characteristic of any successful leader is self-awareness. The self-aware leader is one who understands his own hard-wired personality (those elements that are God-given) and his/her own story (those people and factors that molded him/her as s/he grew up) and the surrounding culture and how it impacts thoughts and behaviors. This self-aware leader is able then to regulate her/his own anxiety as situations become disquieting. 

Let’s start with how we in fact resist change – how we ourselves tend to resist the very changes we ourselves say we want to make. To do this, we need to turn to a discussion of values. Remember, values are those things that matter most to us. Most of us would hope that our values are always aligned and consistent. Unfortunately, that is rarely the case. Life in general, and organizational life in particular, has a nasty habit of offering up choices based on values that aren’t always aligned.

Every organization – business, government agency, church, club – holds numerous challenges as these go about conducting their missions. That will always be true. But what is it within myself that these myriad challenges elicit? It may be nearly impossible for us to bring about any important change in an organization without first understand, then changing ourselves.

Notice that much of what we’ve talked about involves delegation (aka empowerment). Delegation is extremely important for pastors. However, so many pastors get into micro-managing. There is undoubtedly a competing value at work inside of these pastors, unless they simply believe that micro-managing is the absolute best way to do kingdom work and lead their people (which flies in the face of all best management practices, much less kingdom values).

It’s important for you to begin to see how one value, i.e. delegation, gets trumped by another value (competence). Think for a moment of what that competing value inside of the micro-managing pastor is. There’s a good chance that her/his need to be competent may be the competing value. What happens when you delegate? You cede quality control. You know how you would perform, but what about your congregants? Will they do an equally good job? The only way to know is to constantly look over their shoulder.

You might want to fill in the below chart for yourself to see where you might be defeating yourself because of internal competing values.

What do I want to see occur in my church (what do I value)

E.g. I want to see my church grow. This requires distributing leadershipduties to others.

What am I doing/not doing that defeats column one from occurring?

E.g. Whenever I try to turn over leadership, I become anxious and jump in and take back leadership

What competing values drive my actions in column two?

E.g. I must do everything perfectly, and ceding leadership to others is too uncertain as to quality.

This exercise will give you a good start in understanding your own internal inconsistencies that may be sabotaging your best intentions.

Now What? Leading Change

For an excellent look at how an organizational culture can change, take a look at the movie Moneyball. In this movie (based on the true story of the Oakland As ball team in the early 1990s), Billie Beane (the General Manager of the As) comes to a harsh reality. We have no money to buy quality players to win against the big money cities, so we must fundamentally rethink how we go about selecting players. Sound familiar? How can we compete against the mega-church when it’s nearly impossible to close the gap between us?

With the help of Pete James, who has looked at the game and its statistics from a very different paradigm, he begins to rethink how he should do baseball. And the first thing he gets from his scouts, then his manager, then is players, is massive resistance. They realize immediately the losses they will suffer personally if they are to implement this new program. Their anxiety peaks, and they push back, hard.

But Beane continues his program, first getting a few early adaptors, then demonstrating that his plan can work (though the pushback remains fierce). The church world is no different. If you decide that you want to break the 200 barrier and grow, the pushback will be massive. The stakeholders (congregation) will need to wrestle through the implications. The journey will be difficult. But if you stick to it, the results can be rewarding.

I think John Kotter’s work will be helpful. He says that the change process goes through a series of phases that, in total, usually require a considerable length of time. Skipping the below steps creates only the illusion of speed and never produces satisfactory results. Making critical mistakes in any of the phases can have a devastating impact, slowing momentum and negating hard-won gains. So let’s look at the stages:

1. Establish a Sense of Urgency.

2. Form a Powerful Guiding Coalition.

3. Create a Vision.

4. Communicate that Vision.

5. Empower Others to Act on the Vision.

6. Plan for and Create Short Term Wins.

7. Make Improvements and Keep the Momentum for Change Moving.

8. Institutionalize the New Approaches.

 We won’t delineate each of these steps in detail here. You can get Kotter’s book and see what he says. What is critical for you the pastor to understand is that you yourself may in fact be the single most critical impediment to change. If this is the case, it will require a great deal of soul-searching on your part to begin the change process within yourself. And this process almost never occurs in a vacuum. In other words, you need other pastors in whom you trust and with whom you can take this journey. The ability of each of us to deceive ourselves while our own competing values run rampant is unlimited.

Dr. Jim Osterhaus, Ph.D, is a Senior Partner with TAG Consulting. He also serves as Vice President of the Standing Committee of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic and is a member of Truro Anglican Church in Fairfax, VA. Read Part One of this two-part series here.

Part One: Why do churches reach a growth ceiling?

By Dr. Jim Osterhaus

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first of a two-part series.

 "How come my church has reached a numerical number, and we are unable to increase that number?" This is a central question we have found with small churches everywhere. Studies have shown that numbers plateau rather predictably – 200, 500, 1000, etc. The most important plateau, and the one that is the biggest barrier, is the 200 plateau (some will put the number at 150).

The average church in the United States has 66 people in Sunday School attendance. They have 87 in worship attendance. That's across the board out of the 350,000 churches in America. That means if you run more than 87 on Sunday morning you're already above average in America. Eighty-five percent of all churches in America average less than 200 in worship attendance. If you run more than 200 in worship attendance you are in the top 15% of churches in the United States. 

Why is it that churches reach this critical plateau, and so often are unable to exceed it? 
The answer is simple, with very complex implications. Breaking the 200 plateau requires a very different way of doing church. And a different way of doing church requires a different way of doing leadership -- The role of the pastor must change as the role of the congregation changes. 

A pastor of a small church, and the congregation that makes up the small church, have a settled sense of what church life should be all about. In these small churches, the pastor personally ministers to virtually everyone in the congregation. And that is precisely the reason that 200 is the magic number. It is the number of people that one pastor can reasonably pastor.

So what’s the usual pattern? The pastor, or someone(s) in the church starts talking about growth. “We need to grow in order to fulfill the great commission.” A committee is then formed with those who seem interested, and suggestions are generated as to next steps. Possibly a standard outreach program is adopted. The committee excites certain members of the congregation who are gung-ho for about six months, when everyone begins to sense that nothing important is really occurring. And the church settles back into its usual patterns with all the same suspects.

This is a common pattern, so let’s take a closer look, beginning with the pastor.

The Starting Point: The Role Must Change From Minister to Leader. 
People go into the ministry because they want to be helpful to people. They don’t necessarily see themselves as leading large congregations, or managing complex multi-functional staffs. As they begin their ministries (either by planting churches, or taking over smaller churches, or serving on staffs of larger churches), their energies usually focus on ministering to people.

More often than not they have had little or no training in best practices of leadership. Problems and issues arise within their congregations, and they go about handling them in an intuitive manner. Unfortunately, intuitive actions are often the wrong actions. Intuitive actions are almost universally tactical actions

As an example, a pastor sees how much is being spent on printed bulletins each week. S/he googles the cost of power point projection systems and realizes s/he can recoup the cost in a year by discontinuing printed bulletins. When s/he offers this to the congregation, people become angry and push back, startling him. Another pastor notes that the young couples’ Sunday School class attendance now exceeds the seniors class attendance. The only problem, the seniors are in a bigger classroom. The next Sunday the pastor announces to the senior and couples classes that they will switch rooms next week. The seniors are outraged. Both pastors take the tactical, intuitive action. Both meet with strong resistance, much to their dismay.

Congregational issues that arise within a church require quite different responses from the pastor – his role must change depending on what is being faced. Unfortunately, most pastors (and leaders generally) have no idea when the situation has actually changed, let alone what new role must be assumed because of it. But as the saying goes, "If you only have a hammer in your toolbox, everything looks like a nail."

Consider this graph taken from The Leadership Triangle

When the problem is tactical
When the problem is tactical, the leader’s role is that of an expert or an expert-finder. His/her tone is confident – “we can apply our current base of knowledge to solve this”. The key question he raises is “What’s wrong here?” and the evident problems are to be solved. As s/he interacts with her/his people s/he functions as a trainer, bringing knowledge to bear. And s/he functions in the present tense – “how can we solve this problem right away so that our today can be better”. A tactical issue: It snowed last night, and someone needs to remove it from the church sidewalks and parking lot.

Unfortunately, we all like to function in the role of expert. We like people to turn to us for answers, and worst of all, we’re more than happy to fuel that belief that we are the go-to people in everything dealing with the church. 

When the problem is strategic
When the problem is strategic, the leader’s role is that of a synthesizer, bringing together knowledge of the internal organization, the external constituency, and the broader climate. His/her tone is that of casting vision, introducing an inspiring picture of the future that takes advantage of and confronts the changing landscape. Her/his key question is “what should be our focus?” and s/he realizes that the key way to tackle problems is through innovation and integration. His/her interaction with his/her followers is best described as inspirational and s/he focuses on the future tense-- the imagined and aspired-to results of careful adherence to a clearly articulated strategy. Strategic issues involve the future direction of the church, and resource allocation that must follow.

When the problem is transformational 
When the problem is transformational (adaptive), the leader’s role is that of a facilitator, inviting dialogue and discovery, particularly in the areas of values and beliefs. The tone s/he strikes is one of creativity– whether in problem-solving or in conflict! S/he knows that the key question now is itself “What’s the question?” and that problems are not so much to be solved or planned for as much as re-framed – considered in an entirely new way. S/he knows that group interaction at this level of leadership needs to be free-flowing and robust – everything on the table – and that his focus is not only on the present but also on the past and the future. Transformational challenges are the very stuff of leadership and require a leader operating at full creative capacity. In the above two examples, of the power point replacing printed bulletins and the switching of classrooms, both issues appear on the surface to be purely tactical. But judging from the reaction of the congregations (both examples actually happened), there’s a great deal of transformational material in the two responses.

Take the issue of growing beyond the 200 plateau. If the pastor is operating as a transformational leader, he will call a town meeting and say something like, 

Several in leadership in the church, along with myself, have considered a concerted effort to reach out into our community and grow our numbers. The value of reaching out is clear to all of us I believe. But competing with that reaching out value is the competing value of maintaining a solid community here at the church, which will inevitably be disrupted as new people enter our doors. My role as your pastor will also need to change. I will no longer be available to do hospital visits, etc. when the need arises. That means that you all will need to more intentionally exercise your various gifts. And that will be exciting and disruptive, all at the same time. So I’ve called you together to discuss this. I can’t make this decision alone. It will affect all of us, so let’s discuss this.

The pastor becomes a facilitator
This can be very difficult for some ministers, because they want to direct the conversation and supply the answers. But the conversation must take on a life of its own as the stakeholders wrestle with the implications of growth, and what they need to do. It should be noted that as the pastor moves into the facilitator role when s/he recognizes the issue to be transformational, there will also be substantial pushback from many in the congregation. The demand will be for the pastor to “take charge” and do the hard decision-making (“Isn’t that your job?”). But the pastor then must realize that transformational work is the work of the stakeholders who will have to navigate the conflicting values and ultimately live with the resultant conclusions.

During this discussion, anxiety will usually grow (the pastor must carefully regulate this). As anxiety grows, there will be an effort on the part of the congregation to have the pastor step in and ‘apply strong leadership,’ and tell them what to do. This seduction must be resisted because the work must be carried on by the congregation. They must wrestle with the implications, even though the struggle is painful.

The pastor must also realize that s/he cannot solve this problem. In fact, no one can solve this problem. It can only be navigated. It will be an ongoing problem (as it is for all churches), the problem of growth vs. building strong community.

Read Part Two in the next issue of the Mid-Atlantic Messenger.

Dr. Jim Osterhaus, Ph.D, is a Senior Partner with TAG Consulting. He also serves as Vice President of the Standing Committee of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic and is a member of Truro Anglican Church in Fairfax, VA.

Reflecting on the miracle of new life

Whenever I look at my 16-month old granddaughter, I am filled with an awe and wonder that I cannot explain. It was the same feeling I had whenever I looked at her father, my son, Nick, and his sister, Angie when they were little. There is a mystery to creating a new life that is indescribable. That may be why I am so drawn to starting new churches. I love to experience that joy and deep sense of participating in something so much bigger than I am. I realize that my part in this is only a fraction of the whole, but what a privilege it is to partner with God in this way.

For many years I’ve made the case that every church can become a parent. I realize that many congregations think it is beyond them, something only the bigger churches can do, but I flatly do not believe this. I am convinced that God has designed everything in the natural world to reproduce itself. When all systems are in place and that organism is healthy and functioning normally, it reproduces. The Church is no different. I will concede that it complicates life to become a parent. Giving birth is not for the faint of heart – just ask any woman who has done it! But, for all the drama and messiness, the bond you have with your children and grandchildren is an amazing and unparalleled gift. I believe God wants every church to experience this same joy.

One important thing to note is that there are many ways of becoming a parent church. Historically, our larger churches have given birth to “high birth-weight babies” - daughter churches that start their life with an associate minister and a number of families from the mother church. This takes a serious commitment of financial and people resources but is very effective. More recently, we’ve begun to explore other models that are also very effective, but less costly to the mother church. Fresh Expressions, Missional Communities, and Satellite Campuses are all effective ways to touch communities that are not being reached by the congregation’s current ministry. These models have the added benefits of activating the multiplication gene in a congregation’s DNA and may also be a better fit for the congregations who are smaller in size and capability. 

This summer, seven churches in the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic formed a learning community to explore what it means to become a multiplying church. These New Church Incubators have agreed to meet 2-3 times a year for fellowship, lunch, and a group study of books and other resources. Together they will hear guest speakers share their testimonies and best practices, develop strategies for multiplication and funding of new churches, and pray for God’s guidance and wisdom. As a learning community, they are developing a conceptual framework and vocabulary for multiplication, including the biblical and theological foundations of church multiplication and a philosophy of ministry that is consistent with our Anglican polity. My great hope and expectation is that this initiative will assist us in developing our own internal “farm system,” i.e. a leadership pipeline that consistently identifies, enlists, raises up, and deploys new leaders into the harvest field. The DOMA Internship and Residency programs will also be instrumental in this effort, helping to provide training and coaching for our emerging leaders. I see this as a collaborative effort between all members of the learning community and our diocese. My role will be to convene the group, coordinate our activities, provide training and coaching, and lend some organizational leadership to our efforts. 

To help kick off this initiative, many of us attended Becoming Five, a regional conference sponsored by the Exponential Network at New Life Church in Chantilly on September 12-13. We also began reading the book Becoming a Level 5 Multiplying Church Field Guide by my good friends, Todd Wilson and Dave Ferguson, who lead the Exponential Network and have done much to stimulate church multiplication in North America. 

I invite every church in DOMA to join us on this journey as we say ‘yes’ to God’s invitation to participate in the miracle of new life.  I believe this initiative will be critical for the long-term health and growth of our congregations and our diocese, as we explore new ways of reaching our communities with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

The Rev. Dr. Tom Herrick is Canon for Church Planting for the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic. 

How do we reach out in our culture today?

By Tom Herrick

One of the great questions we, the Church, have to deal with today is how to relate to our culture. This is a complex question that resists simple solutions, yet it is a vital part of learning to think and act missionally. In the midst of a rapidly changing world, we can find ourselves vacillating between various postures: “going with the flow” (you can’t change City Hall), actively building walls of separation, or ignoring what is happening altogether. Unless we learn to engage consistently, we will not be able to effectively communicate our message to those who most need to hear it. 

Tim Keller unpacks this for us in his book Center Church, explaining that churches can place their ministries on a continuum ranging from being “overadapted” at one extreme to “underadapted” at the other. His counsel is to find the center. This will be that place where we are able to affirm those values that closely align to those of the Kingdom of God, while simultaneously challenging and confronting those which do not. Overadapting places us in danger of losing our unique identity as we gradually accept the idols of the culture and lose the credibility necessary to call others to change. Underadapting renders us irrelevant, as no one will listen to us, deeming us to be judgmental, confusing, or offensive. Keller says, “To the degree a ministry is overadapted or underadapted to a culture, it loses life-changing power.” (p. 24)

Church leaders have struggled to find the center from the very beginnings of the biblical record. Old Testament leaders well understood the tendency to overadapt to the surrounding cultures. Despite their love for the Mosaic Law, they struggled constantly with keeping it, as they succumbed to their desire to become more like the nations around them (1 Sam 8:4-9). These instances of overadaptation resulted in their compromising their unique identity as God’s people. Despite reform movements under faithful kings like Hezekiah and Josiah, Israel typically found themselves slipping back into places of idolatry and spiritual adultery. Given their experience, it is understandable that some of their leaders would underadapt and become more separatists in their views, as the Pharisees were. Yet, this misses the point, too, just in the opposite direction.

The struggle to find the center came to a head in Jesus’ ministry.  His focus on the “lost sheep of the house of Israel” consistently placed him in the company of those furthest from God, much to the displeasure of the religious leaders. Fearful of syncretism, they constantly opposed his ministry and saw him as a threat to their way of life. Yet, Jesus was clear in his priorities and understood that reaching out to those who were sick and in need of the doctor didn’t indicate a lack of love or concern for those who were well. His example was (as remains) a clarion call to engagement. He was expressing the need to listen to those who were hurting and without hope, reaching out with the healing touch of a loving God. This was not syncretism—it was pure and unbounded love.

The Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles present a similar picture of a young church seeking to find God’s center. Following the vision of the great sheet containing all kinds of food, Peter reaches out to Cornelius and his household (Acts 10). His explanation to his fellow leaders reflects Jesus’ more nuanced understanding that one could maintain the call to holiness while simultaneously engaging the culture. Barnabas and Paul followed Peter’s lead in Antioch and later took the call to reach the entire Gentile world with the message of the Gospel as their primary mission. Like Peter, Paul also understood that the call to holiness and the call to engage the culture were not mutually exclusive, but two sides of the same calling. In fact, it is clear that in Paul’s mind, one could not adequately live out his calling unless he was engaging the culture (1 Co 9:20-22). Ultimately, it is this vision that has fueled all of the great missionary movements throughout church history. 

These questions remain relevant for us today and must be addressed. The Fresh Expressions Movement that began in the Anglican Church in the UK almost 20 years ago is a great example for us to follow. Pioneer planters began establishing relationships with micro communities that would never darken the doors of their churches. Biker gangs, prostitutes, skaters, and hip hop artists are just a few. The emphasis for them began with listening. Each of these groups represented a sub-culture that had developed its own ways of thinking and communicating. Each of them had little or no relationship to the Church. To communicate the Gospel, they reasoned, they needed to first understand the other’s language. To do this, they had to establish relationships first, gain trust, and gradually earn the right to be heard. These relational bridges are “pre-evangelistic” and need to be strong enough before the Gospel can be shared. The key is to be sure the bridge is strong enough to hold the weight of the message. Today more than 10% of the Anglican Church in England is made up of these Fresh Expressions who were previously far from God and completely disconnected from the life of Christ and from the Church. All of this became possible because faithful missionaries stopped waiting for them to come visit their churches and decided to go to find them in the highways and byways of their communities. 

As our churches grapple with finding the center, we too need to master the art of listening and learning how others think and what they believe. There are vast differences which must be bridged. In a recent meeting, the Missional Planning team from All Nations DC recently articulated it this way: “Who do we want to be? In working towards our goals, are we catering to who we currently have in the congregation or tailoring for who we want to reach?” Excellent question! Another way to ask this might be, “For whom are we doing our ministries: ourselves or others who need to receive what God has given to us?” The faithful Church in the twenty-first century must find the middle ground, the solid center, where we are unapologetically faithful to the One who has called, redeemed, and is sanctifying us while also building bridges and sharing the Gospel with those who do not yet know or follow Him. This is the fullest expression of our discipleship.

The Rev. Dr. Tom Herrick is Canon for Church Planting for the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic. Read part one of this three-part series here.

Five Ways to Love and Reach Your Community

By Tom Herrick

We  take an in-depth look at five different approaches to evangelism, focusing on various strategies for using each style, hear stories of how this style has been employed by churches in our diocese, learn practical tools for applying each style in your local context, and learn how to build an evangelistic culture in your church.  We share a light dinner following the sessions, during which leaders will group according to the mode or style of evangelism they are most interested in for their own context. 

Canon Tom Herrick and the Rev. Jay Baylor and guests. The Rev. Tom Herrick serves as the diocesan Canon for Church Planting. He is the executive director of the Titus Institute for Church Planting and serves on the provincial church planting leadership team for the Anglican Church in North America. 

The Rev. Jay Baylor is planting a multi-ethnic church in East Baltimore called Church of the Apostles in the City with ministry partner, Pastor Carletta Wright. Jay has twenty years of ministry experience as a house church pastor, youth and young adult pastor and as a Young Life area director. 

Listen to all the talks here.

Matt Hemsley (Truro Anglican Church) 

Patti Brown (The LAMB Center)

Meredith Brown and Elden Stoffel (The Falls Church Anglican)

Joe Acanfora and Anita Aberley (Church of the Apostles)

Jay Baylor and AC (Apostles in the City)

Clancy Nixon (Church of the Holy Spirit)

The Rev. Canon Tom Herrick, D.Min., is Canon for Church Planting for the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic and chair of the Great Commission Committee.  

Learning to think and act missionally: How effective structures empower mission

This is the third in a three-part series. Read part one here and part two here.

By Tom Herrick

Every congregation develops structures to facilitate the things they need to do on a consistent basis. We normally refer to these as our “ministries,” and depend on them to create order as we carry on the functions that are important to us. Like any other organization, the church needs these structures to give shape and consistency to its life together. Whether that structure is to provide leadership, coordinate activities, or provide processes to accomplish the things that need to be done, creating structures is a natural part of living life together.

In new churches, creating ministry structures often happens organically in response to needs that arise. For instance, in Acts 6, the apostles faced one of their first ministry challenges. Luke records that the church was increasing in number and that this growth resulted in the Hellenist widows being neglected in the daily distribution of food.

To respond to this need, the apostles appointed the first “deacons,” and delegated this responsibility to them. This was more than a small, tactical decision on their part. They realized the need to respond strategically to their changing circumstances so they would not lose focus on their essential mission. In the process, they created a new structure that has survived in the church until this day. Although the functions of deacons have morphed over the years as needs have changed, the deaconate remains a vital part of our organizational system. 

The older and larger a church becomes, the more these structures settle into place and become “set.” While necessary, these structures need to remain nimble and responsive to the needs they are meant to address. Like the early church in Acts 6, we too must become self-reflective and responsive in our leadership.

With our circumstances continually changing, we must develop the expectation that our structures will also need to be flexible. We’ve often heard the saying that the seven last words of a dying church are: “we’ve never done it that way before.” If we are to remain responsive to the massive and pervasive changes occurring in our culture, we need to learn to remain supple and nimble, as the first Apostles were. Unless our ministry structures are developed in light of our mission, they will calcify and become ineffective in the long run.  

This challenge is especially acute for us in the Anglican Church in North America. For those of us who were initially formed in a “maintenance” vs. a “missional” mentality, our assumptions about what to do and how to do it are deeply rooted in our collective subconscious.

The process of becoming missional hinges on our willingness to identify our assumptions about what we are doing and actively examine them in light of our mission. This may lead to confrontations, yet, as we see from another conversation in Acts 15, sometimes these skirmishes are a necessary part of our growth. Indeed, failure to confront decisions and structures that run contrary to our mission will ultimately lead us in the opposite direction from where God is leading us.

When a missional DNA forms in the heart of a congregation, their entire church life takes shape around it and becomes an expression of who they are and what they are called to do. As the Apostles said then, we too need to be able to shape our ministry in ways that “seem good to the Holy Spirit and to us.”

As we do this, we reach those we are called to reach, bringing them into a saving relationship with Jesus, and sharing the abundant life that is available to all in Christ – indeed, becoming a missional church in every respect.

The Rev. Dr. Tom Herrick is Canon for Church Planting for the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic.