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

Hearing and following the call to plant churches

By Pamela Meeks

EDITOR's NOTE: This is the next installment in our "Into Harvest Series" where we are meeting and getting to know members of the Great Commission Committee of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic, learning more about who they are and why they are committed to the mission of church planting. 

In the 1990’s, my husband and I heard a call to live and minister in Turkey before we even met each other. When we did meet and our hearts were joined together, we knew that God had some special calling for us in this new country. We were newlyweds when we arrived in Istanbul to begin language learning and culture learning. But the truth is: we did not have a clear sense of what God had prepared for us to do with any specificity. Perhaps that sounds unusual given the finances we had to raise and the plans that we had to make to get us to this point in ministry, but this is actually not so uncommon.

By no means everyone, but some of us arrived in another country with a vision that was ready to evolve. My husband and I had a clear call to be involved in evangelism and discipleship but it wasn’t obvious how we were to proceed. Our reasons for some vagueness were on purpose. We knew that people and their ideas change when they are in another country. Our own views and vision needed to be fleshed out with the realities on the ground. We were there to discover more specifically how we were to be used by God. Actually being in the country with some flexibility allowed us a chance to approach ministry with some humility and in a learner posture. Although flexibility and humility can set people on the path of being cooperative with others, it is a clear drag on folks like me who like to plan ahead!

Our early years were set aside for learning the language and learning the culture. We always had the goal in mind that we would want to attain a level of Turkish mastery to be able to preach in Turkish. The goal of cultural adjustment was equally important. As we spent time, and were involved in modest evangelistic and discipling relationships, we had a growing conviction that church planting was the specificity that we were looking for. Individuals might be converted, but without the church, someone would not be able to grow and thrive in the long term. We decided to move to a city on the coast of the Mediterranean to meet together with others interested in starting a new church.

As we worked together with another teammate from Germany, we began to learn the ropes of church planting. Our team had many decisions to make, and some of them were significant and consequential. We were always weighing different options. At the time we were not confirmed in a denomination so we were working with those from a non-denominational background. Our little church met in a home and we were deeply involved in people’s lives.

Our hearts for Turkish believers grew exponentially and this little fellowship lasted 8 or so years before they decided to fold into a larger church in the city. We did run into some problems as we looked at the role of women in the church and it was then that our family pulled up roots and moved to a city on the Black Sea. We helped join together a church planting team with local believers. We took our experiences, confidence and convictions with us to this new endeavor. This time we put ourselves under the authority of a Turkish pastor in another city and that was definitely a good decision. Like many church plants, this little fellowship weathered some difficult relational issues and in the end we only spent three years in this new city.

After we came back to the United States and finished degrees in seminary at Trinity School for Ministry, we moved to Northern Virginia. I was ordained an Anglican priest in January  2010. Naturally, I was drawn to church planting again and enjoyed serving with Rev. Jack Grubbs at Potomac Falls Anglican. In 2009 I was asked to join the GCC where I have continued to enjoy being a part of new work that is begun around the diocese.

The Rev. Pamela Meeks is the Associate Rector of Church of the Epiphany Anglican in Herndon, VA. She also serves as a member of the Great Commission Committee. 

Part One: Church Planting is a major focus at Assembly 2017

By Alex Leighton

EDITOR's NOTE: This is the next installment in our "Into Harvest Series" where we are meeting and getting to know members of the Great Commission Committee of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic, learning more about who they are and why they are committed to the mission of church planting. The Rev. Alex Leighton is featured in this issue and in addition to his ministry at All Saints' Church and the Great Commission Committee, he also attended Assembly 2017 and writes of his experience.

Greetings and blessings in Jesus' Name! My name is Alex Leighton and I'm the Associate Rector at All Saints' in Woodbridge, VA. My wife, Rebecca, and I have been married for 11 years, and we have four children, Ezekiel, 9, Sydney, 7, Titus, 6, and Violet, 3. We have a full life (I've stopped using the word "busy") with ministry, Rebecca's growing home business, and our family life. As a family, we recently had the joy of hosting Community Vacation Bible School in our yard, and 27 students joined us for five days of fun-filled discovery of the God of the universe. It was such a gift to be able to minister together as a family, as we saw young people, and especially our neighbors profess faith in Jesus. 

Our family ministry began years ago, as we were part of a church plant in Westchester County, NY, beginning in 2007. We were starting a family and a church at the same time—not for the faint of heart! And while that time was full of joys and challenges, we saw God's hand in that whole experience. We loved the opportunities we had to be on mission outside the walls of the church, to share the gospel, and to see people respond. In 2011, when All Saints' and Dan Morgan were looking for a third priest, they extended a call to us and the timing was right for us to join in that new mission. While the last six years I have been on staff at All Saints', the love of evangelism and church-planting continues. I loving being a part of the Great Commission Committee as we get to encourage evangelism and church-planting on the diocesan level.  

My most recent experience with the Great Commission Committee came at the ACNA's Provincial Assembly in Wheaton, IL. I was part of the Always Forward track, the team equipping our province for church planting. Being among church planters and church-planting leaders was such an encouragement. I'd love to share a couple of highlights from that time. Canon Dan Alger, who leads Always Forward, began the teaching time and he immediately challenged our preconceived notions of what it meant to plant churches. So often we jump to the "How?" of church planting before we deal with the "Who?", the "What?", and the "Why?" According to Dan, Anglican church planting is a work of submission; of leaders who are submitted to the Lord and to local authorities, not "hero entrepreneurs" bent on gaining a name for themselves. We are called as Anglican church planters to engage in the pursuit of holiness, both personal and corporate.  

Building on what Dan Alger shared to open our time, Bishop Stewart Ruch taught on the architecture and the engineering of the church. The architecture he took from Acts 2:42-47, calling us to be like the early church, a church that was scriptural, sacramental, spirit-filled, sacrificial, and salvation-oriented. In Anglican circles, we often talk of the three streams of the Anglo-Catholic, the Evangelical, and the Charismatic. Bishop Ruch said that was incomplete and could lead us to the danger of becoming a "cul-de-sac church", where people come to visit and have their personal tastes appealed to, but that we don't continue to head out in mission. The sacrificial piece and the salvation-oriented piece lead us out to fulfill both the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.

Bishop Ruch also taught on the engineering of the church from Ephesians 4. We are called into the catalytic offices of apostle, prophet, and evangelist, and to the building offices of shepherd/pastor, and teacher, he said. We need all of those fully functioning to be a five-fold church. For me personally, this teaching really found a home in my heart and I've been processing it since my time there. I do pray for our movement, that we won't be a "boutique" church, or just a destination for other Christians who haven't found all their needs met elsewhere, but that we would indeed be fully engaged in God's mission, recognizing the mission at our doorstep and beyond.

The Rev. Alex Leighton is Associate Rector of All Saints' Church, Woodbridge, VA. He serves as a member 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. 

Listen to our 14 planter testimonies!

At our Diocesan Synod last weekend, 14 planters spoke of their work in planting churches in the Mid-Atlantic.  

You might want to begin by listening to twelve 45 second testimonies from twelve planters, starting at minute 17:19 on the recording, and then circle back to hear longer testimonies of the 2 churches who were admitted into the Diocese.   To listen, go here.

Church Planting Residents – Boldly Going

In many ways, church planting residents remind me a lot of Trekkies. Who doesn’t remember the mission of the Starship Enterprise: “to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life forms and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before?” The Church is in a new place these days and she is looking for those who are brave enough to step into the unknown and discover what surprises God has in store for them.

This fall, Mary Amendolia (The Falls Church Anglican) and Jay Baylor (Church of the Apostles) became the first two residents to inaugurate this program in the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic. Both are seasoned ministers who have completed seminary training and are exploring new ways of being the church (see Mary’s Nov 5th blog article, “Fresh Expressions – A Primer”).  As residents, each has raised their own support from a combination of private sources and grants from the diocese and their congregations. A portion of their time will be dedicated to working to support existing programs and ministries, which will be a tremendous benefit to their host congregations. The remainder of their time will be devoted to beginning and growing a new worshipping community. Mary has discerned a call to reach the artistic community in D.C. while Jay will continue his work with people on the economic and social margins in Baltimore City (see Jay’s Nov 11th blog article, “Adventures in Samaria”).

 A central component of this new program is gathering together for training once each month. Topics such as “Developing Your Theological Vision,” “Cultural Exegesis and Your Community’s Profile,” and “Developing Your Leadership Team” are just a sampling of the topics the residents will cover. Guest instructors such as Bp. Guernsey, the Rev. Clancy Nixon (chair of  L10-2), and other experienced planters will join me as I serve as the principal instructor. Using an adult learning methodology referred to as an “Action/Reflection” model, the residents will “learn by doing.” The entire focus of their training will be to assist them as they build a new culture among those with whom they are working. The training is not meant to be a prescribed formula for their work, merely a set of guidelines that will help them as they listen, discern, and discover the fresh new things that God is doing in their midst.

 The Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic joins many other church multiplication networks who are creating their own residency programs where leaders like Mary and Jay can take a creative approach using a “field-based” training model. We are looking for more residents (or interns – the commitment for an intern is only 3-6 months), as well as churches who would like to be host congregations. Please let me know if you or your church would like to join them and begin to boldly go where you have never gone before. It’s a new day and these are exciting times to explore. It’s a great way to get a fresh perspective on your ministry and give opportunities to young leaders to stretch their wings and fly.

If you’d like to explore becoming a church planting resident, or to hire one, contact us at L10-2.