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.

L10-2: What We’re About

We’ve been praying, and God has been answering.  We’re “praying earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers to his harvest field” (Luke 10:2) in the Mid-Atlantic, and He is doing just that. We now have planters of 13 congregations at work in our Diocese who have been in the field for 2 years or less. Three more are just beginning.  We’ve targeted 26 new cities in our region for plants in the coming years. The number of new plants is accelerating each year.

We’ve been praying, and God has been answering.  We’re “praying earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers to his harvest field” (Luke 10:2) in the Mid-Atlantic, and He is doing just that. We now have planters of 13 congregations at work in our Diocese who have been in the field for 2 years or less. Three more are just beginning.  We’ve targeted 26 new cities in our region for plants in the coming years. The number of new plants is accelerating each year.

We are L10-2, and we are the Great Commission Committee (GCC). The GCC is our canonical name, and L10-2 is the new name we have adopted for the church planting efforts of the GCC and the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic.  We’re a church planting network.  L10-2 is also the name of this website, www.L10-2.org.  Our new name reflects our commitment to praying in the harvest, which is as plentiful as it has ever been in our region.  As it states in our list of values on our Info page, “we are prayer-based and prayer-driven.”

We prayed for Baltimore, and God brought Steve Holt and Holy Table Church.  We prayed for Charlottesville, and God brought Dave Petty and Crossroads Church. We’re praying for Richmond, and we see some new activity there.  We’ve formed a new Cross-cultural Task Force to pray for and reach new immigrants, and God is bringing planters to plant in Korean, Spanish, and Urdu. More on that soon.

It’s not easy to keep up with all that God is doing! Fortunately, God has brought together an extraordinarily gifted and dedicated team to facilitating the mission of Church Planting in our Diocese.  Bishop John Guernsey is visionary, dedicated, and hands-on. Tom Herrick is the premiere Anglican planting consultant and coach on our continent. Rick Wright is a wise counselor and skilled leader.  Mal Young is a behind-the-scenes doer and encourager.  Kathy Galvan is a sharp administrator who supports me in our work for the Diocese.  I chair the group.  Together, this group is our Executive Committee.  The rest of the team – Joe Acanfora, Jay Baylor, Patrick Cunningham, Alex Leighton, and Pamela Meeks– ably and diligently labor to contribute to this work.

Why are we doing this?  Our Vision is “to saturate the Mid-Atlantic region with a thriving network of churches in the Anglican tradition that are biblical, missional, and reproducing, thereby helping to spark a Holy Spirit-led revival in our region.”

Please join me in praying that God would use our new website to attract, encourage, and equip hundreds of potential church planters and planting partners to plant new churches in our region and beyond. To God be the glory.+

by Clancy Nixon

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.

6 Spiritual Keys to Fundraising

There are 6 spiritual keys to your fund raising. Randy Alcorn describes the Christian’s ideal position on finances through six keys in his book The Treasure Principle.

Key 1: God owns everything. I’m his money manager. (We are the managers of the assets God has entrusted—not given—to us.)

Key 2: My heart always goes where I put God’s money. (Watch what happens when you reallocate your money from temporal things to eternal things.)

Key 3: Heaven, not earth, is my home. (We are citizens of “a better country, a heavenly one.” Hebrews 11:16)

Key 4: I should live not for the dot but for the line. (From the dot—our present life on earth—extends a line that goes on forever, which is eternity in heaven.)

Key 5: Giving is the only antidote to materialism. (Giving is the joyful surrender to a greater Person and a greater agenda. It dethrones me and exalts Him.)

Key 6: God prospers me not to raise my standard of living but to raise my standard of giving. (God gives us more money than we need so we can give—generously.)

Take advantage of the next scheduled People Raising Conference. Each conference is very interactive and is designed to have you ask your fund raising questions, learn from the insights of others and glean from the 40+ years of fund raising experience from Bill Dillon.

Go through the 6-hour People Raising training program, available in DVD, CD and MP3.

How You Can Plant & Add Both People and Money: 1-2-3

When I ask clergy and lay leaders to consider planting a church right now, I typically hear 3 objections: We’re too small; we can’t afford to lose anyone; and we don’t have enough money!  What if you learned that your church can plant, no matter your size, without losing, but instead adding both people and money? Would you be interested?

It’s true. Almost any church can help to plant another congregation. While some planting methods require giving away people and money, not all methods do. The Mother-Daughter “Hive-off” method, where a Mother Church sends families to a new location, typically results in a smaller Mother. When we planted Church of the Holy Spirit, we left Truro with 8 families. After 2 years, 4 families returned to Truro, so Truro “lost” net 4 families. (Some families who leave to plant would have left anyway, because pioneering people seek new challenges. Others will be attracted to your church because you planted!)

At CHS, we’re planting campuses of our church that, when grown, may become free-standing.  Last year, we sent two families to our Waterford location. I coach Graham Walker, and he participates in our peer learning sessions with other lay planters. CHS Waterford now adds 25 to our total Sunday attendance, and our income and net gospel clout has grown. Some of their tithes come to Leesburg, since we handle their administration.

In the 3 years since Archbishop Duncan called for 1000 new ACNA congregations in 5 years, we’ve planted about 300 congregations. That leaves 700 more to plant in 1 year. Is it possible? Yes, we believe the Call was from God, and that He will fulfill it.  How?

Our Bishops have endorsed the call “1-2-3”. Every congregation, large and small, is called to be a part of planting at least 1 new congregation in the next 2 years, using one of 3major strategies. The first way is Diocesan planting, as we recruited Steve Holt to plant in Baltimore last year. The second way is for a mother church to hive off a daughter congregation, as The Falls Church and Truro have.

The third way, the Pioneering Strategy, employs both lay and ordained leaders who are apprenticed to reach unreached groups.  This includes Church of the Holy Spirit’s campus model; Fresh Expressions missional outreaches to niche groups; and more.  Here in our Diocese, we are now training and coaching leaders how to do this.

We ask you to pray for (Luke 10:2) and seek out pioneers who desire to be apprenticed in planting. Is there a college close to you? Are there language groups in your area who can be reached?   Would you like a church planting intern or resident?  We can train you and your planters. Please contact me at clancynixon@gmail.com. Let’s walk alongside each other to fulfill the vision of 1000 new congregations in North America.

Adventures in Samaria

“I think that healing stuff is a bunch of bunk, but I’ll take a cup of coffee and a prayer.”  This is what Greg told me when I stopped him on the street outside a methadone clinic in East Baltimore (Methadone is synthetic heroin.  It is prescribed to treat chronic pain and heroin addiction).  We were there with students and leaders from a youth group that was staying with us for a week of Urban Missions.  The tailgate of my truck was the platform for giving away pastries, coffee, healing, freedom, blessing, peace and friendship-  the goodness of the Kingdom for free.

The cartilage in Greg’s knees was basically gone and he couldn’t stand for much more than a minute.  He certainly couldn’t walk.  So he was confined to getting around on a scooter.  A couple of students and I prayed briefly for Greg and asked him how he felt.  He was surprised when he flexed his knees that he didn’t have pain, so he got up to walk around!  He had no pain or stiffness.  He stood and walked around and talked with us for over an hour.  He was healed, praise God!  When he had to go, he got back on his scooter and said, “I thought that healing stuff was bunk, but now I believe.  I’m going home and put this scooter away!”

Since then I’ve seen Greg every week at the methadone clinic.  Since he’s no longer in pain he is coming down off of methadone and should be clean in another month.  Until then, he walks the 12 blocks to the clinic every day without any trouble!  A few weeks ago Greg told us that before he got healed he didn’t really have much faith in God, but now he knows God.  He reads his Bible daily and is praying with his wife.  His wife used to try to drag him to church, but now he really wants to go.  Greg’s life was completely changed in one encounter with Jesus!

As I celebrate this testimony with you I’m wondering why I don’t do this every day.  The goodness and kindness of God just never ceases to amaze me.  We’ve seen broken vertebrae healed, bullets disappear out of bodies, countless knees and backs healed, miraculous detoxing and addictions broken.  We often pray for places to live, peace in homes, restoration of relationships, jobs, favor with the courts, safety for family members in prison, you name it.  It’s such a privilege to give His love away.

My neighborhood, where I’m living and planting a church is only 2 miles away from the methadone clinic in East Baltimore.  Jesus told the disciples to go to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth.  East Baltimore is my Samaria.  It is very close, just next door.  But the people and their culture are very different from mine.  I am determined to reach my own neighborhood.  But I cannot ignore those nearby who have such great need.  The intense desperation in East Baltimore is palpable.

My sense of justice is assaulted by the systemic problems of poverty, unemployment, poor education, drug addiction, violence and oppression.  I can’t stay in my neighborhood and pretend this isn’t happening right down the street.  The Lord has a dream to restore all the earth, Baltimore included, your city or region included.  I am convinced this is part of our call as a believing community to join with the Lord to do our part in transforming our city.  Where is your Samaria?

It would be easy to be overwhelmed by the scope of the problem.  I know that the gospel is answer.  So we just serve one cup of coffee at a time, taking time for each person who stops by, sharing the goodness and love that we have received with them.  The Lord is always faithful as He so miraculously displayed for Greg.  Go find your Greg.

To find out more about what Burning Heart is doing, or to come join us in an Urban Mission, visit www.burningheartforthecity.com  or you can contact me at 410-459-5404, jaysbaylor@gmail.com

Fresh Expressions – a Primer

Did you know that Anglicans and Baptists are forging partnerships to envision new forms of church for our changing culture? Yes, they are. How are they doing this? The Anglican Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic and the Baptist General Association of Virginia are partnering together through Fresh Expressions US.

Fresh Expressions originated nearly 10 years ago among leaders in the Church of England and the British Methodist Church as a way to deal with declining church attendance in the UK. In December 2010, The Falls Church Anglican and Columbia Baptist Church played host to the first meetings of what is now Fresh Expressions US. In those meetings, attendees discussed the sorts of cross denominational partnerships necessary to overcome the projected decline in church involvement here in the US.

Fresh Expressions of church exist especially for those who have never been involved in church (un-churched) or people who once were part of a church, but left for whatever reason (de-churched). While a fresh expression of church might look different from the structure of a more established church, they are best conceived and orchestrated in partnership with established churches.

If the goal of a church (new or established) is to do mission better or more imaginatively in order to attract more people to their church, it isn’t a fresh expression of church. The aim of a fresh expression isn’t to provide a stepping stone into an existing church, but to form a new kind of church that steps out in its own right.

Instead of starting a church with a worship service, Fresh Expressions of church begin with a process of listening to and learning from the community. Fresh Expressions of church are Incarnational, coming alongside people and places and infusing them with the good news of Jesus Christ.

Because Fresh Expressions start small and are often connected to an established church, there is less immediate financial pressure for these endeavors to become fully-functioning institutions with all of the trappings (staff,  buildings, programs) that can become the focus of church. Indeed it is often those things that, while good, are not necessary for the core of an ‘ecclesia’, and often impede the mission of God among people who are not predisposed to ‘church’.

To learn more about Fresh Expressions, consider attending the Fresh Expressions National Gathering March 28-29 in Alexandria, Virginia, at the First Baptist Church there. Plenary speakers include Bishop Graham Cray, Archbishop’s missioner and first team leader of Fresh Expressions in the UK; and Dr. Cherith Fee Nordling, associate professor of theology at Northern Seminary. The National Gathering will also feature workshops on Fresh Expressions for the Workplace. Contact Mary Amendolia at mamendolia@tfcanglican.org or visit http://freshexpressionsus.org/national-gathering/  for details.