I have been working at this alone for a while now, and I am keen that you should never do things alone. I thought that I wasn’t alone (I did have a leadership team and a network), but I didn’t have someone to bounce off ideas, share tasks and simply hang out with. For all of you who are seeking to plant a church or to start anything, I say this emphatically… put a teammate on the top of your list and I encourage that teammate to be a friend.

So the open house now has 2 staff members (both at 25% time) and I am already seeing positive repercussions. I don’t believe that a church should be lead (staff wise) by just one person, as there is so much to see that one person will miss. (Thanks Deric for pointing out things yesterday). I tried to do it alone but I was burning out and was on the verge of organizational and personal failure, but now I am alive again. Be willing to give up your sole possession of leadership for a more balanced approach… but be really considerate of who that person is.

I am reading through John as our church is going to be teaching through the book for the next (ahem) year, and I came across this great passage in John 11. Jesus is going to go back to Judea because his friend Lazarus is dead and his disciples are reminding Jesus that the Jews are trying to kill him there, but out of love Jesus says he must still go.

‘Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”‘

That is someone I want on my team.

In an email I said the following: “I think in Canada (from my experience) we see the emergent movement as an American thing. We don’t identify with it, but we appreciate the conversation. I think in Canada we have to go even further, but the problem is that moderns are so “worried” that we are going to abandon everything they hold close. We may abandon some things, but if we are kept close by Jesus, we will never truly leave. Freedom over control.”

I will stand by a couple things in this quote. 1) Emergent is really not on the radar in most Canadian circles. But let me clarify. Emergent is on the radar of youth leaders trying to spice up their youth group, but in terms of those on the ground, starting churches and grass root movements, the conversation is not nearly far enough along to make a difference in what we do. It is almost as if we need something more edgy “per say” in order to really impact our country with the hope of Christ in the world. 2) But like I said, moving toward edgy is really awkward, because we don’t know what that looks like and many of us are worried our modern church friends will call us heretics and think we are abandoning our faith as we try different things, teach new ideas and stretch things out. I think this worry of abandonment is more about control than anything else. Yet, I believe it was Jesus that said that he had a strong grip on us and we mustn’t get so caught up in others motivations (mixed with actions).

So then what is the current state of the emergent church in Canada?

To me its helpful. It is supportive and the books, blogs, podcasts, and people are allowing us to sift through and pick out the relevancy in the material to our culture. I am currently finding more helpful information from Kester Brewin and Pete Rollins of late; but they are both UK guys and I guess that says something about where we as Canadians get our inspiration. And usually most books that are more about spirituality (donald miller and rob bell for example) are more helpful then ones that suggest methods. I have found Richard Rohr more helpful than any others at this stage of my personal development.

In the CNBC (my tribe), there are not a lot of emergent type churches, but I would say that some of the things COTM is doing as well as the joshua house here in the Lower Mainland are good attempts at figuring out where the church is going in the future. The funny is, and not to be vain, but we may be too far ahead. We are trekking in areas that we have no idea about and sometimes it might just be easier to revert back to old ways of doing things. At least I feel that way sometimes.

Due to the shortness of time and the fact that the people looking to host the potnetial BBQ are unable to, we are going to stick with the regular plan and meet at Little Nest this week.

I will be leading our time of discussion,

Cheers

Hey everyone,

the open house is now on twitter.

Follow us for updates on the open house.

I haven’t read.

I haven’t blogged.

I haven’t slept.

But I hope to begin all of these things in the near future and I think they will come in the order I listed them.

I am over tired, awe-struck, in love, scared, excited and confused all at once.

Babies are one of those relationships that are not by the book. Okay, no relationship should be by the book, but with babies you really have no choice, they are all about teaching you how to roll with the punches and be flexible, which I might add is one my resolutions for this year.

It is almost as if all my comforts are being challenged and Jude is seeing if I am really into this, or if I was into the “idea” of having a baby.

Do you ever wonder how many of the things you are into are simply ideas you love, but not really something you are willing to put the effort into?

After taking part in the birth of our son, my wife amazed me and still does now for her love for our baby boy. She is very into this.

I am realizing how into this I am too. But it has taken some severe life changes to understand that there are probably many things that I am into “in theory” but if push came to shove I may not follow trough.

I am taking some time off teaching at toh for the next two months and I hope to look at some of the things that I think I am passionate for (and others from toh say they are) and explore if we are really into them. Because it’s one thing to talk about dreams and ideas you have for life, but if they were to stare you straight in the eye at 3am and tell you that they need you to rock them to sleep for the next hour, would you be willing?

I love this picture.

With less than 3 weeks until our little Pork’n Beans arrives, you can tell in the background that we are amongst renovations, and thus chaos.

Chaos I think is good for the soul, because without it we would think everything on our lives was fine .

I don’t do very well with chaos as I am a linear thinking, over planning administrator. But chaos is good for my soul because in reality my life is not linear or organized and I need to be reminded of this.

These reminders bring a sense of understanding to my world around me. Without chaos I may actually think this world revolves around me.