Second meeting of Gulf Atlantic Diocese's Church Planting Network

Our time together encouraged me. It is amazing uplifting it is to gather with a roomful of people who are all wanting to manifest and extend the Kingdom of God. For those who were unable to make it, here is a summary of what we did (along with a few reflections).

Friday evening was devoted to touching base and praying for each other around a sumptuous dinner at the Athens Cafe. While several people who were with us for the first gathering were unable to join us, there were many new faces from all over the diocese. We all had a chance to meet new "partners in the Gospel" (see Phil. 1:5) and hear each other's dreams for planting new congregations.

Saturday morning we spent some time learning some church planting lessons from the master planter, St. Paul, as we studied Romans 15:14-21. Here are some of our observations:

1. It is a blessing to be part of a community (like CPN) that is "able to instruct one another" (v.14).
2. Church planting is a calling - one that formed much of Paul's understanding of himself - that has the gospel at the center (v.15). We saw the need to see Anglicanism as a tool for proclaiming the gospel (a means) rather than the an end in itself. Everything we do needs to be in the service of the gospel.
3. Paul's ministry consisted of word+deed+power - all three dynamics were crucial in seeing the gospel take root throughout Asia Minor (vv. 18,19).
4. Paul's ambition was to proclaim Christ where He has yet to be named (v.20). We reflected on the fact that our context (after 1,700 years of Christendom) is different than Paul's; though the secularizing influences in our culture are making the two contexts more and more similar. Given the differences, however, we saw that, for Paul, church planting (means) was about bringing people to faith in Christ (end). If ACNA plants 1000 churches in 5 years by gathering Baptists, Methodists and Catholics, we will have failed. Our goal is to enfold lost sheep, not shift the found ones around.
5. A corollary to #4. The leadership teams of church plants need to be people focused on reaching the lost rather than people looking to establish their vision of what a church is supposed to be, or worse, people whose anger at their former denomination has them bound up. Healed wounds can be conduits of ministry (2 Cor. 1). Oozing wounds never produce good leadership.

Fr. Jim Needham presented a provocative vision for a church planting order (think Daughters of the Holy Cross) that would help to raise up in each of our congregations the necessary resources for planting churches: passion, knowledge/vision, money, people. He wondered what the impact would be of an order with an intentional, accountable rule of life that included prayer (to produce passion/commitment), study (to enhance knowledge/vision), generosity (to help fund plants/planters), and personal evangelism (to extend the reach of the gospel). Those of us in the room felt like God was in this idea and wanted to see it move forward. Fr. Jim met with several people over lunch to discuss it further.

We spent some time prayerfully discerning next steps for each of our church planting efforts (Bob Logan's coaching guide for planters is invaluable here). With those steps clear in our minds we reflected on the internal and external obstacles to taking those steps. A number of folks came up to me afterwards and said that this was one of the best parts of the whole gathering. Going home with a sense of direction gave hope and encouraged action.

We looked at some upcoming opportunities (Anglican 1000 in Plano, TX, January 25-27; Exponential Conference in Orlando, April 26-29; Diocesan Anglican 1000 gathering in Jacksonville, May 6,7) and brainstormed some ideas for the Diocesan Ang 1000. Here's the list of ideas for workshops and presentations for you to add to:

1. How do we identify and train planters?
2. Personal evangelism training
3. Parishes having congregations model (East Africa and Chicago)
4. Using the internet in church planting
5. Leadership (lay) development in a plant
6. Tangible Kingdom/Missio model
7. Tangible Kingdom discussion group
8. How to throw a party for the unchurched
9. Church planting order
10. Strategic planning for church planting
11. Incorporating church planting into the DNA of a congregation
12. Anglican church planting movements (Anglicanism as a cpm) - Patrick, Celtic
13. Intercession: having a team on sight and how to pray for plants/planters
14. Testimony from folks involved in planting (esp. those who have come to faith)

For those of you who were there, what would you add?