In this era where no one model is really gaining traction for the church, Keller notes that what’s happening in the evangelical church, even within various previously united and doctrinally tight denominations, is fragmentation on the whole issue of how the church relates to culture. This comes from entering into a new and confusing experience of living in a post Christendom age, where it is no longer “church as usual,” and where in Canada, the evangelical church is now entering into decline for the first time in it’s history. So in response there is a lot of reaction going on, splintering us in various directions.

I see this fragmentation within my own church family, the Christian & Missionary Alliance. Our holiness/revivalist roots inherited from our founder AB Simpson have often but not consistently expressed themselves through a strong inclination towards a pragmatic relevant approach to bringing the message and experience of the Gospel locally and globally. This has been increasingly challenged by both growing numbers of Neo-Calvinists as well as Neo-Anabaptists, creating what is now at least three distinct camps within our denominational family. Camps that appear to be becoming increasingly entrenched and not always gracious as they passionately embrace their perspectives over and against what they saw in the churches they grew up in. This fragmentation has created a growing level of discomfort that I’ve not experienced before in my almost 35 years with this church family. I suspect you would as well find this in other Canadian denominational families.

This is where Keller steps in and graciously calls us all to look to the centre. Historically the Alliance has always been a centrist movement proudly embracing what some have called the “radical middle.” Now Keller writes as a confident Neo-Calvinist with a call to engage with and learn from other streams in order to maintain biblical balance. He doesn’t really see anyone as being in the centre, that we all have a tendency to favour one biblically rooted approach to working with culture over another. The call is to recognize what is our favoured approach and to move towards the center of that approach by blending the insights of our biases with those of other traditions. Take a look at his cultural engagement diagram here to get a bit of a feel of what he’s doing.

And of course there are always those who are further from the centre on each of these approaches and just are not able to embrace the “Center Church” concept.  Some of Keller’s friends in the Neo-Calvinist Gospel Coalition movement have been heard to ask, “What do we do with Keller?” since he so strongly embraces those who are not Neo-Calvinist.  Some like Alliance pastor with a Neo-Anabaptist bent and ties to the Missio Alliance, David Fitch are gracious but concerned that Keller’s view of the Gospel centres narrowly on penal substitution and is not as much about embracing the Gospel as redeeming the whole planet. Scot McKnight of the “King Jesus Gospel” might echo a similar concern. And while I think their criticisms have real validity, Keller certainly makes room for the need for deeds as a part of holistic ministry. His insistence that part of what we’re called to do is to seek the prosperity and peace of our city does bring balance to his traditional soterian view of the Gospel. Being “centered” means were really not that far apart.

For me, coming from what Keller calls the “Seeker Sensitive,” camp, which he locates close to centre on the “relevant spoke,” I found his approach to contextualization probably the best biblical defense of contextualization I’ve read. In many ways this Neo-Calvinist has written one of the best theologies for the “seeker movement” that you will find. And that’s probably why the fewest number of criticisms for the book come from those of us who identify a bit more closely with the seeker movement. At the same time I identify with his concerns that the further from centre you move along the relevance track, the more “liberal” and “less biblically rooted” your theology becomes.

So let me humbly suggest that this is one of those books that just needs to be read by every pastor out there! It certainly needs to read by every Canadian Alliance pastor as a theological call to bridge the growing fragmentation in our church family. Perhaps David Hearn, as President of the Alliance in Canada, you might add this book to the ordination reading list. Putting Keller besides NT Wright who we now read, might nicely signal balance and centredness that has historically marked the Christian & Missionary Alliance.

In the end “Center Church,” is not just another new model out there, it truly is what it claims to be “a theological vision” for the church that links doctrine to practice. In my view, a timely book indeed!

I get that the Bible’s stand on the issue is not going to grab him. Sure Jesus said, “I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart,” (Matthew 5:28) but that’s the Bible. While I think biblical standards are brilliant, that they lead us to the life we ultimately yearn to live, my friend remains unconvinced.

My friend holds a view that is essentially one of “ethical porn.” He would simply suggest that if we’re just talking about adults and it doesn’t involve violence or overtly degrading acts, what’s the harm. Boys will be boys. And yeah girls will be girls. I don’t think it’s that simple.

So this Sunday, Porn Sunday we’re going to unpack why the biblical viewpoint might actually lead to what my friend is really yearning for deep at the core of his being. And at the same time I’d like to de-bunk the myth of harmless ethical porn.

Here are some thoughts I’m working with as I prepare for Sunday. They come from a variety of sources that if you’re interested in, you can message me below and I’ll point you in a few directions.  Consider these thoughts and stats:

• Approaching $100 billion – the amount of annual revenue produced by internet porn sites.
• The pornography industry is larger than the revenues Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Yahoo!, Apple, Netflix and EathLink combined.
• 35% of all internet downloads are pornographic
• 11 years is the average age at which a child first sees porn online
• 1 in 3 porn viewers are women
• 70% of men aged 18 to 24 visit porn sites in a typical month
• Increased exposure to pornography creates the need for increased levels of stimulation leading to ever more deeply addicted involvement.  It’s a cycle that just goes deeper and darker.
• Pornography is becoming one the leading destroyers of marriages and families, devastating trust, intimacy as well the ability to enter into healthy relationship within and beyond the family.
• Studies by Dr. Claudio Violato of Calgary’s National Foundation for Family Research and Education has found a strong link between using pornographic materials and the development of significant behavioural, psychological and social problems. Studying over 12,000 participants he could find no beneficial aspects to pornography, just varying levels of harm.
• Gail Dines in her book “Pornland” calls porn sex “debased, dehumanized, formulaic and generic” sex that “encodes deep cultural scripts of male entitlement and female subservience.” What she describes is sex that is so deeply contrary to the dignity of each and every human being, male and female.
• So much of the porn industry is simply cruel and violent, exploiting and degrading primarily women and often children and men as well. We’re not just talking the sex trade in Cambodia, but any Canadian city. If you have any sense of justice, you would want to see the porn industry shut down.

Two years ago an article in the Globe and Mail championed the idea of “Ethical Porn.” It accepted porn as normal and wanted users to become a little more ethical by paying for the product. The article has continued to garner attention having been updated last September.  Even if you don’t accept the wisdom of the Bible, you really don’t have to look too far to see the damage that porn is doing to it’s users, distorting the individuals ability to relate healthily with a spouse, family or friends. It promotes an industry that simply exploits the most vulnerable in our world. There is nothing ethical about porn.

So come out this Sunday to Porn Sunday and hear a little more. But this won’t just be an anti-porn guilt inducing rant. Rather this Sunday we want to look at the way out and what it takes to develop healthy relationships, what it takes to experience the life you’ve always yearned to experience.  Hey most of you are into Porn – so let’s talk and see if what you’re really after, can be found in a more healthy way.

And yeah I know, it’s hard to invite someone to church with you and say “Hey you want to go to Porn Sunday with me?” But give it a try and see if you might be a catalyst that helps someone addicted to porn find the freedom and healthy relationships they so desperately desire. Okay that Sunday has now come and gone. So if you want to hear the message you can connect with it on iTunes by clicking here.

And if you’re looking for some help with porn check out xxx.church.com as well as their online workshops that have proven to be incredibly helpful.

Let me just list a few of the things that have grabbed me over this past year that have made me proud and excited to call Fort McMurray home:

• Being young with an average age of 31, the city is predominately postmodern in values. This place is a wonderful experiment in postmodernity, and the picture it paints is sweet. Diversity is embraced. Relationships are deeply valued. Families and children are a priority. And we don’t have to see eye to eye on politics, religion, or a whole pile of other stuff to walk closely together. The environment is not only deeply valued, it’s fully entered into, even at -20!
• It might be the wonderful Newfie influence, but it’s found among most who call this city home, courtesy and respect flows without a second thought. The traffic could be hades but someone will let you in. The lines up at Extra Foods might be long, but the person behind you will engage you in talk, like you’re a long lost buddy. The infrastructure challenges that come with rapid growth are made more bearable by the people who you live and work with. Sure there are few jerks out there. They exist everywhere. But I’m convinced there are less here! Hey my neighbours have blown out my driveway a couple of times now. Never had that happen before.
• The city is mostly new. Buildings are new. Houses are new. And the plans for the future are mesmerizing. This is a city with a vision, “a global model for sustainable living in the north.” I think they’re going to do it. We’ve got a young vibrant mayor who must have been a kid when first elected to council – she’s got the right stuff to bring us together for an amazing future. Check out the video below where they superimpose urban images from the biggest cities across Canada and paint a picture of the future of Fort McMurray. That’s vision.
• And yes it is a city full of opportunity. Sure the cost of living is really high, but average salaries are even higher. The end result is there is no city in Canada where folk have more disposable income than here. Check out the chart below, it’s incredible. All you really need is a commitment to work hard with integrity, and this place will give you a chance. More than a chance.
• And the church family I get to serve with are incredibly loving and flexible. There is little interest in status quo church here. There’s a huge passion to live out our faith authentically without pretense. This is a church family who love to hang out and do life with their neigbours and work associates irrespective of their backgrounds or faith or lack of faith. This is a church family with an amazing capacity to care for those with less, whether here in the city or in a remote part of the world.
• And for those of you who know me, this is a place to play. I won’t forget taking the ATV’s behind a local housing complex, crossing a river into another world, and then being there as we harvested a deer with the lights of the city below us. The fishing is spectacular. And the trails for hiking, ATV’s, snowmachines are endless. There are recreation facilities here including MacDonald Island that are to die for in the rest of the country.

Very quickly I have become proud to call Fort McMurray home. A year ago I had absolutely no idea. Now I want the world to know the truth about this amazing family friendly place full of opportunity. And as I said in the previous post, I truly thank God for that consulting weekend a year ago that introduced me to this great city. And I’m convinced that God’s passion for Fort McMurray is far far beyond mine.  I can’t wait to see what He plans to do in and through this region. Greater things have yet to come to this city!

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That first drive into the city from the Airport was captivating. I had no idea. The city lights, the traffic, the excitement, the modern urban feel to it all – I was blown away from the get go. Well maybe not by Keyano College’s purple monstrosity. The parking or the lack of and the 30 minute wait to get into BP’s for dinner caught me off guard. I had expected something that looked and behaved a bit more like Thunder Bay, also a similar sized resource based city. But no this was clearly Thunder Bay on steroids.  There was a buzz to the place, in the middle of nowhere, and so unexpected. I’ll admit it,  I was looking for the “Oil Can,” it’s on every news clip. But what I saw made that sorry image disappear into irrelevance, and of course a year later, it’s gone.  Sweet!

No sooner had I arrived at the home of my hosts, getting ready to enter into significant church consultant like discussions, when I get this text: “Hear you’re in town. Join a few of us guys at Earls for wings. We’re here now – Mark.” Mark a few years back was a student at Lakehead University and attended Redwood Park Church. I was torn. I wanted to connect with Mark and his friends, I didn’t want to bail on the guys who had invited me to their city. I’ve only been here a few hours and I’ve got more invites out then time to accept them all. That hasn’t changed …

I choose to bail and one of the guys said, “Hey if you need a designated driver, give me a call.” Sure he said it in jest, but still it was not exactly the typical line I had been used to hearing form church leaders. I assured him I would I would behave. The guys at Earls were all young 20’s to mid 30’s. I’m not usually the old guy at church like gatherings, but I sure was here! But this really wasn’t churchish – it was just a group of guys some who did church, some who didn’t. The conversation went from trucks, to guns, to snowmachines, to God. It all happened real naturally. Totally authentic. I had never been in the midst of a dynamic quite like this before. And yeah I was okay to be told that my base level RAM 1500 SXT probably wasn’t “enough truck” for Fort Mac. I still have it, it handles Fort Mac quite fine, thank-you. But now I wasn’t just getting hooked on the city, I was getting hooked on the people who call this place home.

Went and checked out the sites like Syncrude and Suncor. Wow the kinds of passes you need to get in and go deep rivals a top flight military installation. When I got into Suncor I was awed yet again. Suncor is Mordor. And the equipment at Snycrude, they must have stolen them from Avatar. And yes I asked to see the infamous duck ponds – no one was impressed, but they did oblige. Apparently the shotgun type sounds seem to work. It’s tough when the eyes of the entire world are on you. Tougher when you realize that your own young employees hold an incredibly deep passion for environmental ethics. It’s so not what the media portrays.

I could go on and on, but yeah, the unexpected happened. I fell in love with a city and a people who call this city home. And I fell in love with a church family called Fort McMurray Alliance – a church family that is so not stereotypical church, but instead are incredibly real and refreshing! It didn’t take long to begin to get a clear sense that I could call Fort McMurray home and be jazzed serving at the Alliance Church.

So a year later??? No regrets. None at all. The love affair has only grown deeper. In my next post I’ll list some of the reasons my passion for this city has grown. But to wrap this post up, wow, am I ever thankful that I got “ambushed” a year ago. I didn’t see it coming. But then God knew what he was doing, “get ‘that boy’ up here and let him see what’s really here.” Yeah, I think ultimately it was a “God thing,” because our God is even more passionate about this city and the people who live here. And I believe He has some amazing plans of His own for the city and the people who live here, I’m looking forward to what He’s going to do through the church family I’m now a part of and all of God’s people who call Fort McMurray home! To God be the glory!

And again tonight it’s “Wings Night,” and I’m totally looking forward to it.

Like most everyone else, I’m a newcomer to this city. With only eight months behind my belt, I’m newer than most! And as a guy whose job it is to help folk in our city see where God fits into their lives, I’m fascinated by the openness of folk in our city to the spiritual on one hand, but the strong reluctance to actually do anything with that. What’s that all about? I’m fascinated by how friendly we are with one another, how open we are to the diversity of our city, but how quickly we put up a wall if we sense anyone imposing their own perspective on us. What causes us to close down so quickly?

A new microbrewery, the Wood Buffalo Brewing Company has just opened in our city. Microbreweries have a way of uniquely expressing some of the values of a cities’ culture. That certainly is the case here. I’ve been following their development on Facebook, watching the contest they created for naming their craft beers. The names that won are clearly revealing: Lift-Kit Lager, Overtime IPA, Black Gold Stout and Gold Digger Golden Ale. It’s all about what we do here, how we make our money and what we do with our money. It’s all about the passion to work hard and play hard.

And I’m all for working hard and playing hard! Especially playing hard with good friends. I get that you have to work hard to be able to play hard. It’s all part of a yearning deep within us to experience life to full, life that is marked by deep friendships, good times and ultimately a sense of purpose.

But here’s the kicker. That sense of purpose so often eludes us. Good times can so quickly become not so good. And deep friends can sometimes turn around and stab us in the back leaving us incredibly hurt. The passion to work hard and play hard will only take us so far.

This is where God fits into the picture. The life you deeply yearn to experience will only be fully realized when you choose to embrace God in the midst of working hard and playing hard. Without Him, there will be that sense, that ache, that something is missing. A bishop by the name of Augustine way back around the year 400 said that our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Christ. So true!

In the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes the writer says that it is good for people to be happy and to do good while they live, that each may eat and drink and find satisfaction in all their work, that all of this is a gift from God (3:12-13). But that writer also says that God “has set eternity in the human heart” (3:11), speaking to that deeper yearning, that deeper sense that there is more to life than just working hard and playing hard.

Let me challenge you: if you will take the time to look within, you’ll find that God shaped void that exists within you. A void that no matter what else you do will remain empty and even ache a bit, until you open up your life to the One who created you and desires the best for you. That void is the desire that you would experience life, life in all of its fullness. It’s the yearning to live the life you’ve always deeply desired.

So yeah, work hard and play hard. But in the midst of it all, make that decision to embrace the love of God for yourself that leads to the life you so want. And again the writer of Ecclesiastes would say to us: “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come” (12:1). Basic really, the sooner you embrace Him, the sooner you get to experience life to the full.

Work hard, play hard and in the midst of it all embrace God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. The Scriptures would tell us that is the route to life in all of its fullness which can be experienced no other way. And while you’re at it, go check out our new micro-brewery … responsibly!

(Picture from www.woodbuffalobrewingco.ca/)

Brent Trask

Dave Hearn

Gordon Smith

I sense some fresh winds blowing in the Canadian Christian & Missionary Alliance, fresh winds that are stirring up what it has always meant to be “Alliance”, with just a few new twists, that in some cases are pretty old! A few fresh winds stirring up our historic roots, reigniting an old fire. It was early this past November at the Western Canadian District Prayer Retreat, in Banff where I really began to notice them.

And no I am not confusing “hot air,” at a conference for fresh wind, as some of my cynical friends might assume! God was clearly breathing and blowing through three key servants who spoke and led at this retreat: Brent Trask who has just completed his first year as District Superintendent, Dave Hearn who has just been elected as the president of the Christian & Missionary Alliance in Canada and Gordon Smith, who has just been installed as president of Ambrose University College & Seminary. Each building on the solid foundation of those who led before them, have a clear vision that on one hand is in sync with the past, yet on the other hand clearly represents some significant shift from where we have more recently been.

With a year under his blest, Brent Trask was the veteran of the trio. I was struck by two things he brought to the week.  While Brent knows all about how to work with mission, vision and values to move a group forward like a denominational district, having done so, so well in his previous role as Lead Pastor at RockPointe in Calgary, he is also deeply gripped by the Source of any missional effectiveness we yearn for.  It’s not that what Brent brought to the table was all that new, it was just he went back to our roots with a renewed passion to see old embers become a powerful fire yet again. His fresh old message is that it is only through the centrality of Jesus and the unmistakable supernatural empowerment of the Holy Spirit that we will be able to become effectively missional within our district and around the world.

At the same time there was a message that Brent gave that was clearly new. He’s the first Alliance denominational leader I’ve heard speak so tenderly and gracefully about the reality of sexual sin among licensed pastoral workers. He began to create a safe place within our District family for those caught in sexual sin of various sorts to find hope and healing.  Most guys I know who are struggling don’t find it safe to find help – maybe now some will. I look forward to seeing many healed and re-empowered to be effective missional agents revealing Jesus to our world. While rarely stated this way, this is totally consistent with our historic understanding of healing.

Our newly elected denominational president Dave Hearn continued to do as Brent had done, bringing again some fresh wind, stirring up our roots, fanning warm embers from our history back into flame. His core message had the same three-fold track: Dave said, “A Christ centred, Spirit empowered people will be on mission with God.”  He noted that only 15% of Canadians will likely turn up at church (although David, where did you get that stat?), and called us to teach and encourage our people to run where the unchurched run.” He called us to enter into and even enjoy the world where people far from God live.

I was most fascinated with Gordon Smith, the newly installed President of our denominational college and seminary who was the keynote speaker of the Retreat. Gordon is deeply rooted in all that makes for the Christian & Missionary Alliance, with his personal upbringing in the home of Alliance International Workers and then his own stint in local church  ministry, let alone his previous work with Ambrose. He starts there but then moves us further back. He reconnects us with our Holiness, somewhat Wesleyan Holiness heritage and then links us back much further to some of the more experiential/mystical leaders of our faith like Bernard of Clairvaux and St. Patrick. The “new” that Gordon brings to the movement is that he gets us connected further back to how God moved and worked prior to the Protestant Reformation.  Rather than simply seeking to unite the Charismatic tradition to the Bible Church/Word tradition that has been typical of the Alliance, he adds the depth and beauty of the sacramental/liturgical tradition stretching as far back as Patrick of Ireland.

By the end of the week what I saw emerging was a true “Alliance”, that embraced the strength of the diversity of multiple current and historic streams of the Christian faith, with a passion to be truly rooted in the words of Scripture, while remaining totally dependent on the abiding Christ through the fullness of His Spirit.  A Scripturally committed, charismatically open and sacramentally enriched movement, where Christ is the centre, the Holy Spirit supernaturally empowers, and the mission of the church advances locally and globally – besides being really wordy, is actually phenomenally exciting. I really am looking forward to being a part of the next chapter of Canadian Alliance history!! And to those three wise men I say, lead on!!

In the 1992 movie, Under Siege, Steven Seagal played a former SEAL, now a cook, who is the only person who can stop a gang of terrorists who seize control of a US Navy battleship. The running gag in the movie is the line that the bad guys repeat as Seagal keeps beating them: “But he’s only the cook!”

Jane & her chief sidekick Sue Simmonds

Jane Doyle started as head cook at Ontario Pioneer Girls’ Camp in 1996 and Sue Simmonds as assistant cook in 1998. Together they mobilize teams of volunteer helpers who prep food, chop, mix and assemble. But more than food gets dished out from the Girls’ Camp kitchen and these two women are hardly “only the cooks”.

“Our mission — what we feel like we do intentionally — is to feed campers food that is comfortable, nutritious and of good quality,” says Jane. “It’s served hot from the oven to the counter.”

“We like trying different things, some fun stuff. During the year, Jane finds new recipes to try out,” adds Sue.

Strategy is important. Says Jane: “I’ve got the food all figured out — menus, proportions, ingredients. Some volunteers tell us they like everything thought of and planned already, and all they have to do is come and be put to work. We’ve got kitchen guys who come through and we train them; one has become an assistant cook elsewhere. Our ladies and girls do things they don’t get to do at home: make fresh bread, bake 1,200 cookies (four kinds), 350 butter tarts, 600 biscuits….”

Kitchen activity could be all consum­ing, but Sue and Jane readily admit they have a covert mission: ministry.

“We nurture teams of girls and women,” says Jane. “Each morning after our breakfast at the back table, we spend time with a devotional story or thought and pray for requests from our volunteers and for camp specifically. We have experienced some incredible answers to prayer over the years.”

There’s a story to that back table. “We used to have a small, horrible picnic table, with chairs and milk crates for seats. Now, we have a big table under a gazebo that fits 15 people,” says Jane. The 252 service campers eat there, as well as the transportation and maintenance guys.”

“It’s one of my favourite ministries: feeding the maintenance and housekeeping staff and drivers coffee break, lunch and sometimes supper daily. Our prayer is that we are able to bless as well as nourish those who join us there.”

Laughter and TLC are essential ingredients to their mission of ministry, discipleship and healing. “Laughter is the most important thing,” says Sue. “Even when things are not going well, laughter releases stress.”

“We like to laugh at ourselves,” says Jane. “We say all the time what Ricky Ricardo used to say on the I Love Lucy show: ‘Lucy, you got some splaining to do.’”

Both Sue and Jane started at OPC as 10-year-old campers: Sue in 1957 and Jane in 1966. Their paths crossed at Girls’ Camp in 1968, when Jane was a camper and Sue was her section head in Pathfinders.

Over the past 50 years, Jane and Sue have been campers, camp staff, camper parents and volunteers. When asked why they’ve continued to cook at Girls’ Camp for 14-16 years, Jane says, “We love this place, the mission, the work. We’ve seen the value in both our families. We have seen leadership skills develop in families and in church, and the leadership has gone worldwide.

“It’s an LIT (Leaders in Training) ripple effect that you see five years, 10 years down the road. We have had husbands who have been supportive of our cooking at camp. We met them at camp, they understand camp, and they give us the freedom to go away each year for 10 weeks to minister whole heartedly at camp.”

The cooks serve up one last suggestion (along with a piece of pie): Consider volunteering in one of our camp kitchens. You’ll find yourself dishing out more than just food.

A message I gave on September 9^th gave a brief overview of ten values I’m suggesting as a starting point for these discussions. You can listen to that message here.  These are statements that when they emerge in their final form will provide a base for creating a more focused mission statement and will provide a set of values that will be foundational to all that we do as a church.

To help keep the conversation going here are the ten statements that we are discussing. And you’re welcome to join the conversation. You can comment here or message me at Facebook or through the church webpage.

Some thoughts that have come my way that we will be prayerfully considering is whether we need to be more articulate about our understanding that the Gospel involves both words and deeds or is the first value sufficient. Another area of discussion is whether we need to go beyond just talking about apprenticing leaders to multiplying leaders, ministries, sites and even churches. So lot’s to give prayerful consideration to.

Here goes … the ten values we are considering as a starting point for the ongoing discussion:

 1.     We believe that the essence of the Christian faith is to love God with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength and to love our neighbours as ourselves. (Mark 12:29-31; Matthew 22:37-40; Micah 6:8)

2.     We believe in audacious faith to effectively serve our city and world with the transforming power of the Gospel. For the good of our city and world we will pray fervently, set impossible goals, take bold steps of faith, and watch God move. (Hebrews 11:6, Ephesians 3:20-21; Matthew 7:7-11)

3.     We believe that the local church is the hope of the city and the world. This means placing a priority on reaching people apart from Christ and leading them into the adventure of Spirit empowered living as agents of God’s transforming love. Hence we are a community who live beyond ourselves, for the sake of those who live apart from Christ. (Matthew 28:18-20, Matthew 6:10, Matthew 25:31-40; Romans 1:16; Romans 10:14-15; 2 Corinthians 5:11)

4.     We believe that anointed biblical teaching with passionate corporate worship are synergistic catalysts for transformation in the lives of individuals and the church. This means we place a high value on all aspects on our corporate gatherings seeking to create an environment that facilitates a transformational divine/human encounter. (Hebrews 4:12; II Timothy 3:16; Acts 2:37; Acts 20:32; Acts 2:42)

 5.     We believe that God calls us to wisely leverage culture for sake of reaching people apart from him. Where culture is in conflict with biblical values, we will clearly but gracefully serve as agents of change. (1 Corinthians 9:19-23; 1 Chronicles 12:32; Acts 17:22-23)

6.     We believe that the church is never more than one generation away from extinction, that each generation must choose for themselves whether they will follow Christ. We also understand we are in an era of unprecedented church dropout among the emerging generations. This means that we will put a priority on seeing the next generation transformed into devoted missional Christ followers, including effective ministry to families with children as well as young adults be they single or not.  (John 1:12; Romans 10:9-13; Joshua 24:15)

7.     We believe that true biblical community is inter-generational, multi-ethnic and economically diverse. This does not preclude strategically focusing resources on certain people groups and ages for the sake of effective missional advance. (Galatians 3:26-29; Romans 10:12)

8.     We believe that loving authentic relationships play a critical role in our care for one-another as well as in our holistic growth as devoted missional Christ followers. We will seek to cultivate environments that will encourage the natural development of such relationships, including service teams, mid-sized community groups, small groups, spiritual friendships and mentoring relationships. (Luke 6:13; Matthew 17:1; Acts 2:46; Acts 20:20; Romans 16:3-5)

9.     We believe that devoted missional Christ followers are generous with their time, talents and financial resources. This means we will encourage a balanced but sacrificial approach to stewarding our resources for the sake of building an effective local church with high impact in the city and influence around the world. (Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 12:4-7; Luke 6:38; 2 Corinthians 9:6-8)

10.   We believe that churches should be led by those with leadership gifts, who empower people for ministry. This means we will raise up leaders and empower them to lead dynamic teams within the mission, vision and values of the church. Leadership formation will include the apprenticing of leaders in all ministry areas. (Romans 12:8; Ephesians 4:11-12)

I can’t imagine that not thinking about whom you are attempting to reach and abandoning any concept of “attractional,” will serve us well in the future. I get that “missional-incarnational” churches have become the current church rage and I think that’s great. But in my mind, borrowing a bit of vocabulary from Dave Ferguson of Community Christian Church, the church simply ought to be extraordinarily attractive because of how it goes into the world to serve the world and love the world back to God.

But you have to exegete the world you are going into and figure out how to best love and serve that world. You have to realize that with limited resources, you may need to focus your resources on a “target” that will give you the greatest kingdom impact.

My theory is that targeting if done right, broadens your reach rather than narrows your reach. There are targets or more appropriately put, people groups, in every community, that when you connect well there, they tend to serve as bridges to others. This is not to suggest that specialized ministry to other specific people groups is not required, just that you need to start somewhere!

At the start of my ministry tenure in Fort McMurray, I’ve begun to wrestle with the question of how to use the limited resources of a smaller to medium sized church to maximize our kingdom impact in the city. Even before I arrived, church leadership has been wrestling with a guy they call “McMurray Mike.”  In other words, as we seek to incarnate the love of Jesus in our city, where do we begin and what can we do that would maximize our impact?

Current missional literature would suggest that you just take who you have and focus on ministry to the poor and the marginalized. Fair enough. It’s clearly a biblical mandate. But perhaps that’s too simplistic an approach. Perhaps another focus might allow for greater impact on the poor and the marginalized. It seems to me that Jesus didn’t just prioritize the down and outters, he also cared for the up and outters, like the affluent tax collectors of his day.

The question is, if we “target” a type of person in our city, are we able by doing that, to strengthen our ministry so that we can reach the diversity of who is in our city, and not simply our narrow target? Can we create a bit of both/and even as we attempt to reach “McMurray Mike” whoever he might be?

And talking about McMurray Mike, recently the Washington Post produced a video clip on Fort McMurray because of the worldwide Keystone pipeline debate. The clip perhaps exaggerates stereotypes of our city, but the stereotypes are rooted in a few sometimes-uncomfortable realities. And a good “target,” is usually a stereotype as well that’s sometimes a bit exaggerated to make its point.

Take a look at the Washington Post video clip, and join with me in thinking through whether we see McMurray Mike here. The clip has four characters: Armand Morin and his girlfriend Jessica Albert, Gary Sidhu, and David Ashley. If we were to focus our efforts a bit more intentionally on one of the four, who would it be and why?

You may not agree with me, but I suspect if we can love and serve Armand and lead him into a life giving relationships with Jesus, the things that we would be doing to effectively reach Armand, while not identical to what would be most effective in reaching the other three, would go a long way to building a bridge to the other three. There’s just no denying that a huge percentage of Fort McMurray are guys like Armand who are looking for the “good life,” they believe Fort McMurray can give them, while the life they truly desire is ultimately waiting for them in Christ. Lovingly reach Armand and Jessica will likely come along. Reach Armand and while Gary lives in a bit of a harsher world, we’d still be well on our way to connecting with him. Reach Armand, and the distance to David is not that far. Reach Armand and we strengthen the local church so that it is better able to not only reach up and outters, but down and outters as well.  Armand matters to God, but so does Jessica, Gary and David and the many other “people groups” in Fort McMurray or any city.

So what do you think?  Can we do both/and, and target Armand, while being inclusive of Jessica, Gary and David and others? And what would it look like to truly incarnate the love of Christ and serve Armand in a way that connects well with him, without excluding anyone else?  I welcome your feedback.

My introduction to the evangelical stream came through a wonderful Christian camp that played a huge role in my faith journey. Later on it would be my privilege to serve as it’s General Director for a couple of years. However my faith journey predates my introduction to the evangelical stream through that camp. Really it began in a grade one Roman Catholic classroom, where God used a godly teacher to introduce me to a personal walk with Jesus. At that point in time however, several leaders in that camp could not accept the idea that I had had a legitimate experience with Jesus in a Roman Catholic setting. That view was later reinforced by some “guest” speakers at a large evangelical church I began to attend near my home in Toronto.

So from the get go I had this sense of not fully fitting into the black and white world of mainstream evangelicalism. I knew that my passion for God that was growing with the help of both this camp as well as the church I was attending, was rooted in my experience of a grade one Roman Catholic classroom. I remember well the crisis I created when I became the first “Roman Catholic” to serve on the staff team of that camp!  The crisis calmed down when they discovered I had begun stick my head into a local evangelical church.

I remember the first time I heard that very strong black and white expression, “God said it, I believe it, that settles it for me!!”  It was way back in 1969 and it was an expression I heard a lot in those early years. But even at 12 years of age, knowing enough of the Bible from consistently attending Mass with its three Bible readings every Sunday, such a proposition struck me as improbable. What about gouging out your eye if it causes you to sin? What about never wearing clothes made of more than one material?  I also discovered quickly that asking questions is anathema.

Yet my love for God and desire to serve Him continued to grow over the years. Over the years I discovered that there were many within this evangelical movement who shared my cynicism.  For the most part we have tended to be a little more on the quiet side. The reality was, the dominant culture within the evangelical movement seemed well able to effectively silence those who asked tough questions.

But with evangelicalism now experiencing decline both in Canada and the U.S. for the first time in the history of our nations, those of us who are a bit jaded by the black and white simplicity that has contributed to the decline of our movement have found a new voice.  Those of us who think beyond the simplicity of black and white are no longer renegades.

One of the voices I have come to appreciate as our movement begins to emerge from the simplicity of past black and white thinking is that of Roger E. Olson. He’s a professor of theology at Baylor University’s Truett Seminary. Like Scot McKnight who now teaches at Northern Seminary, Olson is attempting to be a voice for reason and moderation in the evangelical movement. And similar to McKnight, Olson is seeking to write a few things for the “average reader” out there and not just for the academics. I have found two of his books to be particularly insightful and easy to read, one being “Questions To All Your Answers: The Journey from Folk Religion to Examined Faith,” and the other being “How To Be Evangelical Without Being Conservative.” Olson also maintains a blog titled Roger E. Olson, which is worth reading.

It is nice to know that the cringe I’ve felt right back to my first introduction to this movement as a 12 year old over 40 years ago, is a cringe shared by many. Roger Olson offers a biblical way out of the cringe leading to a robust Spirit empowered faith that that can effectively reach the growing numbers in our culture who like Jesus but not the church, especially not the evangelical church.

I particularly commend Olson’s book, “Questions To All of Your Answers,” as a great place to start your own journey from classic black and white evangelicalism to a vibrant examined faith.