Toronto Church Planting

Meet the McGibbons

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The McGibbon family serves a community not far from the place they call home. Jason grew up in Oakville, Ontario, and now he and his family minister to a network of church plants in the Greater Toronto area, The Hamilton Fellowships. Although Jason did not grow up in church, he became very involved in The Sanctuary Church as a young adult. It was in that community of believers that he and his wife, Kimberley, began to feel called to do something different. As they prayed about where God was leading them, they started to learn about the need for more churches across Toronto.

The McGibbons joined a group from The Sanctuary Church to start a new church plant in Milton. This church was thriving and they were happy to be part of this growing ministry. However, their son was receiving medical treatments at a hospital in Hamilton and they found themselves spending more and more time with the people in the Hamilton community. They began to feel burdened for these people, and five years ago they started a house church, Hamilton Fellowship.

Jason’s heart is in training leaders for the next generation of churches. He is working with other church planters in the area to start a network of church plants. He serves as a church planting coach and is the regional ministry leader for the Canadian National Baptist Convention.

Jason’s vision for Hamilton Fellowship and the other churches in the area is to identify those who are lost, invest in building relationships with them, invite them to a small group or service, and increase by making disciples. “One of the things we learned right from the beginning was the value of being active in the community and serving the community,” Jason said.

There are many misconceptions about Christianity among the people Jason works with. “It’s a culture that has intentionally stepped away from the church,” Jason said. One of the greatest challenges is that many people have not heard the true Gospel.

Jason hopes the network of churches can become more established in the years to come. They hope to have a central building by the Fall of 2017 to act as an administrative resource to the churches in the network. Their vision is that over the next three years they would be able to reach more lost people by having four established churches in the Hamilton area.

To learn more about the life and ministry of the McGibbon family, check out Kimberley’s story HERE!

Meet Trinity Life Church Planter Mike Seaman

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In the center of one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse cities in North America, Trinity Life Church seeks to engage an unreached people group—the people of Toronto. Mike and Missy Seaman, together with their two daughters Emerson and Reagan, first moved to Toronto in 2012. Mike, along with his parents and twin sister, surrendered his life to Christ as a young boy when a neighbor invited his family to church. “We were totally passionate about the Word,” Mike says, “God was transforming us.”

Mike met Missy when they were both college students. Mike began to share his faith with her and within a few short months, Missy shared Mike’s passion for having a relationship with Christ. As they grew in their faith, they began to feel called to full-time ministry and stayed obedient as God called them first to seminary, then to church planting, and finally to Toronto.

“God really grabbed our hearts for the lack of Gospel opportunity and the lack of Gospel presence in Canada,” Mike says. “We knew very little about Toronto, but we knew we were going to plant a church in downtown Toronto.”

They were alone in a city of 3 million people, but they knew God was calling their family to be a light in a lost community. They did not begin with a Bible study or a church service. Instead, the Seaman family began by living life on mission. They looked for opportunities to help people in the community and as they did, people began to notice. The more they helped, the more people wanted to know about them and why they acted the way they did. Over time, God built up a core group of individuals and the Seamans started a Bible study. The Bible study grew in to a worship service, and today Trinity Life Church is a growing body of believers.

Mike describes Trinity Life Church as “transient.” Church members often come and go, but the vision of Trinity Life Church is to help members first find their identity in Christ, and then find their destiny in Christ in order to reach their city and the world. “We’re not trying to gather a crowd,” Mike says, “For us it’s not about growing our church, it’s about releasing people into the kingdom.”

Trinity Life Church focuses on local and global engagement. Mike hopes this body of believers will feel empowered to reach the unreached people in their city and around the world. Mike is currently training members at Trinity Life Church in church planting strategy, with the vision of multiplying churches across Toronto.

As Trinity Life Church continues to grow, Mike says, “We don’t just want to pray about our strategy…we want to make prayer our strategy.” According to Mike, this is the best way to offer support for Trinity Life Church. He says, “Prayer should not be underestimated in terms of partnership. It is the key to what we do here in Toronto.”

Don’t Lead By Consensus

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by Brett Porter, Send City Missionary

I’ve been reading many reviews of smart watches. I’ve looked at the Apple Watch, Pebble, FitBit, Garmin, etc. I’ve read about prices, make and style, and I’ve tried to determine what each different device does…some do similar things and some are unique.

One of the things I keep running across is the healthy discussion about Apple making things we don’t really need. What I find amusing is that Apple has made it their mission to create things that aren’t essential, but we end up not having a clue how to live without it today. An example is the iPod/mp3 player. Many of us can’t imagine living without one. Carrying around a walkman or discman would be crazy today. The same goes for smart phones & tablets.

I heard a great leadership principle while visiting the Apple headquarters several years ago and was reminded of that thought again today. The principle is to “lead not by consensus, but lead toward the best decision.”

In leadership, often the decision is determined by what the majority thinks and is not driven by what is best for the group (especially when many are initially against the decision). When we lead others based on consensus resulting in less than best decisions, we are not really leading anywhere that matters.

Thoughts on leading toward the best decision and not consensus…

  1. Listen :: Just because you are not going to lead by consensus, does not mean you don’t listen to others…especially those on your leadership team. Allow for people to speak into the decision. Most likely, you are not the smartest person in the room, so take the advice of others into consideration so you make the best decision.
  2. Learn :: Take advantage of every next step and spend time learning as much about the options on the table as you can. Assume the posture of a learner. Research, ask others, and dive into other similar decisions you can find to discover what happened and determine the consequences – good and bad – of the decision made.
  3. Push Back :: Often we make decisions at step one and never consider step two and three to follow. Take time to push back on the options…if we do this, what happens next? What new issues come from making this decision? The trick in this is about sharpening each other in the decision process, not being Negative Nick or Debbie Downer. There is a difference! This will allow you to move forward with boldness and confidence.
  4. ONE Voice :: After you take the needed time to make the best decision, make sure your team moves forward with one voice. This is not the time to have “side-conversations” about why you don’t like this or that. That time was in the above steps. At this point a good leadership team will move forward with one voice and one movement.

I hope this has spawned some thoughts for you as a leader. Now grab your iPod, turn on some tunes, take your smartphone, computer or tablet and jot down some thoughts about ways to lead your team – not to consensus but towards their best decision.

What Church Planters can learn from Target’s Failure in Canada

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This excerpt has been reprinted with permission from Sarah Bessey

Target has failed in Canada. And I can’t say that I’m surprised. But it’s not because I know much about retail. My notable retail experience includes three years working at Smart Set in Southcentre Mall during high school. I was excellent at folding t-shirts for the 2 for $25 table. Nope, a retail giant analyst I am not, but what I do have I offer to you: regular old church experience.

Most of my childhood and teenage years as a neo-charismatic Christian in western Canada can be characterized by an almost identical exercise: a big American name comes to Canada to plant a church, and then in rather short order, heads back over the border, usually while blaming us for the failure.

So when news broke today about Target’s abject and utter failure to expand into Canada, I began to think this morning about how church planters to Canada (or even within Canada) can learn from the Target failure. So off the top of my head, here are a few connections I made between Target and outsider-church-planting in Canada:

1. Target tried to open American stores in Canada. That sounds a bit silly when I write it out but here’s what I mean: Americans often tried to start American churches in Canada. They wanted churches that looked like American churches and they wanted people who thought like Americans. And then there would be frustration because we weren’t, well, American.

2. Target was out of stock of the essentials. When people went to Target, they simply never found what they actually went there to get. It’s hard to miss this metaphor for the church in Canada. Often what we have to offer as a church isn’t what people actually want. Canada isn’t the United States and we aren’t Europe either. Each community has its own religious history and even that changes drastically from neighbourhood to home.

3. Target went too fast. In less than a year, the retail giant created 133 stores and a few distribution centres. From a church perspective, I saw many church planters fail because they also went too fast. They landed and set up shop quickly. They weren’t part of the community, they had no friends, they didn’t take the time to live among us and with us. They didn’t love us and it became obvious. We were a project, not people.

4. Target refused to allow people in Canada to lead. Like most retail giants, leadership isn’t valued as much as management. We often saw the church planters come with Their Vision and Their People and Their Six Month Plan: we were there simply to execute their plan. Our input was not required.

5. Target didn’t connect to the communities where they set up shop. The leaders often didn’t consult the area churches, leaders, or believers. They simply showed up and started without a thought for other believers already labouring in that field. By not connecting to their community, these leaders often missed opportunities to learn and to be part of something amazing.

I’ll miss Target in theory. I feel incredibly sad for their employees today.

But the truth is that I didn’t shop there either.

To read this blog in its entirety visit What Church Planters can learn from Target’s Failure in Canada by Sarah Bessey

How Do I Know if God Wants Me to Plant a Church?

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reprinted from The Exchange – A Blog by Ed Stetzer

“How do I know the Lord wants me to go here?” is a common question I get from young church planters trying to decide about a planting a church. The answer to that question is of utmost importance.

A Church Planter is Called to a People and a Place

People have different opinions on this, but I’m going to give you mine.

I don’t think a church planter should go plant a church until you’re called to a specific place and people.

This is a little tricky because I actually don’t think people are generically called to church planting.

I think they’re called to plant a church among a certain people or a place.

You can’t build your entire view of something on your personal experience, but I will share my calling as an illustration.

My Journey

Even though I got turned down by my denominational missions agency to be a church planter (I was, after all, 20 and had no training), God still spoke to our hearts. I was up in Buffalo, New York and Donna was at home. I returned and told her when I was at Prospect Avenue and Seventh Street in Buffalo I discerned that the Lord wanted me to plant a church there.

Donna said she was praying and that God told her the same thing. We knew at that point we were supposed to go. It was significant, but that’s only happened to me once. I’ve planted six churches and the level of clarity was not as evident. But, there was always a sense of call.

Confirmation though Compassion

Confirmation came to me in every place when I knew that I could do nothing else except plant the church among the people of a certain place. I could not do anything else or do it anywhere else.

I lived in my current neighborhood for four years before setting out to plant a church. I was reaching some neighbors and inviting them to church, while serving as an interim pastor at various churches. But then God put a burden in my heart that I needed to plant a church for these people and for their friends.

All of the places I planted had one thing in common. I had a spiritual burden that involved a specific people—from the urban poor in Buffalo to my neighbors in Sumner County, TN decades later.

Fall in Love with a Specific Group of People

Church planting and missionary work is a unique role that requires a unique and clearly discerned calling. The Apostle Paul consistently spoke of the burden he had for different people in different places.

A church planter must fall in love with the place and fall in love with the people. When I fell in love with my wife, I wanted to know everything about her and spend as much time as I could with her. I did things with her that I would not normally do. I learned new things about her interests. I did this fervently because I was in love with her.

The same thing is true about a people and a place where you are going to plant a church. You must fall in love with its interests. You need to learn more about the place than anybody else does because you’re falling in love with the place and you’re falling in love with the people.

Pray and Fast for Discernment

Pray and fast until God makes your calling clear to you. Wrestle with the Lord until it is irrefutable. I don’t want a general calling to plant a church. I want a clear burden for a specific people. I cannot plant a church until my heart breaks for the people where God has called me to plant a church. Don’t start a church without this calling.

At the end of the day, I want a type of Macedonian call. Paul had one when he saw a man from Macedonia calling to him, “Come over and help us” (Acts 16:9).

I’m not saying you need a vision in a dream—and I’ve never had one like that. However, I’ve never planted a church, and I wouldn’t plant a church, unless I had a clear vision for a place and a people that I knew in my heart God was calling me to “come over and help” a certain people in a certain place.

 

– Ed Stetzer, Executive Director of LifeWay Research

Christian Community & the Church

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by Joshua Sklar, Church Planter

 

Community. What does that word mean to you? Hopefully, it is more than just a hit TV show and personally, as I reflected upon the idea, I wanted to share an example of how I recently experienced community in a way that was different than I ever had before. I experienced true community, or fellowship, one evening recently at a fellowship called Slingshot Church. No one sat me down and told me they were having community, no one announced the fact that they were different, but I could see a few key markers that let me know that true community was actually happening. Here is what I experienced:

First of all, they were gathered because of Jesus. Jesus himself told us, “Wherever two or more are gathered in my name, there I am also” (Matthew 18:20).  Each person around the table was acknowledging their desire for Jesus, their need for Him in their lives, and giving Him the praise and the glory for the way that He, and only He, had put their lives back together.

Secondly, each person there also had a role to play. Some greeted at the door, some led a few songs, others prepared food to share. No one came as a consumer to church that night; they came as participants. 1 Corinthians 12 tells us in verses 4 to 6, “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.  There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.” Each person there came to bring a gift, and I listened quietly as they prayed for each other, shared testimony of what God had done in their lives that week, and shared how God’s Word and the Holy Spirit had led them.

For many of them, the gift they brought was much like the gift they were given: their voice. Each person around that table, no matter their background, education, financial status, race, gender, or past, was given a platform to share. No one was cut off or hushed. No one was short changed or put down, and everyone was free to be a part of the conversation. Sadly, some of those wonderful folks have no other place where they have a voice. This night, the community made it a priority to take the time to listen and to love each one gathered there.

Finally, each person was given affirmation and love for being there and being part of how God is building His Kingdom. The pastor who led the meeting closed the night by telling them they were awesome and that he was so blessed that they chose to come to church. He inspired them as he cast a vision for them to be “Dripping Jesus” (their lingo for sharing the gospel) on those around them in their everyday lives, sending them on their way with prayer, celebration, and an open invitation to return and to bring others with them.

The three ways I saw community that night is by no means a complete list. There are many other ways to experience community. So, I must ask, how have you felt community within your Christian context? And furthermore, how have you contributed to that sense of community personally? My prayer for you is that you find the community you seek and provide it for others as we follow after Jesus together.

Read other blogs by Josh Sklar at purposecity.com. 

Reproducibility

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by Brett Porter, Toronto Send City Coordinator

 

“Would you consider leading a small group?” I felt my friend was ready to lead and would do a great job. She had natural leadership ability and had grown spiritually in the months she’d attended our home group.

“I’m not sure I can,” she answered.

When I asked why not, I discovered that I was the reason she felt inadequate. I had been leading the small group using all my favorite technology. She didn’t have the gadgets or the know-how to use them. I also used Bible study methods she hadn’t been taught. No wonder she was fearful of leading a small group, because what she saw me do was not reproducible for her.

Jesus words are simple, “go and make disciples of all the nations…teaching these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.” This command begins the cycle…make disciples who make disciples who make disciples….

If the call is to make disciples who make disciples, then everything I do should be reproducible. Consider this and every other aspect when planting a new church. If our worship service is too costly, too intricate, or too hard for people to learn—or do themselves—we are missing the mark. If we set up small groups that are complicated or intricate, we may prevent new disciples from becoming disciple-makers..

Take a look at the following diagram, called Stages (via Fellowship Pickering, taken from an adaptation of Paul Johnson’s, of the CNBC, discipleship plan found here)…

Stages Logo

 

I love a good “pour over coffee” (it’s so pure and so good).  Take a look at this diagram. Think through all the things you have going on in ministry and do a “pour over” into this diagram.  Are people able to move through the stages with confidence to become disciple-makers?  Are we leading in ways to empower others to lead?

Praying for disciples who are making disciples and churches that are starting new churches to continue to come to life across the Greater Toronto Area.

Five Ways to Craft Genuine Community

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by:  Mike Seaman, Church Planter

 

When you’re first in line at a red light in downtown Toronto and you need to get into the left lane because there’s street parking in the right lane just 15 metres ahead, the manner in which you jump off the line in the first 5 metres makes a big difference. In the same way, when you’re planting a church, revitalizing a community, or seeking change in an existing church, the First 5 are crucial. First Peter 3:8 gives us the First 5 for crafting community:

Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.

When we started Trinity Life Church, we wanted to gather people in genuine Christian community. It’s a shame that we have to use ‘genuine’ as a qualifier, but I think in a city of loneliness, isolation, and superficiality it’s necessary. And to qualify community as Christian is important because Christian community is unique. We don’t do all things well at Trinity Life, but we have community like I’ve never experienced before. Here are the First 5 reasons why:

1) Unity
This characteristic of the body of Christ is not merely an insular unity that excludes, but an evangelistic unity that seeks to include. Unity is perhaps the most misunderstood trait of community in the Church, but also the most foundational (cf. Eph 4:3-6). The emphasis on unity doesn’t end at our local body or at our denomination, but it’s a Kingdom unity that seeks cooperation with other churches in our city, with other organizations in our city, and with our city itself. When we have a Kingdom mentality, unity becomes an exclusive characteristic of the Church that is paradoxically attractive to those outside the Church.

2) Sympathy/Understanding
This feature of Christian community refers to deferentially seeing things from the other’s point of view. Sympathy/understanding at times requires dying to our preferences for the sake of the other (cf. Phil 2:4). This means that a member of the community of faith as the family of God seeks justice for others in the same way they would seek justice for themselves. Old Testament scholar Bruce Waltke profoundly says,

The tzadiq [just] are willing to disadvantage themselves to advantage the community; the wicked are willing to disadvantage the community to advantage themselves.

If we are to seek and usher in God’s justice as a community of faith, we need to continually die to ourselves for the sake of the other, for the sake of those in our city, for the sake of Christ.

3) Brotherly Love
We all have the same Father, both inside the Church and outside the Church. It’s our gift to experience genuine community with those who recognize this life-transforming Truth. It’s also our privilege to model, express, and call our cities into experiencing this life-transforming Truth. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another…. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34).

4) A Tender Heart
Mercy. Compassion. Empathy. Benevolence. Healthy Intestines. Wait…what?! Yes, that would be the literal translation of this word! It’s a strong familial term that refers to feeling something in your gut, in your core. When’s the last time you showed mercy or empathized with another to the extent that you felt it in your core? For most of us, it’s been far too long. How does our community of faith embody these qualities? We become more like Christ. How do we become more like Christ? We act on these qualities. We give more joyously, we serve more sacrificially, we remember how undeserving we are, we weep over our cities like Jesus wept over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41-44).

5) Humility
What does true humility look like? Peter, observing the example of our Lord, makes this clear. It looks like blessing those who curse us (1 Pet 3:9), being zealous for good (1 Pet 3:10-14), honouring Christ (1 Pet 3:15a), defending the hope that is within us (1 Pet 3:15b), and suffering for righteousness’ sake (1 Pet 3:16-17). We don’t just humble ourselves before our brothers and sisters or just before the world. Humility is only genuine if it is holistic, otherwise it’s just feigned modesty. Our Lord Jesus humbled Himself to draw all nations to Himself in order to gather and prepare His bride. In the same manner, we humble ourselves so that God would exalt us and others would be drawn into the presence of the Father.

The First 5—unity, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, humility—aren’t unique characteristics on their own distinguishing us from the cities that surround us. What makes them unique, what makes them truly genuine, is the Spirit’s work within us. The great missionary-theologian Roland Allen says this about the missionary-theologian Apostle Paul:

He believed in the Holy Ghost, not merely vaguely as a spiritual Power, but as a Person indwelling his converts. He believed therefore in his converts. He could trust them. He did not trust them because he believed in their natural virtue or intellectual sufficiency. If he had believed in that, his faith must have been sorely shaken. But he believed in the Holy Ghost in them.

If you want to see the formation of genuine community, you need to begin believing in the Holy Spirit in people.