Renov8 Conference in Full Swing – Day 2
It's day two at the Renov8 Church Planting congress and so far so good. Haven't hit up any sessionals yet but the two plenary speakers I've heard thus far are BANG ON. That's a bit of a surprise since I didn't know what to expect given it's my first Renov8 Congress.
From the folks I've seen and spoken to the majority are either not thinking about, or just entering, the missional church dialogue. The speakers, on the other hand, reflect probably the motivation of the Church Planting Canada group, are SQUARELY within the missional paradigm which is very welcomed in my opinion.
Couple that with the fact there are plenty of Canadian voices here makes it all that more special. Hopefully, the congress will be used as a catalyst for denominations and churches to take a risk into ushering in the Kingdom of God within our communities. I hope it's not just another conference that conference junkies need every 2 years....
A bit on the speakers. First time I've heard Michael Frost in real-time. He's engaging, a great story teller, and exceptionally passionate in connecting himself and others into God's plan to redeem our communities and humanity.
For a more in-depth live blogging summary visit Micheal Krahn's blog.
Memorable quotes from Frost include how Christians are regarded to be the 'preview', the foretaste, of the Kingdom of God. That is, rather than hate, war, and injustice, we provide a glimpse to peace, love, and justice.
This morning Canadian Glenn Smith taking a missional perspective on how to engage and redeem our Canadian cities/urban neighborhoods. I always value unique Canadian perspectives, the last thing we need is a book from the States teaching us how to 'plant churches' in Canada.
First session I took in was Nick Brotherwood, I jumped out of that one and also headed off to Mike Frost Q&A (can't get to them all).
Stuart Murray & Juliet Kilpin are the other two plenary speakers and they started in the afternoon. Again, right on target for missional transformation of our churches for the sake of our neighborhoods. HE mentioned things I"ve been trying to communicate to churches and denominations, and that is: in the post Christendom world context, theology, and expectations change.
Murray suggests don't bother planting a church (missional in nature) if you aren't ready to invest 10 years. Bi-vocational ministers make all the sense in that framework. Expectations and timeframes are extended from 6 months to 10 years. I pegged it at 7 loosely, but since Canada is going where Europe is, 10 years is a startling extension.
I guess this whole missional/transformation of our Canadian context will take longer than expected....fancy that we'll have to invest time into people and their dirty problems.... <-- sarcasm.
Another point Murray discussed was the issue of shalom. I will touch on this subject again when I do a review for the latest book theooze sent me on the topic of social justice. For now, the issue of shalom is one which the church community needs to embrace. We need to seek to bring about the shalom of God into the context of our broken community.
Where our city points to destruction, pain, and social injustice, the shalom of God points to the redemption, love, and justice.
Let's usher in the Kingdom of God....not for denominational purpose, but for Kingdom purpose. That will take risks, risks we're not used to taking, but risks necessary if we're going to actually write a cheque our ass can cash.
