Please HONOR the copyright of these documents by not retransmitting or making any additional copies in any form (Except for private personal use). We appreciate your respectful cooperation.
______Theological Research Exchange Network (TREN) P.O. Box 30183 Portland, Oregon 97294 USA Website: www.tren.com E-mail: [email protected] Phone# 1-800-334-8736 ______
ATTENTION CATALOGING LIBRARIANS TREN ID#
Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) MARC Record #
Digital Object Identification DOI #
Ministry Focus Paper Approval Sheet
This ministry focus paper entitled
BROAD CHURCH TO THE NARROW WAY: MOVING FROM MEMBERSHIP TO EMPOWERED DISCIPLESHIP AT ST. THOMAS’ CHURCH
Written by
JOHN PAUL WESTIN
and submitted in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Ministry
has been accepted by the Faculty of Fuller Theological Seminary
upon the recommendation of the undersigned readers:
______Keith Matthews
______Kurt Fredrickson
Date Received: February 10, 2014
BROAD CHURCH TO THE NARROW WAY: MOVING FROM MEMBERSHIP TO EMPOWERED DISCIPLESHIP AT ST. THOMAS’ CHURCH
A DOCTORAL PROJECT SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY FULLER THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE DOCTOR OF MINISTRY
BY
JOHN PAUL WESTIN JANUARY 2014
ABSTRACT
Broad Church to Narrow Way: Moving From Membership to Empowered Discipleship at St. Thomas’ Church John Paul Westin Doctor of Ministry School of Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary 2014
The purpose of this project was to help church members to deepen their experience of the reality of God through an adult spiritual formation program that focused on the spiritual practices of service, prayer, worship, and study, within the context of small groups. It was intended to empower parishioners of St. Thomas’ Anglican Church in St. John’s, NL to live out their lives as committed followers of Jesus Christ. The program provides a process by which every adult member can move closer to Christ, beginning from their present level of engagement in the congregation. It used the specific spiritual practices of service, prayer, worship, and study, which were already part of the church’s life and history. These practices, applied in small group settings, engaged congregants cognitively, behaviorally, and affectively, in order to empower them to move from Church membership to Christian discipleship. Spiritual practices relating to a shared life with God, in the kingdom of God, are examined as they apply to the Anglican spiritual tradition and the local church. Weaknesses particular to the church’s tradition were identified and the inherent problems addressed. The ministry strategy plan with specific measurable goals, was developed and implemented to potentially reach all members. The final evaluation showed a measurable sense of empowerment among participating church members, as well as a positive movement in the congregation as a whole. An integrated assessment plan, covering every area of small group life in the parish and informing the leadership planning for subsequent years is outlined. This offers an ongoing annual process of renewal and empowerment for individual members, built into the structured pattern of life in the congregation. It is hoped that this program of empowering disciples can be adapted for use in other churches, with equally positive effects.
Word count: 293
To the people of St. Thomas’ Church, my wife Carolyn, and daughters Anna, Miriam, and Lucia, who have shared this path of empowering Christian discipleship with me
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank the following people, without whose personal support and practical assistance this project would not have been possible: my inspirational instructors Archibald Hart, Reggie McNeal, Richard Peace, and Dallas Willard (with adjuncts Jan Johnson and Keith Matthews); the Vestry of St. Thomas’ Church, and my Community of Support; my generous patron and mother Margaret Westin; the Continuing Education Fund of the Anglican Church of Canada, and the St. Lazarus Guild. I pray that the final product will be of help not only to the parishioners of St. Thomas’ but to all readers who seek a way to empowered Christian discipleship in their own context.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iii
INTRODUCTION 1
PART ONE: MINISTRY CHALLENGE
Chapter 1. THE ORIGINS OF AN UNIQUE COMMUNITY 9
Chapter 2. SPECIFIC MINISTRY CONTEXT FOR ST. THOMAS’ CHURCH 27
PART TWO: THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION
Chapter 3. LITERATURE REVIEW 52
Chapter 4. THEOLOGY OF THE CHURCH 71
Chapter 5. A RENEWED THEOLOGY OF ANGLICAN DISCIPLESHIP 88
PART THREE: MINISTRY STRATEGY
Chapter 6. THEOLOGY IN PRACTICE: GOALS AND PLANS 105
Chapter 7. IMPLEMENTATION AND ASSESSMENT 118
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 142
APPENDICES 148
BIBLIOGRAPHY 164
iv
INTRODUCTION
Nearly fifty years ago the Christian and Canadian philosopher George Grant wrote his landmark work Lament for a Nation. It is generally considered one of the most important books to come out of Canada in the last century. In it he lamented the loss of nationalism to continentalism, and the uniqueness of Canadian culture to the homogenizing domination of American liberal capitalism and its technological power. He later admitted he wrote out of both anger and nostalgia for the formerly unique nation that “was once a nation with meaning and purpose.”1 Grant argued “Canada- immense and under populated, defined by a shared border, history, and culture with the United
States, and torn by conflicting loyalties to Britain, Quebec, and America - had ceased to exist as a sovereign state.”2
Grant lamented the loss of Canadian culture and uniqueness in the face of what he saw as a vast and uncontrollable cultural surge from the United States. He felt Canada missed its opportunity to take a narrow and unique path as a nation, and opted for the broad and destructive (of Canadian uniqueness) path of continental North Americanism.
Many of his fears were well-warranted; others never came to be. Canada remains a separate, if somewhat culturally closer, sovereign nation sharing the world’s largest unprotected border with its southern neighbors.
Fifteen years later, British political analyst Malcolm Muggeridge, a convert from atheism to Christianity, lamented the loss of another, far greater culture: that of the
1 George Grant, Lament for a Nation, 40th Anniversary Edition (Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 2005), Forward.
2 Ibid. 1
Western Christian Church. Like Grant, he was greatly concerned for the losses being incurred on almost every cultural front but, unlike his earlier co-watchman, yet he remained hopeful even while raising the lament and alarm.
In his influential short work The End of Christendom, Muggeridge argued that while Christendom may well be dead, Christianity was far from dead. The broad, destructive road of Western worldly power, exercised through institutions and governments tied to the historic cultural of Christendom, may well be leading to a dead- end, but the heart of the whole culture of Christendom, and the reason it ever developed in the first place, remains untouched. Christianity, as opposed to Christendom, the system that grew up around it like a great barnacle that has grown and overwhelmed a ship’s hull, has at its heart the relationship between disciples and the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the essence and narrow way of the Christian faith. He wrote,
Christendom, however, is something quite different from Christianity, being the administrative or power structure, based on the Christian religion and constructed by men. It bears the same relation to the everlasting truth of the Christian revelation as, say, laws do to justice, or morality to goodness, or carnality to love- if you like, as Augustine’s City of God to the earthly city where we temporarily live.3
Almost everything Muggeridge saw happening, or coming on the horizon, in regard to the receding power of Christian culture in the West seems to have been accurate. Yet he wrote hopefully, “So, amidst the shambles of a fallen Christendom, I feel a renewed confidence in the light of the Christian revelation with which it first began.”4
3 Malcolm Muggeridge, The End of Christendom (Grand Rapids, MI: William. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1980), 13.
4 Ibid., 23. 2
Author and missionary bishop Lesslie Newbigin agreed with Muggeridge’s renewed confidence. He too was filled with glad expectation for the propagation of the
Christian gospel. In his classic work Foolishness to the Greeks Newbigin took on the full force of the Western cultural Goliath with five small chapters intended to bring the modern world into a dialogue with the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. He contrast the true
Gospel with the quantified, qualified, and neutralized shell of a gospel, after it had been gutted by the modern Western mindset. He challenged the universally accepted inheritance from the Enlightenment period that “this dichotomy between the private and the public worlds (which) is fundamental to modern Western culture” and he breathed new life and hope into the mission fields of Europe and North America of his day.5
Most Christian leaders are familiar with the lament for the state of the Christian
Church in the western world. Many agree with the secular reading on the statistical life of the Church in North America, and especially in Canada, that, with few exceptions, it seems to be in a state of serious and irreversible decline. Yet, at the same time there are other voices that speak of great hope and opportunity in this day and age.
Reginald Bibby, the foremost sociologist of religion in Canada, like Muggeridge and Newbigin before him, sees reason for hope for those congregations that want to change, even as he chronicles the dismal slide of Canadian church establishments into political and social oblivion. The broad path of the Christendom way is drawing to its close, but the narrow path of relational relevance for religion is not going to run its course in the foreseeable future.
5 Muggeridge, The End of Christendom, 15. 3
Near the end of his landmark study Beyond the Gods and Back: Religions Demise and Rise and Why it Matters, Bibby writes: “The good news that such thinking brings to religious groups is that religion’s future is not in question. Ongoing needs guarantee that it will always have a place in the lives of large numbers of people in Canada and around the world. Note—not everyone, but very large numbers.”6
Also he writes,
What we have found is that, to the extent that people ‘come back’ to organized religion, it is because they have discovered there are some things taking place that resonate with their desire to know the presence and the resources of the gods. “…” They consequently are open to groups that are in touch with and can respond to their spiritual, personal, and relational needs.7
As the rector/pastor of St. Thomas’ Church, St. John’s, NL, this possibility is of particular importance to me. The parish has experienced a period of substantial numerical decline over the past five decades. This decline threatens its present and future mission, church structures, and even existence. Something must change if the congregation is to continue on as a vital part of Christ’s Body, with a vital ministry in the city of St. John’s.
The church leadership has realized that what must change is the leadership itself and many of the ways of understanding who they are and what they are about as a member congregation of the Christian Church. But old ways are often cherished ways and not easily given up. No one likes to change cherished ways, yet change they must if they are to continue on in their calling to live and minister in this congregation.
6 Reginald Bibby, Beyond the Gods and Back: The Demise and Rise of Religion and Why it Matters (Lethbridge, AB: Project Canada Books, 2011), 193.
7 Ibid., 212. 4
The church inherited a system from the past that provided it with many members of the parish whose faith does not seem to be expressed beyond the simple fact of church membership. The leadership believes that the Spirit of God can reinvigorate the spiritual lives of those members, just like the dead bones of Ezekiel’s vision were brought to life by the breath of God (Ez 34). It believes they are called to cooperate with God in his great scheme of salvation and re-creation. The leaders believe the Lord is “making everything new (Rv 21:5)” including his Church, and the future (despite the dismal statistical trajectory) is as bright as the promises of God.8 But the Church cannot just live off of promises, it must act on them to see them come to fruition.
This project describes the journey St. Thomas’ parish has been on for the past ten years, to act on the promises of God. It is the story of one congregation that is attempting to be, like John on Patmos, “in the Spirit (Rv 1:10)”, so that its members and the congregation as a whole, can acquire the eyes and ears necessary to hear and see, and perceive, the purposes of God, despite the opposition of the greatest power presently on earth: the atheistic, post-Christendom, mindset of an all-dominating, western world culture. But this power pales in the face of the living God.
The thesis of this project is that many church members can be turned from a state of spiritual passivity to one of active discipleship. All disciples can notice, know, and follow God in Jesus in a way that transforms their faith and lives. Such a turning begins in prayer but it does not stop with prayer. The parish has initiated a program of spiritual formation, focusing on the hands-on spiritual practices of service, prayer, worship, and
8 All Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers. 5 study, shared with other Christians in small groups, so that members can experience the reality and power of God in their own lives. This experience enables parishioners to move from being spiritual spectators to engaged and empowered followers of Jesus
Christ. This is both a desirable and attainable part of the calling for any congregation that wants to seek the narrow path of Christian discipleship.
What the congregational leaders of St. Thomas’ want to develop through this endeavor is an attentive spirit, a welcoming habit, a God-honoring lifestyle, that opens people to the reality, presence and power of God, which in turn brings purpose and revelation to their lives, regardless of their circumstances. The leaders want their members, and through them, the people of their city, to know God and his actions in history and in them. The challenge is great, without a doubt, but Scripture testifies that
God is greater than any of the challenges God’s people face. The apostle John wrote,
“You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world (1 Jn 4:4).”
Here is the story and strategy of one congregation as it seeks to live in the challenge, and experience the mystery of God’s indwelling presence in its members. It is the beginning, not the end, of a journey towards finding the narrow way of living with
Jesus as his disciples, rather than opting for the usual default button of church membership which leads to the broad but ultimately soul-starving road of nominal religion. After all, Jesus said that is the road disciples should travel on: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it (Mt 7:13-14).” 6
7
PART ONE
MINISTRY CHALLENGE
CHAPTER 1
THE ORIGINS OF AN UNIQUE COMMUNITY
The histories of Newfoundland and Labrador and the other provinces and territories of Canada have long been connected by similar influences, movements, and even personalities, but until 1949 their destinies were separate. This chapter explores elements in the history of the province in very large brush strokes, highlighting some of the social and ecclesiastical background that has made Newfoundland unique, and shows how this has contributed to the uniqueness of St. Thomas’ Church as a Christian community. There are many inadequacies of this approach, but for the purpose of this work, the generalizations made here are considered less problematic than becoming mired in too much attention to historical detail.
Every nation and people possesses a spiritual inheritance. All people are influenced by those who came before them. The Bible makes a connection between peoples and the lands in which they live. The ground we live on has spiritual significance. Adam’s ground was cursed (Gn 3:17) and Abel’s blood cried out from the ground (Gn 4:10-12). God called Abram to follow him to a land he promised to show
9
Abram (Gn 12:1). Abram’s descendants were promised their own land as a sign of God’s favor towards them (Gn 15). There was also a long connection between earlier peoples and the land of Newfoundland, before the present, dominant culture arrived and gained ascendancy. These earlier peoples, though now gone, continue to play a role in the history of the land and its present people.
The Spiritual and Temporal Establishment
Before Europeans explored the coast of the province at least six previous native peoples made some portion of Newfoundland their home for a period of time, often leaving little trace. The earliest dated back to 4000-3000BC. The Beothuks, the most recent of these peoples, appeared in Newfoundland between 1150-1250AD. They eventually inhabited most of the island, though their numbers were never great. They were hunters and fishers and managed well on their island home. Later, during the
European era, Mi’Kmaq from Cape Breton crossed over and established settlements along the west and south coasts.1
The first recorded European settlements are those of the Vikings. These date from circa 1000AD, at L’Anse Meadows on the tip of Newfoundland’s northern peninsula.
The Vikings stayed for only a few years but left rich archeological finds indicating that they were involved in extensive trading with natives and even other Europeans during their stay. Like many of their native predecessors, they disappeared without a clear cause.
1 George Rose, Cod: The Ecological History of the North Atlantic Fisheries (St. John’s, NL: Breakwater Books, 2007), 167-175.
10
The harsh climate and rugged geography have always played a formative role in developing the character of the peoples of Newfoundland and a “have-not” mentality.
Around AD 1450 other Europeans began visiting the waters off the island, drawn by the rich fishing of the North Atlantic Ocean. John Cabot, on expedition from the
English crown, was credited with first sighting and naming the island the New Founde
Land on 24 June 1497.2 First Portuguese and French, then Spanish and, finally, English vessels began to vie for the immense fishing stocks to be found. It was said one could haul in the cod with buckets, without even the need for nets or hooks. The competition lead to conflict, and then open warfare, between nations as each sought the upper hand in controlling the fishing-basket of Europe off the Grand Banks. The struggle for control of
Newfoundland was finally settled when Queen Elizabeth I sent Sir Humphrey Gilberts to
St. John’s. On 5 August 1583 he claimed the city, and the entire island, for the English monarchy. On his attempted return to England Gilberts’ ship foundered and he was heard to bellow his famous last words from the sinking ship, “We are as near to heaven by sea as by land.”3 Thus England acquired her first overseas possession and the first piece of the foreign puzzle that would grow over the next three centuries into the British Empire.
The English people’s relationship to the native peoples was generally one of indifference, sometimes broken by inquisitiveness, fear and occasionally violence. The
Beothuks spoke of the two kinds of spirits that natives had recognized among the White men. Perhaps referring to the respect the Vikings appeared to have for their environment
2 Kevin Major, As Near to Heaven by Sea (Toronto: Penguin Books, 2002), 36.
3 Ibid., 65.
11
and their neighbors, but which was not shared by the later Europeans lured by opportunities to get rich quickly, they said the first White men had been sent by the good spirit they said, but the second wave of white men belonged to the bad spirit.4
The struggle between the good and bad spirits of stewardship and exploitation of people and resources has been ongoing in Newfoundland for half a millennium. The indifference shown towards the natives began to change in the 1820s, when it was discovered that very few Beothuks had been seen for the past few years. An expedition was organized to find and help those that might still be alive and in distress, but to no avail. None were found anywhere on the island. When Shanawdithit, the last of the
Beothuks, died in St. John’s in June of 1829, her death marked the first national
Newfoundland tragedy. An entire people had become extinct simply because of general indifference to their plight; no one had noticed or cared to look out for them until it was too late. As one author so starkly described the loss of the Beothuks, “There is no darker moment in Newfoundland history.”5
Once the European power struggles were over, communities began to be established on the island. Fishing admirals (early entrepreneurs) set up shop all along the coast, claiming harbors and islands as their own. They were a law unto themselves and went unchallenged in their territories. At first the fishermen were brought over only for the season and set up summer camps along the coast, closest to the best fishing grounds,
4 Rose, Cod, 167. See quote by Shanawdithit, the last of the Beothuk people, in response to a query by W.E. Cormack in the late 1820s.
5 Major, As Near to Heaven by Sea, 211.
12
leaving them deserted in the early-fall before the weather turned bad. After a time some stayed the winters to watch over the camps, eventually leading to the establishment of year-round settlements. The climate was harsh and the amenities few on what would soon come to be known as “The Rock.” Since Newfoundland was only intended to be an economic venture, no governorship was set up until the eighteenth century. The purpose for Newfoundland was to supply fish for English merchants to supply their own nation, and then, through England, to be sold to the markets of Europe. This intention of exploitation has been a legacy Newfoundland has suffered under for centuries.
After a time it became clear to the British crown that the system of admirals was not working. Crime, immorality and corruption were rampant. In 1729, the chief naval officer, Henry Osborn, was appointed first governor of Newfoundland. He was to establish law and order to protect the population (mostly from itself) and so that the fish supply to the mother country would not be threatened. It was not until 1825, under
Thomas Cochrane, that Newfoundland was designated a colony and therefore began to develop a system of self-government.
The regime of the fishing admirals gradually changed over the years and was replaced by fish and other merchants who continued to be the middle-men between the fishermen and the markets of Europe and North America. They also controlled the supply of goods the fishermen and local population needed to work with and survive. The merchants, together with teachers and clergy, became almost like a ruling class in every outport community. This developed into a merchant class of families which drove the
13
economy of the island until well into the latter part of the twentieth century. They continue to play a major role at every level of Newfoundland society to this day.
The Church of England (as the Anglican Church in Newfoundland was known until 1949, when it entered Confederation) was the established church of the island. It had been the official denomination since the sixteenth century but, without a real presence on land. It had few buildings or clergy, and none of the privileges that many established churches had in other British colonies. Though this was a difficult way for the Church of
England to begin, it resulted in a strength and resiliency of its people in generations to come. They learned to provide for themselves, including lay leadership of the congregations that began to spring up around the province. As Newfoundland church historian Geoff Peddle noted, “The inhabitants knew from the beginning that if there was to be a church in Newfoundland they must provide for it themselves and that pattern of giving and local support was reflected in the centuries to follow.”6
The first church in St. John’s was built in 1699, to serve the British garrison. The
Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG) began to send missionaries to serve the population, including fishermen along the coasts starting in 1701. Over the next 150 years, many of these communities began to organize themselves, build churches and request permanent ministers. It took a true missionary spirit to choose to come to
Newfoundland in those days and missionaries were few and far between.
6 Geoff Peddle, The Anglican Church in Newfoundland: An Exceptional Case? (Wales, UK: unpublished doctoral thesis, Cardiff University, 2011), 22.
14
The Church of England, first on site, was last to establish a permanent ecclesiastical presence. With the establishment of a Roman Catholic hierarchy several decades earlier, it was felt necessary to strengthen the Anglicans in a similar way. In
1840, Aubrey Spencer was sent from England and became the first bishop of
Newfoundland and Bermuda. After only a short few years he departed to become bishop of Jamaica and was replaced by Edward Field. His successor was a man of high church principles, vision, energy and competence. His endeavors guaranteed a permanent place for Anglican institutional life and establishments well into the future.7
Before Field had arrived the denominational school system had already been set up (1843). This denominational system both safeguarded the churches’ roles in education and ensured that education, like religion and politics, would remain segregated for over
150 years. There was deep Christian devotion in many leaders and people of all of the churches, but there was a great cost to the religious segregation.
While the churches were clearly established and given every opportunity to drive their own programs of evangelism, it was at the expense of Jesus’ prayer for oneness (Jn
17) and the apostle Paul’s teaching on the unity of the Body of Christ (1 Cor 3). Division one from another, rather than unity in Christ, became the earmark of the denominational churches on the island for generations. Major notes, “Religious stripe was a person’s defining feature, more often than class or occupation. It would come to determine not just how individuals spent a Sunday but what school their children went to the rest of the
7 Major, As Near to Heaven by Sea, 251-253.
15
week with whom they socialized, who would hire them, and how they would mark their ballots on election day.”8
Into this turbulent mixture of religion and politics inherited by all
Newfoundlanders entered the SPG missionary Edward Wix. He was a dedicated minister who came to St. John’s on a rest furlough from his parish in Bonavista. He soon realized the great need for a second church building in St. John’s and the inability of the population to raise the funds for such a building. In 1833, he travelled to England to plead his case to society and individual contributors. He returned the next year with enough money to build a second garrison church. By 1836, construction work was completed and it opened for worship with the Archdeacon as its first incumbent.
On 1 July 1867, by an Act of Confederation passed by the British parliament, the new country of Canada came into being. It was composed of the four former British colonies of Upper and Lower Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Moved by a fear of American military and economic take-over after the end of the Civil War, the Fathers of Confederation (as they came to be known) banded together to forge a different version of a North American democratic society than that envisaged by their neighbors to the south. Though Newfoundland had been part of the initial discussions, their representatives recommended to not enter the new merger but to remain as a separate, self-governing entity with strong bonds to England and Britain. “The Canadian wolf would have to wait another eighty years before daring to show his face again.”9
8 Major, As Near to Heaven by Sea, 171.
16
As part of Britain’s decision to withdraw from North America, the British garrison was removed from St. John’s in 1870, and the garrison church became the Parish
Church of St. Thomas’. The garrison pews were soon filled with civilian parishioners from the growing population in the east end of the city. In 1874, an extension was added to the church to enable even more people to attend worship, followed by a further expansion only a few years later (1882 to1883).10 The loss of soldiers caused a major shift to take place in the social and political life of the city and province. It also caused a huge rethinking about the focus for the ministry, life, and mission of the congregation.
Instead of being a chapel for soldiers and their families, and people connected with the military, and only secondarily for civilians from the area, the congregation had now set their sights on a civilian-only congregation. This would not be the last time the parish had to reinvent its ministry due to shifts in cultural realities.
The period 1870 to 1949 was a time of adjustment, clarification and decision for the people of Newfoundland. Various different forms of government were proposed and attempted. In the end, after a long struggle and only by a slim margin (52.3 percent), the people chose to join Canada as its newest province.11 It was the beginning of a new era, a shifting away from Britain and towards Canada and the mainland.
9 Major, As Near to Heaven by Sea, 281.
10 H.W. LeMessurier, The Church of Saint Thomas and its Rectors: 1836-1928 (St. John’s, NL: Trade Printers and Publishers 1928), 16.
11 Major, 398.
17
The End of a Way of Life
On referendum night in 1949 Joey Smallwood was leader of the party that won the vote to enter Canada. He became the first premier of Newfoundland and governed the province for more than twenty years (1949-1971). Smallwood left a lasting legacy on the people of the province. Besides the many good things he was known for, he was also known as the one who enacted the policy of resettlement. It was a well-intentioned idea to save money from servicing isolated communities, and to provide of better opportunities for employment, education and health care. Between 1954 and 1975, the government relocated more than 250 rural and coastal communities. Tens of thousands of people were uprooted, hundreds of communities dismantled, and families’ lives changed forever. It began a new era of displacement for many Newfoundlanders who, having lost their generational homes, now looked west to Canada and the U.S. to provide jobs and a new life. The suffering of people from these rural communities at this time was immense:
“Once neighbors, they were soon to be scattered to a half-dozen different communities.
For many people throughout Newfoundland the emotional pain of resettlement would never entirely heal.”12
Resettlement was the beginning of the first great immigration to the mainland, but it was also the beginning of a move into the city of St. John’s for many others. For a variety of reasons St. Thomas’ Church became home for many of the Anglicans from outport communities. A time of bane for many rural churches became a time of boom for
12 Major, As Near to Heaven by Sea, 419.
18
St. Thomas’. New parishioners flooded into the parish. By 1962, the number of households in the parish had grown to almost 1500.
The hard years for Newfoundland did not end with entry into Confederation, or with the end of the policy of resettlement that decimated so many communities. Things went from bad-to-worse with the closing of the North Atlantic Cod Fishery in the summer of 1992. Fish stocks had been dropping for years and scientists had been sounding the alarm bells. Over-fishing from foreign and domestic vessels was rampant.
Unregulated and illegal vessels and factory ships were destroying great tracts of the formerly rich cod breeding grounds, and huge stocks of fish considered undesirable were being dumped at sea. The waste and ravage on the fishery was out of control.13
The Canadian government stepped in to end the ravage and to allow an opportunity for the fish stocks, especially the staple cod fishery, to recover. This caused
“the single largest layoff of workers in Canadian history, and it left the people of
Newfoundland and Labrador with few options.”14 It was called a “moratorium” as it was always the intention to restore the fishery once the stocks recovered. The effects of the cod moratorium, ending a fishing industry and way of life that had been the center of the province for 500 years, are incalculable. Although there is today a very limited cod fishery, the moratorium remains in effect. The legacy of exploitation continues.
13 Rose, Cod, 499-545. See the chapter “A fishery without cod: AD 1993-2006,” for a complete account of how and why the cod moratorium came to be and what its effects have been.
14 Ibid., 501.
19
The failure of the cod fishery caused the second, and largest, wave of emigration from the province. The province’s biggest employer was removed overnight. All
Newfoundlanders were affected and people had to radically alter their expectations of what life held for them. The birthrate in the province, once the highest in Canada (1961) began to fall even further. It had already fallen during the era of resettlement but now it was compounded with a larger wave of emigration of young people, the very people that would have been staying and raising families in the province. The population of
Newfoundland and Labrador that had been increasing steadily and peaked at 580,109 in
1993 began to drop dramatically until 2006, when there was a leveling off at 505,469.
Since then there has been a slight increase in the province’s population to 514,536 in the
2011 census.15
In analyzing the statistics from the Anglican Church in Newfoundland over the last fifty years, researcher and Anglican clergyman Geoff Peddle found that decline in church engagement was far less than the national average and really only began to change dramatically during the 1990s.16 He attributes this to the resilience found in the almost tribal-like loyalty of Newfoundland and Labrador Anglicans for the church of their youth; a “retained identification” even when they are no longer attending.17 He noted a difficulty with the studies cited in differentiating between active and passive members of the
15 “Population and Dwelling Counts Newfoundland and Labrador,” Census Division 2011 Census, http://www.stats.gov.nl.ca/statistics/
16 Peddle, The Anglican Church in Newfoundland, 111.
17 Ibid., 129.
20
church.18 What is clear is that the Anglican Church of the youth of most
Newfoundlanders and Labradoreans is now changing rapidly especially in the St. John’s area. It is doubtful that the passive, resilient, loyalty of past generations of tribal
Christians will be able to guarantee the survival of the church in the new era.
The changing face of the world, coupled with the enormous waste of resources and energies in maintaining three or more separate school systems for a dwindling population of children, eventually led to a call for an end to the denominational school system. As Major noted, “Politics in Newfoundland, with an equal population of
Catholics and Protestants… became a battle shaped by religious bigotry. And the schools quickly turned into one of its battlegrounds.”19 This call for change was fuelled by the anger brewing in the 1990s over revelations that came to light regarding sexual abuse at the Mount Cashell Orphanage run by the Christian Brothers. The abuse went back decades and involved many clergy and young children. The orphanage was closed but the hostility towards the church remained. Anger was not only felt by Roman Catholics.
Many other denominations, including the Anglican Church in Newfoundland, were also rocked by their own cases of sexual abuse in churches, pedophilia and child pornography.
This further eroded the public’s confidence in the ecclesiastical institutions.
In 1999, the old school boards were dismantled and replaced by a new, integrated school system. Schools, faculty, students and their atmosphere changed almost overnight.
The effects, for good and ill, are still being felt. The separating wall of denomination,
18 Peddle, The Anglican Church in Newfoundland, 233.
19 Major, As Near to Heaven by Sea, 248.
21
which had both isolated and insulated the churches, had been removed. Churches that had relied greatly on the schools to supply religious instruction and reinforcement to the teaching they provided on Sundays now had to face the challenge of taking their own
Christian education programs more seriously.20
Changing Demographics: A New Diversity
In the Newtonian world of physics “what goes up must come down.” Sometimes the opposite also occurs. In 1985, the signing of the Atlantic Accord agreement with the federal government, gave Newfoundland a substantial voice in managing offshore oil reserves, and began a movement from a have not to a have province. By the mid-1990s revenues began to flow in from oil fields off the coast of the province, increasing prosperity and boosting economic development throughout the province but especially in the St. John’s and Avalon Peninsula area. Newfoundland, down for so long, has experienced an upswing of fortunes over the past decade that has resulted in an altered social and spiritual landscape, including a greater cultural diversity than ever seen before in the province’s history.
One of the unexpected benefits of the oil boom in the province has been the return of some of Newfoundland’s native sons and daughters to their home province, where they can now ply the trades they learned in the oil fields of Alberta. Experts in the oil industry from many nations are also moving to the area to work in the field. Support industries are on the rise as the province repositions itself to accommodate the new arrivals. This is the
20 St. Thomas’ Church also ran a parochial school from 1927-1974.
22
greatest time of immigration into the province in the past century. This shift in economic fortunes has had a profound psychological effect on the people of the province and involved a radical shift in thinking that many are still trying to negotiate. It has involved the removal of a feeling of Newfoundland inferiority that many, both inside and outside of the province, have felt since Confederation.
Prosperity brings with it the need to think differently, and that is not easy for a people who have gone about their business, by and large, in an unaltered way for several hundred years. Every form of leadership in the province faces the same challenge to learn to think differently and see the new reality before them. This is just as true for the leadership of the churches. The challenge for the parish now is to look differently on the times as filled with opportunities that have not existed for decades. Jesus challenged his disciples one day, “Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest’” (Jn 4:35-36).
When Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God he was always calling people to make a paradigm shift in their thinking. John Bright wrote, “It lies at the very heart of the gospel message to affirm that the Kingdom of God has in a real sense become present fact, here and now…In the person and work of Jesus the Kingdom of God has intruded the world.”21 The Church in Newfoundland and the parish of St. Thomas’ has a new opportunity to make that paradigm shift, the intrusive presence and work of the Body of
Christ in this age, and see the possibilities for kingdom life differently than they were previously seen.
21 John Bright, The Kingdom of God (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1953), 216.
23
Several decades ago, as an incentive for students to attend Memorial University of
Newfoundland (MUN), the government subsidized tuition for students. That, coupled with a reputation for fine scholarship and the lure of an exotic destination, began to attract foreign students in ever growing numbers. It is now the largest university in
Atlantic Canada and has brought much greater ethnic and cultural diversity to the city.
In the late-1990s Canada had agreed with the United Nations to settle a large number of refugees, seeking asylum from the ongoing war in the Sudan. A federal government study showed St. John’s to be one of two major centers with the greatest capacity to absorb larger numbers of refugees, and the refugees (many of them with
Anglican backgrounds) began to arrive in the city. There was little infra-structure or support to welcome the first arrivals to their new, very foreign home in St. John’s. The
Association for New Canadians, desperate for help to get the new arrivals settled, turned to the churches for assistance. A handful of individuals at St. Thomas’ heard a Gospel calling in Jesus’ familiar words: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest (Mt 11:28).” In 2002, the parish began its Refugee Ministry, although it has never fully come into the mainstream of parish life.
Never before has there been such a number of visible minorities in
Newfoundland. It is as if the world has discovered the province and decided to come, visit and maybe even stay here. This will be greatly challenging to Newfoundlanders who have not had to deal with such large groups of immigrants moving to their province in the past. Along with the evident task of drawing passive Anglicans back into active engagement with their Christian faith, congregations will also have to rethink how their
24
communities appear to those moving to the province from outside.22 There is a new spiritual reality that is opening up all around the church; one that Bibby says is opening the way for fresh relevance and engagement for people with churches that want to do something about it.23
The old days of a Christian, denominationally segregated, world are now past for the province. St. Thomas’ Church, once a bastion and preserve of British social and religious life (“The Old Garrison Church”), now finds itself in the center of a transforming inner city, with all of the social, racial and spiritual diversity and turmoil that is found in almost any major center in the country. This is a new reality for the congregation, and brings them into uncharted waters. Yet, at the same time, the church has the stability and traditions of 176 years of history as a congregation, 500 years in a denominational family, and 2000 years of membership in the Body of Christ.
All these relationships have shaped and planted St. Thomas’ Church right where the world is arriving at its doorstep. The challenge for the church is to understand both the people and the times they are called to minister to in. The congregation has a wealth of resources from the spiritual traditions they bear in their own DNA, so that they can bring to bear the gifts of God, as the people of God, to do the work of God. As the most easterly church of the most easterly city in North America, isolated and jutting into the
22 Peddle, The Anglican Church in Newfoundland. See his discussion of “Implications for diocesan life,” 236-239.
23 Reginald Bibby, A New Day: The Resilience and Restructuring of Religion in Canada (Lethbridge, AB: Project Canada Books, 2012), 59. From his conclusion: “What transpires in Canada as far as the religion-no religion balance will depend largely on the collective performance of its religious groups. These consequently are times that call for a new outlook, new alliances, and new effort. These are times that call for the best ministry possible, to both the initiated and to others.”
25
icy Atlantic Ocean, they still have the ability to embrace their calling to live and minister as stewards of the life they have been given, as followers of Jesus and his narrow way, right where he has led them.
26
CHAPTER 2
SPECIFIC MINISTRY CONTEXT FOR ST. THOMAS’ CHURCH
The previous chapter viewed the history of St. Thomas’ in a very wide social context of a shared life in the province and the city, beginning with those ancient peoples who came before until the present time. This chapter will deal specifically with the congregation’s own history and ministry. It will also look at this history and ministry in relation to the formularies, structures and constitutions of the Anglican denominational system it works within.
The congregation is fortunate to have three short written histories, as well as a wealth of information from its past, stored in its parish archives. Together they provide a kind of core sample through history. They give glimpses and insights into how people of earlier generations regarded the life, work and worship of the church in their own day.
The first parish history is a twenty-six page pamphlet covering the first ninety-two years. The first seventeen pages are descriptions of various parts of the church, how it was constructed and the like. Only in the latter-third of the booklet is very much said about the congregation, and then it is focused almost exclusively on incumbents and
27
rectors, naming but a few other prominent citizens and lay people who attended worship.
The subject matter reveals the clergy-centered bias and focus on the part of the writers.
The clear leader of the congregation was the Incumbent of the parish. An Incumbent is the clergy appointed to lead the congregation in the place of the bishop of the diocese, who is the chief pastor of all congregations in the diocese. Where the rector led, the people were expected to follow. It was also very important how the clergy carried themselves and the esteem with which they were held in the larger community. They represented the parish wherever they went and whatever they did. There was a great importance laid upon the well-roundedness of the clergy, and their ability to be seen as model citizens of the society. The tribute written for Canon Wood after his death is typical of what was looked for in a church leader of the time: “As a Christian, as a clergyman, as a public man, as a citizen, as a friend, he was the model of all excellence, and there are a few in Saint John’s who will not find cause for sorrow and regret in the removal of Canon Wood from one or other of these capacities.”1
As part of the 125 anniversary celebrations an updated history of the parish was produced, incorporating the earlier history into the first third of the book. The middle third updated and expanded some of the information about clergy not adequately covered in the first book, as well as an important section on Canon Howitt, who had ministered in the years between the publications of the histories, with important milestones in the life of the congregation during his time as rector. The last third of the book chronicles many
1 H.W. LeMessurier, The Church of Saint Thomas and Its Rectors, (St. John’s, NL: Self-published published 1928), 23.
28
of the organizations in the parish and the activities they engaged in. Here one can see the way the focus shifted during those relatively short 33 years, from a clergy-centered to a church-centered model for congregational work.
The 1930s through the1950s was the era of clubs. Most active parishioners were part of one club or another. It was what defined a person and their interests, and where people made their friends and spent their time. Churches reflected this wave of joining and belonging to groups that swept through the whole society. They shifted their focus to groups and organizations within the parish structures. St. Thomas’ was no different than most other churches at this time, focusing on group activities, including social clubs and fellowship groups, youth and outreach groups, mission teams, Christian education groups, and other organizations. This reflected a shift in the way people perceived their roles in church and society in general, in response to the needs of the new wave of parishioners entering the church and local community at the time. It was the congregation and its constituent parts and groups, and not just the clergy that now drove the church’s mission in the world.
Fifty years later another update was in order, in time for the 175 anniversary celebration of the parish in 2011. The third history noted a shift from church-centered groups to the ministry and mission of the congregation as a whole. This history, written by a non-parishioner, gave yet another perspective on the constantly changing nature of the congregation and its engagement in gospel ministry.
As an outsider looking in on our parish, John Cheeseman has captured something essential to the time he has written about. He has noted and lifted up the shift in understanding of leadership that has evolved in the church. This little book shows
29
a move towards the deepening understanding of the ministry of the laity, in which the work of the parish moved more and more out: from the church building out into the community.2
It can be good to get an outside perspective on a congregation; outsiders often see things that the fully engaged do not because they are too close to the action. As a non- parishioner, Cheeseman noted and reflected back to the congregation the shift he saw in parish life over the period he had researched and written about. He saw a move from being church-centered to becoming more ministry-centered. This is an important shift as it reveals a move towards a more missional mindset. It reflects a movement away from a more culturally accepted, sedentary, view of Christian life as primarily that of church membership, to one of increasing engagement, not only in church groups but in individuals actively involved in outreach work, which is a necessary part of the spiritual life for a disciple of Jesus Christ. Cheeseman concluded his sixty-five page chronicle of the preceding fifty years of parish life with the following hopeful summary:
The 2011 Work Plan focused on celebrating the past, embracing the present and entrusting the future into God’s hands… While remembering the past, their leaders reminded parishioners to keep their hands to the wheel and stay on track with the work they had before them as the present day garrison of Christ’s soldiers and servants stationed at ‘The Old Garrison Church’… In these activities, those from the five decades just passed, and for the many to come, St. Thomas’ has guaranteed a place for itself in the history of its city, province and the Anglican Church, by living its vision: An enduring beacon drawing all closer to Jesus.3
2 John Cheeseman, St. Thomas’ Anglican Church: An Enduring Beacon since 1836. (St.John’s, NL: St.Thomas’ Church 2011). Forward by John Paul Westin, 3.
3 Ibid., 64-65.
30
While there are, of course, no such guarantees, the author does remind readers of both the challenge and the hope Christians have in the God who equips those he calls. It is evident from the parish histories, from archival records and from stories that have been passed down through the years by parishioners, that St. Thomas’ has had some very able clerical leaders from its earliest days. Both Wix and Charles Blackman, the first two priests, were SPG missionaries from England, hardy visionaries who never backed down from a challenge. Thomas Wood and his son Arthur Wood, Englishmen who followed
Wix and Blackman, were faithful and capable leaders and men of remarkable intellect and conviction held in high esteem in the wider community. The fourth rector (and fifth
Incumbent) was also from England; Henry Dunfield served the congregation for almost fifteen years. After him came the first Newfoundland rector George Godden, who served for only four years. He was followed by a succession of three more rectors totaling thirteen years of leadership combined.
In 1928, A.H. Howitt came to the parish from another St. Thomas’, in St.
Catharines, ON. An evangelical clergyman, and the first graduate of Wycliffe College to serve on the St. Thomas’ staff, Howitt moved the parish in a decidedly low-church, evangelical direction for the next twenty-eight years. He was to be the longest serving rector in the history of the parish. He re-stabilized the parish and brought renewed energy and purpose, leading it through the turbulent Confederation years and preparing it for the growth years of the 1960s.
Another mainlander, J.P. Syd Davies (born in England), took over after Howitt retired and subsequently died in 1958. He had served as an assistant under Howitt before
31
taking over the parish. He built the Sunday School to nearly 750 students and had a broadcast radio Sunday School that covered the island. Davies was succeeded seven years later by yet another come from away (CFA) Rhodes Cooper (1963-1972).4 Cooper had been born in Bermuda, an island that had once been joined to the Diocese of
Newfoundland. He was a man of strong convictions and brought a greater appreciation for the liturgy and the catholic traditions of the Anglican Church to the parish. William
Askew (1972-80), from Ontario, followed Cooper before two Newfoundlanders in succession became rectors: Hollis Hiscock (1980-1990) and Carl Major (1991-1997). The last two rectors have also been mainlanders: Bill Ransom (1999-2000) and John Paul
Westin (2001-2013).
It is of some significance that, of the eighteen Incumbents and Rectors of St.
Thomas’ Church, only three have been native Newfoundlanders and only one of them served a longer than average pastorate (more than seven years). While there were certain disadvantages to being from away at St. Thomas’, the congregation also gained some distinct advantages from having so many foreign clergy leading and bringing an outside perspective to the way things were done. The parish was used to thinking differently from other Anglican churches. It developed a confidence in its own ability to discern what it should be doing and where it should be ministering beyond the normal status quo of many of the parishes in the diocese.
Geoff Peddle recently completed an important study of the Anglican Church in
Newfoundland and Labrador. One of his central conclusions was that there is a kind of
4 CFA is a term used for Newfoundlanders for those who were not born in the province.
32
tribal nature to religion in the province, which means that people will not be switching their denominational loyalties any time soon. Newfoundlanders are a loyal lot, and most
Newfoundland Anglicans will remain Anglican.5 This is most likely true of many communities where the social changes have not come as quickly, and the wave of social and racial diversity not arrived so evidently and immediately, as it has in the St. John’s area. But it is also evident from the survey of the history of the parish contained in this chapter, that St. Thomas’ is a unique community of faith within the unique community of
Newfoundland. This only emphasizes the point the parish has noted well, that they, regardless of whether it applies to others or not, must change in order to respond to the changing reality about them, and in keeping with the spiritual DNA and history of their parish.
Of all the parishes in the diocese St. Thomas’ was most likely to have foreign missionaries and preachers from afar to visit and address the congregation. It became known as a place to visit and worship in when one was in St. John’s on a Sunday. Its ability to stand out and even to stand alone at times, although painful, meant it had much to contribute to the wider life of the Church. It is an important part of what has enabled the parish to move in new directions when it needed.
5 Peddle, The Anglican Church in Newfoundland, “(I)n and around the Anglican Church in Newfoundland social capital remains high along with intrinsic religious motivation among churchgoers but it will be shown that the resilience of the Church is due to an unusually high degree of passive church membership in the wider society and the mutually beneficial way in which the Church and the community around it relate.” 10.
33
Windows of Change: Trends over the Past Fifty Years
To know which direction a church is going in it must have a good idea of where it has come from. Statistical trends can give some useful insights. The trends over the past fifty years have not been healthy ones, numerically speaking. There is a steady decline in numbers of people both attending worship services and in their participation in the group life of the parish. Although these same statistics do not reveal very much about the import or impact of the congregation’s life and ministry in the community it is a part of, they do highlight areas where more work needs to be done.
The age of clubs and organizations is at an end, both in church and society as a whole. In most parts of Canada this was felt by the 1970s. In Newfoundland the end of the club and organization culture lasted well into the 1990s. But this end has now arrived in the churches as well. The middle-aged and the young are not joining the church groups their parents and grandparents were part of. People are not looking for things to belong to, in order to find purpose in their lives. But relationships, true community and spiritual seeking and growth are still as important today to people in Canada (including
Newfoundland) as ever. Reginald Bibby, in the conclusion to his groundbreaking study of
Canadian religious life, Beyond the Gods and Back, wrote, “People have to know that groups are addressing the life and death questions that they are asking, and are capable of having a positive impact on their lives and the people and issues they care about.
Religious groups that can do those kinds of things have futures. Those that can’t or won’t
34
6 are going to fade away. ” While statistics do not tell the whole story, they can tell some of the story. Below is a table showing the statistics regarding sacramental rites of passage: the Christian rites of holy baptism, confirmation, solemnization of holy matrimony, and burial of the dead at St. Thomas’ Parish over a fifty year period, from the high-water mark of church membership and attendance in 1961 down to the present day
7 (2011), surveyed at ten-year intervals.
Christian Rite 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 2011
Baptisms 185 92 68 69 41 28
Confirmations 210 89 67 14 11 9
Weddings 57 50 44 31 15 11
Funerals 57 50 50 44 53 30
Table 1. Numerical comparison of Christian Rites performed between 1961 and 2011.
It is not difficult to see where the above figures are trending. If one were to make a forecast for 2021, based on the previous figures, it would be “without change the congregation will die.” The drop in numbers is substantial, even when one takes into account that during this period two daughter churches were formed with mostly younger
6 Bibby, Beyond the Gods and Back. 214.
7 All figures are courtesy of the St. Thomas’ Church Archives.
35
members taken from St. Thomas’; St. Augustine’s, Elizabeth Avenue (1962) and St.
Mark’s, Logy Bay Road (1980).
The number of households in the parish has fallen from nearly 1500 to 500 in the past half-century, and the average number of members per household has fallen from well over four to two persons per address.8 The congregation has not been retaining its number number of church members, although there are probably a higher percentage of members attending now than ten years ago. There are a large number of nominal parishioners of which the church has lost track. If the current trend were to continue the statistics in ten years would look something like the graph below.
In the figure below, the left-hand column is the numbers of Christian Rites performed and the bottom are the ten-year periods beginning with 1961 (left) through to
2021 (right). Series 1= Baptisms, Series 2= Confirmations, Series 3= Weddings, and
Series 4= Funerals. Apparently there will still be some activity remaining in the congregation ten years from now and, if the investment funds last, there may even be some part-time paid staff still around, but the future does not look good. The church will continue to dwindle until one day it too joins the host of closed and deconsecrated church buildings dotting the provincial ecclesiastical landscape. Like so many other churches before it, the statistics indicate that St. Thomas’ Church will also slowly die.
8 In 2011, households consisting of one person accounted for 27.6% of all households; about a three-fold increase from 9.3% in 1961. During the same period, the share of large households comprised of five people or more decreased from 32.3% in 1961 to 8.4% in 2011. “Census Brief, 50 Years of Families in Canada: 1961-2011,” 6. www.statscan.gc.ca/
36
250
200
150 Series1 Series2 100 Series3 Series4 50
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Figure 1. Comparison of St. Thomas’ Christian rites through the decades.
As the Anglican poet T.S. Eliot once prophesied of an age that has lost contact with the living God, “This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper.”9 But congregational life does not have to end with a whimper. Within the Anglican system itself, with all of its checks and balances on power and authority, there is still the freedom to initiate the changes that are necessary to become engaged in just the kinds of life and activity that Bibby has found Canadians are seeking.10 The congregation needs to find the balance that has been missing in so many Anglican churches generally, and in St.
Thomas’ in particular, so that it can better meet the needs of people as only the Body of
Christ can.
9 T.S. Eliot, Selected Poems, (London: Faber and Faber Limited 1954), 80.
10 Bibby, Beyond the Gods and Back. “What is certain is that the needs that call for the gods will persist. Until the responses that are required appear, we will have the paradoxical situation where many groups are going broke precisely at a time when many people are going hungry.” 215.
37
As with many other congregations, St. Thomas’ has had a wide range of ministries over the years. There has been a long history of mission involvement beginning with the mission to the British regiment in St. John’s, the poor and destitute of the city through the years, in establishing the mission to Cartwright in Labrador, overseas missions, parish social worker, Sunday School on the air, and other such initiatives.
There has been a consistent history of reaching out to others.
An overview of parish history has shown that the church has moved from a clergy-centered, to a church-centered, to an activity centered view of congregational life and Christian vocation. There is a missional character or gifting to the congregation that has been evident from earliest times. As with all strengths there are also weaknesses.
Where there is energy in a community there is also vulnerability.11
A missional church runs the risk of going in many directions at once, losing its focus and passion, and finally burning itself out. Jesus pointed his concern out to Martha that working in the kitchen, instead of focusing on the guest, is not the better part of being a host. Like Martha, missional churches are sometimes “worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed (Lk 10:41).” A closer look at the activities of the parish over the past decade confirms those concerns as being well-grounded for St.
Thomas’. Cheeseman summarized the mixed blessing of an overly active congregation in a passage from his parish history: “In the late 1980s, a former rector was asked what it
11 Christian Schwarz, The 3 Colors of Community. Port Hope, ON: Fordelm Inc. 2012. “People who have a high energy level in a specific area have great potential for contributing to the corresponding communal quality; at the same time, they are more vulnerable to the corresponding sin.” 30.
38
was like going from St. Thomas’ to his new congregation. He replied, ‘It was like going from a rushing, mighty river to a slow, moving stream.’”12
While one wants to be part of a congregation where good things are happening, when churches try to be a rushing mighty river for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, people can be swept away unintentionally. There can also be erosion in areas one had not intended. This has been the case for St. Thomas’ where leaders have become tired and parishioners lost and swept away in all of the activity and projects of the past decades. It is amazing to look over the list of past leaders who are no longer active in the parish or attending worship regularly. It is not from lack of trying that the congregation has seen limited fruitfulness but from lack of connection that has led to so many of their efforts leading to church fatigue rather than rejuvenation of the heart and missional joy. There is a great difference between wanting to be a mighty river and asking Jesus for the living waters that bubble up from within, and which do not dry up, erode or wash away (as
Jesus offered the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:11).
In the fall of 2001, shortly after the full new staffing team was in place, a census
(tally) of groups and ministries was taken in order that the clergy could become familiar with some of their group responsibilities. To many peoples’ amazement it was discovered that the parish had forty-eight continuously meeting groups and ministry committees.13
12 Cheeseman, St. Thomas’ Anglican Church, 36.
13 The myriad of groups included: Vestry, Wardens, Synod Delegates and Deanery Council Reps, Senior Choir, Family Choir, Youth Praise Band, Lifespan Committee, Worship Committee, Property Committee, Finance Committee, Liturgical Dance Troupe, Servers' Guild, Eucharistic Assistant and Lay Ministers, Senior Sidespeople Association, Junior Sidespeople, Bell Ringers, Sunday Evening Worship, Bible Study (2), Alpha Courses (2), Home Groups (2), Marriage Course, Sunday School, Men's Study
39
That was forty-eight groups and committees working within a congregation whose combined Sunday worship congregation was approximately 350. Many people were in a multitude of groups. This is not to mention the four full-time and five part-time staff, and three honorary clergy assistants in the parish, or the numerous seasonal working groups formed for various special events during the year. It was a logistical nightmare, and an unhealthy situation, that needed to change. The mighty rushing river of the parish was swamping its own membership.
One of the challenges of leadership in a long-established congregation is the danger of un-pruned growth of groups. A group or ministry that served a real purpose in the past may have out-lived its missional usefulness but continues in perpetuity long past its fruit-bearing period because it is so difficult to bring to a close. Members form a bond of loyalty to the activity, the group or even the memory of past members. They can feel compelled to keep the group going for the sake of preserving the group itself. When these kinds of groups exist in a church it can become like a tree with too many spindly branches and excessive foliage, making it incapable of bearing healthy fruit. Jesus says that his Church is created to bear fruit: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful (Jn 15:1-3).” Churches that do not keep
Group, Cursillo, Youth Group (Jr. & Sr.), Anglican Church Women Units (2), Sanctuary Guild, Men's Service Club, Church Tours, Collection Counters (5 teams), Bulletin/Newsletter Helpers, Fall Fair Committee, Technical Support Volunteers, Escasoni Volunteers, Glenbrook Volunteers, Prison Ministry, Friendly Visitors, St. Luke’s Home Tea Servers, and Communications Team.
40
their institutional growth pruned run the risk of developing diversity without a clear common principle. That is what happened at St. Thomas’.
Often St. Paul is misquoted to support a view of random ministry springing up everywhere. Some churches think they should try to do as much as possible, so that all may be helped. But Paul said, “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some (1 Cor 9:22).” He said he had become all things. Paul did not say he did all things. He was speaking about a principle of being open and accessible to all. He was not talking about becoming an expert in everything, or expending his energies in every possible direction. The focused principle of being present and available is very different from trying to do all things for all people, so that some might join the church.
Too many long established congregations have trouble discerning this difference and so burn themselves and their leaders out. All activity is not saving activity. Jesus came to be the Savior. The church must learn to be the church, and not get drawn into exhausting and wasteful use of resources. One of St. Thomas’ most important tasks was to begin to pare down the number and variety of groups and ministries. It needed to find a guiding principle for all ministry and activity in the parish in order to tell what was and was not serving the purposes of the vision and mission of the parish.
There is nothing intrinsically wrong with, or unbiblical about, any of the Anglican structures or the way they are presented for the ordering of common life in the Body of
Christ. The New Testament sets out principles not rules for the spiritual governing of the
41
church. But just as the dead bones in Ezekiel’s vision could not live until God’s Spirit breathed life into them (Ez 37:1-14), neither can the structures of the Anglican (or any) church live without empowerment from the Spirit of God. Slavish obedience to rules, ordinances and structures does not make one godly, it only makes one slavish.14 Anglican
Church structure is dependent upon church leaders and members who are guided and empowered by the Spirit of God. As Jesus taught Nicodemus, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again (Jn 3:3).”
Core Values and Theological Convictions
Historically, Anglicans have had a very strong sense of belonging to a larger, worldwide, family. Like all families there are family traditions and characteristics, but most importantly a sense of belonging to something greater. The Solemn Declaration of
1893, instituted during the first General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada, states the grounds and limits of its membership in the world-wide Body of Christ.15 It is essential for Anglicans to remember that they belong to a body that is much greater than themselves, their parish, their diocese, and their denomination, even the Church in this world. They belong to the Body of Christ, the “one, holy, catholic and apostolic church, and the communion of saints: the communion of saints,” which reaches all times and
14 General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada 1985. Book of Common Prayer. The Original Preface (1549), “There was never any thing by the wit of man so well devised, or so sure established, which in continuance of time hath not been corrupted.” 715.
15 See APPENDIX A. Book of Common Prayer Canada, 1962, “Solemn Declaration 1893”, viii.
42
places and into heaven itself.16 In the baptismal services of the Anglican Church a double responsibility is made clear for all candidates and their sponsors for baptism. Baptism is an individual’s response to the calling of God, but it is also recognition that the new life of Christ is lived within the church, as the Body of Christ, and lived out within the community.17
In the summer of 2005, a group of parish leaders attending the local Willow
Creek Leadership Summit agreed that the parish was in need of a clear vision and mission statement to bring focus to their common life and work. This led to a two year process of working with individuals and groups within the congregation that finally resulted in the adoption of the both a vision and a mission statement. Vestry adopted the vision statement, An enduring beacon drawing all to Jesus Christ, and the mission statement, To be a Christ-centered family, connecting with seekers and followers of
Jesus; providing a loving, encouraging, and challenging environment so that all may know and grow in relationship with Christ and make Him known.18
The work of rallying and inspiring parishioners around their own statements began. With the past in the past, and the future still unknown, the parish started to get some control over its present by arriving at a consensus about its calling. A further
16 General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada 1962. Book of Common Prayer Canada, 1962, Apostles’ Creed. 10.
17 General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada 1985. Book of Alternative Services. Baptism is the sign of new life in Christ and unites Christ with his people. That union is both individual and corporate. 142.
18 St. Thomas’ Church Vestry Minutes 18 May 2007, Vision and Mission statements of St. Thomas’ Church, St. John’s, NL.
43
development in finding a new working paradigm for the congregation had been ongoing since 2001. The problems facing the congregation at the time were many and serious. As a way to move forward together, and start on the same page, the Vestry decided to turn to the Natural Church Development church survey as a diagnostic tool. It helped them to see the church as a living organism, and to discern where to begin to focus their energies in order to get healthier as a church.19
This was the beginning of a transformational relationship with NCD and the parish. At the point of writing, St. Thomas’ has taken the NCD survey nine times, making it the most surveyed Anglican church in Canada. Every survey brings greater insights into how the church can move deeper into Trinitarian life and balance. Jesus’ parable of the growing seed is the principle used by NCD: “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain— first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come (Mk 4:26-29).”
God plants the seed and the Holy Spirit empowers it to grow. That is God’s part.
People are only responsible for doing the part they can do, working the soil. But they must do that part. If they do that well, then God will do his part and grow his (Trinitarian) life in them and in the church.
19 Christian Schwarz, Paradigm Shift in the Church: How Natural Church Development Can Transform Theological Thinking (St. Charles, IL: Church Smart Resources, 1999). “The strategy of natural church development is made up of these three building blocks: first, the eight quality characteristics; second, the six biotic principles; and third, the minimum strategy.” 240.
44
Theologically, understanding God as the one who has revealed himself in three different ways (as Creator, in Jesus, and in the Holy Spirit) is fundamental for all branches of Christianity. Each of the three revelations has a special affinity to a specific sphere of reality. In each of the three spheres we experience the same God, but we experience him in different ways. Applying the Trinitarian compass brings balance to the life of individual believers and whole churches. It helps us radiate the fullness of God more completely in all aspects of our lives. And finally, it releases an almost magnetic attraction that is far more powerful than all of the marketing techniques on planet earth: People notice that they are drawn closer and closer to the living God. This is, both theologically and strategically, the very center of NCD.20
Given the complexity of all that just preceded this section, one might wonder how a parish can gain and keep a simple focus. There are always obstacles to structural change that threaten to spread churches into broader institutional paths, away from the clear and narrow path of Jesus’ disciples. The leadership of the parish has found that the key to negotiating a clear way through what can be a mine-field of organizations, rules and details, is to not do things for Jesus but to do it with Jesus. When a person or church does something for Jesus they are constantly second-guessing themselves: “What would Jesus do?” When everything is done with Jesus that question does not need to be asked.
Travelers with a guide do not have to wonder where they are going or what they should do next. The guide at the proper place and time communicates everything. This is the key to the use of the spiritual practices of service, prayer, worship and study in Chapter 6.
The spiritual practices are guides that enable parishioners to experience living life with Jesus, so that they can then, individually and corporately, do what they do for God, with Jesus. While this may sound like an impossible task for Christian disciples to perform on their own (and it is), Jesus never intended for people to try it alone, for “with
20 “Why is the Trinitarian approach so central for NCD?” Online article. http://www.ncd- international.org/public/FAQ-Trinitarian.html.
45
God nothing is impossible (Mt 19:24-26).” Jesus also promised his followers “I am with you always, to the very end of the age (Mt 28:20).” Disciples are not expected to take the narrow way alone. They are to do it with Jesus. Nor are they expected to negotiate the opportunities and obstacles to structural change in their churches alone. Church leaders are to walk through changes with Jesus, for whom such things are quite possible.
Jesus sent his Church just as the Father sent him, and just as Jesus was not alone
(he was always joined with the Father by the fellowship of the Holy Spirit), so he has ensured that his disciples will not be alone. Jesus gave the Spirit to be with his disciples and to keep them in fellowship with him and with their Father in heaven. After the resurrection, with all the disciples gathered (except Thomas), Jesus said, “‘Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.’ And with that he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven’ (Jn 20:21-23).”
St. Thomas’ Church in a New Era
So many things have changed over the past 177 years of parish history. Today’s ministry context, city, worship, activities, even some of the structures of leadership of the congregation would be almost unrecognizable to early parishioners of St. Thomas’. The makeup of society and the focus of the congregation have shifted greatly during that time, yet the reality of life in Christ is the same, and the Church’s primary calling to be about the work of Jesus’ Great Commission is the same: “Then Jesus came to them and said,
‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of
46
the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age’ (Mt 28:18-20).”
The context is different and the era is new, but the good news is the same; the
Church is not asked to go it alone. God still sends Jesus’ disciples the Holy Spirit to draw them close to Jesus so that they can walk with him and discern the Father’s will in all things. Chapter 4 will consider the theology of what this walk with Jesus in the narrow way entails, and Chapter 6 will look at how St. Thomas’ has chosen to implement the narrow way walk with Jesus in as many areas of their corporate as they are able to incorporate at present.
From May to December 2012, the Vestry canvassed all small groups and ministry committees in the parish to discern identify St. Thomas’ core values. In January 2013, a group of church leaders completed an all-day workshop that narrowed those values down to five: Nurturing Relationships (with God, Jesus Christ and all people), Listening Prayer,
Welcoming Worship, Living Communion and Blessing Outreach.21
What is clear about the narrow-way walk with Jesus is that it requires distributing and sharing leadership in a different way. The Anglican structures do not exclude the presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit, but they can work quite effectively without him. They can still effectively govern the institution of the church and parish, but the governing will not be empowering or life-giving. Empowered leadership is leadership done with the whole body and with the Holy Spirit. Paul reminds the Church of his day,
“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are
21 Annual Work Plan 2013, St. Thomas’ Church, St. John’s, NL.
47
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 (1 Cor 12:4-6).”
St. Thomas’ Church needs to move beyond the age of religious tribalism in the province, to embrace the new reality of greater individualism. It is a frightening age to live in, when the edges are not as clear as in the past, but one in which many people are seeking the spiritual connection and answers to the deep questions of life cited earlier by
Bibby. It will involve shedding the old paradigm of living in a have not driven mentality of spiritual impoverishment, to one that embraces Gospel richness, relevance and responsibility, and all of the possibilities that come with that. That is why Jesus gave leadership to the Church, so that every part of it, including St. Thomas’ Church, could experience the fullness of life that comes from being involved in serving God in the world. As Paul told the church in Ephesus, “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (Eph 4:11-13).” Paul wanted them to know that, however small they felt, the service they did was part of God’s great purpose. This is why the Anglican
Prayer Book calls God “the author of all peace, whose service is perfect freedom.”22 The service Christians perform with Jesus is in order to build them up until they attain the fullness of what Christ wants to make them into, equipping one another to glorify him in
22 General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada 1962. Book of Common Prayer, “The Second Collect for Peace”, 11.
48
the world. It is the only service that brings with it perfect freedom. That is what the work of spiritual formation is about: the retooling of the people of God, so that they may be transformed by the renewing of their minds. Then they will be able to test and approve what God’s good, pleasing and perfect will is (Rom 12:2). The obstacles and opportunities are not associated with the structures of the denomination of congregation but in the attitude of the leadership of the church. This attitude challenge is what the four spiritual disciplines chosen for the parish’s adult spiritual formation program addresses.
Jesus said, when asked what the most important commandment was, “The most important one is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these (Mk 12:29-31).” Church work is about the renewal of church members in all the ways they are made to love and serve God and their neighbors.
The chapters following will reflect on the theological implications of an adult spiritual formation program that focuses on the spiritual practices of service, prayer, worship and study, within the context of small groups, as well as outline a strategy and evaluation process for implementing the congregation’s goals and plan to accomplish the task of loving and serving God and neighbor with Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
49
PART TWO
THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION
CHAPTER 3
LITERATURE REVIEW
It goes without saying that it is very difficult to narrow down over a hundred helpful books in an area of research to only seven. All of the books outlined in this chapter offer a key insight and challenge to the usual way of looking at church and congregational life common today. Dallas Willard’s answer to the existential human question “Who am I?” is central to understanding the importance of each book: “You are a never ceasing spiritual being with an eternal destiny in God’s great universe; spiritual in substance, never-ceasing in duration, ruling creative governance in destiny.”1
Willard’s definition of the human person is grounded in the relationship of the three persons of the Trinity. Both Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen’s and Willard’s books, in the first section of this chapter, look at the relationships and life that has developed within the
Body of Christ from an historical and theological perspective (ecclesiology). Darrel
Guder’s work narrows the scope of relationships to a North American and Canadian context for relationships within the Church and with culture. Martin Thornton looks at
1 Dallas Willard, Fuller Theological Seminary course notes June 2011.
52 relationships as they have developed practically and ecclesiastically within the Anglican family of churches. Henri Nouwen’s work considers the pastoral necessities of relational life with God and one another in community, and Christian Schwarz, using the
Trinitarian Compass as the relational measure of all things, enables congregations to restructure their relationships in a way that makes them healthier, more balanced, and able to bear the fruit of true relationship. Finally, in the Spirit of the Disciplines, Willard
(again) looks at how certain spiritual practices can create accessibility to true relationship with God and others that is both transformative and empowering.
Spiritual Practices in Scripture and Theology
A well-written Introduction often takes very complicated material, condenses and simplifies it until it becomes a manageable concept that can then be communicated simply to the uninitiated, so that the recipient can grasp the heart of the matter. This is what Kärkkäinen has done in An Introduction to Ecclesiology: Ecumenical, Historical &
Global Perspectives, with his material regarding the various major ecclesiological perspectives and theories of what the central life of the Church is all about.
There are lots of takes on what is the perfect understanding of the Body of Christ.
None of them has the whole picture. The Body of Christ is a composite body that is the earthly (and heavenly) extension of Jesus’ life and will. It is a totally human body
(though filled with the Holy Spirit) and, as wholly human, is made in the image of God, who is Trinity. So, like all human beings made in the image of God (the children of God) and like God himself, the church is a ‘mystery’ and, therefore, cannot ever be fully known (or defined). Kärkkäinen’s fundamental thesis is that all our definitions and
53 ecclesiologies are insufficient because they seek to describe the mystery of human union with God in Christ, but all are sufficient places to start our search for greater wholeness.
This makes a significant contribution to the efforts to build up the life of a church, because it means Christians don’t need to search for the perfect church, since it doesn’t exist on earth. It means parishioners are able to remain in their imperfect churches, with their heretical leanings, as long as those leanings do not lead them outside of the body of truth held in common by the historic Christian Church, the Body of Christ.
One of the most destructive tendencies in the western church is the tendency to divide and be conquered. The desire to find theological or moral perfection drives many disciples of Jesus to separate themselves from one another in order to seek greater perfection. The word heretic is, after all a description of all of us, herao- Greek “to choose”. Because everyone has to choose to start somewhere it matters little where one starts. Disciples of Jesus are called to seek greater wholeness and balance, greater
Trinitarian unity of the persons, in their community life. That is what it means to grow in the Lord.
Kärkkäinen divides his work into three ways of looking at ecclesiology, the way we think about the Church. He reviews the major ecclesiological traditions (Part One), then some of the most prominent contemporary ecclesiologists (Part Two), and finally considers some current contextual ecclesiologies as they develop today. This gives the reader a sense of the breadth and depth of the Christian ecclesiastical tradition while encouraging confidence in exploring what God is presently doing in any given context.
This means that churches can begin to look at their relationship to the Body of Christ
54 from where they are, with their imperfect congregation, and seek to increase in wholeness. Kärkkäinen understands that unity and wholeness come from relationship with a God who is three persons and yet one God.2
Churches that try to make all of their members the same are unhealthy churches.
Denominations or ecclesiastical groups of churches need one another, and need one another in their differences, so that the wholeness of the Church and the Gospel of Jesus
Christ can be maintained, because no one group or perspective in the body have all of it, or even the part we have, all right! As the author says, “The future of Christian theology lies in global sensitivity: theologizing can no longer be the privilege of one culture, neither Western nor any other.”3
The limitations of this approach, in light of the ministry challenge facing St.
Thomas’, lies in the congregation’s temptation to blur the theological distinctions in favor of a kind of tribal view of the body of Christ. Because the history of the province and congregation has been so uniform for so long, differences and distinctives that arise from the increased cultural diversity of the community may be felt as disruptive rather than enriching of the community. The congregation will need to move more slowly than many other Canadian Anglican parishes on the mainland might have to, in order that parochial changes it undergoes do not erode its ecclesiological stability, and healthy growth and
2General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada 1962. Book of Common Prayer Canada. See Creed of St. Athanasius, one of the three ancient Creeds of the Church confessed by Anglican Christians. Article VIII Of the Creeds, 701.
3 Kärkkäinen, Veli-Matti. An Introduction to Ecclesiology: Ecumenical, Historical & Global Perspectives (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002), 232.
55 adaptation in the existing church culture not be experienced as personal or theological rebellion by more traditional members of the congregation.
Willard’s The Divine Conspiracy is a modern, classic; a theological work that shows how disciples can find their life in God and cultivate lives of purpose in the kingdom of God now and into eternity. It brings together theology, philosophy, spirituality and human culture in such a way as to make it truly personal- tying the human person to the person of the Triune God. This helps to see the life of a congregation in personal, relational terms as well.
Willard’s thesis is that people today can understand Jesus and his words as reality, and they can do what Jesus tells them to. 4 The summary of his main argument is found in three ideas in Ch. 3 “Our God Bathed World”: “Jesus’ good news can be an effective guide only if we share his view of the world in which we live.”5 “We should, to begin with, think that God leads a very interesting life and that he is full of joy”.6 God not only loves us, He likes us.7 The thought that the world is love-bathed (i.e. God- bathed) is essential, if Christians are to get out of the terrible habit western people have of Dewey decimalizing God onto a library shelf space in life, and only accessing him when they go to that particular place. God is everywhere and in all things: the Divine
Conspiracy is an outline of how to rediscover our hidden life in God or, as St. Paul says,
4 Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy: Discovering Our Hidden Life in God. (New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1998). “Introduction”, xiv.
5 Ibid, 61.
6 Ibid, 62.
7 Ibid, 64.
56 be conformed to the mind of Christ: “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Rom 12:2).”
Willard argues that nothing substantial has changed in humanity’s understanding of ultimate reality since the time of Jesus.8 Many people today are so inundated with data and information, and they have such a prejudice towards a modern, scientific, understanding of how the world works, that they feel that Jesus’ world view must somehow be inadequate to their complex, overwhelming, information society world. The way through the distractions is faith in Jesus’ worldview. This insight greatly aids the enterprise of this project, to develop an adult spiritual formation program to move parishioners from church membership to empowered discipleship. Jesus’ teaching aim was not to impart information but to make significant change in the life of hearers.9 That must be the endeavor of parish programs as well. Again, this is not a new idea but one that needs to be repeated over and over again. It is not enough to provide overwhelming information and expect people to use it properly. Christians and Christian communities are called to live and manifest the truth in a way that it can be gotten (caught) by those they live with, on earth and in heaven. “God wants to make us into the kind of person whom he can set free in his universe, empowered to do what we want to do.”10 What a wonderful thought, that God will be able to trust us in heaven.
8 Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, 93.
9 Ibid, 112.
57
It is difficult to imagine what limitations this resource can have in the ministry challenge faced by St. Thomas’ Church. Perhaps the greatest limitation is that it is in book form, and most people in the parish (as in the culture) are disinclined to read theological books. The promise that the book will soon be available in a DVD study series format will, doubtless, help to bring it to and profit the very group this project is focusing on: adult spiritual formation small groups. This will help address the greatest pastoral challenge today: “non-discipleship is the elephant in the church.”11 Willard shows churches a way to make disciples of Jesus.
Spiritual Practices in Ecclesiological Perspective
Guder and company (Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America) approach the Church as a missional community and focus on what is necessary for the North American Church to fulfill its mission calling. Guder writes,
“The verbs to build and to extend are not found in the New Testament’s grammar for the reign of God” and “The New Testament employs the words receive and enter.”12 This distinction is central to the author’s thesis that the vision of a church community does not need to be developed so much as recognized. Vision is gift not reward for work. This removes a huge wall of separation between Christian traditions and between Christians and non-Christians (both kinds of “the sought”), and between active and non-active, even hostile parishioners in the Anglican understanding.
10 Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, 379.
11 Ibid., 301.
12 Darrell Guder, ed. Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998), 93-4.
58
The Church is called to a holy life in the midst of the surrounding culture. “The more accurately the church locates the key points of difference between its surrounding culture and that culture called for by the reign of God, the more faithfully the church lives a distinctively holy life in its place.”13 Guder’s main argument is that this is where the
Church ought to preach/proclaim the kingdom by living it out in the midst of a culture with differing values. This is where a church’s mission is found.
This missional insight should contribute greatly to a congregation’s evangelistic confidence. It is in the opposition to thinking in the world that Christians and parishes can find their opportunities for spiritual growth and evangelism. “Apostolic, missional leadership will be learned through apprenticeship within communities.”14 This both frees and challenges churches to “do what Jesus did” in building the church through life changing relationships with others. Parish leaders, clergy and lay, can be freed from feeling the need to blame other people or causes, or to seek answers from the democratically and representatively elected leaders of the denomination. Authority to see and act can be grasped by the leadership of the local congregation, just as it can by the individual Christian in his or her life setting.
In the ministry challenge facing St. Thomas’ Church, the limitation of this book is simply that it is not able to directly address the uniqueness of the congregation’s ministry context. The congregation needs to understand their own particular setting, strengths and weaknesses, involving the hard work of self-understanding and awareness, before they
13 Guder, Missional Church, 128.
14 Ibid., 214.
59 can use the method of discernment in the book to help evaluate the mission work in the parish to see if it is truly missional or just the activities of a (good) Christendom church.
An older book with great discernment of spiritual practices from the uniquely
Anglican ecclesiological perspective is Martin Thornton’s The Heart of the Parish: A
Theology of the Remnant. In the Preface to the book he lays out his thesis and argument for the importance of parochial theology: “I firmly believe that one can only be a
Christian by incorporation into Christ’s Church, and that Christian prayer is prayer in and of that Body.”15 This is a book about pastoral priorities and the spirituality of congregational life.
Thornton argues that considerations of biblical and philosophical theology, history, and psychology alike demand that pastoral work should be based on that idea of the necessity of Christian community. He thinks that a remnant of faithful souls, often very few in number, are to be found in any parish; and that their training and direction is of very much greater importance than devising schemes to interest the multitude. He argues forcefully against parochial activity that aims at adding numbers of individuals to the Church by methods of recruitment; this he holds to be theologically unsound and ascetically ineffective. He believes God will add to the Church such as are being saved when there is at the heart of the parish this Remnant living by rule, a center of adoration and charity, which he contends is the rightful heir of medieval monastic order. There is
15 Martin Thornton. The Heart of the Parish: A Theology of the Remnant (Cambridge, MA: Cowley Publications, 1989), Preface.
60 probably no other modern work that attempts such a serious and thorough examination of the type of parochial spirituality to which Christians can aspire in the world today.
This book contributes greatly to the topic of this project as it connects the parochial structures and spiritual practices of the Anglican spiritual tradition to
Trinitarian theology and the human need for relationship with God and one another.
Thornton has recognized the three key elements of the Anglican spiritual DNA or, what he calls “The Rule of the Church;” they are (i) The Office, (ii) The Eucharist, and
(iii) Private Prayer.16 The designation ‘Private Prayer’ seems to encompass almost every other element in the Christian classifications of the spiritual disciplines, outside of worship.17 Thornton also understands the relation of body, mind and spirit, and the way evangelism works in the three major groups on any congregation (leaders-learners-rest), beginning with the most committed and drawing them closer into the heart of God, so that they can be sent out into the world to make leaders of the learners and learners of the rest. This is in keeping with Jesus’ pattern of having an inner core of disciples (the
Twelve), a larger group of followers (“the disciples”) and a large mission field that he was sent out into the world to preach to.
At St. Thomas’ church the Leaders are the leadership team: Vestry, and Staff. The
Learners are the active, engaged parishioners involved in ministry groups, and small groups, as well as missional groups of various kinds, including the congregation at
16 Thornton. The Heart of the Parish, 205-6.
17 See, for example Richard Foster’s enumeration of Inward, Outward and Corporate Disciplines, where he lists Meditation, Prayer, Fasting, Study, Simplicity, Solitude, Submission, Service, Confession, Worship, Guidance and Celebration as “The Spiritual Disciplines: Door to Liberation” in his classic Celebration of Discipline (New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1978.)
61 worship and the church members consciously living out their lives as disciples in their homes and at work etc. The rest are those outside the church walls and not engaged in any of the organized inner life of the parish, except perhaps occasionally as visitors. They are reached through personal evangelism of parish members, outreach activities and public events. Thornton provides an evangelistic pattern that incorporates the Anglican parochial system, according to the Apostle’s explanation of the purpose for the various offices in the Church, in particular for the spiritual formation of adults, “for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph 4:11-13).” This fullness of
Christ is something that can be grown into by both individual disciples and by the local
Christian community.
The most serious limitation of this work, in light of the ministry challenge, is its age. While he reveals a great depth of understanding of Christina ascetical theology, and a profound understanding of and sympathy for the Anglican spirituality tradition, his
“ascetical solution to the modern religious problem of instability”18 only barely begins to address the complexity and fragmentation of western life that has occurred since the book was first published more than fifty years ago. Many of his practical solutions for the renewal of parish life seem hopelessly distant and romantic notions for today’s multi- tasking parishioners. It is his principles of pastoral theology that are most helpful in this work, in particular his consideration of religious experience, Trinitarian Spiritual Health,
18 Thornton. The Heart of the Parish, Referring to Ch. 21, “The Rule of the Remnant”. 259.
62 and the three-fold Rule of the Church: the Office, The Eucharist and Private Prayer.
Parishes have to find their own way to adapt these principles in their local setting, rather than attempt to use his solutions as a template for church renewal.
Spiritual Practices in Pastoral Perspective
Henri Nouwen’s Creative Ministry deals with all of the major areas of present day pastoral ministry. Although it too is an older book, it presents the approach to spiritual practices in a way that remains fresh and vital. Nouwen outlined these practices in the five chapters of his book: Teaching (beyond the transference of knowledge) was a challenge to clergy to get beyond professionalism and view teaching as a redemptive process. Preaching (beyond retelling the story) shows that the preacher must lay down his life as a bridge available to others, so that they can make their own difficult way.19
Individual Pastoral Care (beyond skillful response) portrays pastoral care as being primarily about contemplation, tearing down the safe pastoral walls and allowing pastor and parishioner to meet in a common humanity. Organizing (beyond the manipulation of structures) challenges the pastor to be ‘contemplative at heart’20 rather than manipulative in structuring corporate life. Celebrating (beyond the protective ritual) introduced the idea of celebrating all of life, joy and sorrow, life and death, as an inclusive activity.
Nouwen’s thesis is that the heart of spirituality in the ministry is not professionalism but relationship. It is pastoral relationships that build the bridges needed to bring the gospel into people’s lives. His is the same approach taken in this project,
19 Henri Nouwen. Creative Ministry (New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1971), 40.
20 Ibid., 86.
63 which is an attempt to build relational bridges between the person of Jesus, as proclaimed through the teachings of the Church, and the individual follower of Christ, within the relational context of a small group of disciples, in which members can experience the reality and empowerment of relationship with God.
His conclusion ought to be preached at all ordinations! Christian ministry is not a privilege but the core of the Christian life. It is not what makes ordained clergy ‘other’ to other Christians, but an ordered pattern of laying down their lives (publicly) in order to help others choose between constructive and destructive spirits.21
Nouwen is right, creative ministry calls for creative weakness. The limitation of the book is only in the way it is addressed to clergy in particular. Were the author alive today, he might want to publish a somewhat revised version in which he addresses lay people with the same categories, helping them to see their own baptismal callings in these five relational terms. That task of translation will need to be done by the clergy themselves as they live out their pastoral, relational calling with their people.
Another pivotal book looking at spiritual practices from a pastoral perspective is
Christian A. Schwarz’s Color Your World with Natural Church Development. Although this is only one book, it really opens the way to Schwarz’s entire 3 Colors series, as they all explore different aspects of the concepts contained in this first book.22
21 Nouwen. Creative Ministry, 116.
22 Other books presently in the series include: The 3 Colors of Ministry, The 3 Colors of Love, The 3 Colors of Leadership, The 3 Colors of Community, and The 3 Colors of Your Spirituality.
64
The thesis, or NCD principle, is that growth in the Christian life follows the principle of growth in nature. It is both simple and complex. Schwarz, and thus NCD, sees the principle of life within the context of God’s natural order. He argues that the individual and the local church/parish are part of a natural system (ecology) created and governed by God. As congregations study and better understand the system of life, they will be better able to align their lives and cooperate with the divine growth patterns exhibited in the world. These patterns reflect the Trinitarian basis of all life, and also
God’s revealed will in Scripture.
The Trinitarian Compass (Chapter 2) helps one think of the gift of congregational life as a unity in diversity, similar to that found in the unity of God’s Trinitarian life. This principle, applied to the ministry of the church in the world, has the potential to remove many fears and barriers, and encourage many churches and leaders to begin to grow in the most meager situations. The six Biotic Principles, along with the Eight Quality
Characteristics (Ch. 3 & 4), give leaders and congregations a diagnostic tool that can enable them to begin to get healthier wherever their starting point is.23 Schwarz teaches that, for every individual and every congregation, there is a natural spiritual style, just as there are natural characteristics, for every person and church. This means that, instead of trying to fit a perfect pattern, Christians need to try to discern what God has laid down in their spiritual DNA. The spiritual style, or the way people naturally connect with God, is
23 The NCD principle is that the quality (engaging spirit) is found in the adjectives of the Eight Quality Characteristics. Every church has these (noun) elements of leadership but it is the adjectives that make them healthy and engaged in the leading of the Holy Spirit.1: Empowering leadership, 2: Gift-based ministry, 3: Passionate spirituality, 4: Effective structures, 5: Inspiring worship services, 6: Holistic small groups, 7: Need-oriented evangelism and 8: Loving relationships.
65 the way that is both the most obedient and the least frustrating way to live out their gospel calling.
The ideas contained in Natural Church Development are attractive and engaging.
They help greatly in dealing with questions regarding leadership in the church. NCD offers a unique perspective on the organization of, and the hands on ministry of, the local congregation, regardless of its theological bent or ecclesiological make up. It shows how congregations can start from where they are to diagnose their impediments to natural growth which they are presently experiencing, and chart a course to work towards greater church health. The NCD system provides a means to on-going monitoring and evaluation of a congregation’s health. Its Trinitarian principle fits naturally with the entire Anglican theological and parochial system.
Some leaders in the Missional Church movement have pointed out what they consider to be the limitations of NCD. NCD is seen as a church-centered rather than a mission-centered way of thinking. Just as it is possible for a person to spend much energy and resources on becoming fitter, without ever having a goal for that fitness, so too it is possible for congregations to spend all their time getting healthier without necessarily becoming involved in the missional work of the Church. Whether this is true or not can be debated. Schwarz sees the principles of a mission-centered life as a natural outcome of a balanced Trinitarian life. What the Scriptures teach is that God is love and love, by its very nature, engages in sharing itself. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For
66
God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him (Jn 3:16-17).” God’s heart is mission-centered and mission-shaped, and so should the Church’s be.
Spiritual Practices as Missional Empowerment
Willard, in his book The Divine Conspiracy, argues that the main obstacle to people being able to do God’s will is the thinking that erodes trust in what God has revealed to be true about himself, reality and God’s kingdom. In The Spirit of the
Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives, Willard describes the spiritual practices that can fill the mind conformed to Christ, and empowers believers to live the life of God, and leads disciples on the narrow way of Jesus.
“The sayings of Jesus…are mere observations about how life actually works.”24
The author’s thesis is that skepticism puts blinkers on thinkers so that they are unable to look around at life, as Jesus did, and see things outside of their very direct point of focus.
The result can be a denying of the possibility of change, for which all long. “We, then, must change from within. And that is what most of us truly want.”25 With changed thinking come opportunities to change the habits of life. This is what the Spirit of the
Disciplines addresses, the habits of life that keep people stuck in old, disabling, thought patterns.
24 Dallas Willard. The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives (New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1988), 56.
25 Ibid., 227.
67
Spiritual truth is to be acted upon. “If salvation is to affect our lives, it can do so by affecting or bodies. If we are to participate in the reign of God, it can only be by our actions.”26 The beauty of the Beatitudes is that they cannot be turned into “mere poetry rather than treating them as realistic announcements about how things are.”27 Gospel teaching is about real, substantial things for real life. It is not for the religious or the spiritually removed. When it is seen as real then it can transform the church. “The local assembly, for its part, can then become an academy where people throng from the surrounding community to learn how to live.”28 The gospel can then fit the needs of our people, to affect and transform their lives into the something more they long for.
The spiritual life is the fulfillment of the bodily life. ”How does this fulfillment
(of bodily existence) take place? It comes through interaction of our powers as bodily beings with God and his Kingdom- an interaction for which our bodies were specifically designed.”29
True spirituality is about the positive, not simply negative, way to truth. “The disciplines of abstinence must be counterbalanced and supplemented by disciplines of engagement.”30 Christian spirituality cannot simply be about purging of the false. It must be an infilling of the true. Nothingness is not the Christian goal of life. Once a
26 Willard. The Spirit of the Disciplines, 31.
27 Ibid., 236.
28 Ibid., 247.
29 Ibid., 76.
30 Ibid., 175.
68 strong man is removed from the house a stronger Man must be invited in to replace and keep him from returning. The spiritual disciplines are an invitation to Christ to enter the home of the heart in order to take and keep possession of it. “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe (Lk 11:21).” Only when people are possessed by God’s love, are they freed to embrace him fully.
An important teaching for both the individual and parish life is that the simple
(narrow) life can be attained even in the midst of great complexity and confusion.31 If
Jesus calls his followers to simplicity and the world is complex, then either they must flee the world or find the simple principle of God’s kingdom in the world. Pastors cannot ask their people to leave their lives but they can help them refocus and simplify their lives in relation to all the parts and possessions they have been given stewardship over.32
This book explains the thinking behind how the spiritual practices of service, prayer, worship, and study, when brought into the life of a church, can form the basis of an empowered life in Christ in the community and its members. The only limitation to the book is that it is about the ideas behind practices and does not describe the practices themselves in any detail. No one book can accomplish everything. The task of describing how the disciplines work, is ably taken up by other current writers such as Richard
Peace, James Bryan Smith, Jan Johnson and others.33 Willard presents the possibility of living the good news, which is the narrow way of Jesus, for all. “The spirit of the
31 Willard. The Spirit of the Disciplines, “In the spiritual life, simplicity is not opposed to complexity, and poverty is not opposed to possessions.” 205.
32 Ibid., “Under the rule of God, the rich and the poor have no necessary advantage over each other with regard to well-being or well-doing in this life or the next.” 208.
33 See Bibliography.
69 disciplines…is this love of Jesus, with its steadfast longing and resolute will to be like him.”34
34 Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines, 251.
70
CHAPTER 4:
THEOLOGY OF THE CHURCH
The Trinitarian Life of the Body of Christ
Christians believe that all things that exist, seen and unseen, including all life and relationships have the life of God, the Holy Trinity, as their source and end. The First
Article of Faith in the Nicene Creed begins with the statement, “I believe in one God, the
Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, And of all things visible and invisible.”
This is especially so of human beings who, in their very nature, are created in the image of the Trinity:
Then God said,
“Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground” (Gn 1:26-28).
The creation of human beings and their relationship to God, one another, and all of creation is found in the stewarding love of God the Father (the First Person of the
Trinity), who spoke the Word (the Second Person of the Trinity) and the Spirit (the Third
71
Person of the Trinity) brought life into that which was created, as is recorded in the first chapter of the book of Genesis. The Trinity is the source of all life and relationship.
The Bible also records the reality of humanity’s break in relationship with God and one another (Genesis 3). The Hebrew Scriptures show the history of the people of
Israel and God’s faithful, relentless love for his wayward people. The longing for a
Savior culminated in time in the sending of the Jewish Messiah, who was the same Word of the Father, through whom all things were made. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life and that life was the light of men (Jn 1:1-4).”
This Word of God would also be the savior of the entire world, restoring all people and all things into the fullness of relationship that God has always desired for his creation. “And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new’ (Rev 21:5).”
The Second Article of Faith in the Nicene Creed deals with the saving work of
Christ; “I believe …in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, Begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light, of Light; Very God, of Very God;
Begotten, not made; Being of one substance with the Father; through whom all things were made: Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven.”
When the work of salvation was accomplished the Word then sent out those who were in restored relationship with him to go out and draw all people into that restored relationship with the Trinitarian God. Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth
72 has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age (Mt 28:18-20).”
As the Trinity expresses its life in the stewarding love of God the Father, so does he reveal himself in the restoring love of God the Son. This is also true of the way the
Trinity manifests his life in the abiding love of God the Spirit. So, the Third Article of
Faith in the Nicene Creed expresses it this way: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the
Son is worshipped and glorified, who has spoken by the prophets.” The Third Person of the Trinity abides with the Father and the Son, is the author of divine inspiration, including the Scriptures, and gives and sustains all life, in both the material and spiritual realms.
Jesus illustrated how this abiding nature of the Holy Spirit works in his followers when he explained how the vine and the branches work. It is the Spirit of God that enables the disciples to remain in Jesus. What may feel like their own efforts is in fact the life of the Spirit within them. They need only believe that it is so and trust that the Spirit is at work in them, bearing fruit that will not perish. “You did not choose me but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit- fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other (Jn 15:16-17).”
The life of the Holy Trinity is one in which the three Persons are in mutual love with and submission to one another. The Son only does what the Father asks, and the
73
Father gives all things into the Son’s hands, and the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, in complete agreement and harmony with both. Jesus says that God wants to share the relationship the Persons of the Trinity have with one another, with Jesus’ disciples. This is how he can say that whatever they ask the Father in Jesus’ name will be given them, if they, like Jesus, only ask that the Father’s will be done in their lives.
The Church, as the Body of Christ, also has the image of the Trinity within itself.
While the Trinitarian image continues to remain within all churches, the divisions that have occurred over the years have strained the unity within the relationships so that instead of one Trinitarian way of being the Church, three ways of being the Church have emerged. Each way is inclined more towards one of the Persons of the Trinity than the other, and, thus presents an imbalance in Trinitarian life within the Body of Christ. These three ways are: reason/Father (Roman Catholic), word/Son (Protestant), and tradition
(Eastern Orthodox). Together the three ways form the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic
Church. In separation they present the special gifting of the Person of the Trinity they most closely adhere to, while elements of each of the other Persons continues to exert influence in the churches that come from these traditions.
The Anglican tradition, as a church that emerged from the protestant Reformation is word centered. Within its word centered tradition it also has three ways of
Anglicanism: Scripture, tradition and reason. Its official liturgy in the traditional Book of
Common Prayer has been referred to as reordered Scripture. It might be better described as theologically-ordered Scripture, or Scripture put to prayer. Worship, for the Anglican family of churches, has been their anchor and rudder. The historic liturgies and worship
74 as reformed and established by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer and the Church of England is what has held Anglicans fixed to God’s Word and able to steer through the flowing, and sometimes turbulent, stream of Church history since the reformation. Anglican worship has held Anglicans in relation to the guiding principle of the revelation of the
Father’s will through the saving work and teaching of Jesus Christ, and it has assumed the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit to hold all persons and communities together.
This assumption of the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in the church, outside of efforts of individuals and church communities to do as Jesus commanded and “love each other as I have loved you (Jn 15:12),” is the Anglican spiritual tradition’s Achilles heel.
Three ways of Anglicanism: Scripture, Reason and Tradition
Richard Hooker, Doctor of the Church of England1 (1552-1600) sought to find the
Anglican mean between the two erroneous positions of Rome and Geneva, which he saw as promoting Church tradition (Roman Catholicism) and Scripture (Calvinism) at the expense of ecclesiastical unity in the Body of Christ. He believed unity, which he called
Ecclesiastical Polity, could only be found when God-given reason was added to the equation for discerning the mind of God in ordering the life of the church in any particular place and time. In his Dedicatory Epistle to Archbishop Whitgift, Hooker outlined the tools he would use in his work to establish a church body on “only that which our Lord and Saviour requireth, harmless discretion.”2
1 This is the title Hooker is given in The Calendar of the Book of Common Prayer, Canada, xii.
2 Richard Hooker, Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity: Volume Two (London: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd, 1960), 7.
75
It is from Hooker’s thinking that has come what is often referred to as the three- legged stool of Anglicanism: Scripture, tradition, and reason.3 The three legs of the so- called Anglican theological stool correspond rather closely with Willard’s view of the three ways in which a disciple of Jesus can hear God and be guided by God’s Spirit: through listening and watching for God in passages from the Bible, circumstances, and impressions of the Spirit. Willard says that using these ‘three lights’ will help disciples in determining what God wants them to do.4
Weaknesses in Anglican Ecclesiology
It is easy to see how the above three lights connect with the Anglican ways of
Scripture, tradition and reason but there is a difference, as Willard’s three ways of listening correspond to the relational life of God the Holy Trinity, whereas the Anglican three legs correspond to the three ways of relational life within the Church. Willard’s listening is to discern the fullness of life in God. Hooker’s listening, at its best, comes close but is primarily church focused rather than God-focused and concerned with finding a way to unity and peace within the Body of Christ. Anglicanism is susceptible to accommodation to the world because of its reasonable approach to structures and decision-making. Hooker may have been looking for a peace that the world can give,
3 Hooker, Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Our wisdom in this case must be such as doth not propose to itself our own particular, the partial and immoderate desire whereof poisoneth wheresoever it taketh place; but the scope and mark which we are to aim at is the public and common good of all; for the easier procurement whereof, our diligence must search out all helps and furtherances of direction, which scriptures, councils, fathers, histories, the laws and practices of all churches, the mutual conference of all men’s collections and observations may afford: our industry must even anatomize every particle of that body, which we are to uphold sound. 7.
4 Dallas Willard, Hearing God, 170.
76 rather than one that only the presence of the Trinitarian God can bring. As Jesus told his disciples, “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid (Jn 14:25-
27).”
It is the thesis of this project that the greatest weakness in Anglican ecclesiology is the assumption that the Holy Spirit is present in the structures of the church, worship and parish life, and thus the congregation, simply because the structures themselves are based upon the Word of God, the traditions of the church and reasonable, ordered thinking. The life and role of the Third Person of the Trinity is the weak link (though not the missing link) in Anglican ecclesiology. Invocation of the Holy Spirit, without walking in obedience to the Father, or in love with one another, does not bear fruit that will last.
Only the narrow way of living discipleship with Jesus, which includes a dynamic relationship with the Father through the Holy Spirit, can provide individual and corporate life and work that bears fruit for God’s kingdom.
Anglicanism is a stately and historic ecclesiastical vessel that needs to be filled with God’s life if it is to live faithfully. People love stately, historic edifices. The temptation is to become enamored of the structure itself rather than the purpose for the structure, to enable the preaching and living of the Christian gospel. There can be no
Trinitarian life without the Holy Spirit. “God has promised to bless the preaching of Jesus
77
Christ. He has not promised to bless denominational distinctives. If Anglicans continue to preach Anglicanism and not the gospel, Anglicanism will continue to die.”5
Schwarz, in his book Paradigm Shift in the Church, warns about the dangers involved in both spiritualism and institutionalism within the church. Both are equally destructive of a vibrant, growing church. In the chapter entitled Danger to the Right: The
Institutionalistic Misconception the author speaks to the Anglican problematic indirectly;
“The mistake of the institutionalistic misconception is that it identifies the ‘organization’ with the ‘organism’. This paradigm is based on a monistic thought pattern. Instead of evaluating the institutional side of church from a functional point of view, institutions are assumed to have an almost magical quality: wherever certain institutions are present, the church of Jesus Christ is guaranteed.”6
The five characteristics of this kind of misconception can all be detected in
Anglicanism in general and many Anglican parishes in particular: objectivism, heteronomism (legalism), formalism, rationalism, and magic (sacraments without Spirit).
Schwarz lays out what he calls the bipolar paradigm which constitutes the necessary tension and possibility for healthy growth in churches. He considers the necessity of a struggle between the bi-polar inclinations towards the dynamic and static poles of church life. These poles contain the dangers of dualism in the dynamic pole and monism in the static pole, when left to themselves. This is why they must be allowed to interact and
5 D. A. Carson, Worship by the Book (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), 108.
6 Schwarz. Paradigm Shift in the Church, 24.
78 challenge one another in order to stimulate and produce fruit in one another,7 “as iron sharpens iron (Proverbs 27:17),” not as enemies but as friends working towards a common goal of a healthier, more productive life as the Church of Jesus Christ.
As with gifted people, so can gifted institutions be tempted to trust in their gifts rather than in the guidance of God’s Spirit. Anglicanism has been blessed with the gift of a catholic heritage, reformed theology and English sensibilities. Its greatest treasure is, arguably, the liturgical inheritance found in the historic tradition of the Book of Common
Prayer. “It is possible to see three principles running through Cranmer’s work. He aimed at and achieved a rare combination: being biblical, accessible, and balanced. All three principles are driven by the Bible, but the first refers specifically to Cranmer’s content, the second to his communication, and the third to his attitude.”8
Like the ecclesiastical structures of Anglicanism, its historic liturgies can also become a stately edifice that is beautiful and empty. Worship by the book, without the presence of the Holy Spirit leads to a culturally exclusive and increasingly inaccessible form of Christendom as Christianity. The structure of Anglican liturgies, engineered by reformation Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, carefully carved out room for the inclusion of the Holy Spirit in the worship of his day, “But it would never have been Cranmer’s wish to freeze Anglican liturgy for centuries to come so that it lost its cultural relevance and reintroduced into church services the obscurity he labored so hard to remove.”9
7 Schwarz. Paradigm Shift in the Church, 99.
8 Carson, Worship by the Book, 70.
9 Ibid., 64.
79
The way that Christendom can edge out Christianity is when corporate life and prayer continues without the activity of private life and prayer by members of the church.
Christendom and Christianity are practically identical for the outside onlooker. It is only when the inner life of the believer is pressed that the difference becomes apparent.
Christendom cannot survive the cultural changes that threaten the church’s place in North
American society, while Christianity is constantly changing and adapting to the changes and permutations of cultures, peoples and times.
Private life and prayer of individual disciples of Jesus is what provides the resiliency of the spiritual life that brings hope and a future for the church. Historic liturgies can be celebrated by rote, and traditional worship can more easily become routine unless leaders consciously work at it not becoming that way. “One of the weaknesses of the use of the Book of Common Prayer over the centuries has been the way it has encouraged the clergy of the Church of England to lead church services without thought and without preparation.”10
The Anglican system of daily private prayer and Bible reading is desired for all, understood to be for some but directed for few (only the clergy). It is a system that has, unintentionally, all but excluded the laity from the inner circle of praying churchmen.
The rubrics explaining how the order for Morning and Evening Prayer are to be said daily directs: “All Priests and Deacons, unless prevented by sickness or other urgent cause, are to say daily the Morning and Evening Prayer either privately, or openly in the Church. In the latter case it is desirable that the bell should be rung, in order that the people may
10 Carson, Worship by the Book, 109.
80 come to take part in the Service, or at least may lift up their hearts to God in the midst of their occupations.”11
There is a tendency in the Anglican tradition to associate private prayer almost exclusively with praying the Offices (Morning and Evening Prayer). Without private prayer corporate prayer can become formal and distant from God and other people. The
Father and Son cannot be bound together except by the Holy Spirit. Jesus clearly calls disciples to pray in secret, in the privacy of the inner chambers of their hearts, so that they may be one with God, and able to be about God’s work in the world. “But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you (Mt 6:6).”
It is possible to use the Anglican system as a ‘holy duality’, rather than a holy trinity. The rational and active principles (the Father and the Son) are central but without the affective. The Holy Spirit is either ignored or simply assumed, which normally ends up being the same thing as ignored. Formal Anglican prayer tends to focus heavily on the providential plans of the Father, or the redemptive work of the Son, and much less on the internal activity of the Holy Spirit. This is why spiritual direction has always been a key in healthy Anglican practice, whether individual or corporate. Without the spiritually informed conscience present, it becomes impossible for the Anglican system to provide parishioners with the means to live the Christian life, and to make their own decisions in daily life. Thornton, in his definitive work on the Anglican spiritual tradition, English
Spirituality, described the need for this guiding spiritual presence in the parish:
11 General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada 1962. Book of Common Prayer Canada, lvi.
81
It must be remembered that “spirituality” is the totality of Christian life guided by prayer. There is a thus a sense in which all decisions and factors of human life come under the influence of “spiritual” guidance. On the other hand, spiritual guidance should be firmly limited to the development of the controlling prayer; it must consist in “counsel” not “advice” That is the Caroline position, in which all moral decisions in a recollected life depend on a well-trained conscience: the conscience is trained by spiritual direction, but it is that conscience, not the director, which makes its own practical decision in daily life.12
Restoring the Trinitarian Balance: Alternative Ecclesiological Models
In The Divine Conspiracy, Willard describes what he calls the “Golden Triangle” of spiritual growth. It is a template he uses to show what is involved in a person’s spiritual transformation. It begins with a central desire for union with God through being centered on the mind of Christ. The Golden Triangle was named so for its connection with the so-called Golden Rule of Jesus, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you (Mt 7:9-12).” The Golden Triangle shows the three corners or ingredients in the spiritually transformed life: the action of the Holy Spirit, the ordinary events of life
(temptations) and the planned discipline to put on a new heart.13
When the individual holds these three corners together, seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit to be centered in the mind of Christ, the work of transformation can begin.
The function (work) of the Holy Spirit is, first, to move within our souls, and especially our minds, to present the person of Jesus and the reality of his kingdom. This is through the word of the gospel, in contrast to the realities of life without God. Our confidence in
Jesus as the One is always a response elicited and supported by the spiritual movements
12 Martin Thornton. English Spirituality: An Outline of Ascetical Theology According to the English Pastoral Tradition (London: S.P.C.K., 1963), 291.
13 Willard. The Divine Conspiracy, 347.
82 of God, Thus, as Paul says, “No one can say ‘Jesus to be Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit
(1 Cor 12:2).”14
Willard didn’t believe that spiritual growth just happens. Three elements must be present for spiritual growth to take place. He outlined three main conditions that must be present for spiritual growth to take place. It is called V.I.M. for short. The first part stands for the Vision of the kingdom of God and your life in it, character goals, and your own empowerment. The second is Intention, to actually fulfill the vision, and the third is the
Means for realizing the vision, that is spiritual disciplines effectively implemented. If these three conditions are met then a Christian will be able to develop a plan for spiritual growth that will work.15
Similar teaching can be seen in each of the great spiritual writers John Calvin,
Ignatius Loyola and John Wesley. They, like Willard, were interested in making room for the Holy Spirit to work in the lives of Christians. Their plans were to prepare the same conditions he speaks of but they use slightly different language to describe those conditions.
Calvin saw all Christian spiritual disciplines as being about self-denial. He did not like the use of the term ‘free will’ because it implied an ability to choose the good without the Holy Spirit, which he did not think possible. Spiritual disciplines without the
Holy Spirit are only a show of discipline.16 All blessings come from God, therefore, one
14 Willard. The Divine Conspiracy, 348.
15 Willard. Renovation of the Heart, Chapter 5, “Spiritual Change: The Reliable Pattern”, 77-92.
16 John Calvin. Institutes of the Christian Religion: Volume One (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1979), 291.
83 should be confident in God, who will bring us all we need. God will be the author.
Spiritual disciplines are the practice of letting God be in charge. The cross makes us put our entire hope in God.17 Since Christ, as mediator, is both God and man, spiritual disciplines are both spiritual and physical.18 In effect, spiritual disciplines must be received like a sacrament is received properly, through faith, as “an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace”19
Loyola, similarly, said about the way he approached prayer and the work of the
Holy Spirit, that it is “not meant to give a systematic method of prayer so much as to provide a systematic way of proceeding…so that prayer becomes acceptable”20 His system of prayer was simply to open up a spiritual space of meeting between the individual and Jesus, where they can have a conversation. What comes from the conversation is the working of the Holy Spirit. Wesley insisted on the continuity of his teaching of perfection with earlier Christian spiritual teachers. He accepted Calvin’s teachings on grace but changed the language of holiness to that of perfection, which would be manifest in love. He focused on the effect of Christian truth in the life of a believer.
In all four of the above writers we recognize the Psalmist’s longing, “O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes (Ps 119:5, KJV).” This is the desire of any who
17 Calvin. Institutes of the Christian Religion: Volume One , VIII, ii.
18 Ibid., 418.
19 General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada. Book of Common Prayer Canada, Catechism, “The Sacraments”, 550.
20 Ignatius of Loyola. The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola. (Wheathampstead, UK: Anthony Clarke Books, 1963), 81, 238.
84 would follow the narrow way of Christ, the way of divine consistency in this mortal life:
“I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief (Mk 9:24)!” It is the desire of the believer for a consistency of knowledge, will and action in following Christ. The desire for consistency in the spiritual life corresponds with a need for Trinitarian balance in the life of the parish. Without the growth towards balance in parish life spiritual desire is frustrated in parishioners. Human beings are made in the image of God the Holy Trinity, not in the image of any one person of the Trinity. As we must have Trinitarian balance within us as individuals, so must the community of faith we live in have Trinitarian balance. Just as with the individual spiritual life, so it is with the corporate (parochial) life. The VIM principles apply equally. A parish must also seek to hold together its
Vision, Intention and Means. When it does it can grow in Trinitarian health and balance.
There is a difference between church growth and Trinitarian development. For the first the goal is often numerical growth, for the second the goal is healthy development.
Growth is part of development but it is not the goal. Good health is the goal. Activities in a parish should always focus on church health and Trinitarian balance, so that God can accomplish the growth that is appropriate to the body of believers in any given congregation. This is the only way that a church will experience healthy and sustainable growth.
When a congregation has the goal of spiritual health, rather than church growth, it will be able to find spiritual practices that restore Trinitarian balance in the life of that parish. Again, these practices will be as individual for different churches as they are for different congregations. Spiritual formation, with its corresponding spiritual practices,
85 cannot have a one size fits all approach. The NCD church survey, and Trinitarian life materials, can provide congregations with valuable tools to come to a greater understanding of their spiritual giftings and Trinitarian (im)balance, so that they can begin to plan steps towards greater health and balance.
As a congregation begins to develop spiritual practices that restore Trinitarian balance in its corporate life, it will open up greater opportunities for individual disciples to find spiritual practices that can restore Trinitarian balance in their own lives as well.
This is the process of looking at ‘the lilies of the field’, as Jesus says, so that we can understand how the kingdom of God works. The result of the process should be greater individual and corporate balance and a more abundant spiritual life experienced by a growing proportion of the congregation.21
This chapter has dealt with ecclesiology and convictions about parish life, where members are encouraged to respond to their gospel calling through the spiritual practices of service, prayer, worship, and study. It began with a biblical consideration of God’s self-revelation, Christ’s life and calling, and the Church’s calling to be the Body of
Christ. It continued with a broad consideration of the historical working out of a
Trinitarian life in the Church Universal and then, more particularly, in the Anglican form of the Christian life, concluding with a specific look at the inclination towards Trinitarian imbalance in Anglican parochial spirituality. The theological remedy proposed is to
21 Schwarz, Paradigm Shift in the Church. We are not asked to concentrate of the lilies themselves, but rather on their growth mechanisms (“how the lilies…grow”). We are to study and examine them, to meditate on them, and take our direction from them. All these aspects are included in the imperative verb form katamathete, and we are told that we need to do so in order to understand the principles of the kingdom of God. This approach describes exactly the procedure of natural church development. 235.
86 implement certain spiritual practices that will address the imbalance and restore full
Trinitarian life in the congregation. This work of restoration and renewal will be the focus of the following chapters.
87
CHAPTER 5:
A RENEWED THEOLOGY OF ANGLICAN DISCIPLESHIP
This chapter looks at Anglican theology through the lens of Jesus’ prayer “thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven (Mt 6:10).” It articulates how it might be possible to infuse new life into the existing Anglican spiritual system of the parish and the tradition of Common Prayer. By taking the existing structures and activities that are already found in all Anglican parishes, and intentionally adding the practice of the presence of God in all things, existing practices can be transformed into spiritual practices, which lead individuals and the congregation from a self-centered institutional focus to an other-centered, Trinitarian focus, with the ensuing kingdom life and fruit that follows.
What does such a Trinitarian life look like? First of all, it is life in the fullness of the kingdom of God. Life in the kingdom of God is life with God. It is not simply life lived for God. Human beings are designed for life with God. Jesus makes this very clear to his disciples when he lays out for them what his friendship entails:
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my
88
friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father (Jn 15:12-15).
Jesus’ disciples are meant to live with God in the kingdom through their friendship with Jesus and one another. But there is more. Jesus disciples are meant to live in the fullness of the kingdom. They are meant for life in the whole kingdom of God, not just part of it. The last three gospels speak only of the kingdom of God. This term is meant for their non-Jewish audience. But Matthew also uses the Jewish term “kingdom of heaven” for the same concept. There are three heavens spoken of in the Bible: the first heaven refers to the sky or atmosphere, of the birds and sky under the moon. The second heaven is of the stars, the astro-heaven, which goes from the moon and beyond. The third heaven is of the angels. It is known as the heaven of heavens and God is over and above that heaven.
Jesus says, “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Mt 6:33).”1 The kingdom of God Jesus is referring to is where
God is acting, and specifically through his Son.2 Jesus does not bring the kingdom, rather he makes it available. “Judaism was God’s street address. Now God changes his street address to those who are in the kingdom, in Christ. We who are in Christ are a more accurate address to reach the kingdom.”3 Living in the fullness of the kingdom of heaven/God means living in friendship relationship with God in Jesus Christ, in all three
1 As a matter of interest, this Scripture verse is the motto of the City of St. John’s, NL.
2 Dallas Willard, Fuller Theological Seminary. Class notes, June 7, 2011.
3 Ibid.
89 aspects/realms of God’s kingdom, as fully empowered and engaged stewards of our lives that are intended to be lived (one day) in the fullness of the kingdom. But for now Jesus’ disciples are to seek to live in the kingdom of this atmosphere on earth as freely and joyfully as they will one day (in heaven. Jesus has returned to his friends the stewardship of their lives.
Life in the Kingdom of God, Anglican Style
For Anglicans the way forward to a fuller life in the kingdom of God is to go backwards and reconnect with the common traditions of the Anglican Church, which go back to Jesus and the New Testament. This can return Anglican disciples of Jesus to the
Trinitarian life which the Anglican structure was designed to offer.
As a sacramental church, Anglicans understand the need to connect head, heart and hands in their faith. This is both Trinitarian (Father-head-mind, Son-hands-strength,
Spirit-heart-emotions) and it is the way we are created to learn (head-cognitive, hands- behavioral, heart-affective). It is all contained in the first great commandment: “Hear, O
Israel, the Lord thy God is one Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart (Spirit), and with all thy soul (your uniqueness as a child of God), with all thy mind
(Father-like qualities), and with all thy strength (Son-like qualities)…And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy (Trinitarian God-like) neighbor as thyself (because you are made for relationship with God and one another).4 This Summary of the Law, used by
Jesus, has been placed prominently at the beginning of every Holy Communion service in all traditional versions of the Book of Common Prayer throughout the Anglican
4 General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada. Book of Common Prayer Canada, “The Communion”, 69-70.
90
Communion, and has helped shape the theological insights of all generations of Anglican
Christians up until the present time.
Kingdom life is about knowing God. This knowledge of God the Father, which
Jesus imparts, unites the disciples with the love of God that keeps them in the kingdom of
God, even while in the world, as Jesus’ prayer for his disciples shows (Jn 17:1-26). It is about activities that enable fellowship with God and increase a sense of belonging to the kingdom of God. After the coming of the Holy Spirit the disciples continued doing kingdom things by devoting themselves to the apostles; teaching and fellowship, sacramental and public prayer life. They ate, drank, visited, spoke and shared with one another, so that their kingdom-based fellowship grew in depth and in numbers, as seen in an account of life among believers in Acts 2:42-47. Kingdom life is about a body where members work together in common kingdom mission work. It is the life of the Spirit that joins disciples of Jesus into one body to fulfill the will of the “one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all”, as Paul explains to the church about how unity in the Body of Christ works in Ephesians 4:1-16.
Anglican Christians have all of this laid out in the structures of the parish, as seen geographically, liturgically and physiologically in church members. The theology of parish life is based on the above biblical portrayal of the kingdom of God, in all three dimensions: locally on earth, as part of the greater creation, and as part of the invisible spiritual world, all under the providence of God. Full parish life is life in the fullness of the kingdom of God. It is the fullness of kingdom life that is missing in so many Anglican parishes, and which St. Thomas’ Church is attempting to remedy by re-introducing the
91 active participation and leadership of the Holy Spirit into the life of the body through an adult spiritual formation program that focuses on the spiritual practices of service, prayer, worship, and study, within the context of small groups, so that parishioners are empowered to live out their lives as followers of Jesus Christ, in the fullness of God’s kingdom.
Phyllis Tickle, in her insightful work The Great Emergence: How Christianity is
Changing and Why, writes about a principal of John Wimber, which addresses the presence of the Holy Spirit in the structures and decision-making processes of the
Church. “It assumes,” she writes, “that something other than ‘rules’ is holding things together while, at the same time, also preventing the whole construct from skittering off into chaos. In the final analysis, in other words, it places authority in the existing center.”5 This ‘authority of the existing center’ sounds like the work and person of the
Holy Spirit in the life of the Body of Christ.
The early Hebrews were forbidden from making any replicas of God because God knew human propensity for remaining focused on the visible world, and neglecting the spiritual relationship people were primarily created for. The Anglican parish is like a local replica of the kingdom of God, with everything pertaining to life theologically and locally ordered. Even geography is spiritual for an Anglican worldview. This is why
Anglicans have always lavished great care on the beauty and symbolism of their church buildings, and why Anglican worship is often considered ornate, in comparison to other
Christian traditions. It is also why Anglicans sometimes have difficulty letting go of the
5 Phyllis Tickle. The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2008), 158.
92 symbols and traditions of the church, even when they become impossible to maintain or have become an obstacle to the living out of kingdom life in a parish. Anglican idols are usually associated with church buildings and traditions that can be seen and experienced.
Nick Spencer, in his book Parochial Vision, argues that the Anglican tradition actually has a dynamic spiritual structure that predates the parish system. It is one that better fits the demands of the present time than does the current parochial system, as it has developed.6 He believes that it is the Spirit of God who is bringing health and balance back to the Church, one way or another: “The English parish structure is unsustainable.
God is pruning his church (or, more precisely, this small corner of it) perhaps in order to make it more fruitful.”7
That is why it is there, in the visible connection between the kingdoms of God and the world that can be found in the local parish, that the spiritual kingdom can and should be rediscovered. In the earthly temple of God (the physical parish, parishioners and church building) the spiritual temple (the community of all true believers) should see a parable and sacrament of its own true life. The centrality of the spiritual life of the individual Christian, and life with God in the here and now as part of the fullness of
God’s kingdom, is a central part of the teaching of the Anglican tradition. The baptismal liturgy from most recent Canadian Book of Alternative Services (BAS) makes very clear
6 Nick Spencer. Parochial Vision: The Future of the English Parish (Waynesboro, GA: Paternoster Press, 2004). “Ultimately, a territorial pastoral system inherited from the past and tied to its buildings must always be in trouble over the adjustments of its relatively inflexible institutions to the changing pastoral needs of a fluid society.” 131.
7 Ibid., 143.
93 the call to kingdom life in the here and now, with all that it entails for Trinitarian life lived with God and in the Body of Christ in the world.
Several dimensions of baptism became clear as the early Church developed its practice. Initiation into the Church was a vital concern of the whole Christian community and not only of the candidates for baptism and their immediate families. Preparation for baptism was a responsibility shared among various members of the community, both ordained and lay. Becoming a Christian had as much to do with learning to live a new lifestyle within the Christian community as it did with specific beliefs. When the day of baptism finally arrived, the event took place within the context of the Sunday Eucharist, when the whole community was gathered and where the newly baptized received communion for the first time. The celebration of this rite of Holy Baptism requires careful preparation by both the community and the candidates.8 This dual thrust of personal and corporate responsibility is made evident in the actual services through the questions and promises made regarding how and where the Christian faith is to be lived out: in the community, through relationship with the Body of Christ.
Though not as developed in the traditional Book of Common Prayer (BCP), the corporate element of Anglican Christian faith is also clearly present. In both baptism and confirmation (for ‘those that are baptized and come to years of discretion’) such terms as
‘family of Christ’s Church’, ‘public worship’, ‘strengthened by the Holy Spirit’,
‘increasing in all virtue and godly living’, ‘increase in them thy manifold gifts’ etc. reveal not only the necessity of corporate living but also a growth in spiritual depth and
8 General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada 1985. Book of Alternative Services Canada, Preface to the Baptismal Liturgy, 143.
94 awareness, and an increase of the life of the Holy Spirit within the individual Christian that is part of the greater Trinitarian life. How the life of the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, increases in an individual, and in a parish, is what this project addresses in some detail in its final two chapters, in relation to St. Thomas’ Church.
Part of individual and corporate responsibility is the responsibility to grow the gifts which God, the Holy Spirit has planted in us. Yet it is normally to the BCP, rather than to any specific theologian, statement of faith or confession, to which one looks to discern Anglican theology “and to transmit the same unimpaired to our posterity.”9 It is the Prayer Book itself that contains the teaching of the Anglican Church more so than any synod or convention or individual in its history.10 It is no wonder that, for many
Anglicans, the work of the Holy Spirit in the church has more to do with maintaining forms and structures of godliness than with increasing in personal and corporate godliness. The dynamic, spiritual relationship we are invited to have with God and others easily fossilizes into a static religious observance that maintains the religious status quo.
This is despite the explicit, relational teachings of the baptismal and confirmation liturgies of the church.
Understood but Understated: Making implicit discipleship explicit
In Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman in John’s gospel, he takes her geographic understanding of the question where God should be worshipped (on the mountain or Samaria or in Jerusalem) and gives it a spiritual interpretation.
9 General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada 1962. Book of Common Prayer Canada, Solemn Declaration 1893, viii.
10Ibid., See also the last paragraph of the Solemn Declaration 1893, APPENDIX A.
95
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth (Jn 4:21-24).”
This does not mean that God cannot be worshipped in Samaria or in Jerusalem (or in St. Thomas’ Church) but it means that God is worshipped primarily in the heaven of heavens, accessed only by his Spirit, and if God is not worshipped in spirit and in truth then God is not worshipped in those places which are still part of the kingdom of God, in the atmosphere.
Anglicans confess that they are individual spiritual members of a larger spiritual body, the holy, catholic and apostolic Church and the communion of saints. If they are not living and worshipping God primarily in that capacity, then they are not glorifying
God even by living as practicing Anglicans in the little geographic clump of land known as their parish. It doesn’t mean they cannot be Christians and Anglicans but it does mean that they must first be engaged, empowered, disciples of Jesus, in order for them to be good Anglicans. It is this incorporation into something bigger than them, the Body of
Christ in heaven and on earth, that many Christians need to draw them out of the isolation they often feel from God and other people, while remaining in their little parish world.
The good news is that, even in our little parish world, God gives us people in order for us to get closer to him.
In John’s first letter, sometimes called the Epistle of Love, the apostle speaks of how the love of God the Father abides in us through the love of the Holy Spirit, which
96 unites us to the perfect expression of the love of God through his Son Jesus Christ. For
Anglican Christians this love, or work of the Holy Spirit, is referred to in the Catechism and liturgies of the church. Anglicans know the church is holy and they are called to be holy “Because the Holy Spirit dwells in it (the Church, and therefore us, as members of the Church) sanctifying all its members and endowing them with gifts of grace.”11 But many followers of Jesus do not have any idea what John is speaking about when he says,
“No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. We know that we live in him and he is us, because he has given us of his Spirit (1 Jn 4:12-13).” The disciples understand the concept but have no experience of the abiding Spirit of God in them.
As mentioned previously, part of the problem for Anglican Christians has been the beautiful and structured form of Common Prayer that they have inherited, along with their many beautiful, historic buildings. Corporate and private prayer is so well and beautifully ordered it can seem far from the disordered and banal world of the individual disciple of Jesus. Many Anglicans, while loving the structure and comfort of the
Anglican system of common prayer, do not use it themselves when approaching the throne of mercy. Formal worship and private longing seem far apart for many Anglicans.
Something is needed to inject the reality of God’s abiding love and presence of his Spirit in the corporate and private prayer of St. Thomas’ parish and many Anglicans, as well as liturgical Christians from other denominations. It is not a problem unique to St. Thomas’ or the Anglican Church but it is a broadly Anglican problem.
11 General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada 1962. Book of Common Prayer Canada, The Catechism, “A Supplementary Instruction”, 553.
97
The Anglican liturgy has the principles of its own revision and renewal built in to it. The Original Preface (1549) found in the back of the BCP begins: “There was never any thing by the wit of man so well devised, or so sure established, which in continuance of time hath not been corrupted: As, among other things, it may plainly appear by the
Common Prayers in the Church, commonly called Divine Service.”12 Two pages later, in the article “Of Ceremonies Why Some Be Abolished and Some Retained (1549)”, the compilers of the Prayer Book wrote: “Of such ceremonies as be used in the Church, and have had their beginning by the institution of man, some at the first were of godly intent and purpose devised, and yet at length turned to vanity and superstition: some entered into the Church by indiscreet devotion, and such a zeal as was without knowledge.”13 Just over a hundred years later, when the Prayer Book was revised for the third time, the then revisers began “The Preface Prefixed at the Revision of 1662” with these words:
It hath been the wisdom of the Church of England, ever since the first compiling of her Public Liturgy, to keep the mean between two extremes, of too much stiffness in refusing, and of too much easiness in admitting any variation from it…Our general aim therefore in this undertaking was…to do that, which to our best understandings we conceived might most tend to the preservation of Peace and Unity in the Church; the procuring of Reverence, and exciting of Piety and Devotion in the Public Worship of God; and the cutting off occasion from them that seek occasion of cavil or quarrel against the Liturgy of the Church.14
In other words these are some intended Anglican principles regarding liturgical change, renewal and revision. First of all, everything can become corrupted through time, including the worship of God. Secondly, a thing becomes corrupt because through time
12 General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada 1962. Book of Common Prayer Canada, 715.
13 Ibid., 717.
14 Ibid., 719-720.
98 meanings change from their original meanings, and because people bring things in to worship that are not based in the knowledge of God that we get from Holy Scripture.
Thirdly, Anglican Churches have to be careful to take the middle ground between being stuck in the past and being open to any kind of change. And fourthly, the reasons for changing worship are always the same; to bring about peace and unity to the congregation, and increase piety and devotion among its people, and take away the reason for people to discount the worship of the Church as being useless or irrelevant.
Anglican have usually opted for the static use of a largely unaltered Book of
Common Prayer over the measured principles of renewal through the Spirit of God alive in the faithful reading of the spirit of any given age. The same is true of the Anglican system of praying the Scriptures. The Lectionary supplies disciples with a thematic way of reading and praying the Scriptures, yet few avail of it because the lectionary system seems so complicated and the readings too long, to apply to the reality of their lives.
Unless parishioners have experienced personally how God has spoken to them through the Scriptures, they are unlikely to take the time and make the effort to structure their lives around a systematic, thematic, reading of the Bible according to the Church Year.
God, who is spirit, must be able to breathe life into the old structures of the Church, just as he did in the vision he gave to Ezekiel of new life given in the valley of the dry bones, as referred to earlier in this work (Ez 37:1-14).
At the end of the Catechism (teaching of the church used for Confirmation instruction) there is a very helpful, though greatly underutilized, “Rule of Life” for all lay people within the church, which outlines a way an Anglican Christian might structure his
99 or her life, in order to live more self-consciously as a disciple of Jesus. This could be a key starting point for Anglicans who want to experience a renewal of their spiritual lives.
It begins with very practical steps taken to bring a person more fully into a spiritual practice of life, very much like the spiritual disciplines St. Thomas’ Church has taken on to help parishioners discover the narrow way of empowered discipleship:
Every Christian man or woman should from time to time frame for himself a RULE OF LIFE in accordance with the precepts of the Gospel and the faith and order of the Church; wherein he may consider the following: The regularity of his attendance at public worship and especially at the holy Communion. The practice of private prayer, Bible-reading, and self-discipline. Bringing the teaching and example of Christ into his everyday life. The boldness of his spoken witness to his faith in Christ. His personal service to the Church and the community. The offering of money according to his means for the support of the work of the Church at home and overseas.15
Lonely but Not Alone: Making room for the Holy Spirit
It is important for Anglicans individuals and parishes to experience life as a small group (fold) within the greater flock of Jesus Christ. Parishioners need to understand how their own spiritual autobiography connects them with the life of God. Richard Peace has done much to help Christians connect their lives with God in very simple but effective ways. He has helped many rediscover the spiritual gifts of noticing, listening and watch for God in the different ways God continues to reveal his love, presence and guidance. As
Anglicans practice these simple spiritual exercises they can begin to experience the reality of God growing in them. As they grow they will also be better able to look on their mature Christian tradition with new eyes, and enabled to use it in ways they had not
15 General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada 1962. Book of Common Prayer Canada, 555.
100 considered possible before. They will be able to see themselves possibly using the structures as vessels of God’s Spirit, to better access God and his kingdom realities.
Spiritual growth is all about leadership. Leadership always begins where you are, not where you want to be. Parish leaders need to learn how to lead in the new spiritual reality where many of the religious signposts from the past have been removed. The first people leaders need to lead are themselves. Christians become better leaders by becoming better followers of Jesus, and allowing God to restore Trinitarian balance to their lives.
With Trinitarian balance in one’s life comes an increased sense of purpose in all that one does. When God becomes real, present, and alive in disciples, their lives take on a new sense of urgency. God in the disciples seeks to share his life with others. This can bring a transforming change in the lives of church members and in the congregation as a whole.
When this renewal of purpose begins to grow, and people begin to experience the unseen Spirit in their own lives, the spiritual life begins to be caught more than taught in the parish. Sharing the faith moves from primarily being an intellectual exercise of the transference of head knowledge about God, the church and the Christian religion, to a sharing of experiences of the reality of God and what life in the kingdom of God is like.
Anglican Christianity is primed to be able to assist its members, and interested outsiders, in growing in their ability to practice the presence of God. Anglicanism has a worldly nature; it does not deny physical realities but, at its best, uses them to glorify God and bring its members to new and increasing life in Christ. Anglican Christians can connect body and soul through their theological, sacramental framework to all three realms of the kingdoms of God. This means that there is no reason why Anglican
101
Christians should not experience the fulfillment of the promise of Jesus in their own lives, that he has “come to give them life and life in abundance (Jn 10:10).”
This finding and practicing the presence of God is the sacramental heart to the Anglican system of being a Christian. Sacraments use the things of the world to get closer to God: bread, wine, water, flesh and blood are all things that can separate or draw us closer to
God. That is why Anglicans are taught to “duly use them”16 (the sacraments) and “only after an heavenly and spiritual manner”17 to “feed on him by faith with thanksgiving”.
The Catechism teaches that a sacrament is “an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace, given to us by Christ himself, as a means whereby we receive this grace, and a pledge to assure us thereof.”18 God, in Christ, has given us our lives, our souls, our bodies and ourselves. He has provided us with our relationships, our neighbors, our health, etc. In short, we can truly say to God in the Prayer Book offertory sentence, “All things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee (1 Chr 29:11).” This means that God is present and to be found everywhere, if his people are diligent in searching for him.. So Morning Prayer begins with the injunction: “Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near: let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God for he will abundantly pardon (Is 55:6-7).”
16 General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada 1962. Book of Common Prayer Canada, Article XXV, “The Sacraments”, 707.
17 Ibid., Article XXVIII. “Of the Lord’s Supper”, 710.
18 Ibid., The Catechism, “The Sacraments”, 551.
102
There is a proper way to use all of creation to bring people more fully into the presence and kingdom of God. This “way” can be seen in the form of a parochial presence: finding God in the corporate life of the parish, its structures, worship, outreach, and activities. God is present when his family gathers. It also means there must be a way for people to experience God’s private presence with them in their own personal lives: the spiritual disciplines can be a powerful means to intimacy with God. And finally it means there must be a Spirit-led way to join public and private practice, corporate and personal faith life for Christians; missional life as working with Jesus rather than for
Jesus. When this way is found within Anglican parishes, it will be found to be both much greater than Anglicanism on its own (worshipping in spirit and in truth) and also quintessentially Anglican, for it will reveal the hidden things of the Spirit that were planted long ago in the spiritual DNA of the reformed, catholic heritage of the original
Church of England. It will be both very old and very new to empowered Anglican disciples of the narrow way.
103
PART THREE
MINISTRY STRATEGY
CHAPTER 6
THEOLOGY IN PRACTICE: GOALS AND PLANS
This chapter shows how the need for a restored Trinitarian life at St. Thomas’
Church is dependent upon both individual and corporate responses to Christ’s call to
“follow me”. It describe the goals and strategy that is bringing about this transformation in the four target populations of small groups in the parish: leaders, learners, unengaged church members and those involved in missional group work, and how each group is being challenged to apply the spiritual practices of service, prayer, worship, and study which are most appropriate to it.
The direction of the parish over past twelve years has been to become more self- consciously evangelical and engaged, seeing and living out its communal life as a response to the good news of Jesus Christ. The church has been using the Natural Church
Development (NCD) diagnostic surveys since 2001, as said earlier. For three straight years (2010-12) and four of ten total NCD surveys have revealed that the weakest characteristic in the congregation was Holistic Small Groups.1 Many leaders in the parish
1 The Lowest Quality Characteristic on the most recent NCD survey (June 2013) has now changed to Loving Relationships, which is very closely related to Holistic Small Groups.
105 have not found help to grow in their faith from their relationships with other Christians in the congregation.
The parish has focused on developing an inter-generational life and worship, choosing seven years ago to move from two distinct worshipping communities (one more traditional, older style of liturgy, and the other a more informal style, focusing on younger families) to one blended family parish communion. While worship seems to be working well as an expression of communal life, many people do not feel they are growing in their day-to-day lives outside of Sunday worship. The leadership team has been thinking about how it might address this disconnect in people’s lives. The goals and plans presented in this chapter are part of a plan of action to deal with the felt disconnect.
These ideas have been talked through and embraced by the whole leadership team
(wardens, active and retired clergy, and the parish vestry). Although many of the ideas were initiated by the clergy, the intention has been to proceed only with those programs and activities that found resonance and support from within the parish and were desired and embraced by the church leadership.
The goal in this course of action has been to see leadership take more initiative in being missional leaders, and to see people moving out into their worlds without looking to the clergy for permission or specific directions in what to do. People should feel engaged in the lives they are living as full members of the Body of Christ and fully aware that they are called to bless the worlds/people they have been placed among. It was also intended to enable staff to work at a greater level of capacity, with the congregation
106 experiencing its vision “To be an enduring beacon drawing all to Jesus Christ”. This is to enable as many parishioners as possible to experience Jesus’ promise of an abundant life with a future and a hope. It is also to develop congregational leaders so that they can continue to have actual opportunities to grow spiritually and lead in the church, resulting in a fuller Trinitarian life for the members of St. Thomas’.
As the Vestry focused on the spiritual disciplines of service, prayer, worship and study, they realized that the best place to start was with service. They began with service because every engaged member of a congregation was involved in some sort of missional
(i.e. outward-turned) work. Prayer is to God and for someone, service is of something or somebody, worship is about turning towards God, and study is of something that can increase what parishioners know about who they are in Christ. Leadership has focused on what people do and tried to find ways to help them to tie their work to their worship.
They asked the question: What do people need to study and what do people need to incorporate prayer into the service they already do? If Vestry could help church members make those connections then that will help turn them from nominal Christians, church- workers and servants, into disciples: those who are personal followers of Jesus Christ and who walk with him through their lives and don’t just do things for him. The goal has been to move from doing things for God to doing things with Jesus. It is believed that this is the key shift that needs to happen for the church to more fully enter Jesus’ narrow way of discipleship.
107
Theological Implications of a Restored Trinitarian Parish Life
St. Thomas’ vision and mission statements clearly reflect the intention behind the church’s spiritual formation initiatives, to create a community that can support and encourage people in their walk with or towards God in Jesus Christ. The programs, listed below, all have this intention in mind: to take people where they are, at their present state of faith development, and assist them through groups, courses and activities which address the three ways we learn as human beings (cognitively, behaviorally and affectively), so that they are equipped and empowered to walk more closely with Jesus in their lives. The plan was to work with that which is familiar and common to most people in the parish, as both part of its congregational history and denominational background, rather than to introduce elements that would not be recognized as part of either and, therefore, may be met with skepticism or even unnecessary animosity. This is in accord with Thornton’s key Anglican elements referred to earlier.2
The most important implication of a restored Trinitarian parish life is a deepening of the discovery that the spiritual Kingdom of God is here and now. As parishioners discover this present reality it changes their perspective on what is possible in their lives and in the parish as a whole. Restored Trinitarian parish life restores the stewardship of all life to the parish. As the Persons of the Trinity live in mutual love and harmony,
Trinitarian parishes begin to look for the love and harmony that already exists and begin to nurture and restore it. No relationship is insignificant, no action without purpose.
2 Thornton, The Heart of the Parish, 205-6.
108
Members learn to abide in Christ and trust in Christ’s abiding presence through their experience of Christ in small groups, regardless of the struggles or circumstances of their lives. The parish itself becomes a holistic group where members increase in wholeness (Trinitarian balance). This leads to the preferable future of parishioners experiencing lives that bear fruit for God, rather than just being active in church-led activities. Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and have it to the full (Jn 10:10).”
A life to the full must be the purpose of all parish worship, activities and work.
The plan or strategy for small groups at St. Thomas’ is five-fold: provide functional structures in committees and ministries, enable small groups to work from their inherent missional callings, provide leaders with experiences of leading together, invite learners to experience God’s leadership through spiritual practices, and expose interested persons to the life of Christian discipleship. Since 2007 committees and ministries have increasingly been asked to focus their thinking and work on the stated vision and mission of the parish, so that there is a structural unity of approach to work throughout the parish. In 2011 the focus was sharpened more clearly on the life and mission of small groups as living out the vision and mission statements of the congregation.
In 2012 a Small Group Minister was appointed as one of the areas of priority ministry. She has met with every small group in the congregation helping them to understand their mandate and missional work, whatever that might be. She has also encouraged each group to see itself as a holistic body that can grow from greater sharing of their common life, so that they grow as leaders together in their particular area of
109 ministry. The parish has increased the number of small groups offering a hands-on experience of different aspects of prayer (meditative, contemplative, intercessory, and public prayer) and Bible Study, as well as strengthening out-reach activities in the wider community. Christian discipleship continues to be offered as an experienced way of life, rather than a faith perspective on life.
Providing Different Learning Opportunities for Parishioners
Because people learn differently, the plan of the parish leadership has been to offer a variety of experiences that provide cognitive, behavioral and affective learning opportunities. This has included the worship services of the church where drama and teaching has been incorporated into sacramental worship. Regular monthly anointing with oil and prayer for healing was introduced several years ago, and prayer stations for individuals desiring prayer during or after communion have been a mainstay of the main worship for four years. The goal is to enable the private and public aspects of prayer to be joined, and affective and cognitive forms of teaching used. Liturgical dance by a group of young women, together with youth dramas and the mixture of band and organ and choir music, has broadened the experience of worship to include more and varied people.
Although this has caused a backlash among some who do not feel the need to grow in the expression of their faith, the majority of the parish has embraced and grown with the intentional changes introduced to worship. In particular, the plan on the parish level has been to incorporate this Trinitarian balance into congregational life through the implementation of its Annual Work Plan. Since 2011 St. Thomas’ has had an Annual
110
Work Plan outlining its goals for the health and growth of the parish around which the work and programs of the church are planned for the year.
Through the introduction of regular times of prayer at Vestry meetings, not just opening and closing with a read prayer, the leadership has taken its modeling roll seriously, showing by example how groups can join prayer and work in a meaningful and supportive way. Bi-annual, day-long retreats provide Vestry an opportunity to spend longer periods of time thinking and praying about key issues of life as leaders and as a parish. This has enabled the Vestry to model the life of a small group and show how it is possible to incorporate service, prayer, worship, and study into its specific missional work of congregational leadership. Use of the monthly DVD series The Present Future, by Reggie McNeal, has further opened Vestry and other parish leaders to new insights and opportunities to discuss the challenges of being church in today’s North American climate.
As has been outlined in the Annual Work Plans, the parish has provided opportunities for adult parishioners (learners) to experience the presence of Christ in small groups, through prayer, and study. It has also worked to sharpen the missional focus of existing parish groups, helping “the rest” to experience discipleship through service and worship according to the mandates of their groups. The congregation has modeled the principles of disciples for leaders, learners and the rest through liturgical teaching, preaching and practice, drawing together all elements congregational life. One important element of this has been the monthly Parish Gatherings after the main worship
111 service, when parishioners bring sandwiches to share with one another, eat together and then stay for some form of talk or presentation on living a missional life in the world.
Something needs to be said here about the health of the leaders in a parish. It should go without saying that clergy and congregational leaders must take their own spiritual, physical and emotional health very seriously. Archibald Hart’s notes that, “The failure of clergy morally is due to lack of emotional maintenance.”3 Spiritual leaders need to be maintaining their own personal lives. Along with the program outlined in this project, St. Thomas’ encourages its leaders to continue to develop themselves as people through family and personal time, retreats, continuing education, leadership conferences
(such as the Willow Creek Summits), and regular exercise and hobbies. “Contemplation can be a cure/prevention for stress induced mental illness,”4 says Hart, and adds, “God is not so interested in what you do as in what you are becoming.”5 Clergy and individual church leaders must take seriously their personal call to health and holiness. “It is all about the impression we leave- our legacy of faith and love. That is what ministry is like- an impression of Christ.”6 Leaders seeking accountability and working together in small groups, especially prayer and fellowship groups, can head off many congregational
3 Archibald Hart, Fuller Theological Seminary. Lecture notes January 24, 2011.
4 Ibid., January 26, 2011.
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid., January 31, 2011.
112 problems that come from spiritual and emotional fatigue before they develop.
“Accountability is the key antidote to failure, especially for larger churches.”7
Steven Berglas of Harvard Medical School, in his work “The Hazards of
Success”, outlines the four greatest reasons for failure among successful leaders. These are areas that pastors are very prone to: aloneness (loss of accountability), arrogance (loss of humility), addiction (pursuit of novelty) and adultery (pursuit of pleasure).8 The four spiritual disciplines chosen for St. Thomas’ Church are planned to counter-balance these areas of susceptibility in church leaders and members: prayer develops accountability before God, worship grows intimacy with God (and others), service increases humility, and study furthers the pursuit of wisdom over novelty.
Small Group Target Populations
Throughout the focus on small groups the intention has been not to lose track of the individual groupings of parishioners with their specific needs. Leaders are challenged to make the spiritual practices central to leadership. Learners are invited to move into leadership in the parish. Church members are encouraged to become engaged in missional life in some way, and Missional groups are expected to work to empower their members as followers of Jesus by their common group life. Spiritual formation is the essential calling of the gospel and a response to Jesus’ great commission to go and make disciples of all people (Mt 28:16-20). It is a term that describes a process of being conformed to the image of Christ by the working of God’s spirit, for the sake of the
7 Hart, Fuller Theological Seminary. Lecture notes January 31, 2011.
8 Ibid.
113 world. A church takes on spiritual formation in order to have a disciplined, orderly approach to making disciples of Jesus Christ and helping them to grow more Christ-like, in order to bear more fruit for Christ in the world.
St. Thomas’ Church spiritual formation begins at the top and works down into every level of parish life (leaders-learners-rest/church members) using a variety of teaching and learning events, involving body, mind and spirit. It begins with the most committed and seeks to draw them closer into the heart of God, so that they can be sent out into the world as evangelists. It works to make leaders of the learners, and learners of the presently unengaged (“the rest”, to use Thornton’s terms). This is in keeping with
Jesus’ pattern of having an inner core of disciples (the Twelve), a larger group of followers (“the disciples”) and a large mission field that he was sent out into the world to preach. Those who heard “listened to him with delight (Mk 12:37).”
In St. Thomas’ the Leaders are the leadership team: staff, Vestry, and ministry leaders. The Learners are active, engaged parishioners involved in ministry groups, and small groups, as well as missional groups of various kinds. This includes the congregation at worship and church members consciously living out their lives as disciples in their homes and at work etc. The Rest are those who consider themselves members of St. Thomas’ Church, attend sporadically, but are not engaged in any activities outside of occasional worship. It also includes those outside who are not engaged in any of the organized inner life of the parish, but connected to it through relationships and activities of the church in the community.
114
While ministry, activities and opportunities for growth are offered to children and young adults, the spiritual formation work is aimed primarily at giving active adults opportunities to experience the presence, power and reality of God’s guidance in their lives so that they themselves will become engaged evangelists for their own children, friends and family members. This agrees with the purpose for the various offices in the
Church “to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (Eph 4:11-13).”
The focus on spiritual formation of adults has two main components: teaching events about our relationship with God in Christ, and opportunities to experience the reality of a relationship with God in Christ, within small groups. Through experiencing the reality, presence and love of God alive and present in other Christians, parishioners will become more active in living out the gospel call and impact the communities and groups they live among. Just as God the Trinity is community and relationship, so God shares life with his people in community. Community is the place where healthy and sustainable growth can be found and provided. A healthier church community will grow and offer the good news in relevant ways to the communities its people serve and live in.
In 2012 the following courses were offered and evaluated: Richard Peace’s small group studies (Noticing God, Contemplative Prayer, Spiritual Journaling, and Meditative
Prayer), Jan Johnson’s Spiritual Disciplines Companion, as well as other approaches
(Faith Journey, Space for God, Alpha, The Marriage Course, and others). Semi-annual
115
24-hour retreats were offered, enabling retreatants to experience Common Prayer through communal praying of the Offices, the Eucharist and Private Prayer, along with silence and an inductive method of Bible study.9 Giving people an experience of structured corporate prayer and corporate silence, can equip them with a model to follow for their own personal day retreats and quiet days, learning what it means to pray with the Church and not simply alone as individuals. We have been teaching using the inductive method of Bible Study as a method that parishioners can also use profitably on their own or with groups, and have begun to introduce parishioners to the Serendipity Bible method of personal and small group Bible Study.
The plan for the spiritual formation program was to base it on repetition of groups and courses, working with existing groups of leaders, learners and missional teams in the parish (and beginning others), and modeling and teaching through the use of the Church
Year. The model of the Natural Church Development approach to church growth is followed: the Word of God is the seed that will grow naturally in people and in a church, especially when conditions are optimized. As Jesus says, “This is what the kingdom of
God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come (Mk 4:26-29).”
Leaders cannot produce spiritual life in the parish but they can affect the atmosphere of learning in the church. Disciples can till the soil, water and nourish the
9 See APPENDIX B for Retreat Outline.
116 seed that God plants, and do everything in their power to make sure the seed has a chance to grow in each individual in whom the word of God has been planted. What is naturally at hand in the parish, community, denominational history and worship life, congregational gifts, and people’s own lives, is used to lead interested persons from where they are to the next level in their spiritual journey. Incremental growth is usually the best and most natural way for growth to take place, both in nature and in the human soul. The congregation’s job is to take away the impediments to growth and cultivate a healthy environment in which the growth may occur. The goal is to develop a spiritual formation program that cooperates with abiding, remaining, life in Jesus.
I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples (John 15:1-8).
117
CHAPTER 7:
IMPLEMENTATION AND ASSESMENT
The best way to evaluate how the implementation of the goals and plans of any undertaking has gone is to return to the original purpose for the undertaking. In this case assessment will involve returning to the purpose of the project found in the thesis statement: This project seeks to help members of St. Thomas’ Church deepen their experience of the reality of God through an adult spiritual formation program that focuses on the spiritual practices of service, prayer, worship, and study, within the context of small groups, so that parishioners are empowered to live out their lives as followers of
Jesus Christ. Implementation, assessment and evaluation of the program has focused on the practical outcomes of the specific spiritual practices named above, and whether or not parishioners feel themselves to be more empowered to live as followers of Jesus after they completed the program/group they were part of than before they started it.
Assessment began with a number of key small groups for parish leadership and then looked at some other small groups and the impact of their work together in their various mission areas. The definition of a small group is taken from Christian Schwarz
118 who considers a small group to be “any group that is small in number.”1 This is both tongue-in-cheek and an accurate description, because for some circles within the Church the designation small group refers to a specific kind of spiritual focus or life. It is intended that all groups in a parish should be encouraged and enabled to find their true and natural life in Christ, so that they can live and work out of that empowering experience of oneness with Christ and one another.
The implementation of goals and plan were in five specific areas. First, through the offering of integrated/blended worship at the main worship service in the parish, where all members could both find their voice and be challenged to grow with others in the act of offering God’s praises. Secondly, through introducing the Annual Work Plan to guide the work of the church in the coming year. Thirdly, by inviting parishioners to attend new small study groups where participants completed an evaluation of the group.
Fourthly, by working with already existing missional groups of the parish, where to focus on bringing greater balance to the groups’ service lives. Finally, through the use of the
NCD survey, to bring fresh insights to the parish every year, enabling leadership to adjust its emphasis, resources and plans for the coming year according to the growth and changing realities of life in the congregation.
Integrated Congregational Worship and Work
Common Prayer and worship have been central to the out-working of the program for disciple-empowerment. Changes have been made to worship, making it possible for
1 Schwarz, 3 Colors of Community, 8.
119 the majority of the congregation to worship together in one inter-generational communion service that has modeled what the parish has sought to do with its common life. The worship, instead of being one particular style has evolved into a unique blend of styles that is identifiably St. Thomas’ Church. While it is clear to almost anyone worshipping with the congregation at the 10:30am service that it is an Anglican church, there are things about its worship that reveal the local character of the parish and the people that belong to it. The blended worship that emerged was not a mish-mash, or balancing act of different interest groups in the congregation, but an evolution that has come from carefully listening to the voices of the people and the mind of God revealed in
Scripture, tradition and reason.
In 2006 worshippers from the two distinct services were asked to be willing to give up something of what they had previously so that one worshipping congregation could be formed which would be able to worship together. This was a tremendous struggle for many, and resulted in some people leaving the church. Because Vestry felt it was the right thing to do they persevered. Today the main service has blended worship with elements from both previous forms: pipe organ mixes with a praise band, children’s corner with soft toys and books in church, choir (robes on feast days and in special seasons but not on regular Sundays), always Communion, anointing monthly, weekly prayer stations, liturgical dance six times a year (special feasts), weekly coffee hour fellowship after worship, weekly Sunday School and Children’s Talk (except during the summer), and monthly parish luncheon gatherings with talk/film/presentation and discussion. It is a form of worship that fits the parish vision and mission and is an
120 expression of the unity and inclusiveness the leadership believes God wants the congregation to live out in the community.
Spiritual formation programs were based on repetition through the school year
(spring and fall offerings), as the most natural cycle in people’s lives. Leadership worked with existing groups of leaders, learners and missional groups in the parish, and modeled and taught through the use of the Church Year, following the NCD approach that the
Word of God is the seed and it will grow naturally in people and in the church. It is a spiritual formation program based on Jesus’ advice/invitation/command to abide in him, as Jesus teaches throughout John 15.
Sunday preachers have tried to help parishioners to make the connection between what Jesus said and did in the gospels, and what people could expect him to say and do were he present with them today in their daily situations. Preachers referred back to elements of the liturgy to help parishioners make a spiritual connection between the forms of worship and their lives. Sermons have focused on helping people to notice God and what God is doing in the Bible texts for the day, so that they can see God at work in their own lives. The biblical stories are taught so as to intersect parishioners’ own life stories and experiences. This is, as Thornton says, “the New Testament interpreted as a devotional manual; that is group living meditatively.”2 This should sound a lot like what
Ignatius was doing with his Spiritual Exercises and Lectio divina. In the Sunday Bulletin the coming week’s Scripture readings are listed to encourage people to read and think about them in advance, and be more ready to hear God speak to them from those texts in
2 Thornton, The Heart of the Parish, 236.
121 a personal way when they come to worship. Educational and experiential events have been planned that allow people to move naturally along the various stages of spiritual growth as are appropriate to each person.
The parish has kept the central focus of the spiritual life on the common prayer life of the Body of Christ in our congregation, the main weekly Parish Communion service and the enriching and development of our people’s private prayer life. This corresponds with Thornton’s threefold Rule of the Church: the Office, the Eucharist and private prayer. These are recognizable and accepted family routines and categories for all members of the Anglican spiritual tradition, which enables the congregation to begin from a position of strength (our history and tradition) rather than having to convince anyone of strange, ecclesiastically foreign ideas.
Teaching about God cannot help individuals to become better disciples unless it is accompanied by opportunities to practice following God, which is what it is to be a disciple/follower of Jesus. Relationship cannot remain at the conceptual level; it must also be experienced to become real and full relationship. The congregation has been provided with opportunities to experience going somewhere with Jesus. Leadership has tried to provide these opportunities for parishioners from the various ethnic, educational and generational backgrounds found in the congregation.3 The Parish Gatherings already referred to are an attempt to develop fellowship in smaller groups from the larger body.
The presentations are intended to inform and encourage our people to think about their
3 See the struggle to connect with the different cultural and generational realities today in the works of Tom Beaudoin, Reginald Bibby, Darrell Guder, Alan Hirsch, Philip Jenkins, Mel Lawrenz, Phyllis Tickle, and Robert Wuthnow referred to in the Bibliography.
122 surroundings and perhaps ask: What can they do to live more missionally where they find themselves in their life situation? How can they help parishioners to begin to imagine what they can do, together with others, about the things they care about in their lives?
They wanted members to see the missional work they do as an extension of worship into their personal and public lives.
There has been a great variety of presentations at these Parish Gatherings. For example, the Christian troubadour group Isabelle Gunn, who came, played and spoke of their mixture of religious and secular music that is always spiritual. A conversation followed about seeing and living in the kingdom of God without changing one’s skin or life situation. At another gathering a local landlady, Lori Rogers, came and spoke about her initiative “Right Turn Investments” that purchased and renovated old houses and then rented to ex-offenders and other adults with mental health issues, who had trouble finding good housing. The result of her visit was that the parish entered into a partnership with her, providing good used furniture for her apartments and connecting with her residents as part of their community of support. Another presentation was made by a medical practitioner and parishioner, Dr. Mahlodi Tau, originally from South Africa, recently told a gathering about a health mission she had been on to Haiti with other local health care workers (Operation Broken Earth). She plans to return with another team at a later date.
A collection was taken up and a ladies group from the church presented her with fifty knitted teddy bears to take down for the children of Haiti.
123
One parishioner, Miriam Westin, spoke of her fifteen months working with the
Christian human rights group International Justice Mission in Southeast Asia, which members of the church had supported. Other parishioners, Jim and Susan Adams, incorporated a short mission excursion into a business trip to Uganda, and came back to tell the parish about meeting and worshipping with members of our sister mission parish.
At another gathering a local artist and educator, Gerald Vaandering, talked about his concept of art as part of the creative gift given to every person but expressed in such a diversity of ways. From that talk he agreed to pilot a small art class called Space for God, in which he would teach participants how to use their art as a practice of prayer and meditation.
These and other such gatherings illustrate the kinds of mission work people can be about, starting with the things they are interested in or the gifts they already have. A gathering is a small group that engages all four of the spiritual disciplines. People who have been at worship together (worship) then gather to eat and listen (study) to a presentation, open to God’s voice (prayer), which enables them to experience God’s calling in their own lives, so that they can become more missionally engaged (service).
Parishioners feel they are part of something greater than themselves, and that there is an extension of our worship out into the world. The Parish Gatherings averaged between fifty and seventy-five people staying behind after the main service.
The use of parish buildings and finances has also followed suite, although neither as quickly nor as thoroughly as many would have hoped. Trusting God to supply the
124 finances is often more about waiting for someone else to supply the shortfall than people stepping up and saying, “Here I am Lord, send me. Here I am Lord, use my money to supply the needs of the ministry of this church.” In 2009 Vestry agreed that any and all use of parish property should be in line with its vision and mission statements. Outside groups that are involved in outreach to the community would not be charged for the use of space, while parking spaces are now being rented out at a lower than average rate for the area. Other groups pay for use of facilities at a somewhat reduced but competitive rate for the downtown area. Thus income has increased from use of the buildings at the same time as generous outreach to the people and groups in the neighborhood has increased.
Buildings have become one of the congregation’s greatest mission resources.
In 2008 the Finance Committee of the parish produced a dreary five-year forecast for the parish based on the recent history of attendance and giving. It predicted that unless drastic action was taken there would be no investments left by 2013 and the parish would have to close. In fact, during that time, gifts to the church increased and the annual budget envelopes increased to their highest level ever. Though the growth was only marginal and incremental, it was moving in a positive rather than a negative direction. It appeared that parishioners, led by the Vestry, have been responding to encouragement to greater stewardship of buildings and finances.
Annual Work Plan 2012
Implementation of the Annual Work Plan (AWP) has enabled the parish to see how effective its planning process has been.4 The first aim of the AWP 2012 was to have
4 See APPENDIX C Annual Work Plan 2012.
125 individuals praying together regularly. This was done on a corporate level at the three regular weekly worship services of the parish. The Church Year also enabled special services to be held throughout the year celebrating congregational and liturgical milestones and commemorations. Public worship is ordered according to God’s greater family’s customs. Individuals are invited in to take their place in the family prayer and worship. Special gatherings during the year were the second aim. These gatherings, as described above, provided opportunities for fellowship, teaching and growth around the table, in smaller groups. There were also film groups, special speakers and other gatherings that gave parishioners opportunities to gather with others and grow together in a shared experience of life in the body of Christ, outside of prayer and worship.
The third AWP aim was directed at regular groups becoming more intentional. A small group minister visited with each major parish group asking them the same questions regarding their activities, prayer and missional. The intention was to help existing groups, some of which have been around for decades, become more intentional and self-conscious about the spiritual nature of their life and work. Each group was asked to formulate a mandate to express why they exist and what they do from the perspective of the vision and mission of the parish. As groups become more self-aware, it is believed they will also become more purposeful, holistic and empowered to do the work they are called to do.
Vestry has built a process of regular evaluation into the structure of parish meetings in order to ensure that the AWP is realized. In particular there has been evaluation of the role and effectiveness of the vision and mission statements to drive the
126 ministry of the parish at the regular meetings of the clergy and wardens (usually weekly), in the Vestry Spring Quiet Days (April 28, 2012 and March 9, 2013), and in their pre- summer break meetings (June 21, 2012 and June 20, 2013). Evaluation has also been included in the lead up to and preparation for the Annual Work Plans (January 22, 2012 and February 3, 2013), as well as at the Annual Congregational Meetings of the parish
(March 18, 2012 and March 17, 2013). Participants filled in evaluations at the end of each special spiritual formation event (retreat, course, etc.).5 This has enabled the leadership to monitor how the spiritual formation program plan is proceeding and how people perceive it to be working.
Evaluation of Small Study Groups The first and arguably most important small group in the parish is the Vestry.
Vestry spiritual health has been a priority for over ten years. For the past eight years monthly Vestry meetings have begun with a devotional, rather than just a prayer. During the past three years, with its focus on Holistic Small Groups, Vestry has used the Willow
Creek Summit’s Take Ten leadership DVDs to both sharpen their leadership skills and grow together as a group through discussing the challenges faced and the questions posed by each speaker. Regular teaching events with Vestry and parish leadership continue to help form a common mind and understanding among leaders about where the church is going.
The Vestry conducted a retreat day working with NCD 3 Colors of Community in
May 2012 and continued to listen to one another’s voices as they conducted their monthly
5 See APPENDIX D Group Evaluations
127 meetings. This has helped further develop the life of Vestry from a body of decision makers in the parish to a small group of leaders who are responsible for helping to encourage and hone one another’s leadership gifts for the greater benefit of all, and the advancement of God’s purposes in the parish. The work with NCD has been essential to the developing of a leadership culture that can embrace change, rather than simply avoid or oppose it.
The implementation of the AWP has also resulted in the restructuring of priority ministries and committees to better steward and focus resources. In particular this has been responsible for the raising up of lay leadership in the parish to work in the areas that the congregation’s leaders discerned to be the priority work of the parish during a meeting in May 2012. It was reaffirmed in the 2013 Budget. The change was prompted by the Diocesan bishop’s sudden movement of one of St. Thomas’ ordained ministers to another parish. This forced the leadership to take the step of refocusing resources to cover her duties and to enable other work to be done that had not been possible under the constraints of the former arrangement of money and manpower. The sudden, unexpected change opened up new opportunities for ministry in the congregation.
The Evaluation survey used at the conclusion of the small group courses had thirty-three questions reflecting the three ways of learning: cognitive, behavioral, and affective. All questions were posed in a positive mode and members of each group handed in their questionnaires anonymously. There were eleven questions surveying each
128 way of learning for the participant.6 The higher the score was, the more positive the experience of the participant. Categories for possible responses were: Not at All: 33,
Slightly: 66, Moderately: 99, Quite True: 132, and Very True: 165. The left side of the bar graph indicates the number of members of each group and the bottom shows the responses of the experiences of each participant. The overall response was consistently high with forty-six of fifty-six respondents recording a score of 132 or more, for a four out of a possible five rating, for 82% of the participants. All but three of the remaining ten respondents recorded a score of 123 or more, which is still very positive. The evaluation surveys measured response of the experience of those members of St.
Thomas’ Church who tried to deepen their experience of the reality of God through participations in a small group that focused on the spiritual practices of service, prayer, worship, and study, and showed that these parishioners did indeed feel more empowered to live out their lives as followers of Jesus Christ because of those practices. The left side of the bar graph below shows the respondents and the bottom shows the evaluation scores. The series are the various small groups evaluated.
6 See APPENDIX D for a copy of the scoring evaluation. Participants’ evaluations were not colored but in black print only.
129
10 9 Series7 8 7 Series6 6 Series5 5 Series4 4 Series3 3 Series2 2 Series1 1
0 50 100 150 200
Figure 2. Comparison of small group evaluation total scores
Scoring the eleven questions related to the three different ways of learning
(cognitive, behavioral, and affective) also revealed some interesting results. The evaluated data showed that the satisfaction level with the affective learning (the blue area of the Trinitarian compass) was the highest of the three ways of learning in six out of the eight groups evaluated, as well as in thirty-eight out of the fifty-six individual participants. Furthermore, in the two groups where the affective learning was lower than the others, there was a single very low score in each group that considerably reduced the overall affective group score. The answers were scored according to the following values- Not at All: 11, Slightly: 22, Moderately: 33, Quite True: 44, Very True: 55. The key to deciphering the graph below is- Series 1: Cognitive, Series 2: Behavioral, Series 3:
Affective, Series 4: Average, Series 5: Maximum Score.
130
8
7
6 Series5 5 Series4
4 Series3 Series2 3 Series1 2
1
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Figure 3. Comparison of small group evaluation average scores
This means that St. Thomas’ parishioners who attended small groups, focusing on the spiritual disciplines of study and prayer, experienced positive affective change in their faith more profoundly than they experienced cognitive or behavioral growth (although both of those ways were also overwhelmingly positive). This was the intention, goal and plan in implementing the annual work plans of 2011 and 2012.
Parishioners’ homes have also become more of a resource for missional life and growth. This is in accord with the example of the early Church where public worship went hand in hand with house groups. “They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.
They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising
God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved (Acts 2:45-47).”
131
The conscious effort to move the spiritual formation work of the congregation out of parish buildings and into private homes has met with some success. In 2012 small groups were held in many different parishioners’ homes including the Women’s Book
Group, Lectio Divina, Young Women’s Bible Study, Choir gatherings, Vestry, Student
Alpha, Daytime Serendipity Bible Study, and various Fall Fair stall groups. Groups and individuals have also been made aware of and begun to use local retreat centers more regularly, as a way to get out of the parish and focus on their spiritual growth and work.
In particular the parish has developed a close working relationship with the Roman
Catholic sisters running the Virginia Water Renewal Centre and Conception Harbor
Renewal Centre. Vestry has also used other parishes’ venues to expand their horizons and connect with other congregations. As well, small groups have taken advantage of excellent teaching materials, especially in the book studies and DVD courses. These have helped parishioners see how things that are affecting the church elsewhere are connected with the struggles of their own lives and local congregation, and helped many to a greater experience of and trust in God’s providence and care.
Greater Balance and Focus in On-going Missional Groups
There are quite a number of other groups already existing in the parish that were begun for particular purposes or in order to accomplish specific tasks. Many of these on- going non-spiritual formation groups in the Parish have been losing their focus over the years. Rather than try to force all members to under-go re-education through taking the spiritual formation courses listed above, parish leadership decided to use what already
132 exists and affirm those groups in their missional life in order to bring them to a greater awareness of their need for growth and spiritual formation.
Members of these other groups can be moved from being learners to leaders
(church members to disciples) by leveraging their interest in the groups they are already a part of. These groups are all mixed so empowerment can start at the lowest end and work up, not presuming people are further along than they are. Most group members who are further along in their spiritual walks are already engaged in one of the above spiritual formation groups.7 Change and growth for these pre-existing groups comes through focusing on the specific missional task of each group. By clarifying what that mission task is, and focusing the activities of the group more self-consciously on it, Vestry believes that it will develop a greater cohesion between members and enable the group to function more holistically, effectively, and with greater purpose and energy. This will also introduce the need for spiritual formation as a source of strength and clarification for the work that they are undertaking.
In May 2012, Vestry designated a sub-group to focus on Stewardship and
Communication in the parish, and appointed a part-time position for Small Group
Minister as one of its priority ministries. She was responsible for connecting with every group in the parish and helping them to develop a mandate for their work, guided by the vision and mission statements of the congregation and bringing that mandate and report back to Vestry when the task is completed. It was intended that this work would enable
7 See “Intentional Spiritual Formation Groups”, their purposes and make-up, in APPENDIX F.
133 all groups to feel more intricately bound together in the overall mission and work of the parish, and understand how what they do both matters and is part of how they bear fruit by abiding in Christ through the parish’s corporate life. This will also give a theological context for each group in its missional work, life and growth. Each group was asked to consider what their mandate was. What is the unique mission task of this group within the congregation and what do you need to do to do it better?8 One might call this missional approach to spiritual growth incremental evangelism through mission activity.
Some of these groups and programs have existed for a number of years but it is only recently that Vestry has been stressing the importance of an holistic approach to all groups, where “people not only discuss biblical texts and listen to their leader’s interesting explanations, but they apply biblical insights to the questions the participants have about everyday life issues.”9 Vestry wants each group to have a cognitive, behavioral and an affective element as part of their activities, so that the three ways of learning are offered in every group. Every parish group was asked to use the following prayer at some point in their meetings:
Heavenly Father, we want our parish to be a Christ-centered family. Send your Holy Spirit to help us to connect with seekers and followers of your Son. Show us how to be people who can love, encourage and challenge one another. Bless the groups of this parish (especially our ______), so that together we may know and grow in our relationship with Jesus. We want to experience your power in the life we share in our parish, and glorify you in our city; for his name’s sake. Amen.
8 See list “Existing Parish Groups and their Missional Foci”, and questions in APPENDIX G.
9 Christian Schwarz, Color Your World with Natural Church Development, 116.
134
In one most important way, the goal for all groups is the same, whether they are spiritual formation groups or existing parish missional groups, to see church leaders turning into evangelists (whose lives are good news for others), learners becoming leaders, and the ordinary parishioners becoming invested learners.
Annual Natural Church Development Surveys
Another indicator for the parish to know if it has being successful in the spiritual formation of adults in the parish is reflected in the results of the annual NCD survey taken near the end of every school year. There the changes in the responses of leaders to questions regarding life in the congregation are recorded and compared with previous years. The findings reflect whether or not the parish is becoming healthier, including showing the continuing fluctuation in the balance between the rational, emotional and active elements (head, heart and hands) of its life together. The story of St. Thomas’ journey has not been an easy one and has been well summarized by Bill Bickle, NCD
Canada’s National Director, in a short article that appears at the end of this project.10
The NCD materials, especially the annual leader’s survey are a fundamental part of the evaluation process. Every year the congregation can see its progress and change from the previous year, as well as being able to compare a number of years and tract trends in the life of the congregation: where are the sticking points? Where is growth taking place? This is an invaluable tool in planning for the work of the congregation in the coming year. In particular the Vestry’s work with the 3 Colors of Community book,
10 See APPENDIX E Natural Church Development history at St. Thomas’ Church
135 and the exercises on inner voices was seen to have been empowering in giving members a way of seeing and hearing one another in the discussion and decision making processes of the group.
The results of the annual NCD survey, the NCD Results Guides (NRGs) are received within ten days of the survey being submitted. St. Thomas’ has chosen to do its annual survey near the end of the school year. This has enabled the parish leadership to receive the report before people go on vacation, and begin to analyze the findings so that plans for implementation could be made before the fall school term begins. There are four reports produced with each set of NRGs. The NCD Summary Guide is a short report showing the progress and current life tendency of the parish in relation to its Trinitarian balance and the Eight Quality Characteristics. The NCD Story Guide looks at the data in terms of both the top and the bottom three themes and top quality characteristics. The
NCD Status Guide reports on the ranking of each of the ninety-one questions in relation to each quality characteristic and the dynamic progress in the characteristic (i.e. where has the change taken place over the course of the last four surveys). The NCD Strategy
Guide looks at areas that should be addressed in order to strengthen the current weakest characteristic.
The 2013 NRG for St. Thomas’ Church was produced in late June. It revealed that some very important changes had taken place in the leadership of the congregation over the past year, changes that could be felt in the parish. The Summary Guide revealed a shift towards faith, over fellowship and service, in the congregation.11 This means that
11 NCD Summary Guide, St. Thomas’ Church, June 2013, 1.
136 there was an increase in affective learning or growth in leaders’ faith. The Story Guide showed that the highest characteristic (Gift Based Ministry) was a result of the three top themes that had emerged over the past year: God-consciousness, everyday-faith and self- awareness. All three of these themes were areas which the spiritual formation program had sought to address through the use of spiritual disciplines in small groups.12 The
Strategy Guide laid out areas for concentration in the coming year (2013-14). The most helpful evaluative information came from the Status Guide which revealed that the two
Quality Characteristics where the greatest positive change had occurred were in the areas of Passionate Spirituality (+10.0) and Holistic Small Groups (+9.9).13 Members of the congregation had felt the growth in their passion for their Lord and their faith, and they had experienced it through small group work. A closer look at the dynamic progress in the Holistic Small Group characteristic showed that seven of the ten questions received the highest scores ever, and the questions which received the post positive change responses were all in the area of personal faith empowerment through small groups. Q11
My small group helps me with the challenges of my life (+15). Q49 I am a member of a group in our church where it is possible to talk about personal problems (+13). Q76 The leaders of our small groups are trained for their tasks (+13). Q65 I am a member of a small group in which I feel at home (+11).14
12 NCD Story Guide, St. Thomas’ Church, June 2013, 1.
13 NCD Status Guide, St. Thomas’ Church, June 2013, 5.
14 NCD Status Guide, St. Thomas’ Church, June 2013, 17.
137
An interesting and instructive detail to note (Q76) is that there was no additional training for any leaders of small groups, besides the general request that groups pray together and try to focus on their missional purpose for gathering. The result was a greater feeling of competence in the leadership because the experience of members, through the activities of the group was that they were doing what they had gathered to do.
The feeling of empowerment of the members resulted in a sense of greater ability in the leaders. This is the activity of the Holy Spirit, as parishioners are drawn closer to Christ from the broad category of congregational membership to the narrow way of personal relationship with Jesus as his disciples. The NCD surveys and NRGs, along with the
Evaluation of Small Groups were the two most practical and useful tools for parish leadership which enabled them to assess the effectiveness of their work, and where the next step for the congregation should lead.
The work with the invested leadership of the parish (clergy, staff, wardens, Vestry and lay leaders) has revealed itself to be both fruitful and limited. Those who have availed of the special leadership gatherings, discussions, attendance at conferences and summits, have found their ability to see and understand the dynamics of parish life grow significantly. Many leaders complained of the same thing, a shortage of time that did not allow them to invest themselves more fully in the personal and group work that they believed would benefit their own spiritual growth and ability to lead where they were placed. The question of how to find the time to do what needs to be done, and the best way to access and use people’s time, continues to be a major challenge for St. Thomas’ leadership.
138
Ministry leader supervision by Vestry members and annual staff interviews have not only monitored accountability but, more importantly, increased a sense of common purpose and mutual dependence among the staff. The Stewardship and Communications sub-committee, through meeting with every parish group, has gotten a good picture of how well connected and integrated each missional group feels to other groups, the parish and its leadership as a whole. All of this evaluation makes it back in some form as a feedback report to Vestry.
The congregation has already started to see positive changes as people who have not been actively involved in the life of the parish have begun to join groups in order to grow spiritually. Others who have been part of learning groups have begun to step up and offer themselves in leadership positions, and leaders in the parish have begun to look outside of the parish to see how we can serve the people of their community better, especially those who share common concerns and interests. This is a healthy sign of a congregation discovering its missional calling, not only corporately, but in empowering its members to turn outside of the church to see where God has placed them to minister in their local or natural communities (schools, sports teams, seniors’ residences, etc.).
The basis for this spiritual formation has been the groups and ministries of the parish. The focus has been on helping each group to become a more holistic small group in which members feel the presence of Christ and the growth and empowerment of their faith through the spiritual practices of service, prayer, worship, and study they are engaged is as the basis of their common group life in Christ. These spiritual practices
139 address the root problem of a feeling of distance and lack of spiritual empowerment by individual members of the congregation, when they are together with other Christians. By enabling parishioners to experience God’s affective presence and effective guidance in their lives of service, prayer, worship, and study within the context of small groups of other disciples with like interests, it addresses to need for holistic small groups of followers of Jesus. Parishioners learn to know for themselves the reality of the Holy
Spirit at work in them. This has empowered, and will continue to empower them to live out their lives not only as more active church members but, far more importantly, as the
Lord’s disciples, walking daily with Jesus.
Of course it is always the Spirit of God that must guide any spiritual formation program, and the Spirit that must indwell all those who seek to know God and be transformed into the image of God’s Son Jesus Christ. Abiding in Christ is about the disciple’s experience of Christ’s faithfulness to his promise to be there for his church and about the parish persevering in clinging to him. Abiding in Christ is about planning how to be faithful, how to grow in understanding of what God is saying through his Word, by the Spirit, and through noticing the way God guides people in their lives, and learning to cooperate with the Lord’s guidance personally and as a local body of Jesus’ disciples.
This is the liberating work of God’s Spirit that he wants to continue within us naturally, by his indwelling restoring new nature in Christ. This work will eventually make all of
Jesus’ disciples more like Christ; “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the
Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit (2 Cor 3:18, 19).”
140
The thesis of this project is that individual members will be empowered through their use of the spiritual practices in the context of small group life in the parish. This chapter, therefore, addresses the life of those small groups rather than the individuals that compose the groups. Beginning with the current Annual Work Plan for the congregation, and the resources available, this chapter describes the way goals and plans have been implemented through the various programs and activities of small groups in the congregation. It outlines the structure, make-up, material, duration and goal of each group, and shows how the spiritual practices are being used to give focus and gospel intention to the group`s activities.
While this plan and spiritual formation program has been developed over a ten- year period, and the implementation process and evaluation of the program has focused on the past two years (2011-2012), it is understood that this is an ongoing process that is to be repeated in each following year. Every year the Vestry and leadership of the parish will have to make adjustments to accommodate the changes in the life, make-up, resources and ministry opportunities in the parish, but it is a repeatable program because it is aimed at the dynamic relationship between the Lord Jesus and those who feel the call to follow him. The essentials of discipleship never change. In repeating this template annually small group life becomes more explicitly Christ-centered, and better equips the individual members of each group to take the next, sometimes incremental, step closer to
Christ in the life of deepening, empowering discipleship.
141
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Jesus said, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it (Mt 7:13-14)”, and again, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (Jn 10:10).” Jesus came to give his followers more abundant life. He explained that life is found by passing through the narrow gate. The broad gate leads to destruction and loss of the abundant life he offered.
That only a few find it seems to mean that it takes considerable exertion.
Like many Canadian churches, St. Thomas’ Church, St. John’s, NL struggles to find an experience of the abundant life that Jesus came to give. Many of its parishioners have become tired of walking through the broad gate of religious church life that does not seem to provide what Jesus offers. They have decided that they want to do what they can do in order to find the narrow gate that Jesus invites them to enter. We believe the narrow gate is the gate of empowered discipleship. This is the origin of the title and the abstract for this project, “Broad Church to the Narrow Way; Moving from Membership to
Empowered Discipleship at St. Thomas’ Church”.
The quest for the narrow way, or gate, is important because salvation (wholeness and abundance of life with God) can be lost and replaced with destruction. Today many people feel a void in their spiritual lives and emptiness in their religious observances. At
St. Thomas’ many have expressed a desire to experience a greater intimacy and joy in their faith; the abundant life that Jesus spoke about. Their desire has led the leadership of
142 the parish to undertake the quest for a narrow way of discipleship that parishioners can be offered and guided upon, which might lead to an empowered experience of being Jesus’ disciples and living lives of greater purpose and meaning. This quest is described in the chapters of this project.
The Introduction outlined the need and challenge for the congregation, set in its global and local context. Chapter One described the unique history of the province and island of Newfoundland, its capital city of St. John’s, and both the origins of the Anglican
Church’s presence on the island, and the establishment and development of the Parish of
St. Thomas’ Church down to the present day. Chapter Two looked at the specific ministry challenges facing St. Thomas’, with both the needs and opportunities they present to the congregation. Already in this chapter, one can see the emergence of the two ways, the broad and narrow approaches to Christian life, as they pertain to the parish; an innate conservatism mixed with a sense for mission.
Chapter Three reflected on some books that provide special theological insights that are helpful to the congregation’s challenges as set out in the previous chapter. Each book, in its own way, is an attempt to find the narrow gate of discipleship in the face of the enormous, broad gate that has grown out of the Christian tradition. Each author acts as a guide to lead the congregation to a greater point of clarity on where it should exert its energies to find the narrow gate Jesus speaks of. Chapter Four articulated the theology of the Anglican Church and the Anglican parish as it has developed and is found at St.
Thomas’ and in most parts of the English-speaking world. It assessed the strengths and
143 weaknesses of the Anglican theological tradition and focused on the lack of clarity about the presence and work of the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, as a key problem. The ability to identify the theological problem with the Anglican family’s approach to life with God was the key to being able to begin to work on an approach to rectify that problem in the life of the congregation.
Chapter Five described the attempt to rectify the problem and renew the life of parishioners and, as a result, the parish. In the language of the thesis, it began to narrow the broad gate of parish life so that it might be more life-giving and supportive of the life of disciples rather than just continuing to produce more nominal church members. Here the intention was not to throw out the baby with the bath water but it was certainly to bathe the baby and then throw out the dirty bath water! Renewal is something that can happen to something that is old but still has the life of God’s Spirit in it. Though encrusted and slowed by many things that support Christendom but are not part of discipleship life, we believe Anglican churches can be renewed. Chapter Six set out the goals and plans for renewing the Anglican life of discipleship at St. Thomas’ Church through a spiritual formation program that specifically reintroduced the narrowing foci of four spiritual practices (study, prayer, service and worship), to enable the parish to fulfill its vision and mission calling, and individual parishioners to experience the empowerment that comes from walking in relationship with Jesus in their daily lives. It described the preferable future of a more abundant life than that which most parishioners have experienced to this point in their faith walks. Finally, Chapter Seven outlined the implementation process and evaluation that has been employed in the parish, especially
144 over the past two years. It explained how the leadership has attempted to measure the success of the program and how it should continue so that the spiritual life of parishioners at St. Thomas’ narrows more and more from broad focus of membership to the narrow focus of Christian discipleship, as people become more aware of what it is they need to do in order to grow in the love of God, with Jesus as their guide and companion.
Spencer, in Parochial Vision, wrote of a proposal for church renewal in the
Church of England from 1964 It had recommended, “The old had to be allowed to live with the new and encouraged to grow alongside it” and “whatever happened the approach was to be gradual and organic, rather than sudden and artificial.”15 This sentiment is very close to the heart of congregational work at St. Thomas’. One of the main advantages to the program for spiritual formation put forward in this project is that it does encourage the old to grow alongside of the new in the parish, and in a gradual and organic way.
There is nothing rash, rushed, or un-Anglican to scare off even the most timid and conservative parishioners, as long as they have a desire to grow as followers of Jesus
Christ. But it does require the boldness of an affirmative response to Jesus’ invitation to follow him. Although it describes what has been undertaken in one parish in St. John’s,
NL, it could well be translated into any number of Anglican or mainline churches facing similar challenges and obstacles to their ability to experience a more abundant life in
Christ and bear fruit for God’s kingdom. The problem has always been engagement: the way people have connected what they think with what is done.
15 Spencer, Parochial Vision, 134.
145
It is the affective piece of the puzzle, the passion that is associated with the person of the Holy Spirit in the Trinity, which has most often been missing. One can see it from earliest times, when the British, not through any particular maliciousness, simply lost sight of the Beothuk people as they disappeared from their midst. How does one lose sight of a whole people? Only by not noticing what God does notice, people made in the image of the Holy Trinity. How can Christians not enter the narrow gate that leads to life but choose the broad one that leads to destruction? Not by any particular maliciousness but by simply not following Jesus more closely and not noticing what God notices.
We cannot change the past but we can choose a different present and alter the future from repeating the past. We must engage our own destiny. That is what this project has been about, the attempts of one congregation to engage in and take responsibility for its own spiritual life and formation. It is about carving out space and inviting the Holy
Spirit to come and open our lips, so that our mouths and lives may be lived in relation to
God and for God’s glory.16 The harsh history of the admirals, the system of the merchant class, strong political leaders that always knew what was best for the people, sexual abuse
(especially of children) by the clergy, are all part of an inheritance that has done much damage to the people of Newfoundland. It has damaged the interior spirit of many and left a legacy of mistrust and fear, manifested in family breakdown, addiction, hesitancy towards mainlanders and foreigners, and skepticism of those in authority.
16 The opening Versicle and Response for Morning and Evening Prayer in the traditional Book of Common Prayer is always the prayer: O Lord, open thou our lips, to which the congregation proclaims: And our mouth shall show forth thy praise. Unless the Holy Spirit opens us up, we will be unable to pour ourselves out in love, worship and service of God and neighbor.
146
St. Thomas’ calling is to know and serve God in the city and province God has placed them. The evidence of God’s gifting in the people of the parish and the province is manifold. Newfoundlanders have not clung to this remote rock in the Atlantic without a fierce determination not to be swept out and into the abyss of the sea. This determination is the hope of future change. If their determination can move past the brokenness of the past and connect with the promises and purpose of God in the present, then the future is bright for the province and for this parish of St. Thomas’ (an enduring beacon, drawing all to Jesus Christ), which is so intricately connected to the history and life of this island.
The spiritual formation program presented in this project opens the congregation to the presence, reality and guidance of the Holy Spirit, the second Person of the Trinity, and the missing piece in much of Anglican religion, which has an ability and propensity to “have a religious career without having to deal with God”17, as Eugene Petersen says of the prophet Jonah and his avoidance of God. Spiritual disciplines, when practiced properly, bring us directly into relationship with the Holy Trinity. We are invited, challenged, and empowered to deal with God so that we might experience the abundant life he wants for his children. May this be true of St. Thomas’ Church and all who read the thoughts about parish renewal recorded on these pages.
17 Eugene H. Petersen, Under the Unpredictable Plant: An Exploration in Vocational Holiness (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992), 15-16.
147
APPENDIX A
Solemn Declaration 1893
IN the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
WE, the Bishops, together with the Delegates from the Clergy and Laity of the Church of England in the Dominion of Canada, now assembled in the first General Synod, hereby make the following Solemn Declaration:
WE declare this Church to be, and desire that it shall continue, in full communion with the Church of England throughout the world, as an integral portion of the One Body of Christ composed of Churches which, united under the One Divine Head and in the fellowship of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, hold the One Faith revealed in Holy Writ, and defined in the Creeds as maintained by the undivided primitive Church in the undisputed Ecumenical Councils; receive the same Canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, as containing all things necessary to salvation; teach the same Word of God; partake of the same Divinely ordained Sacraments, through the ministry of the same Apostolic Orders; and worship One God and Father through the same Lord Jesus Christ, by the same Holy and Divine Spirit who is given to them that believe to guide them into all truth.
And we are determined by the help of God to hold and maintain the Doctrine, Sacraments, and Discipline of Christ as the Lord hath commanded in his Holy Word, and as the Church of England hath received and set forth the same in 'The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, according to the use of the Church of England; together with the Psalter or Psalms of David, pointed as they are to be sung or said in Churches; and the Form and Manner of Making, Ordaining, and Consecrating of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons'; and in the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion; and to transmit the same unimpaired to our posterity.
148
APPENDIX B
Retreat Outline
24 Hour Parish Retreats: Lent and autumn (12 maximum per retreat)
Friday
4:00 pm Arrive at Retreat House 4:30 pm Welcome and Introduction to Quiet Day/Silent Retreat 5:00 pm Evening Prayer 5:30 pm Supper 6:00 pm Silence 7:00 pm Session #1: Inductive Bible Study (Observation Process: Who, where, when?) 8:30 pm Silence 9:00 pm Compline 9:30 pm Silence until Breakfast
Saturday
7:30 am Awaken 8:00 am Morning Prayer 8:30 am Breakfast 9:00 am Session #2: Inductive Bible Study (Interpretation Process: What, why, how?) 10:30 am Coffee break 11:00 am Session #3: Inductive Bible Study (Application Process: What did it mean? What does it say?) 12:00 pm Midday Prayers 12:05 pm Lunch 12:30 pm Silent communal walk 1:30 pm Session #4: The Spiritual Discipline of Bible Reading (Lectio divina) 3:30 pm Evening Prayer 4:00 pm Return home
There will be opportunity for individual conversation, spiritual direction, confession/absolution with the Retreat Leader during the times of silence. All worship services are from the Book of Common Prayer, Canada, 1962.
149
APPENDIX C
St. Thomas’ Church: Annual Work Plan 2012
Our vision: “An enduring beacon drawing all to Jesus Christ.” Our Mission: To be a Christ-centered family, connecting with seekers and followers of Jesus; providing a loving, encouraging, and challenging environment so that all may know and grow in relationship with Christ and make Him known. Lowest Church Health Characteristic: Holistic Small Groups In 2012 we focused on the Vision of the parish and celebrated how that vision has guided us through 175 years of our history. In 2012 we will shift our emphasis from the Vision to the Mission of the parish. We will continue to focus in on where we most need to grow during the year to become a healthier church, bearing more fruit for God’s kingdom in this place. Once again, this year, our weakest characteristic is Holistic Small Groups: our people are not experiencing the presence, guidance or power of God in gatherings of groups within the body of Christ. Jesus promised to be with his disciples whenever two or three gather in his name but, outside of personal devotions and congregational worship, St. Thomas’ parishioners have not been experiencing Jesus’ presence when groups in the parish gather for work or fellowship. Last year, our 3 main areas of attention were: the parish, the family and the individual. This year, they will be slightly adjusted to: the parish, the group and the individual. While continuing our work on building up individuals, and working on congregational worship and ministry, we will be highlighting the importance of our people growing with other believers, in the way we study, pray and go about our mission work. The term ‘group’ includes families, prayer gatherings, missional communities, ministry committees, in fact, any gathering of members of St. Thomas’ Parish. We want every group to be intentional about living out the Mission statement of our parish. Our goal is, that by the this time next year, the majority of our regular worshippers will be able to say, “I have felt part of a loving, encouraging and challenging group environment in this parish, where I have felt myself grow in my knowledge and love of Jesus Christ.” That is our challenge for 2012 and below is the work plan we have devised to try to meet our challenge and accomplish our goal during the next twelve months.
1. COMMON PRAYER IS THE BASIS OF COMMON LIFE: Individuals praying together regularly
150
We begin by encouraging all our parishioners to develop their own regular routine of daily prayer and Bible reading. There are excellent systems for morning and evening prayer laid out in both the Book of Common Prayer and the Book of Alternative Services. We intend to offer simple courses in how to pray with these books during Lent. There are also daily devotionals available. Please speak to one of the clergy or come to one of the groups that are being offered for your benefit this year. We also encourage everyone to consider a Rule of Life (see BCP p. 555) or, make some changes to it, based on the present realities of your life. We also ask you all to use the following prayer either at the beginning or at the end of every group gathering of St. Thomas’ members. Plug the name of your group in blank. We would also hope that you would use it in your own personal prayers, as you pray for other groups in the parish. Parish Prayer 2012 (based on our parish mission statement) Heavenly Father, we want our parish to be a Christ-centered family. Send Your Holy Spirit to help us to connect with seekers and followers of Your Son. Show us how to be people who can love, encourage and challenge one another. Bless the groups of this parish (especially our ______), so that together we may know and grow in our relationship with Jesus. We want to experience Your power in the life we share in our parish, and glorify You in our city; for His name’s sake. Amen.
2. COMMON EXPERIENCES IS THE SUPPORT OF A COMMON LIFE: Special gatherings during the year We plan to give our people every opportunity we are capable of offering to experience the presence, power and guidance of God in their own lives. The groups/courses we have already planned are: Monthly Parish Gatherings (4th Sunday), Exercise Groups “Body & Spirit”, “Space for God” art classes (6 weeks), Contemplative Prayer Group - Young residence (1st and 3rd Thursday of each month), The Parenting Teenagers Course (5 weeks), Reading Scripture with Understanding (2 weeks), Faith Journey - Looking at how old (like John Bunyan) and new authors (like Kathleen Norris) can help us walk with God. Pilgrim’s Progress: Part I (5 weeks), Alpha @ Liz Gesch’s Place - Jamie Haith (7 weeks) date TBA, The Parenting Children Course (5 weeks) - tentative based on finding leader, March-April – Prayer Ministry Training Course (3 weeks) date TBA, The Marriage Course (7 weeks), The Marriage Preparation Course (5 weeks), June - possible additional alternative weekend Marriage Prep Course, Sept – Alpha @ Margaret Eastman's Place - date TBA, October- Alpha (7 weeks) with Jamie Haith - possibly in coffee shop or restaurant, Wednesday Morning “Followers of Jesus” (Spiritual Disciplines Companion) weekly, Young Group (Spiritual Disciplines Companion) bi-weekly, Youth Group bi-weekly (until Gail returns, then weekly), Monday Evening Meditative Prayer (9 weeks) offered
151
3x during the year, Overnight Retreats “Living the Scriptures” offered 3x during the year @ Conception Harbor (12 retreatants max.). Work with Vestry and Inner Core to keep Vision clear.
3. COMMON MISSION IS THE FRUIT OF A COMMON LIFE: Regular groups becoming more intentional
St. Paul explained why there are orders and structures in the Church: Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:11-13) We will continue to work with individual leaders in their discernment and growth in capacity to serve God in their own life mission. We plan to work at making our groups more functional as small groups, where members can share a common mission appropriate to the purpose of their own particular group. We want every group in our parish to be engaged in works of service that build up the body and draw us into a deeper unity with one another in Christ. When Christians pray and work together they will discover the blessings of a common life and be strengthened in their own individual walks with the Lord. We will be working with all groups at St. Thomas’ trying to help them discern what special works of service God is calling them to, so that together we can attain the whole measure of the fullness of Christ in this parish. We believe that then our people will experience themselves empowered by their common life and work in the church. We think this will go a long way towards dealing with our weakest characteristic from our last NCD Survey (June 2011): Holistic Small Groups. Make 2012 the year our parishioners share their faith lives in supportive groups, so that they experience one another as people who love, encourage and challenge them to grow in their life as disciples of Jesus Christ.
152
APPENDIX D
Evaluation of Small Group Gathering at St. Thomas’ Church Please do not write your name on this evaluation form. It is to remain anonymous.
Event:______
Date:______
Group:______
As a result of the time and effort you spent at this group (event, meeting, activity, or course) how true do you feel the following statements are? Please write one number only in the space after the statement and total the score at the end of bottom of page two. Thank you for your help. Not at All Slightly Moderately Quite True Very True
1 2 3 4 5
1. I felt my time was productively spent. ____ 2. I felt the material was useful to my spiritual growth. ____ 3. I have grown spiritually as a result of my time in the group. ____ 4. I achieved what I wanted to achieve. ____ 5. My time was respected and the group was well planned. ____ 6. I felt God`s presence during our time together. ____ 7. I was surprised by what God did during my time. ____ 8. I am glad I invested my time in this group. ____ 9. God feels more real to me. ____ 10. I think everyone would benefit from attending this group. ____ 11. I feel better able to accomplish my mission because of this group. ____ 12. I have a better idea what my mission work is because of this group. ____ 13. I feel I am now better able to bear fruit in my life. ____ 14. I have learned a lot. ____
153
15. I feel greater joy in being a Christian. ____ 16. I have a better understanding of how to see God`s hand in my life. ____ 17. I would be happy to be part of another such group. ____ 18. I have a better understanding of what `God`s presence means. ____ 19. I feel I know more about my faith because of this group. ____ 20. I feel closer to God as a result of this group. ____ 21. I feel more able to love my neighbor because of this group. ____ 22. This group makes me feel happy to be part of this church. ____ 23. I feel more like a disciple of Jesus than before I joined this group. ____ 24. I would be happy to invite friends to this group. ____ 25. I felt safe in this group. ____ 26. I felt Jesus’ nearness during our work together. ____ 27. I felt that my questions were addressed in the group. ____ 28. I feel more able to do what Jesus wants me to do. ____ 29. I felt that my hope has increased because of this group. ____ 30. I felt that this group has helped me put my faith into practice. ____ 31. I feel better able to love God with my mind. ____ 32. I feel better able to love God with my heart. ____ 33. I feel better able to love God with my strength. ____
Total: ______
Overall Satisfaction: ____ Head: ____ Hands: ____ Heart: ____
NCD relations of questions: Head, hands, heart; Green, red, blue; Father, Son, Spirit.
Three ways of learning: cognitive, behavioral, and affective.
Not at All: 33 Slightly: 66 Moderately: 99 Quite True: 132 Very True: 165
For each color of ministry (tabulated by template):
Not at All: 11 Slightly: 22 Moderately: 33 Quite True: 44 Very True: 55
154
APPENDIX E
Natural Church Development history at St. Thomas’ Church
Twelve years ago, St Thomas’ and their new rector John Paul Westin found themselves in a stressful situation as they began their ministry together. Looking back, John Paul believes “NCD set us on a positive path to begin to do things to change our situation and our congregation-al health.” The early Surveys allowed St Thomas’ to focus their energies on something positive: a strategic approach to dealing with their difficulties. That saved them from finger-pointing and opinions that are often well-intentioned but can be based on ignorance of a larger perspective or broader view of how a healthy church looks and lives.
St Thomas’ Anglican Church is a large, urban and busy parish in St John’s, Newfoundland. Let’s see how they went about applying the principles, using the tools, and learning from their experience.
GETTING STARTED When John Paul came to St Thomas’ he found that they were faced with a myriad of issues. “It felt as if every possible direction was filled with pitfalls. We needed an objective diagnostic tool to assist us in knowing what to tackle first, so that we would not waste precious time, energy and resources in the parish.” They conducted their first Survey five months later in June 2001.
St Thomas’ wisely sought the help of an NCD Coach who brought a positive and objective approach, was neutral, and continued helping them address their problems as revealed by the Survey. He provided a chance to work on their lowest Quality Characteristic, Need-oriented Evangelism (NOE), and bring greater health, while not trying to address specific personalities.
Their highest scoring Quality Characteristic was Inspiring Worship Service (IWS). This isn’t typical for a Canadian Anglican church, but then St Thomas’ isn’t an average Anglican church either: about 300 people attend three services, they experiment with worship-styles, their programming includes Alpha courses, marriage workshops, a prison ministry, and they are still recovering from the celebration of their 175th anniversary.
THE SECOND SURVEY Interestingly, the second Survey revealed new things: i) the overall Quality score had jumped from 36 to 61, a massive shift in just 18 months; ii) the Minimum Factor was no longer Need-oriented Evangelism (score jumped from 30 to 65); and iii) Inspiring Worship Service (IWS) was now their Minimum Factor (while the score in IWS had risen, it was the new Minimum). Gift-based Ministry was the new Maximum Factor and the strength they would need to leverage while they turned their attention to Inspiring Worship. John Paul thinks Inspiring Worship became the new Minimum Factor on the
155 second Survey, after having been the Maximum Factor, because it was a period of great change in the parish, including a change in much of the leadership.
Typical changes in Quality scores from first to second Surveys average seven points, but St Thomas’ experienced a jump of 25 points! John Paul says the large increase arose because they addressed some of the deficiencies, beginning with their lowest characteristic, but also realized that they needed to change in more areas than they had first expected. They tried to be consistent in addressing their lowest characteristic and it clearly had an effect on almost every area of parish life. “We could see the positive results of our work in the Survey, although it did not feel like we were much healthier”, John Paul says, “in fact, the church felt at times like it might explode with unhappiness in certain areas”.
Like many churches, they experienced a dip in their overall score after the fourth Survey, and also like many other churches, St Thomas’ realized that they had ‘picked most of the low-hanging fruit’. They had dealt with the obvious things related to their lowest characteristic after each Survey, and they needed to find out why they were having certain recurring problem areas. At the same time, they decided to move from two very different services that was resulting in two separate congregations, to one intentionally integrated and intergenerational service. “We felt it was an important move for us to make as we tried to become a more holistic parish community. The move upset a number of people, and this discontent was evident in the results of the next Survey after combining the worship services.” THE MIDDLE YEARS St Thomas’ found after several Surveys that they were able to focus more clearly on certain questions and developments as being particularly significant for their community. At first it was difficult to know what was important other than the lowest Quality Characteristic, but after several Surveys their eyes were looking for particular indicators of movement and change that signal growth. The whole process had helped develop greater discernment, patience and perseverance. John Paul is of the opinion that “NCD is a tool that transcends denominational and local differences between congregations. It is biblically faithful and clearly laid out so that the smallest and simplest congregation can use it. It can be used beneficially at various levels: with individuals, with groups, or with the entire congregation.”
Holistic Small Groups (HSG) has become a fairly stub-born, or “sticky”, Minimum Factor. John Paul thinks this is their natural lowest characteristic, “We are a predominantly green-red (thinking & doing) church and our difficulty has always been in building and sustaining nurturing and healthy relationships. It is the affective part of our faith that has always been the most difficult for us. Looking at our 175 year history, I would think this has probably always been true of our very active people.” The first time HSG appeared as their lowest characteristic, they addressed it as they had addressed the others. The second time, “we looked at some of the sticking points and tried to address
156 them more intentionally. It was still the lowest, but it was better than before.” This showed them that they had leveraged their stronger areas to address their weakest and it had worked. The new NCD Result Guides (NRGs) introduced and piloted at St Thomas’ in 2010 gave them a more detailed assessment and pointed out areas to address.
LOOKING BACK St Thomas’ application of the NCD growth principles over a number of years gave them a store of information and a history of growth and change to review and digest. They gradually came to see patterns in their way of life, both positive and negative. This ability to start seeing the sticking points empowered them to make changes that started transforming the course of its life. Now NCD is seen as the approach that they share as part of their parish values and strategic process. “NCD offers practical insight into solutions for becoming a healthier and more fruitful church.” Any church that wants to be more faithful, balanced and healthy in its communal life will benefit from using NCD, as long as they do not look at it as a quick fix.
Recently, St Thomas’ has begun using The 3 Colors of Community to address HSG. “This is “exactly the right book for us now because our leadership has become better acquainted with both the process and the thinking behind NCD, our own spiritual gifts and the whole three-color way of thinking and seeing ourselves, our parish and our work toward greater Trinitarian balance.” John Paul goes on, “Our Vestry has appreciated the connection between our own personal spiritual health and that of our small group of leaders, and thus the health of our parish.” They hope that The 3 Colors of Community can be used as a practical tool in opening their people to a way of introducing health- bearing change to their group life. St Thomas’ current struggle is to find a way to communicate the NCD principles in clear and non-threatening language, since they believe the principles themselves would be largely agreed upon by the majority of the people in most groups.
John Paul likens the use of NCD to having a good relationship with a capable family doctor – “it’s not enough to go and see your doctor once, or when you have a problem – you need to have annual check-ups and keep the doctor up-to-date on what is happening in your life so that he or she can monitor your health and make suggestions on how best to adapt your lifestyle so that you enjoy greater health, longer.”
As John Paul says, “NCD can bring a level of resilience and fruitfulness to congregational life that many congregations lack but yearn for. NCD can take us from yearning to experiencing that new abundant life Jesus said He came to give to His disciples”. – Bill Bickle www.ncdcanada.com 1-866-945-8741 [email protected]
157
APPENDIX F
Intentional Spiritual Formation Groups
Group: Alpha Makeup: Leadership team and invited guests (20-40 total). Material: The Alpha Course with meal. Duration: Weekly for 7 weeks (3 hr). Goal: To experience the Christian life as real, relational and abundant. In this group we seek to provide a safe, welcoming and open environment for people to hear and discuss the basic concepts of the Christian faith, so that they can relate it to their own lives and questions of faith. Eating together and discussing in small groups is pivotal to Alpha’s success.
Group: Contemplative Prayer Makeup: 8-10 members. Material: Richard Peace, Contemplative Bible Reading Duration: Weekly for eleven weeks, April-June. Goal: To experience the Bible as an invitation to converse with God. We read and do the exercises for the ten sessions of the book, giving members an experience of Lectio divina. We have found that most people prefer to use the book to introduce them to the method of prayer, as they are fearful of becoming distracted or lost without a structured guide (book and leader). This has been especially helpful for born and bred Anglicans who feel safe in structures.
Group: Lectio divina Makeup: Mixed group of 6-8, 50s-60s. Material: Revised Common Lectionary gospel texts for the coming Sunday. Meal. Duration: Bi-weekly during the school term (2 hr). Goal: To experience Scripture as an opportunity to life-giving conversational with God. This class is intended to provide individuals with a group of people and an atmosphere in which members can learn to listen to God and hear his Word speak to them. There is no book but the group follows the gospel reading for the coming Sunday according to the Revised Common Lectionary. Often those who come to the parish from non-Anglican backgrounds feel most comfortable in this setting.
Group: Faith Journey Makeup: Group of 6-8 mixed mostly seniors. Material: Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyan, The Rule of St. Benedict, Dakota: Spiritual Geography, and material by Kathleen Norris. Duration: Three 5 week parts over the year. Pt. 1: Feb-March, Pt. 2: April-May, Pt. 3: Fall (90 min). Goal: To experience your life as a pilgrimage with Jesus.
158
Our clergy leader leads the members of this small group through some classics of the Christian faith that view life as a pilgrimage. Members are encourage and equipped to begin to look at their lives in this way, leading them out of a feeling of mundane existence to one of expectant walking in the kingdom of God.
Groups: (1) Followers of Jesus and (2) The Young Group Makeup: (1) 4-8 mostly mixed retirees, and (2) 25-35 year old women. Material: Spiritual Disciplines Companion by Jan Johnson. Duration: (1) Weekly January-May and September-December (90 min) and (2) Bi- weekly on Sunday evenings (90 min). Goal: To experience the spiritual disciplines as a means to draw nearer to Christ. These two groups are using the exact same material with the same intention: to instruct and give opportunity for experiencing and reflecting upon the use of the spiritual disciplines in their own lives. This takes the disciplines out of the cognitive and into the behavioral and affective learning areas.
Group: Space for God Makeup: 6-12 mixed ages aspiring visual artists. Material: Led by local artist Gerald Vaandering. Duration: Six weeks March-April, repeated October-November (2 hr). Goal: To experience artistic creativity as a sharing in the life and delight of God. The instructor is adept and infectious at expressing his own enthusiasm for finding and loosing God’s inspiring and creative energy in the world, and helping students discover God’s creativity in their own (often hidden) creative spirits.
Group: Marriage Course Makeup: 5-10 mixed aged couples. Material: The Marriage Course (Alpha) with meal. Duration: Weekly for 7 weeks (3 hr). Goal: To see one’s spouse as beautiful gift and invitation to growth in life. Because family life is so foundational to healthy emotional and relational life, we provide assistance to couples so that they can strengthen their own marriage and, from there have a healthier relation to their own children, families, and other relationships in life. Like Alpha there is a common meal, a DVD presentation is watched together, and then couples work together, apart from other couples, from a workbook, with questions that can deepen and improve their communication and relationship.
Group: Meditative Prayer Makeup: 16 mixed ages Material: Meditative Prayer by Richard Peace. Duration: 9 weeks January-March, repeated September-December (90 min). Goal: To experience prayer as a normal and rewarding way to enter God’s presence. By doing this study book in a group we expose people to various forms of prayer and assist them in finding the form that is most natural to them, as well as challenging them
159 and equipping them to use other forms that can deepen and strengthen their own experience of prayer.
Group: Parenting Course and Parenting of Teens Course Makeup: 5-8 younger couples with children. Material: The Parenting Course, The Parenting Teenagers Course (Alpha) with meal. Duration: Weekly for 5 weeks (3 hr). Goal: To experience the gift of children as God’s trust to us as parents. These courses are intended to equip couples with tools to better love and guide their growing children. It is hoped that this will increase their awareness of and experience of how God can use us to nurture and grow one another, especially within the family.
Group: Reading (in public) with Understanding Makeup: 4-8 mixed ages, volunteers who want to read in worship. Material: The Bible, church building, and a desire to hear God speak. Duration: 2 week practical course repeated when interest arises (2 hr). Goal: To experience God’s written word spoken with power to you as the hearer/speaker. Those who have done this short course have felt empowered to both read and hear the Bible read aloud. The intention is to enable participants to become comfortable in the original relation of people to hearing God’s word read aloud, and to be able to cooperate with the Spirit in the way we read aloud in worship and even at home or in other settings.
160
APPENDIX G
Existing Missional Groups and their Foci
Group: Anglican Church Women (ACW) Make-up: 20-30 elderly ladies from the volunteering generation meeting bi-weekly. Missional Component: Serving the Lord in serving other people. How can our (Martha) working for others bear fruit in the growth of our own spiritual (Mary) life?
Group: Choir Make-up: 16-24 mixed ages adults meeting weekly for practice then Sunday worship. Missional Component: Leading God’s praises as a smaller body within the larger corporate setting. How does singing the Lord’s praises affect the way we care for and support one another here on earth, in this heavenly task we share together?
Groups: Cursillo Sharing Groups and Book Groups. Makeup: Several groups of 5-16 mostly senior female members meeting weekly. Missional Component: Helping one another to see their own lives differently through other’s faith-filled insights. How do we move from caring about our intellectual and spiritual growth to caring about how others can grow with us?
Group: Escasoni & Glenbrook Seniors Homes Volunteers and St. Luke’s Tea Servers Make-up: 5-8 elderly volunteers in each group helping monthly in seniors’ homes. Missional Component: Helping to show the elderly that they are loved and valued. How can we learn to value those whom society does not greatly value, and how can we help them to continue to abide in Christ when there does not appear much they can do?
Group: Finance Make-up: 8-10 mixed ages adults responsible for overseeing the parish budget. Missional Component: Being good stewards of our financial resources so that our mission work can be done. How can we learn to receive God’s generous gifts so that we are freed to be more generous in the way we disperse them for kingdom purposes? How can we move from a worldly management perspective to a kingdom stewards’ perspective when dealing with church finances?
Group: Intercessors Makeup: 6-12 mixed ages responsible for praying for parish and special needs. Missional Component: Co-operating with the Holy Spirit in guiding our parish to work faithfully and powerfully through listening prayer and trust in God. How does God speak to us so that we know how to ask Him for the things God wants to give us? What does effective prayer feel and look like? How can we pray faithfully when the feelings aren’t always leading us?
161
Group: Men’s Service Club Make-up: mostly elderly (retired) men socializing bi-weekly and doing some projects. Missional Component: Men working together to support the Lord’s Church. How can men develop intimacy with God and one another in a genuinely male way? How can work be part of our relationship with God?
Group: Outreach Make-up: mixed, mostly older adults meeting monthly but with weekly mission commitments. Missional Component: Reaching out into the community through various projects to bring the love of God into the world around us. How can our mission work increase our love for God and those we work for? How can we abide in Christ when we so often feel stretched beyond our resources in meeting people’s needs? How can we be enduring beacons when the resources are constantly threatening to run out?
Group: Property Make-up: mostly older men with an interest in maintaining parish buildings. Missional Component: Stewarding our strategically placed and beautiful, physical buildings so that the spiritual temple of Christ’s Body can be freer to do its business. How do we move from a defensive, care-taker, mentality in relation to our use of buildings, to a vision and mission driven relation. How can our buildings be filled with kingdom life and purpose not only on Sundays but every day of the week?
Group: Sanctuary Unit Make-up: mostly elderly women meeting monthly (4 groups) to prepare the sanctuary and chancel area especially for worship. Missional Component: Like the women at the grave, to show devotion to the Lord by preparing the church to welcome Him when He comes to the Church in worship. How can caring for church furnishings draw us closer to the Lord who we want to love and serve?
Group: St. Stephen’s Ministry Make-up: Parishioners who visit and take communion in to shut-ins. Missional Component: Being Christ’s hands and feet to be and bring signs of God’s love to those who cannot come to church. How can our hearts and bodies be used as vessels of the Holy Spirit? How can being used by God be an enlivening experience and not leave us feeling ‘used’ by the Church?
Group: Vestry Make-up: Elected and appointed parishioners who have been vested with authority and responsibility to make decisions regarding the spiritual and temporal well-being of St. Thomas’ Church (meeting monthly, with two annual retreats). Missional Component: To model, plan for and lead the congregation in living out our
162
How can we abide in Christ as a group, keeping the vision and mission of the church hot in our hearts? How can we persevere in the face of opposition and obstacles while experiencing God’s guidance as a body of believers? How can we be sure where we are going? How can we plan to grow naturally and remain open to God’s plans?
Group: Worship Make-up: 6-10 parishioners of mixed ages and backgrounds who assist clergy to plan and evaluate corporate worship (meet quarterly). Missional Component: Seeing the groups and individuals in our parish and helping them to come together to meet and participate as one family in the worship of God. How can we both represent and lead the congregation in planning worship? How can we be open to what God wants when so much of what we want in worship is about taste? How can worship be structured and make room for the movement of God’s Spirit?
163
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abraham, William J. The Logic of Renewal. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2003.
Allen, Diogenes. Spiritual Theology: The Theology of Yesterday for Spiritual Help Today. Boston: Cowley Publications, 1997. Ammerman, Nancy T. ed. Studying Congregations: A New Handbook. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1998. Anderson, Ray S. The Soul of Ministry: Forming Leaders for God’s People. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1997. Augsburger, David. Dissident Discipleship: A Spirituality of Self-Surrender, Love of God and Love of Neighbor. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2006. Beaudoin, Tom. Virtual Faith: The Irreverent Spiritual Quest of Generation X. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1998. Bibby, Reginald. Beyond the Gods & Back: Religion’s Demise and Rise and why it Matters. Lethbridge, AB: Project Canada Books, 2011. ______. A New Era: The Resilience and Restructuring of Religion in Canada. Lethbridge, AB: Project Canada Books, 2012.
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Christian Community. New York: Harper Collins, 1954.
Bright, John. The Kingdom of God: The Biblical Concept and its Meaning for the Church. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1953. Buford, Bob. Finishing Well: What People who really do Live do Differently! Nashville: Thomas Nelson Inc., 2004 Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion: Volume One. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1979.
______. Institutes of the Christian Religion: Volume Two. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1979.
Carson, D.A. ed., Worship by the Book. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002. Cloud, Henry, and John Townsend. Boundaries: When to Say Yes, When to Say No, To Take Control of Your Life. Grand Rapids: Zondervans, 1992.
164
Cheeseman, John. St. Thomas’ Anglican Church: An Enduring Beacon since 1836, The Last Half Century. St. John’s, NL: St. Thomas’ Church 175th Anniversary Committee, 2011. Coleman, Lyman, Editor-in-Chief. Serendipity Bible for Groups. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998. Cray, Graham. The Mission Shaped Church. London: Church House Publishing, 2004. Creps, Earl. Off-Road Disciplines: Spiritual Adventures of Missional Leaders. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2006.
De Sales, Francis. Introduction to the Devout Life. Garden City, NJ: Image Books, 1972.
Eliot, T.S. Selected Poems. London: Faber and Faber Limited, 1954.
Foster, Richard J. Streams of Living Waters: Celebrating the Great Traditions of Christian Faith. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1998.
______. Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth. San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1978.
General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada 1962. Book of Common Prayer. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1962.
General Synod of the Anglican Church of Canada 1985. Book of Alternative Services. Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 1985.
Grant, George P. Lament for a Nation: The Defeat of Canadian Nationalism (40th Anniversary Edition). Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2005.
Guder, Darrell L. ed. Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998.
Halter, Hugh and Matt Smay. The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2008.
Hart, Archibald D. Thrilled to Death: How the Endless Pursuit of Pleasure is Leaving Us Numb. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2007.
______. The Anxiety Cure: You can Find Emotional Tranquility and Wholeness. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2000.
165
______. Me myself and I: How Far Should we go in Our Search for Fulfillment? Ann Arbor: Vine Books, 1992.
Hirsch, Alan. The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church. Grand Rapids: Bravos Press, 2006.
Holy Bible, New International Version. Grand Rapids: Zondervans, 1973.
Hooker, Richard. Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity in Two Volumes: Volume One (Books I-IV). London: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd, 1958.
______. Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity in Two Volumes: Volume Two (Book V). London: J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd, 1960.
Johnson, Jan. Spiritual Disciplines Companion: Bible Studies and Practices to Transform Your Soul. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2009.
Johnstone, Adam and NCD International. Natural Church Development Report Guides. Generated for St. Thomas’ Church, St. John’s, NL. Profile 10: June 2013, Profile 9: June 2012, Profile 8: June 2011, Profile 7: May 2010.
Kempis, Thomas á. The Imitation of Christ. Westwood, NJ: The Christian Library, 1984.
Kotter, John P. The Heart of Change: Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations. Boston: The Harvard Business School, 2002. Kärkkäinen, Veli-Matti. An Introduction to Ecclesiology: Ecumenical, Historical and Global Perspectives. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2002. Law, William. A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life. New York: Paulist Press, 1978.
Lawrence, Brother. The Practice of the Presence of God, with Spiritual Maxims. Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group, 2009.
Lawrenz, Mel. Whole Church: Leading from Fragmentation to Engagement. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2009.
Lee, Cameron, and Jack Balswick. Life in a Glass House: The Minister’s Family and the Local Congregation. Pasadena: Fuller Seminary Press, 2006.
LeMessurier, H.W. The Church of Saint Thomas’ and its Rectors: 1836-1928. St. John’s, NL: Trade Printers and Publishers, 1928.
166
Lencioni, Patrick. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002.
Loyola, Ignatius. The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola. Tr. Thomas Corbishley, S.J. Wheathampstead, UK: Anthony Clarke Books, 1963.
Maas, Robin & Gabriel O’Donnell. Spiritual Traditions for the Contemporary Church. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1990. MacDonald, Gordon. A Resilient Life: You Can Move Ahead no Matter What. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2004.
Major, Kevin. As Near to Heaven by Sea: A History of Newfoundland and Labrador. Toronto: The Penguin Group, 2002.
McNeal, Reggie. Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2009.
______. Practicing Greatness: 7 Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2006.
______. The Present Future: Six Tough Questions for the Church. San Francisco: Jossey- Bass, 2003.
______. A Work of Heart: Understanding How God Shapes Spiritual Leaders. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2000.
Meisel, Anthony C. and M.L. del Mastro. The Rule of St. Benedict. Garden City, NJ: Image Books, 1975.
Muggeridge, Malcolm. The End of Christendom. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1980. Murphy, Debra Dean. Teaching that Transforms: Worship as the Heart of Christian Education. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2004. Newbigin, Lesslie. Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1986. Nouwen, Henri J.M. Creative Ministry. New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1971.
______. The Way of the Heart: Desert Spirituality and Contemporary Ministry. Minneapolis: The Seabury Press, 1981.
167
______. In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership. New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1989.
Palmer, Parker J. The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher’s Life. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2007.
______. A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004. Peace, Richard. Noticing God: In Mystical Encounters, in the Ordinary, in the Still Small Voice, in Community, in Creation, and More. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2012. ______. Conversion in the New Testament: Paul and the Twelve. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999. ______. Contemplative Bible Reading: Experiencing God through Scripture. Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1998. ______. Meditative Prayer: Entering God’s Presence. Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1998. ______. Spiritual Journaling: Recording your Journey Toward God. Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1998. Peterson, Eugene. The Pastor: A Memoir. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2011. ______. Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places: A Conversation in Spiritual Theology. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005. ______. A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society, Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000. ______. Under the Unpredictable Plant: An Exploration in Vocational Holiness, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992. Pue, Carson. Mentoring Leaders: Wisdom for Developing Character, Calling, and Competency. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2005. Quinn, Robert E. Building the Bridge as You Walk on It: A Guide for Leading Change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2004. Rendell, P.B. and E.E. Knight. 1836-1961: History of St. Thomas’ Church. St. John’s, NL: St. Thomas’ Church 125th Anniversary Committee, 1961. Rose, George A. Cod: The Ecological History of the North Atlantic Fisheries. St. John’s, NL: Breakwater Books, 2007.
168
Roxburgh, Alan J., and Fred Romanuk. The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2006. Schwarz, Christian A. The 3 Colors of Leadership: How Anyone can Learn the Art of Empowering Other People. Port Hope, ON: FORDelm Inc., 2012. ______. The 3 Colors of Community: How the 7 Communal Qualities of Healthy Small Groups can Help You Overcome the 7 Deadly Sins. Port Hope, ON: FORDelm Inc., 2012. ______. The 3 Colors of Your Spirituality: How do You Most Naturally Connect with God? St. Charles, IL: Church Smart Resources, 2009.
______. The 3 Colors of Love: The Art of Giving and Receiving Justice, Truth, and Grace. St. Charles, IL: Church Smart Resources, 2009.
______. Color Your World with Natural Church Development: Experiencing All that God Has Designed You to Be. Kelowna, BC: The Leadership Centre Willow Creek Canada, 2005. ______. Paradigm Shift in the Church: How Natural Church Development Can Transform Theological Thinking. St. Charles, IL: Church Smart Resources, 1999. Smith, James Bryan. The Good and Beautiful Community: Following the Spirit, Extending Grace, Demonstrating Love. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2010. ______. The Good and Beautiful Life: Putting on the Character of Christ. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2009. ______. The Good and Beautiful God: Falling in Love with the God Jesus Knows. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2009. Spencer, Nick. Parochial Vision: The Future of the English Parish. Waynesboro, GA: Paternoster Press, 2004. Stiller, Karen and Willard Metzger. Going Missional: Conversations with 13 Canadian Churches who have Embraced Missional Life. Winnipeg, MB: Word Alive Press, 2010. Taylor, Jeremy. The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1970.
Thibodeaux, Mark, S. J. Armchair Mystic: Easing Into Contemplative Prayer. Cincinnati: St. Anthony Messenger Press, 2001.
169
Thornton, Martin. The Heart of the Parish: A Theology of the Remnant. Cambridge, MA: Cowley Publications, 1989. ______. English Spirituality: An Outline of Ascetical Theology According to the English Pastoral Tradition. London: S.P.C.K., 1963. Tickle, Phyllis. The Great Emergence: How Christianity is Changing and Why. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2008.
Wesley, John. A Plain Account of Christian Perfection: The Works of John Wesley, Vol. 11, pp. 366-446). Ed. Thomas Jackson, CD-ROM edition. Franklin, TN: Providence House, 1994. Downloaded from the internet.
Wilhoit, James. Spiritual Formation as if the Church Mattered. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008. Willard, Dallas. Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ. Colorado Springs: NavPress, 2002. ______. Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999. ______. The Divine Conspiracy: Discovering Our Hidden Life in God. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1998.
______. The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1988.
Wuthnow, Robert. After the Baby Boomers: How Twenty and Thirty-Somethings are Shaping the Future of American Religion Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007.
170