Week #17 - Phase 2

Week #17 - Phase 2

Last week Deb and I returned from a trip to the New Wineskins 2016 Missionary Conference.  This triennial event is designed to encourage and promote world missions and featured mostly Anglican Mission agencies.  I am in the process of joining a Mission Society called NAMS which stands for “New Anglican Mission Society”.   It is an order of  Church Planters, both here and abroad, that have committed themselves to planting disciple-making multiplying churches.  

Jon Shuler, the “Servant General” of the NAMS, he is like the abbot who has been recruiting, training and coaching church planters for many years.  In 1994 he founded NAMS and launched it as a ministry to help plant new churches in North America.  NAMS was publicly introduced to the church at the first Wineskins Conference that year. Jon then helped me in 2005 as a coach when I first started New Wine in Flint after I attended one of his NAMS bootcamps for church planters.  I sat under his counsel and leadership for 2 years until we formed a new AMIA network in the upper Midwest.  In recent years NAMS has taken on a global vision and formed an order or society of church planters much like the societies of Franciscans in the Roman tradition or Society of St Luke, a healing ministry order, in the Anglican church.  I am feeling very drawn to become a “Companion” in this order.   This would be an intentional and public commitment  to spend the remainder of my ministry years supporting, mentoring and praying for those who are starting new works throughout the Anglican Church and specifically in the ACNA.   I see it as very appropriate that I might enter this second order fellowship at a time where the Lord seems to be opening the door for Deb and I to embark on one more church planting effort.  

On the return trip from New Wineskins we spent several days in Indianapolis continuing to help All Souls Anglican Fellowship develop a plan to call a church planter on the northwestern side of Indy, as well as help build a network of like-minded Anglicans who can develop Word & Sacrament congregations around Indiana’s largest city.   

We now are entering Phase 2 of the project, the fund raising phase. If enough pledged funds can be raised for a 2 to 3 year start up phase, Deb and I can see ourselves serving in this new position.   My years of ministry in the Anglican Communion as a lay youth pastor and ordained clergy has prepared me for this Network/Church planter role we envision in our vision document published earlier in the Blog.  With this experience and because of my passion for small group ministry and leadership development  I feel well prepared to help create and grow a Cell-Celebration  or Relationship based missional community on the Northwest side of town.

We have set a fund raising goal of $80,000 annually for the first 2 years of start up.  The initial core group from ALL Soul’s will pledge the foundation funding.  We will then be inviting several people who have expressed interest in supporting the development of a new work to one of several vision casting dinner meetings asking them to commit to this new Church start up enterprise.  We hope to hold these meetings in May and early June.  We are compiling this list at this time and invite all to recommend contacts who might join us.  Next we will explore funding through a wider ring of support within the region and diocese of the Great Lakes.  For example, just last week I heard of a special grant program from one of our churches in Lexington, KY that Indy Network would be eligible for in January of 2017.  

Sensing that the Lord wants Deb and I to be ready to move when the time comes, we are putting our home of 11 years up for sale this week.  We are asking that it sells for a fair price and at the right time.  

Please remember us in prayer and if you want to know more about this project please call (810) 964-0432.