God is working all across Canada!

This should come as no surprise, yet it is refreshing and encouraging to meet the people and hear the stories of just how the Spirit of God is moving. In the middle of May I had the pleasure of being part of the Multiply conference, hosted by the C2C Network, which brought ministry leaders together from Vancouver to Montréal and everywhere in between. For two days we discussed the ways in which we are approaching church multiplication and shared stories of how God is working through such a variety of people and efforts to build his church and kingdom in our day.

Let me share two take-aways from our time together in Toronto. First, I was so glad to meet brothers and sisters from across Canada who are committed to the same God and the same mission that we are committed to in Montréal. It's easy to think sometimes that there aren't that many of us who are in this gospel enterprise, so I'd like to share links to the works of some of those I met so that you can be more aware and be praying for these works as well. Check out what God's doing for the most vulnerable in Kelowna, BC, how neighbourhood parishes are posturing themselves to bring renewal to downtown Vancouver, and see how another church plant is growing out of missional communities in the West End of Vancouver similarly to how we are in Montréal.

Not only did I get to meet a bunch of new ministers of the gospel at the conference but I was reminded of something that God did in my life eighteen years ago. Under-girding the powerful stories of God at work was the idea that what we need more than strategies, more than models, more than anything, is for God to show up - that it's more important for us to pray and walk in faith that he is going before us. When I was in college I worked through Henry Blackaby and Claude King's Experiencing God workbook. If you're familiar with it, you know that it is filled with amazing stories of how God worked time and again in response to the faithful prayers of his people in Canada.

Today, we are asking God to move in similarly amazing ways. We want to see him work in our homes, in our neighbourhoods, in our cities, and in our countries. Please pray with me for my family, for our LaSalle neighbourhood, for Montréal, for the province of Québec, and for all of Canada!

In Toronto, I spoke about how missional communities are key to making disciples and developing leaders in the church. Download the talk here (25 min) and if you're interested in learning more, please don't hesitate to contact me.

How well are you Equipped?

It may not come as a surprise to you that training is important to us in what we do here in Montréal. After all, most of everything that I do in my work and on mission has to do with training others, either in how to follow Jesus, how to help others follow Jesus, or how to lead people who are following Jesus, etc. We believe that training and equipping are essential and invaluable in order for any of us to do what it is that we do well.

That said, I think it is worth taking a few moments out to think about training in general and to evaluate whether you are adequately trained for the tasks that you tackle throughout the week. You may be a leader within your church, a teacher, a musician, or you may serve in some other capacity. You be looking for ways to become more gospel-centric in your counsel to others, more practical in your teaching, more effective in your communication, and more compassionate as you actively serve people in your community. If you don't find that you are well equipped and confident, I'd encourage you to pursue training. The work that you do is too important not to be prepared to do it well. 

I would also like to highlight three areas in which Shari and I are currently receiving training so that we will be better equipped to lead people. We're very thankful for the intensity with which our church approaches its mission and that this is reflected in the amount of resources and energy that go into equipping our leaders.

City Group Leaders
Next week we will finish up the final session of our new city group leader training which has focused on how to pastor people in community and lead them into mission around the gospel. This training is not only extremely beneficial in its theoretical aspects, but it is imminently practical as we are in the process of beginning a new city group in our neighborhood in LaSalle. We will share more about this in the weeks ahead as it develops.

Premarital Counseling
Sixteen years ago today, I asked Shari to marry me. Shortly after that we began premarital counseling. Sixteen years later I can still say that every minute of that training and mentoring was worth it, and we probably could have used even more. Now it is our turn to invest in young couples who are preparing for their marriages. We have received the "classroom" portion of that training already and are awaiting the live counseling session part. The training is so good in helping to frame marriage around the gospel that I anticipate huge dividends not only for the pre-marrieds that we counsel but also for those who are already married and for our relationship too!

Elder Process
Though Shari is not going through this training, she certainly plays a huge part in my qualification and capacity to take on this responsibility. After serving in my current role in the church for a little over six months we were asked to begin working through the elder process. This is a very deliberate series of tasks and evaluations designed to function alongside the normal life of serving and leading within the church to prepare men to lead the church. As Paul wrote to Timothy so many years ago, it is an honor to be able to serve the church in this way and I am equally thankful for the training I am receiving so that I will be able to serve the church well.

As you reflect on your own training experiences and needs, will you please take some time to pray for us in ours? We desire to make the biggest contribution we can to the work that God is doing through his church and we want to learn and grow so that we are able to play the part well. If you would like any ideas or help with respect to what type of training to pursue when it comes to gospel, community, or mission, please don't hesitate to ask!

Understanding your Community

How well do you know your community?

What do people do, what do they like to do, what do they have to do that they wish they didn't? What kinds of work do people do? What do they work for - money, success, survival, the weekend?

Where do people go when they aren't working? What do they do for play? What do they watch? Where do they spend their extra money?

Who lives where? Where do people live who don't have much? What kinds of opportunities are available for them? What are the main factors that make life difficult for them?

Understanding your community and the people who make it up is foundational to being on mission. The church is designed by God to be on mission, it's part of our identity. The mission is people, that's who God is after. He wants them to be part of his family. So we pursue people that we might invite them into our family, God's family.

To pursue people means to be able to engage them, to build relationships with them, to get close enough that you can love them and serve them. This is where it gets tough for so many of us who want to be on mission but don't know where to start. We tend to not talk with people because we don't understand them.

Here are a some ideas that may help you start to understand others better and which will ultimately enable you to build relationships through which you can become a better friend and neighbor.

• Ask God to help you love people the way that he loves people. 
• Read through a local paper or two from cover to cover regularly.
• Vary your routine a bit, shop new places, try new things.
• Practice talking to people you don't know about things you don't know much about. 
• Volunteer. Serve your community by yourself, with your family, or with friends. 
• Make a new friend and try to be the best friend you can be to them. 
• Take someone you've just met out for a coffee or invite them to dinner with your family.
• Recruit friends to be more intentional with you, challenge each other in this area. 
• Work through The Gospel Primer by Caesar Kalinowski or The Tangible Kingdom Primer by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay. You may be amazed at how much you grow!

Daniel and Samuel skating for the second time, playing with a new friend at the park near our house.

Why Invest in Extend?

Our Financial Reality

Many of you have been wondering where we stand financially, so here is a quick look. We really appreciate your prayer and investment in this mission.

1. At this point in time I am only able to lead the Extend church planting residency with financial support from the church outside of Québec. While we are working toward a more economically sustainable solution in the long run, it will be several years until that is in place.

2. We moved to Montréal in August and began working intensely on the curriculum for Extend so we could train men sooner and begin planting churches even faster. Ideally for us, I would have raised all of our funds prior to moving, but we believed that God would provide what we needed to get us started and he has. 

3. In order to meet our budget we need an additional $2900 per month. That's 5 commitments of $200/month, 10 at $100/month, and 18 at $50/month.

4. The faster we can raise the finances, the more time and energy I can pour into improving my French and developing more training material. There are so many opportunties I will be able to take advantage of every week once I'm able to speak the language better.

Will you pray and ask God how he could use you to help meet this need?

We will continue to contact friends as fast as we are able in order to find out how God is leading through this, but it will be a great encouragement to us if you contact us first.

Some other tangible ways to get involved include giving a year-end gift to help cover costs until our monthly income is at 100% and asking your friends specifically if they would consider investing in this mission with us. If it is important to you it may very well be of interest to them.

Night view outside our office on Rue Notre Dame Ouest

December News

We are excited to announce that the Extend church planting residency now has an official curriculum in place. While Michael actually began working with the guys in September, much of his time has gone into developing the curriculum that they will use for the remainder of their formal training.  He's now finished the Residency Guide which lays out all the philosophy and coursework for the church planter training. You can access it here if you'd like to take a look and learn more about what we're training guys to do.

In other news...we are going to try a new approach to sharing updates about our family and mission. We will be posting shorter updates more regularly on the website and/or the Extend the Gospel facebook page instead of the traditional newsletter. These updates will be sent out via the mailchimp application to all those who have already been receiving our newsletters. If you'd like to be added to this list please send us an email at extendthegospel@gmail.com.

As you look through the Extend guide please take a moment to give thanks with us for all those who are giving financially to make this training possible. It's amazing to be part of what God's doing here in Québec!

October 2014 Newsletter

Fall has kicked into high gear, we're over a month into the school year, and there are no signs that life will slow down anytime soon. Take a look at some of what God is doing in our family, our church, and the Extend ministry in our October newsletter.