Volume #1 Issue 3

CHRISTIAN CHURCH (DISCIPLES OF CHRIST)

Western Christian Fellowship News

Fall 2011

Fall Meeting in Ponoka November 5

All leaders from the churches of the Western region are invited to attend our annual meeting. This year for the first time it will be held in Ponoka, hosted by the satellite congregation of Parkland Christian which is called Christ Church of Ponoka.

We are meeting in Ponoka so all our leaders can experience the ‘new thing’ which God is doing here in Central Alberta. Since March the satellite congregation has been meeting Saturday mornings in the Ponoka Alliance Church building. Their leading elder is Ramil Ayuno who brings 10 years experience as a Parkland elder to his new role. Parkland’s pastor Charlie Ayuno is their regular preacher. All who come to the fall meeting are asked to join in their regular worship and experience first hand this lively and growing congregation. Perhaps this is a model of church growth others will want to consider.

In the afternoon we will have a presentation by Rick Hamilton our new interim Regional Minister for Canada. This is our first opportunity to visit with Rick and benefit from his years of experience in regional as well as pastoral ministry.

Since this is our Areas Annual meeting we will also elect our leaders and approve an annual budget. There will be time for sharing concerns and visions and praying for Gods leading.

The meeting is at the Ponoka Alliance Church Building at 4215- 46 Street (East side of town) from 9:30 to 4:00. For more information contact Stuart Fraser, Area Minister at 403-314-0266 or stufrasr@telus.net.

New Faces Amongst Us

Daniel Taylor became the new minister of First Christian Church in Edmonton on October 1st. is a graduate of Briercrest Bible College in Saskatchewan. For the past 5 years he has been part-time church planter with the Western Canadian
Baptists in Edmonton. He has also been working as a social worker with families in crisis. Daniel is married to his wife Teddi and they have 3 young children, daughter Zoe, son Simon and son Issac. They are a busy family as Teddi works part-time outside the home at Kings University College.

An installation service is planned for Sunday, October 16th at 11:00 am to which all members of the Western Christian Fellowship are invited.

Rick Hamilton became our new Interim Regional Minister for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Canada in August. He is a graduate of Texas Christian University in Business Administration and has a masters of Divinity from Brite Divinity School. He has served congregations in Texas and Arkansas, and been a member of Regional staff in both the South West and Great River Regions of our Church. Recently Rick has launched a new online ministry called ‘the Jubilee Fund’ which is seeking ways to get and keep Disciples Ministers out of debt.

Rick is married to Sara and they have two school aged sons, Robert and Ryan, plus 2 dogs. The family lives in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin from which Rick plans to communicate electronically with us all. He is also planning to spend 5 days a month, physically present in different parts of Canada.

Amongst the Churches

McKernan Christian is developing  ’The Reaching Out Project’ as part of their effort to revitalize their ministry. They are reviewing their past and current ministry and developing plans for a ‘changed’ ministry going forward. The elders are leading with a call to “Reach Out’ in ways we never have before, and with energy we never knew that we had.” They are clear that change can and must happen.

Parkland Christian has been pleased to see Scott Jansen complete his internship and receive a call to serve as pastor of Great Bend Church of Christ near Delburne as of the first of August.

The satellite congregation in Ponoka continues to thrive. They started a basketball league for men and a volleyball league for women, which drew a good response from the community. The satellite congregation in Wetaskiwin, as of October 1st, has an agreement for the ongoing use of Calvary Baptist Church every Sunday from 4-6 p.m. Pastor Charlie regularly preaches at all three locations and is currently conducting leadership training sessions Saturday evenings in Wetaskiwin.  Parkland in Red Deer had 3 baptisms this summer.

Westlock Community Church of Christ covets your prayers as they look for the appropriate meeting place come the end of 2012.

First Christian Church is very excited as they welcome their new pastor and his family this October. The calling of Dan Taylor prayerfully marks the beginning of a new and fruitful era for the congregation.

Cambell-Stone United pastor Danah Cox has taken a disciple history and polity course. He is increasingly being asked to provide ministry to grieving families in the community and conduct funerals.

Broadway Disciples has launched a new course on Christian basics this fall entitled “Who Is Jesus?,” “The Holy Spirit?,” “The Bible,” “Ecumenism,” “Communion,” Baptism”, “Sacrament”, ”Singing in Church”, “Inclusion”, “Social Justice”, and Introductions to the two denominations to which the congregation relates. The course was developed while Ray Cuthbert was on his three weeks of study leave this summer.

Attendance continues to be good at worship, and our new Praise Band Leaders are doing well on a voluntary basis since Jim Ronquillo decided that he needed a break and took an indefinite leave of absence as one of the congregations three Music Directors.

Regina Avenue Christian Church continues to meet Sunday afternoons.

Amongst Us:

Mabel Rehn, a charter member of Parkland Christian in Red Deer went home to heaven in August at the age of 91. More than 125 family and friends attended her memorial service and rightly celebrated her life and Christian witness. Vic continues to live at Sunset Manor, 3312-52 Ave., Innisfail, AB T4G OC3.

Betty Ann Howard died in August at the age of 65 after years of failing health. Over her lifetime she was a member of McKernon (Edmonton) Parkland (Red Deer) and Bow Valley in Calgary.

Howard Wakelin died September 20th after a long lifetime of ministry in Canada and the U.S. amongst Christian Churches (Disciples of Christ).

Awit Marcelino has volunteered to attend the World Council of Churches meeting on North American Poverty, Wealth and Ecology in Calgary in November.

McMaster Community Church in Hamilton a University based congregation, has ceased operating as pastor Jae Rhee has moved.

Dates To Note:

October 13 - Pastors meeting at First Christian, Edmonton.

November 5 – Western Canada Fellowship annual meeting for all church leaders 10-4 in Ponoka, 4215-46 Street.

August 9-12, 2012 Biennial Convention of Christian Church Disciples in Canada in Edmonton.

Stuart Fraser· Area Minister Phone: 403·314·0266 4320·53 St. eres. Red Deer, AB T 4N 2E2 E·mail: stufrasr@telus.net

One more church has been added to the map and list of Christian Churches/Churches of Christ/Disciples of Christ in Canada. The newest church to be added to this map is All People’s Church in Stratford, PEI. Take a look at this church on the map. Be sure to check out their blog.

Also, take a look at your region of the map and see if your church and churches that you know are listed on this map. Send Keith (shields4880@shaw.ca) an email with any corrections or additions.

Keith Shields

Marcus Bigelow (President of Stadia New Church Strategies) and Bobby Harrington (Director of Research, Development, and Missional Leadership with Stadia; Lead Pastor of Harpeth Community Church, Franklin, TN; former Lead Pastor at Calgary Church of Christ, Calgary, AB) have written a book together. It is called Together: Networks and Church Planting. The book was revealed at the Exponential Conference in Orlando Florida April 23-26, 2011.

The book is published by Stadia and can be purchased at Amazon.ca. This book will be of particular interest to church leaders who wish to see churches networking together for church planting. Stadia is truly one of the leaders in church planting in the United States. Their annual church planting conference, Exponential (originally the New Churches conference which was begun as a conference for Christian Churches in the US but now has a much bigger audience), regularly draws three to four thousand people from all denominational and non-denominational affiliations.  Stadia has been successful in planting churches by providing some of the assessment, training, coaching, and administrative assistance to planters while helping congregations network together to provide funding and management teams to oversee church planting in the United States and beyond.

The book starts with a section on why it is important that churches continue to network together to plant churches and breaks down the many objections to church planting. Bobby gives an example of how his church in Tennessee made church planting such a priority that they made the hard decision to lay off staff rather than go back on their commitments to a church planting network. Part one offers a call to networking and why it is vital at this point in the history of the church to plant more churches. It makes the case that networks of church planting churches are the way that we must plant more churches together. Chapter 3 describes the difference between Centralized (Denominational) models of working together and Decentralized (Networks) models for cooperative effort. They show examples of Stadia networks and other networks such as NewThing network, Exponential Network, Church Multiplication Associates Network, and The San Diego Church Planting Alliance.

Chapter 4 talks about the importance of apostolic leaders and coaches. They do so using definitions found in The Forgotten Ways by Alan Hirsch. The authors give us examples of several types of local and national, micro and macro apostolic leaders. They also have a chapter which wrestles with idealogical, theological, and doctrinal distinctives. They use such terms as DNA, mission, strategy, vision, values, tribe, denomination, and fellowships as they ask questions about what is important when networking together. Chapter 6 deals with resources and how funding happens. They mention personal coaching and particularly the resources developed by Bob Logan at Logan Leadership. The book suggests that “Networks are transforming the way church leaders associate, plant churches and participate in denominations.” (p. 117)

Chapter 9 is a nice history of the Stadia Network and their “seven best practices.” This should be required reading for those who want to understand church planting in the contemporary context. Chapters 10 through 13 are extremely practical chapters focussed on the Stadia Network Process, the coaching of networks, insights on starting micro or local networks of churches, and an hour by hour description of the 24 Hour Leader Gathering.

Much of what is written in this book comes from examples of larger populations of Christian Churches. Yet, the principles laid out are helpful and adaptable to other settings. As the Restoration Movement seeks to work together in Canada we would do well to read this book and see what lessons we might learn for our own context. How might we as leaders in Canada and perhaps particularly in Western Canada network our churches together for synergistic mission? Together we will!

Reviewed by Keith Shields