I wanted to take a quick moment to catch everyone up concerning what is going on in our work in initiating a new downtown Vancouver church movement.

As of January 16th we will be done with our work on the east side of Vancouver with the Renovatus Church. We have been incredibly blessed by being able to be a part of starting this new church. Over the last six years we have learned much, and hopefully…hopefully, made a difference in this faith community.

The last three years have been interesting as we have been in a time of discernment concerning what was next. For quite some time we have known that we would be planting a church in downtown Vancouver, but the when and how questions have been much more elusive. It is exciting to say that things have begun to clarify a bit.

Starting in January (after the 16th) we will be embarking on this new adventure full time. Here, bullet point style, are some markers of what will be emerging first in this work:

• Our first task is to gather a core community. This core community will be partners who live in the downtown neighborhoods and who are willing to die to themselves and creatively pursue what it looks like to live for their neighbor.
• As of November 2010 we have been living in a community house right off of Main st. Five adults, our two kids, a dog, and a cat all reside in a six bedroom house. From day one the house has been filled with neighbors, friends, and family. One of our initial goals is to continue to figure out what it looks like to make enough space in our lives for this community house to exist with and for our neighbors.
• It is necessary for us to further determine our funding model. How does one start a reproducible and missional Christ centered movement of community that is sustainable long term? We not only need to identify what our long term answer to this dilemma is, but also figure out how to pay bills in the short term. We are, however, committed to creativity and innovation in this process.
• Discernment. Our next stage is one that is committed to listening, to discernment, and to responsive activity. Creating space for listening to and partnering with our neighbors his huge. We will share more later concerning what activity emerges from this!

I could share so much more, and I’ve probably already rambled a bit. Over the next few weeks I will be more present in the blogosphere while I am in-between semesters and ideally this will create more space for further dialog concerning the myriad of next steps ahead of us!

peace.