On Saturday, April 17th at St. Dunstan's in Aldergrove, pastor, author and educator Alan Roxburgh began his presentation with this quote from Dave Robinson the Congregational Development staffer at the Anglican Diocese of Toronto; "In the Diocese of Toronto, God is up to something in all kinds of places and we're running as fast as we can to catch up."
Alan followed up that quote by saying, "So often we in what are referred to as "mainline" churches think something is wrong because it isn't the way it used to be. Well, we are at the end of that long night of moaning and complaining... God is up to something and you are part of that... We are in a space, a space we've never been in before but God is already in that space."
Image on right - Alan Roxburgh explains 4 "types" of churches
Alan in concert with his associate, Sarah Jane Walker went on to examine how we have lost the ability to listen and hear from people who are "not us."
Much of the morning session was spent "Dwelling in the Word," examing in groups of two, Luke Chapter 10 and just listening to each others reflections and then reporting back to the plenary not what was said but what was heard.
One of many highlights of the day was a look at 4 types of churches and an exercise where those in attendance were asked to move into one of the four sections where the "energy is in their church."
There was lunch at 12 noon supplied by the parish of St. Dunstan's and the parish of St. Andrew, Langley and then the afternoon session began at 1pm.
Much of the afternoon was spent with Alan guiding the group through different examples of culture change in the modern world and how that is often brought about by events that happen "off-stage."
The last half hour of the event was a Q&A session directed to a panel consisting of Bishop Michael Ingham, Alan Roxburgh and Member-at-large of the Diocesan Council's Strategic Planning Group, Marcia Sauder.
In response to a parish leader who was sharing with the group two of his parishes experiences welcoming diverse groups of worshippers into their community and what that involved, Bishop Michael responded "We need to stop worrying about the people who have left and worry about the people who are coming."
There is a more detailed report on this day scheduled for publication in the June issue of the diocesan newspaper, Topic.
The group divided into 4 sections