By Archdeacon Alexander Pryor

Sometimes churches close. That’s always a sad situation: sad for those last few members (usually tired, overwhelmed, and facing burn-out), sad for the community as a whole, and sad for the wider church as we carry out our mission to bring the Gospel to every community.

Sometimes churches reopen. Sometimes all it takes is a new lay leader, or perhaps a new minister, and then a vestry comes together and things start up once more. 

But this isn’t usually the case. More often, it takes a completely fresh start.

Why “reopening” isn’t always the best plan.

One of the things I love to do is speak to students or vestries about their mission and ministry. It’s easy for a church to get stuck in a pattern of weekly worship, visits to the sick, and maybe a couple of special events each year, but where everything centers around the same people working to keep on doing what was always done. There’s something lovely and beautiful about that faithfulness over the years and over the generations.

But there’s an important lesson we can learn from plants: Living things grow. 

Think of a houseplant. If it’s healthy, if it’s being watered and fertilized, the natural thing for it to do is to grow. Yes, the old branches remain, but at the same time it is branching out in new directions.

Sometimes we might prune those new branches, but we do that on purpose. Pruning a new branch is meant to make the base of the plant stronger.

The Church is a living organism. When the Church isn’t growing, something is wrong. The truth is that, when a congregation closes, we can look back and see that the growth stopped about a decade before. Any congregation that isn’t actively growing (either branching out in new ways, or purposefully pruning to grow a stronger base) is in trouble.

But think back to the plant. Sometimes just “re-opening” a congregation isn’t a good idea.

I like to grow a few plants in containers outside my house.

What would happen if I poured water on this plant?
No matter how much water or how much fertilizer I added, this plant won’t come back to life… believe me, I tried! (Actually, the soil went mouldy from my attempts!)

What was needed was a fresh start – to take a healthy piece from another plant, carefully encourage roots to grow, and then transplant it into the soil where the other plant had died.

The same is true with churches. Sometimes people might just focus on “reopening” – throwing some water and fertilizer at a congregation in the form of money to keep the lights on and fuel in the tank for the furnace. But if the church wasn’t healthy and growing before, then – like the plant – no amount of water or fertilizer is going to get it back to where it needs to be.

What exactly is a Church Plant?

Well, first let’s ask “what is a church?“.

Is the church a building, or an elected vestry, or an 11am Sunday service, or a friendly, welcoming place to hold a funeral and sing carols on Christmas Eve? 
…No. 

Those are all part of what it means to be the church. But a church is something much more basic.

What is the Church?
The Church is the family of God, the Body of Christ, and the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Book of Common Prayer – The Catechism.

Isn’t it interesting that our official beliefs as Anglicans don’t put anything about vestries or buildings or services in our official definition of Church! In fact, the Church isn’t even focused on the people… it’s all centered on God!

This is a good reminder for all of us: “a church” is not an organization, it’s not a vestry and wardens, it’s not a building, and it’s not even a group of people who like to get together. A church is a local group of disciples (apprentices of Jesus!) who:
  - Follow Jesus as Lord
  - Trust in God and worship Him
  - Are filled with the Holy Spirit
  - Are a “new creation”, living together according to the ways of the Kingdom of God.

There comes a time when a vestry and wardens and those things are helpful, but being a church member is primarily about discipleship and relationships. It’s a group of disciples – apprentices of Jesus – who are the family of God, who are united together in the body of Christ, and who have the Holy Spirit living within them.

A Church Plant is the name given to an effort to gather a group of new and old disciples to first learn to be the Church together, in the hopes that (someday) it will become a healthy, growing congregation. 

This means Sunday services might not be the first thing to start! Discipleship and Relationships are primary, so it could be a Bible Study, or a weekly fellowship and prayer night that start first. The regular “churchy” things eventually grow out of a group of people who are committed to be disciples together.

Discerning a Church Plant for Inuvik

Our diocese is currently discerning (or “figuring out” through prayer and conversation) whether it’s time to plant a church in Inuvik.

The congregation there closed. Like many across the country, the core group of leaders had gotten smaller over the years, and it just wasn’t healthy and growing anymore. There’s sadness with that, but now God presents a real opportunity.

There’s a fabulous building there. Like any Arctic building, there’s always a bit of work to be done to keep it up. But it’s a beautiful church, and most importantly, it has a wonderful hall, a full commercial kitchen, meeting space, a Sunday School room, a spacious office, washrooms – everything you would ask for in a new church building! Plus, it’s right in the center of town!

There’s also a pretty new mission house there, perfect for a family.

It’s a community of 3,200 the third largest community in the entire Northwest Territories. And, we know from our last visit that people are very open to the Gospel and miss when there were ministries offered to their community.

A Big Prayer Request

Will you join us in praying for Church Planting in the Diocese of The Arctic?
It’s not about money; it’s not about numbers. It’s about growth and spreading the Kingdom of God to those who are hungry to hear the Good News of the hope, healing, and freedom offered through faith in Jesus Christ.

We’ve got to start somewhere, and for some obvious reasons, Inuvik seems to be the place to start!

Our big prayer request is for a church planter. We’re looking for an ordained minister who is outgoing and can speak personally of the transformative power of Good News of Jesus. It would ideally be someone who sees the value and richness of the Anglican tradition when carried out faithfully, and ideally would come with a family for support. We’re looking for someone who is willing to learn the local culture, dive in to become a visible member of the community, and really catch the vision for what it means to be the Church, discipling others while building relationships together.

We trust God is calling someone to fill this role, but we just don’t know who or when.

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;
therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Matthew 9:37-38

Pray with us!