Anglican 1000 Church Planters

Anglican 1000 Church Planters March 11, 2012

In my life of speaking at conferences, my recent time with the church planters at the Anglican 1000 Summit is at the top. Wow, what a wonderful time for me. Where to begin?

First, thanks to Daniel Adkinson (@DLAdkinson) and to the good folks at Christ Church Plano Texas for the invitation and the opportunity to participate in this drive to plant 1000 new Anglican churches this decade.  The good news is that 200+ have been planted in the last two years.

Second, in pondering a topic for this conference I chose to speak to neglected workers (church planters) about neglected pastoral texts in the New Testament, and that meant I focused on James 3:1-4:12 and on Colossians 1:24-2:5. There is so much pastoral theology in those verses, and the NT doesn’t focus so much on techniques or strategies as on message and character. But some of the themes these texts surface are not themes we often focus on in pastoral work. So, the texts have something fresh for all of us.

Third, surely a highlight for me was meeting everyone — from Archbishop Robert Duncan and Rector David Roseberry and Daniel to Katie Boone and Cathy Carey and Jennifer Roach and David Taylor and Mike Breen and Erik Willits (@erikwillits, my exceptional host and a fellow Pretzel from Freeport IL) and so many pastors who said encouraging words — and hearing daily reports from church planters on what is going on. There is a real sense of fellowship in the gospel among these folks.

And, yes, you knew it was coming: the liturgy and order whenever those Anglicans gather together.  I told them I was an Anabaptist Anglican, which stretches the meaning of both words, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the prayer times and the music and the liturgical sense. And then Wednesday night I got to preach in the worship service in Christ Church — and what a wonderful time of worship, singing, eucharist, preaching and dedicating all those church planters. If you are in the Dallas area, do give yourself a life experience of attending worship at Christ Church. (But be careful, you might decide that Book of Common Prayer is the way to go!)

 


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