So that was Basecamp, a “very full-on” weekend with and for church planters. It was probably the best weekend conference I have attended in my Christian life so far and I would fully recommend anyone who is thinking of being involved in or leading a church plant to go on the next one in 2010.
I guess in this final post about it I should share some of the take homes that we came away with and some of the answers to questions we went with.
Over the last year we have become surer that we have been called to be involved in a church plant in Canada. This has come through many hours of prayer, listening to Father receiving prophecies, and asking questions, while waiting for the answers. We went to Basecamp with a number of questions that we were looking for answers to. These include where, when, how and what the next steps for us would be.
Having now shared our experience with the elder team at our church we are able to be a little more open about our plans for the future and what we got out of Basecamp.
The first thing is that we are called to lead a church plant. In the past we were unsure if we were called to lead or be part of a core team. Both leading up to the weekend and during the weekend we received a number of prophecies about this and God has also ‘spoken into our hearts’ about it. We now feel sure that is what we are called to do.
The next question is where we are called to lead this church plant. We do feel called to south eastern Ontario in Canada (around Toronto, when I say around, around in Canadian is about a 600 mile diameter!) but as yet we are not sure as to where exactly that is. This again was confirmed over the weekend.
Over the weekend we were able to discern a way forward thanks to our church planting coach. The first of these is for MrsBeatthedrum and me to attend the New Frontiers Canada leader’s conference in January which is in the death of winter (constant -10 to -15 C temperatures). This will allow us to build relationships up with people in Canada, get to know people, experience the full horror of a Canadian winter and mix with other church leaders in Canada.
Following that we are going to have a family holiday in Canada in summer 2010 so we can have a scout about and have a look at a few places and for the kids to experience Canada.
From there things will probably pick up pace with the plan to move to Canada and settle for a short period of one or two years,in an already established church so that we can culturally acclimatise to Canada before striking out on our own.
So that’s the big picture, the local picture is a lot more complex. We need to learn a number of skills while still here in Durham and implement a number of things into our lives. These include skills such as
- Preaching
- Leading and multiplying small groups
- Being involved in alpha
- Leading and developing a ministry in the church
- Learning to build many relationships outside of the church
- Hospitality
These are going to take a lot of time and effort but will be worth the effort of we can gain a harvest for Jesus in Canada and indeed in Durham
On top of all this we came away with a question to ask our elders, “What character issues do we have to correct before we go….” now that one is a biggy and may take all the time between then and now to sort out!
So that was Basecamp, fully worth the time, money and energy we spent on it. Thanks again to all those who served us on the weekend and I hope and pray that Jesus will see a huge harvest from the workers who attended.
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