Bootcamp

Last week Taralyn and I participated in Church Planting Bootcamp, finally! For the uninitiated, starting a church is usually referred to as "church planting" for reasons I'll go into a little more in depth later, and normally a person goes through basic training (or "bootcamp") before they launch out on their church planting adventure (to really mix up metaphors!). As I noted before, Taralyn and I have done almost everything in our own church planting adventure backwards, it makes sense that we would have waited till month (what is it?) 8 to attend "basic training" bootcamp!

Part of the reason that we didn't take Church Planting Bootcamp before we stepped out, though, was the lack of availability of such a program. Yes, it's run pretty regularly across the US, but local opportunities come seldomly. The Canadian E Free Church (yes, I still cringe when I hear EV Free), for all its desire to plant more churches, is still in getting its bearings as to what that means in terms of training and launching, supporting church planters. Our EFCC Church Planting Bootcamp was a HUGE step in the right direction, and I'm excited about what it means, not only in the short-term for our Access Church Plant, but in the long-term for more church planting within the EFCC.

The Bootcamp itself consisted of five days, six-session each day, intensive training period. We went through everything from determining philosophy, mission, vision, calling, to gathering a startup team, core team, launching, preview services, marketing, using technology, small groups, discipleship process, and being a church-planting church plant (or "planting pregnant"). Taralyn and I were sent by the Evangelical Free Church of Canada, Lower Pacific District. We were helped financially by the LPD and by the generosity of friends and family so that we could attend, and my mother watched Caleb and Carter all week which really freed us up.

What do we take away from it? Wow! First, a huge dose of encouragement! Let's be honest, Access Church isn't exactly going the way we though/hoped/believed it would be at this point, when we started out last fall. There have been dark, difficult times. We've never really walked away from the dream/call, but we've often wondered what we're doing out here alone, broke, almost faithless, friendless, no church to speak of, possibly lacking what it takes to get it going. The bootcamp gave fresh wind in our sails, and a desire to see this happen, and new eyes of faith to see how it might!

The first couple of days, to do with the mission and vision of the church, is what I immediately need to review and work out as it pertains to Access. I believe that we jumped into church planting at step 6 (or 67, depending on your scale) rather than at step one. Many of the challenges we have faced stem from the fact that we didn't knock over the first bunch of dominoes before diving into the middle. So determining our vision, values, and being able to communicate those to people who might form a startup team and core community, is step one (or steps 1-17, whichever way you look at it).

What is it? We're still working on it. Yes, this takes time. If we've learned anything, it's to be patient. Be disciplined, follow through, show tenacity... but be patient. "I waited patiently on the Lord, He turned and heard my cry..." (Psalm 40, U2 and King David).

My coach, Charlie Worley, who has been an immense help to me already, was among the presenters at the bootcamp. He wrote about the week here. Other presenters were George Klippenes of EFCA Start Churches, Ray Chang of Ambassador Church, and Dave Page who is the Church Planting Director of EFCA West. Each of these men have impacted my direction and passion for church planting. I have learned much more than I can share here, because I have yet to unpack it. But I will, with Charlie's help, and I will share it with you as you read on in this blog...