The Theory

In some ways it is difficult to answer the question “What are we going to do?” Over the years we have considered all kinds of options from church planting to self-sustained living!

We are joining a community of people and it isn’t right to simply turn and say, “This is what we’re going to do in this community.” However, because we are trying to follow God, we believe that in being obedient to His call that He will reveal what He wants us to do at the appropriate time.

In some ways it is a difficult for me (Jonathan) coming out of full time paid church ministry, simply because this is what I have been doing for 13 years and although I would never describe church ministry as a comfort zone, it is what I know.

When we first heard the call to go to Canada, Lyn and I were asking some pretty big questions about the nature of church. It is our conviction that the wider church desperately needs to establish a greater connection in its practices to the everyday lives of the people who make up the church. Increasingly we have found that it is not only those outside church who question its relevancy, but the church community itself. The phrase I use to describe what I feel we need to discover is “Life Shaped Faith.” This is not an only an academic pursuit, discovery comes by trying to live that life.

As Christians we have the opportunity to live our whole lives in harmony with God and to connect with what He is doing in the world around us. I feel that I can only explore what this means outside of church ministry by going spending time outside those traditional church environments and working with people and seeing what God shows me. I have to confess, even as I type this, it scares the living daylights out of me!

In Practice : Graphic and Web Design

Over the years, one way in which I have consistently engaged with and supported people has been through graphics, and more recently web design. Whilst I have earned my income from church ministry I have been able to help people with communication and presentation of their ideas in ways they would not have otherwise had access to.

When you work on graphics with people, be it a logo, a letterhead or a website you often get to know a lot about who people are and where they are coming from. They share a lot of themselves with you. They usually get know me quite well and learn about the journey I am on. This has led to some really good friendships and discipleship relationships. I hope to continue mission in this way, as well a trying to keep a roof over our heads and put bread on the table.

Church Community : Rothesay Vineyard

Rothesay Vineyard, and in particular their pastor David Hayward have shared this journey with us for over 3 years prior to our move. They have become great friends. They believe that God wants us to be a part of their community and have supported us and prayed for us, encouraged and consoled us through the ups and downs. David believes we are coming for a time of ‘restoration, retooling and recommissioning.’ We hope that they will help us and join us, even as we join with them on the journey of discovery towards a life shaped faith.

Learning : Masters in Ministry at St Stephen’s University

Lyn and I both know that God has called us to church leadership. We don’t know what that will look like or what the next steps will be. It might seem strange, but the step of ‘coming out’ of ministry, is actually a continuation and step of preparation for future ministry. As such I believe it is right to further develop my understanding both of theology and ministry.

St Stephen’s University is about a hours drive from Quipamsis and is therefore very accessible for us. They have an excellent Masters Degree in Ministry which I can do in modules. This will mean going on campus twice a year for about 10 days, with a lot of assignments and reading in between. I’m trying to work out whether to start this in October, or to leave it to next year when we have ’settled.’ Either way, this is an important part of what we are going to do.

Family

People often say the most important thing last, and this is the case with the last thing we are listing as ‘going to do.’ We’ve never felt so at home anywhere than when we’ve been in New Brunswick, and as with most people, our home family life is very important to us. Whatever happens in ‘ministry’ the most important thing to Lyn and I is that we raise our kids to know God and to live by faith. We will continue to home educate Ben and Grace and share with them our journey of faith and life which in turn flows from who we are as a family. One of the ways we as a family connect to God is through the beauty of His creation, and we are looking forward to appreciating the beauty of New Brunswick, to learning to be fishers of fish as well as men, to whale watching and woodland walks. We want to live life to the full, and share that life with others.