Anglican Fever

CBN News has just ran an article and video about the Anglican Church, the drive to plant and multiply congregations, along with the attraction of Anglican Christianity (in Chicago). The article is called Anglican Fever: Youth Flock to New Denomination. Here is a link to the article. The video is below:

Reading Exodus in Advent

By Jonathan Kindberg

Advent is the season of the Church in which we remember Christ’s first coming and look ahead to Christ’s return as King and the coming of his kingdom. During this Advent at Iglesia de la Resurrección we have been reading the book of Exodus in our adult Sunday school class. I didn’t prepare a complex syllabus nor reading plan. Each week we simply gather together, read a chapter and talk about it. Reading Exodus in this way alongside immigrant brothers and sisters and seeing the text through their eyes and lived experience has been a unique privilege. It has allowed me to see Exodus with fresh eyes and gain new insights into the nature of culture, injustice, liberation, pilgrimage and home.

First, we realized that Moses was a pocho. A pocho is a derogatory term used by native-born Mexicans to describe Mexicans born in the United States who have forgotten their culture and heritage and who are usually better off financially than those still in Mexico. When Pochos goes for a visit to Mexico, they often stick out like a sore thumb and find themselves somewhat out of place. They have become Mexican-Americans.

Similarly Moses, though ethnically Hebrew, lived a life of privilege in the palace of the Egpytian princess, was wealthy and likely was culturally very removed from his Israelite relatives who were slaves. Then he spent 40 years additional years in self-imposed exile in a culturally foreign land before being sent by God to return to Egypt by the Lord. No wonder he feared that the Israelites wouldn’t listen to them. He was an outsider. And yet, Pharoah would. He was the perfect man for the job of mediating between the people of Israel and the Egyptian pharaoh. He was a 2nd generation Hebrew leader, an insider-outsider, to both the Israelites and the Egyptians and thus exactly the kind of person to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.

Mexicans born here in the United States, the so called 2nd generation, are often marginalized both within the Mexican cultural world and the white American world. They don’t fit in perfectly with either. They exist in the world of the hyphen, neither fully this nor that. Within the immigrant church led by 1st generation Mexicans they can be marginalized as well. However, they are perfectly suited to mediate both between generations and between immigrants and the American host culture.  They are the leaders of the Hispanic church of the future, and it is key that they be given voice and leadership if the church is to survive past the 1st generation.

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Life as an Immigrant Pastor

By Jonathan Kindberg

My Swedish last name, Kindberg, is about as difficult for Spanish speakers to pronounce as “ferrocarril” is for English speakers. The approximations I’ve heard are many: Kinder, Kimberly and Kindergarten, to name a few. I’m 6’1” and as pasty white as they come. I’m also an Anglican pastor of a primarily undocumented-Mexican congregation in the western suburbs of Chicago.

In many ways, I am an unlikely immigrant church pastor, until you learn that I spent most of my growing up years in Latin America as a child of missionaries. My being an insider-outsider, with one foot in both the Anglo and the immigrant worlds, while belonging fully to neither, gives me a certain vantage point from which to describe each to the other. Facilitating Mosaic, a network that seeks to bring immigrant and non-immigrant pastors together in my county, has given me the opportunity to build relationships with immigrant pastors from all over the world within my own community.

What is it like, then, being an immigrant church pastor, and one in which a significant percentage of your congregants are undocumented? It’s like being invisible. Many less established immigrant churches don’t own their own building, don’t have a large flashing sign along a major road and don’t have a church website. Thus, they are virtually unknown and invisible to the surrounding community. This invisibility also stems from awareness gaps within the Church at large. “So what do you do?” Joe asked me. We were at a neighborhood block party put on by several local churches and had just met. “I pastor a Hispanic congregation just down the road from here,” I responded. What followed was highly unusual and sadly rare: he asked me the name of my church. I’ve had this conversation over and over with people and as soon as I reply with “immigrant church pastor” their eyes haze over and they change the subject as if it hadn’t been brought up. Perhaps they simply have no categories for this and don’t know how to relate.

In my own county there are an estimated 150 immigrant congregations, but most, even by name, are unknown to the broader Christian community. I’ve seen this over and over around the country both within my own denomination and others. Our immigrant brothers and sisters are invisible to us. As an immigrant pastor, myself, I can say from experience that this hurts. Being an Anglo, however, I know that these experiences of invisibility are nothing like those faced by my Hispanic congregants on a daily basis within their lives and work places, especially those who are undocumented.

Beyond feelings of invisibility, being an immigrant church pastor is to be a jack of all trades. One moment you are helping fill out college applications for one of your youth who is the first from his family ever to apply to college and the next you are driving a parent to a PTA meeting to translate for them. You are giving advice on immigration status issues (while fending off sketchy lawyers and notarios) and advice on disciplining kids and keeping them out of gangs. You are getting that middle of the night phone from one of your parishioners whose husband was just pulled over for having a headlight out and is now in jail facing possible deportation. (This is a phone call you start getting used to.) Then you are visiting him in jail.

You are doing home blessings for families whose homes have been hexed by a vengeful coworker and praying with families after the death of a loved one. As an immigrant pastor, you are a jack of all trades, but master of none. You are the primary advocate and voice for your people many of whom have little voice and power due to lack of language and legal status among other factors and you are stretched in a million directions. I, as a bi-vocational single person often feel overwhelmed. I don’t know how many bi-vocational immigrant pastors with families do it.

So, what can we, as non-immigrants, do to help and support those immigrant congregations and pastors in our community? First, build relationships. Change starts here. Seek out the immigrant pastors and congregation in your city or region. I assure you they are there, though they may have been hidden from you until now. Visit one of their services. Be a learner of other cultures. Ask good questions! If you are a church network leader, finds ways of highlighting the immigrant congregations already in your network or find ways of including those who aren’t.

If you are a non-immigrant pastor, invite an immigrant pastor to speak at your congregation.  Find tangible ways of upholding and supporting immigrant pastors’ heavy ministry load by asking them how you or your church can come alongside them. You will be surprised at the richness of blessings you will receive from these relationships.

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A Movement from the Margins, Part 2

By Jonathan Kindberg

To do great things for God we often assume that we need great resources: power, influence, renown, intelligence and have written best-selling books. But these kinds things are usually hindrances rather than aides to God’s work. God delights, rather, in using those who are unequipped and unresourced in the eyes of the world. Those who are powerless and weak; those on the margins ignored by the rest of the world and by the Church herself. These kinds of people he uses to fulfill his mission and do great things. Why? Because these are the kinds of people who recognize that they don’t have what it takes and that they must depend fully on God. Through this God shows himself to be great. This is the story, for example, of Patrick of Ireland. An uneducated, slave boy who encountered God in a powerful way, launched the Celtic missionary movement, and despite fierce opposition from the Roman church impacted all of Europe.

Many of the folks I minister are potential Patricks. As immigrants they are often ignored, invisible and powerless in a society that benefits from their labor and yet forgets the laborer. Many do not have legal status and live in fear of deportation and of the night. Often they come from humble origins in Mexico and have little resources or education. They did not go to Sunday school growing up (much less seminary) and are just learning the books of the Bible. They are often ignored and invisible to the Church at large. And yet many have a desperate faith in God and nothing left to lose. They are exactly the kinds of people God always uses to do great and amazing things: A potential movement from the margins.

Steve Addison in his book, Movements that Changed the World, describes the key elements of movements this way: “God takes the initiative and chooses unlikely people, far from the center of ecclesiastical power. He works to remake them from the inside out. He inspires innovative insights regarding his mission and how it is to be carried out. Biblical truths and practices are rediscovered. A growing band of ordinary people emerges who have a heartfelt faith and missionary zeal that knows no bounds. Despite opposition from powerful forces within society and the existing church, the gospel spreads into unreached fields. The existing church is renewed, and society is transformed.”

If this is the case then I have the responsibility to steward and encourage a potential world and Church changing force. There are present here the elements for a movement from the margins in the making. And there’s no doubt about it in this place, day and time: we need renewal and we need a movement.

May it be so. Come Holy Spirit.

God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. - Matthew 5:3 (NLT)

Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. - 1 Corinthians 1:27 (NLT)

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A Movement from the Margins, Part 1

By Jonathan Kindberg

One of the most satisfying and exciting aspects of my ministry has been discipling some new believers who I’ve tasked with going out on mission from the earliest days of their new walk with Christ. In each case God has met them in profound ways as they are sent out. In this I’ve sought to follow the pattern in Luke 9 and 10 of Jesus sending out his disciples.

Many might ask: Why did Jesus send out his disciples so quickly after they had begun to follow him? You can almost hear the complaints that immediately arose from the disciples:  “We are doing what? But, Jesus, we aren’t ready yet!”  or “Jesus we haven’t had enough training. What if we don’t know what to say?” And in reality they didn’t have enough resources and training… and this was exactly the point.

Jesus purposefully sent them without the resources they “needed:” “Take nothing for your journey,” he instructed them. “Don’t take a walking stick, a traveler’s bag, food, money, or even a change of clothes” (Luke 9:3). They had no resources and very little training. They hadn’t even been with Jesus for 5 chapters! But this he gave them: his own power and authority (9:1).

When we go out on mission something quite mysterious happens. We immediately recognize that we don’t have what people need. People bring their problems and pain and we don’t have the right answers or things to say. Immediately we recognize that we are empty people trying to fill others’ vacuous souls and we have come up dry. At that point, though, of recognizing our emptiness, a miraculous exchange occurs. God fills us, meets us at our point of need, so that we are able to meet the needs of others. We come to the end of ourselves and begin to depend on his authority and power to work in our own lives and in the lives of others.

Discipleship or spiritual formation without mission, even from the earliest stages of growth in Christ is incomplete to say the least. It is, as a friend of mine pointed out, a rediscovery of what it means to be truly human as God intended, a “being for the sake of others.”

Evangelical discipleship often emphasizes being “filled” which most often translates into a passive receiving of unidirectional teaching/preaching and a host of small groups, books and Sunday school classes. No wonder so many leave our churches looking for greener pastures and complaining of not having been “fed.” The problem often is that they have actually been “overfed” but haven’t been feeding others. Their hearts have become a stagnant pond of water without an exit strategy.

So what happens when these un-resourced, untrained disciples go out? By chapter 10, the 12 have suddenly become 72. A movement from the margins has begun.

In the next post we’ll talk about how movements usually begin in this way and are carried by the poor and outcasts of society, by those on the margins, and what one could look like here in Chicago started by Hispanic immigrants.

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Jericho Road Improvement Association

By Jonathan Kindberg

Almost every week this past summer someone from my congregation or someone I knew within the larger Hispanic immigrant community in DuPage County was arrested and faced possible deportation. Each time a flurry of phone calls, jails visits, attorney finding, money gathering, praying and waiting ensued.

Martin Luther King Jr. once said:”On the one hand we are called to play the good Samaritan on life’s roadside; but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life’s highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.”

In other words it’s good to help people laying on the side of the road, but after doing this over and over you start realizing that it’s time to actually do some work on the road itself. So each week at Iglesia, during the prayers of the people we pray for: Comprehensive Immigration Reform. 
Below is the beginning of a post from undocumented.tv which shares the story of someone at my congregation who was arrested this summer.

I wrote here about 6 weeks ago about the frustration and heartbreak of watching a family in my neighborhood suffer after the father of the household was stopped for a questionable traffic violation and then was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on suspicion that he lacked legal status.  He was detained for a week in a county jail, which rents space (in exchange for a substantial economic benefit to the county government) to ICE.  Then, because apparently there was more bed space available elsewhere, my friend was flown from Illinois to Colorado, where he spent three more weeks in a detention cell operated by a private corporation, at the taxpayer’s expense…for the full article see: http://undocumented.tv/2011/blog/frustration-anger-hope-gratitude/

Juntos Como Hermanos

By Jonathan Kindberg

Juntos como hermanos, miembros de la Iglesia, vamos caminando al encuentro del Señor. Together as brothers, members of the church, we are walking towards the Lord.

This first verse of a song entitled “Juntos Como Hermanos” spontaneously arose during the ¡Caminemos Juntos! Consultation on Hispanic Anglican ministry and summarizes the feeling of those gathered together for two days on the outskirts of Chicago. For most, it was the first time they had met each other. Many came to the conference feeling isolated and tired and left energized and united on a common mission. Folks all the way from Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe in Fresno, California, to All Nations Christian Church in New Haven, Connecticut came to talk about the potential and challenges of Anglican Hispanic ministry.
Our time together began with a charge from Archbishop Bob Duncan to have the Anglican church here on earth look like it will in heaven: diverse! We then heard from Fr. David Roseberry with Anglican 1000 and saw a video by Univision powerfully depicting the “New American Reality” of Hispanics in the United States. The U.S. census bureau estimates that by 2050 Hispanics will constitute 29% of the population of the U.S. and that minorities in general will be over 50% of the population. Another surprising statistic is that currently approximately 60% of Hispanics in the U.S. are English dominant.

Noteworthy was the address from Dr. Roberto Miranda, pastor of the congregation León de Judá in Boston and author of “En La Tierra de Los Peregrinos: La Iglesia Hispana Evangelica y Su Llamado Redentor.” His prophetic message was entitled:  the Hispanic Church as a Transformational Community (“La Iglesia Hispana Como Comunidad Transformadora”) and was based on the story of Jesus’ feeding of the 5,000. He stated that that Lord always delights to use the weak for his purposes and that, in his sovereignty, he has brought Hispanics with their strong faith to the United States to preserve and transform this country that is going down the path of secularization and materialism. He likened Hispanics in the Unites States to Moses growing up in Egypt unaware of his prophetic calling and invited us to awake to this prophetic responsibility and calling.
The conference ended with an ordination and confirmation service at Iglesia Santa Maria de Guadalupe, presided over by Archbishop Duncan. Catechist Fernando Moreno, from Iglesia del Sagrado Corazon de Jesus, a Greenhouse congregation in Chicago, was ordained a deacon and twelve youth from Iglesia de la Resurreccion and Santa Maria were confirmed.

Field Report from ¡Caminemos Juntos!

By David Roseberry

There is something awesome happening in Anglican1000. It is out of control!  Yes, that probably is a good thing to say about a movement.  Steve Addison in his book Movements that Change the World, writes that movements grow ‘at the edges’ of the organization and generally not from the center.  That means that a movement will not come from a ‘central headquarters’, but from the outer rims.

This is true of the efforts of Anglican1000 to support Hispanic church planting within the Anglican context in North America.  The vision of Anglican 1000 took hold at the recent convocation of Anglican Hispanic leaders and planters, a kick-start event called Caminemos Juntos (Let us Walk Together).  Approximately 50 leaders, clergy, laity, and a handful of bishops attended the two-day event outside Chicago.

The challenges for reaching the Hispanic population with the Gospel through the Anglican Church are quite complex.  There are first and second and even third generation issues.  There are self-perception challenges within the Hispanic culture itself.  It was clear from the presenters that the Hispanic people in the US and Canada see themselves as a culture and not a race.  Efforts to reach this culture need to be sensitive to a vast number of issues including the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, syncretism, immigration issues, and cultural definitions of family and church.
But make no mistake; ministry to the Hispanic community is an incredible opportunity for the Gospel of Christ.  Take a look at this video to get a sense of what might be possible for the Lord.

Insightful talks came from a number of Hispanic leaders around the country including Archbishop Robert Duncan, Gabe Garcia, Pdre. Alvaro Jinete, Dr. Roberto Miranda, and more.  We heard from people who are ministering among this population.  Some are rectors who have congregations that have started Hispanic works; some are stand-alone churches that minister in a mixed cultures.  Some are start-up house churches from the Greenhouse Movement; and some are new (or soon to be) church plants that have bi-vocational clergy. 
It is clear to me that there is a passion and solid base to see Anglican1000 take hold in the Hispanic Church-planting community.  I took the time to invite the leadership to attend the annual Anglican1000 Summit and give a major report on the work of these initiatives.

First Briar St Bible Study

By Nick Raven, British intern from the newly formed AMiE (Anglican Mission in England).

‘…the Lord has sent me to bring good news to the poor, he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound…’
-Isaiah 61:1

I have recently been reading ‘Celebration of Discipline’ by Richard J. Foster. In the book Foster talks extensively about submission. He asserts that true submission is liberating and gives us the freedom to serve, value and take greater interest in other people. It allows us to love unconditionally, not relying on receiving anything in return to make ourselves feel worthy. It is obedience to Christ then, that sets us free. It is a wholehearted submission to his call of discipleship that opens the prison to those who are bound.

In the lead up to our first bible study at Briar Street I was somewhat nervous about what would happen. Not only was it to be our first explicitly Christian meeting, but ours was also a very unlikely group of people who would not be expected to ‘gel’ in any normal setting. The demographic goes a little like this: A middle aged Puerto Rican woman and her teenage Puerto Rican-Mexican niece and nephew, a middle-aged African American pentecostal woman, a single Mexican man who speaks no English, four white Americans and a token Brit. What striking diversity! Within the group there is also a wide range of brokeness, some of which is very painful and deep-rooted.

So it was in submission to Christ, not through much confidence in our ability to bring these people together, that I approached the evening. How freeing to be able to commit the bible study into God’s hands and not feel the pressure of having to live up to any level of expectation. We started with a meal, which is our normal Sunday night community activity, then moved on to some singing. I have never experienced anything quite like the worship on Sunday night. It was brought to life so brilliantly through the vibrance and energy of the participants that it was hard not to feel that God was present, evident in our joy. Songs finished with shouts of ‘Amen!’ and “Now that’s what I call praise and worship!’, a reaction that I have sadly never been exposed to in a ‘conventional’ church setting. For the study Jonathan simply took us through the first chapter of Mark, posing the two great questions of the book, ‘Who is Jesus?’ and ‘What does it mean to be a disciple?’. Input was high, and genuine, searching questions were asked about the passage that propelled us into useful and profound conversation about Jesus. This was followed by a period spent in small groups praying, a time that was filled with heartlfelt sharing of some serious issues. It was truly amazing to be able to pray for the healing power of Jesus in the lives of these people and trust that he is in the process of changing them.

As in Isaiah 61, Jesus is the one who proclaims ‘liberty to the captives’ and brings ‘good news to the poor’. Many of our friends at Briar Street are captives, and many of them are poor both spiritually and materially. However when we are able to submit to Jesus in the way that Foster talks about, knowing that through this we are best able to serve him, there is a release from from any spiritual shacklement that remains within us and a greater ability to partake in God’s saving work. Let us hope and pray that our friends will come to know the joy that is found in serving God through submission to him and his will, and the freedom that gives us to live and work to his praise and glory!

Briar St. Soccer Camp

By Nick Raven, British intern from the newly formed AMiE (Anglican Mission in England).

As a soujourning Englishman I have been subject to a wide ambit of friendly interrogation, especially from the kids in our neighbourhood. This has ranged from ‘do you speak English?’ to the culturally inquisitive ‘is England cool?’. Needless to say all of them have been gratefully received, considered and answered to varying degrees of success. Yet by far the most frequent question that all of us, English or not, have been asked In the last few days is ‘will the soccer camp be running next week?’ Plainly this denotes some level of success, of which I would like to share in a few words.
Throughout the first day of the camp it was clear that the kids were fired up for it. They had full uniforms on by midday (6 hours before kick off) and were busy telling their friends, handing out flyers and generally doing a much better job of publicity than we ever could! It was amazing to see Edgar, Kevin and Brian (3 of our neighbours) running around the apartment complex with flyers in hand whilst Jonathan and I stood admiringly from the comfort of our living room. The eagerness and positivity of these boys represented a trend that would last the entire week. 6pm eventually came around, so with 6 coaches and a few painstakingly prepared soccer drills we set about trying to teach them a few things. Dave was on hand with a quite brutal warmup for our eager participants, and then it was on to drills, followed by 45 minutes of scrimmages. This would be the routine for the remainder of the week, not forgetting the all important drinks and snacks break which triggered some of the finest sprinting efforts I have ever seen. So to my mind the first day had been a success, however by the end of the week I was thankful to God that my idea of a successful event had changed.

Before the camp started I had in mind a healthy number of kids as the guage of its success, that was even my prayer. Of course I am thankful to God that sixteen came on the first day, and that the next day I was able to share this encouraging news with other people. A good turn out is great and it was a genuine reason for encouragment, however as the week continued I came to realise that what we are doing on Briar Street and the surrounding area is by no means a numbers game. The root of our mission is to love God and to love our neighbours. To base the benefit of the soccer camp on attaining high numbers of participants allows room for us to fall down in our love for God and neighbour. It causes us to accredit ourselves with a shallow accomplishment that neglects the building of relationships, the very things that create fertile ground for the mighty work of God.

With this in mind the greatest pleasure of the week came not from seeing a few more kids trickle in, but in sharing life with them and their families in a deeper way than before. Such was the sense of community created by the influx of families, camping chairs littered about the place and parents cheering on their kids that it was hard not to be struck by the inherent significance of relationship within the mission of God. You need only look to the relatively undocumented first thirty years of Jesus’ life, in which he must have lived simply in relationship with those around him, to see that sharing our lives with others forms a better foundation for the mission of God to be accomplished in those whom we have come to know and love.

Thus to return to the original, suspense filled question, we are indeed going to continue Greenhouse Soccer Training at Surrey Park, every Wednesday, 6-8pm. How exciting that we can return there to continue to know our friends better, experience missional community and best of all, watch the likes of Marco, Edgar and Juan express themselves on the soccer field in ways so individual that you can’t help but find joy in the richness of God-given diversity!

Miracle-Gro

By Jonathan Kindberg

Of late I have been quite desirous for something equivalent to a spiritual miracle-gro: something you could give people that promised easy, fast, and healthy growth in discipleship. And aren’t there a hundred small group resources kits, discipleship how-to manuals, and self-help books that promise just that?

In the evangelical sub-culture we love to highlight Damascus Road type conversions (quick and dramatic), but rarely the slow, gradual, often hidden and yet just as radical transformations and conversions that happen for many ( or most?) in people’s lives.

At Iglesia we haven’t had any of the former and only a couple of the latter. Some times I loose heart and patience. “Are people ever going to change?’ I think.  ”I’ve been preaching the gospel to (fill in the blank) for 8 months now and they still don’t get it!?”  Sometimes it feels like I sow some seeds and water and pull out weeds and some more seeds and water some more and still no sprout. But even just typing that makes me realize my impatience. I know of missionaries in the Middle East that have been doing ministry for decades without visible fruit.

There is no such thing as spiritual miracle-gro. God brings the growth, in his time. Meanwhile, all we are called to do is to be faithful and obedient…and to pray for patience.

1 Corinthians 3:5-9: ⁵ After all, who is Apollos? Who is Paul? We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. ⁶ I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. ⁷ It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow. ⁸ The one who plants and the one who waters work together with the same purpose. And both will be rewarded for their own hard work. ⁹ For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building.

Church planting: the funny, ironic and absurd

By Jonathan Kindberg

Some funny, head scratching, and bizarre recent anecdotes and factoids that confirm, in the words of one of my friends, that there aren’t any easy answers and models to base my ministry on:
-One of the kids has started bringing his Muslim Eritrean refugee neighbor to our primarily 1st and 2nd generation Mexican church. One of the youth has started bringing his caucasian, unbaptized, unchurched girlfriend to church with him.

-In one week I spend half of my conversations with parishioners explaining the dangers of Jehovah Witnesses and the next performing services at key rites of passage: quinceanos, vow renewals, first communions, house blessings.

-Of the adults in my congregation I am the youngest and the most pale of skin. Of the whole congregation, the children outnumber the adults (a great blessing) and yet often threaten mass chaos.
-Somehow we try to blend the catholic, charismatic, evangelical and social action streams of the church: the same week we have a (liturgical) healing prayer service followed by a workshop on the rights of immigrants.

All in all, you never know what to expect from one day to the next and there are no clear steps to follow! Lead us Holy Spirit!

¡Caminemos Juntos! A Consultation on Hispanic / Latino Ministry in North America

By Jonathan Kindberg

August 12-13, 2011 the Greenhouse Regional Church Movement will be hosting a special Anglican 1000 consultation on Hispanic/Latino Ministry in North America. The event will be in the Chicago area. Speakers include Archbishop Robert Duncan, Gabe Garcia, Pdre. Alvaro Jinete, Dr. Roberto Miranda, and more. Cost is $50. Scholarships are available. Contact Jonathan Kindberg of the Greenhouse Regional Church Movement for more information.

Did you know that by 2050 Hispanics will constitute 30% of the population of the United States? En el año 2050 Estados Unidos será compuesto por 30% de Hispanos/Latinos.
It’s time to begin to walk together. Ya es tiempo de caminar juntos. This gathering is aimed at bringing together Anglican ministry leaders working among Hispanics/Latinos in Mexico, The United States and Canada and those hoping to begin new ministries. Through building relationships with one another, conversation and presentations we hope to consider different ministry models on both the evangelical (“cristiano”) and catholic (“católico”) sides of the spectrum and to together create a unified vision for Anglican Hispanic/Latino ministry and church planting in North America.  Esta consultación tiene como propósito crear una visión unida de misión Anglicana hacia la comunidad Latina/Hispana. A través de conversación y presentaciones  queremos considerar diferentes formas de ministrar a esta comunidad, tanto “cristianas” como “católicas.” 

Kingdom Slacklining

By Jonathan Kindberg

With the weather finally getting warmer in Chicago, the children are out in mass again in our neighborhood at Briar Street. After being cooped up inside for the long winter months, they are now able to run outside in the sun, play soccer in the company of their friends…and scream their heads off.

This last Sunday was a beautiful day and so our team decided to put up the slack line and grill outside. Quickly we were mobbed by a very excited group of screaming kids who wanted to join in on this strange new sport. For those of you uninitiated folks,  slacklining is: “a balance sport that uses nylon webbing tensioned between two anchor points. Slacklining is distinct from tightrope walking in that the line is not held rigidly taut (although it is still under some tension); it is instead dynamic, stretching and bouncing like a long and narrow trampoline” (thank you, Wikipedia).  It’s great fun and a great way to get to know a lot of our neighbors.

As we seek to get to know our neighbors who don’t yet know Jesus, we seek ways to build authentic, reciprocal relationships with them. One question we have found it helpful to ask (and one that I heard first from Bill Hybels in his book on evangelism), is: what do you enjoy doing that you can involve others in? This activity, whether it’s a specific sport or hobby, is meaningful in and of itself, but can take on a greater degree of kingdom significance when done in this purposeful way.

So if anyone is wondering what our model for church planting is, you now know the answer: kingdom slacklining.

Youth Retreat - Spring 2011

by Jonathan Kindberg

This last weekend I led a youth retreat with the youth from Santa Maria (that I lead on Sunday mornings in Franklin Park) and from Iglesia. The Spirit’s presence was powerfully at work softening the hearts of the youth and the Lord answered many prayers for our time together. Thank you all of you who were praying! The main scripture for the weekend was Psalm 95 with an emphasis on invitation (“come”) and on the one who is giving the invitation, the Good Shepherd.

For many of these youth, this was their first time away from home for a night and for most the first time at a retreat. There were a lot of nervous parents and students Friday night as we left, but this soon melted in the excitement of a weekend away. Most of these students are still considering whether to fully commit to following Jesus as this is a very new concept for them.

God is raising up the second generation of Hispanics in Chicagoland and it is exciting to see! Praise the Lord!

Of Spanish and the Spirit

By Jonathan Kindberg

Our usual Sunday community dinners at Briar Street have been anything but usual. Each week we are excited to see what surprises the Lord will bring through our neighbors. This last week found us after dinner sitting in a circle in our living room with notebooks and pens in hand learning Spanish from Gerardo. We should have seen it coming when Gerardo, one of our Mexican neighbors, walked in for dinner carrying two plastic bags full of classroom supplies. He had markers (which later turned our living room windows into art canvasses thanks to one of the kids), notebooks, pencils and a large piece of foam board which he converted into a make-shift white board. It was quite amazing to see how much ingenuity and planning he had put into this.

At Briar Street as we prepare to launch weekly services hopefully by the end of the summer we have begun to study together the book of Acts with some of our neighbors. One of the first things we realized is that it is the Holy Spirit who really plants a church. In one sense, for any of us to call ourselves “church planters” is a bit presumptuous. It’s kind of like someone claiming they can make babies all on their own. We were also surprised to see that one of the first ways the Holy Spirit reveals his power is by giving the disciples the ability to speak in other languages. The book of Acts begins with this statement in 1:8:  “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses.” This power is then demonstrated through the reversal of the tower of Babel and the ability the disciples have to be witnesses in many different languages. It seems, then, that learning another language (such as Spanish) is an activity very in step with the workings of the Spirit.
Many churches in an attempt to reach out to their diverse community begin ESL (english as a second language ) classes. We are talking about eventually doing so ourselves as well at Briar Street Anglican Church. But I think it is worth noting that we began our ministry at Briar Street not by teaching English, but rather by putting ourselves under Gerardo’s teaching and learning Spanish. I think this makes the Holy Spirit smile.

“Just a Shmo"

By Jonathan Kindberg

Recently I was talking with a friend of mine who has just come on staff part time with a new church plant as their worship leader. He was talking about the new church and then began talking about how unprepared he felt to begin his new role, it being the first time he has worked at a church. “I’m just a shmo,” he said. “I don’t have much formal training.”

“I’m just a shmo.” That comment hit me. Here was a well educated (he has an undergrad and masters degree), gifted musician who is just finishing a year of a fairly intensive church internship and has a decent amount of experience leading worship. Why did he feel like “just a shmo”? I don’t think it’s his fault. I think it’s the Church’s (at large) fault. It is one more example of the professionalism of the church. We have said that you can’t do “ministry” unless you have a seminary degree, are of middle age, and have a decent resume. If my friend feels unprepared as a well educated, paid staff member how do you think those in the pews of our churches feel? No wonder they leave all the heavy lifting to the paid professionals.

The truth is, there is no such thing as a “joe shmo” in the church. There are ears, eyes, noses, legs, hands, hearts, and lungs. There are baptized Christians who, in their baptism and the infilling of the Holy Spirit, have been given the necessary resources (and mandate) to minister.

By no means do I mean to deny the importance of discipleship and training, but such training isn’t a prerequisite for ministry. Every believer is a minister from the day of their spiritual birth. We could call this “the ministerhood of all believers.”

Contrast my friend with one of my neighbors who is a self-taught keyboard player, has a beautiful voice, but has no formal training. He could easily feel like a “shmo” with nothing to contribute. However, I am hoping that when we begin regular services at Briar Street Anglican Church he will be one of our worship leaders. Naming a gift and encouraging the person to use it, is a start in this direction. If he decides to go forward, he won’t be paid, it won’t be professional, but it will be one part of the body ministering in their giftedness for the good of the whole. And it will be easily reproducible (those in the pews: “If he can do it, then so can I!”).

It is my prayer that he nor anyone else in the church ever feel like “just a shmo.”

Greenhouse in the Desert

By Jonathan Kindberg, Rev. William Beasley & Deacon Anne Beasley of the Greenhouse Movement

This year’s Anglican 1000 Church Planting Summit in Plano, Texas, linked Chicago to El Paso.  After attending William Beasley’s workshop, Bill Cobb, rector of the Church of St. Clement in El Paso, Texas, invited him to speak in El Paso.  William called together a team from the Greenhouse Regional Church Movement: his wife, Anne Beasley, and Lay Catechist Jonathan Kindberg, leader of a Spanish-speaking congregation and a bilingual outreach to Chicago area youth (among other occupations).  Less than a month later, the Chicagoans found themselves in the border town of El Paso to present a workshop on the Greenhouse model for the spontaneous expansion of the Church and how it might impact the El Paso/Juarez region.

As one of the largest bi-national metropolises in the world, El Paso/Juarez is a region of contrasts and contradictions. While El Paso is the safest city of its size in the United States, a mere stone’s throw across the dried-up Rio Grande border lay the most dangerous city on earth, Juarez. Last weekend alone, the Associated Press reported 53 murders in 72 hours in Juarez. Furthermore, while El Paso is a modern city of considerable wealth, many areas of Juarez remain without running water or waste collection.  How can the Church mobilize to bring the hope of the Gospel to Juarez?
Contrasted with traditional models of church planting that require large amounts of resources, the Greenhouse model mobilizes catechists (lay pastors), lay evangelists, and the resources in the people to initiate new works while emphasizing that “the whole church raises up the whole church,” as everyone uses their Spirit-given gifts and talents.
El Paso/Juarez is a region ripe for such spontaneous expansion of the church.  El Paso is approximately 80% Hispanic and a thoroughly bicultural and bilingual city. Spanglish is the lingua franca. This border city is a living example of what some sociologists see as the future of the United States. “We’re seeing the development of two populations groups in Texas: aging Anglos and young minorities. We’re seeing Hispanic growth not just deepen but become pervasive throughout the state. The Texas of today is the U.S. of tomorrow,” says Steve Murdock, Rice University sociology professor and former Census Bureau director (USA Today).

While St. Clement’s may be considered a wealthy congregation, some of the neighborhoods around the church and its school are not so prosperous.  Eight years ago, responding to the difficulties facing people from these impoverished neighborhoods, St. Clement’s started Ciudad Nueva (New City), a community development corporation directed by St. Clement’s member, Sami DiPasquale.  Ciudad Nueva currently serves over 200 at-risk children and youth through after school programs and community outreach.  It is a beautiful picture of the church at work in the “transformation of society,” one of the accountabilities that Archbishop Bob Duncan constantly reminds us of.

We North American Anglicans need to grapple with this demographic shift and the reality of poverty in our church planting efforts.  As a North American movement we can move into all types of socio-economic and ethnic communities.

Please pray with us that the love of Jesus will transform our movement with Jesus’ heart for all people.  May we as Anglicans learn to reach people and plant churches that reflect our changing society.  And may these churches deeply impact our communities and neighborhoods, following the example of St. Clement’s and Ciudad Nueva.  May God use the Anglican Church to unleash his Kingdom in El Paso/Juarez, for the conversion of souls as more and more congregations are planted that Jesus’ love would fill hearts and his peace would quell violence.

On Mission in El Paso/Juarez

by Jonathan Kindberg

As one of the largest Bi-national metropolises in the world, El Paso/Juarez is a region of contrasts and contradictions. While El Paso is the safest city of its size in the United States, Juarez, a mere stone’s throw across the dried up Rio Grande, is the most dangerous city on earth. This last weekend 37 people were murdered, the bloodiest three days in the city’s history. Furthermore, while El Paso is a modern city of considerable wealth, many areas in Juarez do not even have running water.
This last weekend myself and William and Anne Beasley of the  Greenhouse Regional Church Movement spent four days in El Paso/Juarez at the invitation of St. Clement’s Anglican Church presenting the Greenhouse model for the spontaneous expansion of the church.

Contrasted with traditional models of church planting that require ordained clergy and large amounts of planning and resources, the Greenhouse model uses lay pastors (known as Catechists), little to no resources and emphasizes that it is “the whole church raising up the whole church,” everyone using their Spirit given gifts and talents.

El Paso/Juarez is a region ripe for such spontaneous expansion.  El Paso is approximately 90% Hispanic and a thoroughly bicultural and bilingual city. Espanglish is the lingua franca. The city is a living example of what many think is the future of the United States. “We’re seeing the development of two populations groups in Texas: aging Anglos and young minorities. We’re seeing Hispanic growth not just deepen but become pervasive throughout the state. The Texas of today is the U.S. of tomorrow,” says Steve Murdock, former Census Bureau director and now a Rice University sociology professor, on the Latino population growth in Texas (quoted in USA Today).

While St. Clement’s is a generally wealthy congregation, the neighborhood surrounding their building is an economically depressed area.  Eight year ago, responding to the difficulties facing those living in the surrounding neighborhood, St. Clement’s started Ciudad Nueva, a community development corporation currently serving over 200 at risk children and youth in the surrounding community through after school programs and community outreach. It is a beautiful picture of the church at work in the “transformation of society,” one of the accountabilities that Archbishop Bob Duncan constantly reminds us of.

This demographic shift and the reality of injustice and poverty are realities that we as Anglicans have yet to grapple with in our church planting efforts. As a movement we are still primarily Anglo (as our name also seems to communicate) and primarily middle to upper class. I pray that as a movement we begin to plant churches that reflect our changing society: multi-lingual, multi-cultural, and messy. Churches of the kind we have never seen before. I pray that we not only plant many, many churches, but that we plant churches that have a deep impact on communities and neighborhoods, following in the example of Ciudad Nueva. I pray that we plant churches that welcome the stranger and that attack the root causes of poverty and injustice, churches that bring the good news of the Gospel. Let us all pray that this be the case in El Paso/Juarez.

Immigration as a Mission on Our Doorstep

by Jonathan Kindberg

The United States is changing at an unprecedented pace. According to current predictions by the US Census Bureau, by 2050 the United States will have a majority of ethnic minorities, and as soon as 2031 white, non-Hispanic children will become a minority.

These changes aren’t just impacting urban areas. With the increasing suburbanization of poverty and a growing percentage of immigrants moving directly to the suburbs, bypassing the urban areas all together, the suburbs are changing as well.

One example of this is DuPage County, Illinois, a county in the western suburbs of Chicago. According to the Billy Graham Center’s research, DuPage County will become a majority minority county by 2030, 20 years ahead of the national trend. Currently, nearly two out of every five residents are foreign born with the most common nationalities being Mexican and then Asian Indian.
Recognizing God’s hand in these changes in bringing the world to our doorstep, Mosaic DuPage is a movement of local churches, both immigrant and non-immigrant, working together for the sake of mission in our changing community. Each year, in partnership with World Relief, Mosaic hosts the Mission On Your Doorstep/La Mision En Tu Comunidad conference to equip and prepare the local church to reach its changing community.
The video below is preview of the longer video Mosaic is releasing at this year’s conference, which will take place March 4 and 5 in West Chicago, Illinois and which is focused on how to live as part of “God’s Kingdom without Borders.” This year, the conference will have a particular focus on undocumented immigrants and include talks by Dr. Daniel Carroll R., Stephan Bauman, Juan Ortiz, Matthew Soerens, Wayne “Coach” Gordon, and many others.  Please consider joining us!



The Mission On Your Doorstep Video Teaser from Mosaic DuPage on Vimeo.

Apprenticeship

by Jonathan Kindberg

This last week I went with several of my leaders to the Anglican 1000 conference in Plano, Texas (http://anglican1000.org/). This conference was birthed out of Archbishop Duncan’s call just over a year ago to plant 1000 new Anglican churches in the next 5 years. So far, we have planted 100. This is a great start, but much work remains.

This year my leaders and I assisted Fr. William in a workshop he gave on the topic of a “Lay church planting movement.” In essence he said that a movement starts with one on one apprenticeship: Jesus and Peter, Barnabas and Paul, Paul and Timothy. Apprenticeship, rather than a curriculum or a program, is organic; it’s life on life. It can be boiled down to 5 steps (as taught by the Furgeson brothers): 1) I do, you watch, we talk. 2) I do, you help, we talk.  3) You do, I help, we talk. 4) You do, I watch, we talk. 5) You do, third person watches, you talk….and so on. Pretty simple, hu?
It’s been my aim, and I’ve challenged all my leaders to do so as well, to always be doing this with someone else in every aspect of my ministry. Apprenticeship….a key ingredient in starting a movement.