Seven Heavenly Weeks!

We've now held seven worship services at Anglican Church of the Trinity (three Eucharist and four Evening Prayer with Sermon and Music). Several old and new friends have preached, and we have a great lineup of preachers for the rest of the summer. We have started building a network of Anglican priests who can come to Celebrate Eucharist with us. Forty-nine individuals have worshiped with us at least once. We've been trying things, adjusting where needed, and praising God for His goodness.

We were welcomed into the Diocese of the Holy Spirit (of The Anglican Church in North America) in June; our Bishop is The Rt. Rev. John A.M. Guernsey. We are a member of The ACNA Midwest Deanery-in-Formation; our Dean is The Rev. Dr. George Byron Koch. Legal counsel is helping us finalize our Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws, which we plan to file this month.

Our leadership teams are starting to plan for worship and education (for all ages) for the fall. We can still use help on all of our teams (Liturgy. Preaching, Altar, Vestments, Music, Theology, Education, Childcare, Fellowship, Pastoral Care, Missions, Outreach, Communications, Technology, Finance, Administration). Don’t be shy – shoot me an email to volunteer!

Our main communication vehicle is our website (www.trinityminneapolis.org). I’ll be updating this blog less and less in the future, so please visit our website on a regular basis for the latest news. We’re also on Facebook (Anglican Church of the Trinity) and on Twitter (trinitympls).

I continue to send at-least-weekly news updates to those who have requested them; if you’re not on my distribution list, send me an email at MplsAnglican@aol.com.

Drop in to worship with us some Sunday! 5:30 p.m. at Aldrich Church, 3501 Aldrich Avenue South. And stay for refreshments and fellowship after the service. Hope to see you soon!

Our First Public Worship!

I hope that your Day of Pentecost was as beautiful as ours! We held our first public worship service on Sunday night – it was very exciting and even astonishing to many of us.

Thanks be to God! 

We had a few little rough spots but everyone graciously got through them. The beautiful and deep “Rite One” liturgy was new to many of us and fed our souls. Donna Hackler provided inspiring and uplifting prelude, offertory, and postlude music from the organ and also supported the congregational hymns and service music beautifully (the texts and music of which really drove home the messages of the day).

Our Lectors read the lessons with vigor and understanding. Our priest and preacher, Rev. Heather Ann Martinez from Chicago, served the Eucharist beautifully (and we managed to cobble together an "altar guild" at the last minute) and preached a nice pastoral sermon. Our Crucifer and Gospeler gamely led the procession, Gospel procession and recessional even though they had not done so before. Esther Cook arranged some beautiful Pentecost-red roses for in front of the pulpit and for the reception table.

I had hoped for attendance of around 30; we had 20, but that isn't bad given that we haven't yet submitted any articles to the local newspapers or done any advertising - the only advertising at this point is word-of-mouth by YOU!!! (I guess that you'd call this a "soft launch.")  We have some extra bulletins from the service, so let me know if you'd like me to set one aside for you.

We had a lovely reception with cheeses, salami, cornichon, baguette crackers, cookies and lemonaide. Given the small-ish crowd, we all had the luxury of meeting everyone else and making connections and having some good conversation!

This coming Sunday is Trinity Sunday (our name day!). Justin Miller is preaching and Leah Harding will be at the organ. We've selected some great hymns, and we'll be reciting the Athanasian Creed in a responsive style - that should be worth the price of admission itself! We plan to have a festive reception/fellowship time after the service again this week.

I apologize for the poor quality of these photos – my camera was on the wrong setting but I didn’t notice since my mind was a few other places. Clearly we need a photographer who can pay attention to his/her work! (Any volunteers?)

Our liturgy and music teams met last night and we decided to try Evening Prayer (with sermon and music) on June 6 and 13. We'll probably hold these in the Chapel at Aldrich (which is just down the hall from the Sanctuary). I'll post information about our preacher on the website as soon as I have it: http://www.trinityminneapolis.org/  
We'll probably have Eucharist again on June 20 and would love to hear your feedback on these various types of worship.

Hope to see you this Sunday evening! 5:30, Aldrich Church, 3501 Aldrich Avenue South. Bring your friends. And if you can't be there, THANKS for your ongoing prayers and support of this new ministry.

Website is Up!

Despite a career in the exciting world of "IT," I had never created a website until today.  So be nice to me!  It's quite basic, but it does get the major news out there.

You'll find our website at http://www.trinityminneapolis.org/

Check it out and send me your feedback.  And send the link to your pals.

I'll post a few more updates here, but from this point on, the website will be our primary e-communications vehicle.

Full Speed Ahead for a May 23 Launch!

Sorry that it’s been a week+ since my last posting – recent days have seen a flurry of activity (including at my day job!) and I have found myself a little behind schedule.

We’re still moving towards a startup of weekly worship on Pentecost, May 23, a mere 11 days from today! Various individuals and teams are getting everything in place that we’ll need to “launch.” It won’t be a noisy launch (no big ads in local periodicals, no “spot” on the TV news, no proclamation by the mayor), but we’re hoping that you’ll be able to join us on Sunday evening, May 23 at around 5:00 (the exact time to be announced next week) for a wonderful time of worship and celebration and fellowship.

As always, shoot me an email anytime to offer your input/advice or to respond to any of our requests for info and help!  The email address is:  MplsAnglican@aol.com

Our Music and Liturgy Teams are off and running – they have built a basic framework for our worship services and selected the music and the liturgical elements for the first couple weeks. These two teams will have a joint meeting this Saturday at 10:30 (after our general planning meeting). Let me know if you’d like to join either of these teams, or would just like to sit in on our meeting.

Decisions about recording our services or the sermons (for eventual podcasting or just for our archives) will be made this week. We also need to identify a rotating team of greeters and ushers for the 23rd and all future services (let me know if you’re interested personally or have recommendations). And we need “Altar Guild” help with preparation for our Eucharist (again, please speak up if you’d like to help that way).

Our Theology Team is meeting tonight to flesh-out a couple more things that we need before opening our doors.

We still have room for you on all of our focused planning teams – see the list of them in my May 3 blog posting.

We now have a checking account containing $370.00! We’ll need to spend about $100 on the license that will allow us to print copyrighted words and music in our worship bulletins for a year, but hey, it’s a start! I’m acting as Treasurer pro tem and will be posting contributions to our accounting system. Assuming that all our legal filings go as expected, all contributions made anytime this year will be tax deductible. So write a check anytime – make it payable to Anglican Church of the Trinity and bring it to a planning meeting or worship service.

Last week I was thrilled to be invited to participate in the Anglican Church in North America’s “Deanery Formation” meeting in Chicago this Thursday and Friday. I will give a full report at our planning meeting this Saturday, including (I hope) the name of the priest who will preside over our first Eucharist on the 23rd.

I plan to have a simple website up and running very soon – I know that it would be really useful to be able to refer folks to a website (rather than my blog, which is more about the planting process than about the church itself). So stay tuned.

As always, please join us this Saturday morning.

• 3501 Aldrich Ave. S., Minneapolis
• 8:30 coffee and informal conversation;
• 9:00 Morning Prayer;
• 9:15 general planning meeting;
• 10:15 Liturgy and Music Teams’ meeting (and perhaps some other team meetings).

Donations are Welcome!

Donations are now being accepted! I spoke with a “nonprofits” banker at Bremer Bank this past week and will be opening an account for us there on Tuesday. On Saturday we made a couple key decisions: all checks will require two signatures (at this point we’ve identified two folks who will be on the “signature card” for the bank and I’ll be seeking another one or two more), and I’ll serve as the pro tem Treasurer and use my home address for the account for now. So if you’d like to make a contribution, we can accept it! I’ll put out a donation plate on Saturday, or if you’d like to send me a check and you don’t have my address, just shoot me an email at MplsAnglican@aol.com

Here are a couple photos of the Aldrich Church (3501 Aldrich Ave. S., Minneapolis), where we have our Saturday Morning Worship and planning meetings and where we’ll be worshiping on Sunday evenings.

We will be able to use the whole main floor (sanctuary, commons room, chapel and gym) plus the organ and grand piano, bibles, hymnals, etc.


I have obtained an IRS Employer Identification Number (EIN) and continue to work on the Bylaws and Articles of Incorporation (I plan to have drafts for review at our meeting on 5/8). The next steps will be to file the IRS “Application for Recognition of Exemption” and the Minnesota incorporation paperwork.

We’ve identified 14 decision-making/task-doing teams – groups of people who can take responsibility for various ministry and logistical areas prior to the church having any actual paid staff. We still need additional workers for most of these teams, though, so let me know where you would like to plug in. They are:

• Liturgy
• Theology
• Vestments, Altar
• Music
• Education
• Nursery
• Fellowship
• Pastoral Care
• Missions, Outreach
• Communications, Publication, Technology
• Finance
• Administration
• Executive Committee
• Vestry

It’s thrilling to have new people find us and join the team! A few folks were out of town this past Saturday, but we had a couple new folks join us, so we had a wonderful worship time in Morning Prayer and a productive planning meeting. Please pray that God would continue to work through the wonders of interpersonal relationships and the Internet (!) to bring the people of His choosing to our planning team and to our little outpost of His kingdom. And tell your friends about it!

A Bunch of Updates from the Last Week+

We selected the “Triquetra with Circle” image as the basis for our logo. It, and the explanation behind it, will feed our consulting artist’s work around colors, graphics, font, layout, etc. for printed materials and web design.

Aldrich Church has offered us the use of their main floor (sanctuary, chapel, gathering space, gym, piano, organ) on Sundays starting at 4:30 p.m. We would then offer worship at 5:00 (assuming that we could do altar setup and musician warmup in 30 minutes) and fellowship and/or education starting at 6:00. Any of you sports fans out there want to organize some physical activity for the kiddos in the gym? Any of you fellowship fans want to organize some food & drink? Any of you education fans want to organize some classes?

Our Theology Team’s work on “we chose the name Trinity because…” helped bring us to a consensus on the primary image for our logo. This team will provide additional reflections on other important topics: things that will help us with other organizational, logistical and missional decisions in the weeks ahead!

I’ll be speaking with Rev. George Koch the week of May 3. He’s the rector of Resurrection Anglican Church in West Chicago and is involved with (perhaps leading) the development of a geographical ACNA diocese for the upper Midwest.

One participant asked what we mean by “egalitarian” in our list of distinctives. We mean that women can be ordained as priests and can perform any role in the church, fully exercising their gifts. This underscores the fact that your questions are very important – it’s important for me/us to know when we fall into the trap of using buzzwords without defining them, so that we can prevent those same mistakes in the future. Keep your questions coming!

One participant recommended Dr. Marva Dawn’s work on worship and application of theology. She will be In MN in August – take a look at her website http://www.marvadawn.org/

I have started working on bylaws, using the current bylaws from another church and the canons and constitution of ACNA as guides. I hope to have a draft ready for review this Saturday.

One person wrote to suggest that we might consider Evening Prayer with homily and music as an alternative to a full Eucharist worship service some weeks. Good idea! Shoot me an email at MplsAnglican@aol.com if you’d like to voice your opinion on this (or any other topic!).

Oh, the Beauty of it All!

Last weekend I (and about 1,100 other people!) traveled to Wheaton College for their annual Theology Conference. The theme was “Jesus, Paul and the People of God: A Theological Dialogue with N.T. Wright” (Anglican Bishop of Durham, U.K.).  It brought several of Bishop Wright’s friends, colleagues and former students together to give papers critiquing and responding to some of his larger works, most prominently his 1997 "Jesus and the Victory of God" (or JVG, as they called it!) and then to discuss their critiques with him – all in front of an audience of more clergy and theologians and writers and professors and publishers than I have ever seen under one roof!   N.T. Wright also gave a full lecture after dinner each evening. You can get additional info and watch video of all the sessions or download MP3 recordings on Wheaton’s website: www.wheaton.edu/wetn/lectures-theology10.htm . If you watch nothing else, be sure to catch “Bishop Tom’s” amazingly compact and profound address to Wheaton’s students at chapel on Friday: www.wheaton.edu/wetn/flash-chapel/chap09-10/100416Wright.html Their website says that the demand is very heavy, so your download or streaming video might take a while to load.

I'm still reflecting on the ideas and impressions of the whole weekend, but the impression that stands out the most for me is the beauty of it all -
*  from the very cerebral beauty of the doctrines and theological concepts being discussed,
*  to the transcendent beauty of Jesus,
*  to the complex beauty of Paul and his teachings,
*  to the multifaceted beauty of the body of Christ,
*  to the peaceful beauty of brief liturgy and prayers that started each session,
*  to the almost humorous beauty of great minds wrestling with huge ideas,
*  to the gracious beauty revealed in decades of friendships,
*  to the ineffable beauty of music (the worship music, and especially Jeremy Begbie's profound performance of Liszt’s “Consolation #3” at the Steinway (it brought me to tears) and his composition “Variations on the letters of N.T. Wright’s name in the style of J.S. Bach”),
*  to the physical beauty of Wheaton’s lovely campus nestled in a gorgeous landscape created by our almighty God.

Another bonus of being in Wheaton was that I was able to meet with Rev. William Beasley, the church planting leader for Greenhouse Ministries, the primary group currently working in conjunction with ACNA and AMiA to plant and support new Anglican churches in the upper Midwest. (See the March 3 posting on this blog for more information about William and a link to watch some of his presentations at the Anglican1000 Conference.) Although it probably won’t work for Anglican Church of the Trinity to formally align with Greenhouse Ministries (primarily due to our firm egalitarian stand), William is happy to provide informal assistance. As he says, “we’re all in this together!” Bishop John Guernsey of the Diocese of the Holy Spirit in Woodbridge, VA has now recommended that I contact Rev. George Koch of Resurrection Anglican Church in West Chicago. Apparently George is helping develop an ACNA geographical diocese in our region. He also is a former executive of Oracle, one of the biggest software companies in the world, so these conversations should be fun (I’m a technology project manager myself). I’ve contacted George, and hope to have some more information by our meeting on Saturday.

I also met Rev. Martha Giltinan, a faculty member from Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, PA ( http://www.tsm.edu/ ) , who was very happy to hear about our little project and who will be delighted to help us with training, resources, etc. So stay tuned for further details on that front!

This Saturday morning we meet again at Aldrich Church (3501 Aldrich Ave. S.) at 9:00 for Morning Prayer and then our planning meeting. Coffee and informal conversation start at 8:30. The primary agenda items for our planning meeting are:
* selection of a primary “Trinitarian” image for our logo – I’ll bring some additional input from team members who have been researching this over the past week+
* an initial report from our Theology Team on topics/statements that will guide how we describe this church on printed materials and the web, how we articulate our commitment to egalitarian service and leadership, how we start to design our worship, etc.
* additional feedback from my conversations with various ACNA leaders
* a venue for our worship services
* the “critical mass” of participants and leaders – are we on target for starting worship on Pentecost?
* various logistical details around budgeting, decision-making, databases, website, incorporation
* other program and ministry updates (lots of leadership opportunities still available!)
* prayer requests

Reminder - No Planning Meeting this Week

A few of us will be out of town, so we won't be meeting this Saturday for Morning Prayer and planning.

Shoot me an email at MplsAnglican@aol.com if you would like a summary of this week's activities, findings, decisions, etc.

A Name, A Time, A Team of Theologians!

OK…it’s official…we’re now

Anglican Church of the Trinity

It’s so good to have a name, and such a glorious one at that!

And, after reviewing the updated “pros and cons” worship-time analysis this morning, we selected the Sunday afternoons/evenings alternative. Thanks again to all who contributed to that analysis.

Now that we have a name, we can start the work of filing incorporation papers, writing bylaws, etc.

And now that we’ve selected a worship time we can approach a church about renting space for worship (and perhaps education and fellowship) on Sunday afternoons/evenings.

Today we also decided to appoint a “theology team” that would build a guiding framework based on the theology of the Trinity – a framework that can then be used to inform us as we make a bunch of practical and logistical decisions over the next few months. This framework will help ensure that we don’t make decisions just based on our personal preferences or sociological influences but, whenever possible, based on the character of God and the relationships between the persons of the Trinity.

And we started reviewing the history and interpretations of various Trinitarian symbols today; I will email a recap of that information to everyone on my mailing list (if you don’t receive my weekly emails and would like to see this information, just shoot me a note at MplsAnglican@aol.com). Over the next couple weeks we’ll research some more symbols with the intention of selecting one to incorporate in our logo by the end of April.

Obviously, we still have a long “to-do” list (actually a Gantt chart – shoot me an email if you’d like a copy); people are volunteering to drive tasks in their area(s) of interest, but opportunities abound, so step up now to participate in areas that interest you!

Dead Sea Scrolls Lecture by Renowned Bible Scholars and Translators

Several churches and organizations are presenting lectures in conjunction with the “Dead Sea Scrolls” exhibit at the Science Museum, but I would like to draw your attention to one of them.

This Thursday evening, April 8, Dr. Ronald Youngblood and Dr. Dan Gurtner are giving a lecture at the Benson Great Hall at Bethel University at 7:00 p.m. No reservations are required. 

• Dr. Youngblood is emeritus professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Bethel Seminary San Diego. Last year he celebrated his 50-year teaching career that began at Dropsie College for Hebrew and Cognate Learning (Philadelphia), where he earned a Ph.D. in Assyriology. Youngblood, an ordained minister, has made more than 10 trips to the Middle East during the last 46 years, and is one of the translators and editors of the New International Version of the Bible. He also has served as author or editor of more than 20 books.
• Dr. Gurtner is associate professor of New Testament at Bethel Seminary. His teachings focus on the Gospels and their Old Testament and Jewish background, and he is the author of five books pertaining to the Gospels and Second Temple Judaism. He holds a Ph.D. in New Testament from the University of St. Andrews (Scotland), and has been teaching at Bethel Seminary since 2005. Gurtner is an ordained minister in Converge Worldwide (Baptist General Conference).

For a map, visit:  http://www.bethel.edu/special-events/campus_map.htm 
For more information about these and other events, visit: http://www.bethel.edu/alumni/events/2009/dead-sea-scrolls

I plan to attend Thursday night’s lecture. Shoot me an email at MplsAnglican@aol.com if you’d like to join me!

Planning Update

In addition to selecting “Trinity” as the operative word in this church’s name (at our planning meeting last Saturday), we discussed the implications and pros and cons of holding weekly Sunday worship (at least at the beginning) on

• Sunday mornings -or-
• Sunday afternoons/evenings

We also touched on some other alternatives, but these two were our primary focus. I brought a decision matrix to the meeting, pre-populated with some pros and cons, and we talked through it, adding some implications and clarifying others. Since so many other decisions are dependent on the “when we worship” decision, I would like us to come to a consensus this Saturday.

I will email the “pros and cons” matrix to everyone on my weekly-update email distribution list, asking for their feedback by Friday. If you don’t already receive that weekly email and would like to see the matrix, just send me a note at MplsAnglican@aol.com .

The folks at the meeting on Saturday and several others I spoke with during the week agreed that we should put “pedal to the metal” and try to start weekly worship on Pentecost, May 23. That would put our first worship on the birthday of the Church and the second on our name day, Trinity Sunday! Is that thrilling or what?!? We know that there is a lot to do (see the list on my March 28 blog entry), but it’s possible, with God’s help.

We closed Saturday’s meeting with prayers:

• That God would move in the hearts of the people of His choosing to be part of the core planning team
• That the folks on the core planning team will have confidence in their call and the ability to set aside the time required to participate
• For wisdom and guidance
• For a place to worship
• For provisions for the work
• For conviction that this is the way forward, this is of God’s leading

Trinity Wins!

I hope that your Easter was beautiful and blessed, dear friends!

One quick update from last week’s discussions and meetings:

“Trinity” wins!

...as the operative portion of this church’s name, that is. And of course, as we were reminded throughout Holy Week and Easter, “Trinity” wins in a universal sense as well!

This week we’ll finalize the rest of the name. Please let us know your thoughts by sending an email to MplsAnglican@aol.com or by posting a comment on this blog entry. Some options are:

• “Church of the Trinity, Anglican” At this point, this is my preferred formulation, given that it establishes ownership and precedence – we belong to the Trinity, not the other way around. (Also, not many other churches in town use an “of the” formulation.)
• “Anglican Church of the Trinity” This also nicely defines the right relationship to God, but it seems to hint that alliance (Anglican) comes before allegiance (Trinity). It does give a hint about the style of worship someone would find there (classical Anglican). And with so many churches removing their denominational relationship from their name, it might be nice to be counter-cultural by putting it front and center!
• “Trinity Church, Anglican”
• “Trinity Anglican Church”
• others?

The name “Trinity” carries some great historical symbols that we might use in our logo. Here are three of them. Again, post a comment on this blog entry or send me an email with explanations of one or more of these symbols, your preferences, or additional options.

I’ll post some more updates from last Saturday’s meeting later today and tomorrow. But if you’re interested, please do join us next Saturday at Aldrich Church (3501 Aldrich Ave S, Minneapolis)

• 8:30-9:00 coffee and informal conversation
• 9:00-9:15 Morning Prayer
• 9:15-10:00 planning

The Importance of Church Planting

I know that many of you have read books by Dr. Tim Keller, senior pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City http://www.redeemer.com/ . He has a big passion for urban ministries and for church planting. He says: 

“The vigorous, continual planting of new congregations is the single most crucial strategy for the numerical growth of the Body of Christ in any city and the continual corporate renewal and revival of the existing churches in a city. Nothing else – not crusades, outreach programs, para-church ministries, growing mega-churches, congregational consulting, nor church renewal practices – will have the consistent impact of dynamic, extensive church planting. This is an eyebrow raising statement. But to those who have done any study at all, it is not even controversial.”

As you pray for Minneapolis (or for your city), remember to ask God to raise up church planters.  And hey, maybe God is calling you to be one of them!

Planning Update

Join Us for Prayer-Conversation-Planning

• Weekly on Saturday mornings from 9:00 to 10:00 (we WILL meet this coming Saturday, April 3 - agenda items outlined below)
• Aldrich Church, 3501 Aldrich Ave S, Minneapolis
• http://www.aldrichchurch.org/
• Enter using the door facing Aldrich Avenue on the south end of the building and follow the signs I’ll post
• 8:30 gather for coffee and informal conversation
• 9:00-10:00 assemble for Morning Prayer, Q&A, planning

One of the distinctives of this worshiping community will be the use of classical Anglican liturgy, so we started our meeting on March 27 with Morning Prayer. We’ll continue to do so – it is a well-spent 15 minutes that helps frame and shape the subsequent discussion. And the beautiful surroundings of Aldrich Church’s sanctuary really makes it feel like “doing church!”

After Morning Prayer we talked through an outline of tasks we need to complete in April and May (assuming that we want to start some kind of worship services by Memorial Day), making a few adjustments and additions to my draft list – you can find the list at the bottom of this blog posting. We then talked about a name for this church – some of the folks in the core group had provided “campaign speeches” for a few of the names, so we discussed that input (send an email to me at MplsAnglican@aol.com if you would like a copy of those name pitches). "Trinity" continues to lead in the voting. We spent some time discussing pros and cons of various worship times for the summer. I provided some feedback from meetings I’ve had with various clergypersons and other folks over the past couple weeks. We looked at a list of books we might want to read together (see http://anglican1000.org/?/main/page/C7 ). And we discussed other questions that are on participants’ minds.

Next Saturday we’ll meet at the same time and place, and I’d like us to:

• do Morning Prayer
• finalize the church name
• continue to discuss possible worship times (and possibly select one) – this will drive ensuing discussions about where we worship
• continue to refine our description of who we are, our purpose/mission, a tagline, etc.
• begin to build definition of "critical mass" - what absolutely needs to be in place before starting public weekly worship services (BTW, it dawned on me today how spectacular it would be if we could start Sunday worship on Pentecost, May 23!) 
• assign “due dates” to April tasks, and identify who will drive each one

Last week I had great conversations with a couple clergypersons in other denominations, and have a couple more scheduled for this week. The encouragement, insights, recommendations, cautions and promises-to-pray that I received from these folks are so valuable and heart-warming, and all of them are very excited to hear about the developments in our little corner of God’s kingdom.

Finally, here is our current list of tasks to be accomplished in the next two months (or, in any case, before we start regular weekly worship). Where would you like to be involved?

April

• Finalize the schedule for these planning meetings

• Select target date for startup of weekly Sunday worship. Decide whether to start as a core group worshiping community before advertising to the public. (Define critical mass of worshipers and leaders of core ministries to be in place before starting public worship.)

• Select time of day for weekly Sunday (or other day) worship

• Select a church name

• Confirm desired geography (SW Minneapolis or other?)

• Draft decision-making processes, identify leadership

• Articulate distinctives, vision, mission, purpose, etc.

• Draft 1-year income/expense budget

• Select a book to read together?

• Liaise with ACNA, DioHS (or a new geographical diocese)

May

• Find venue for weekly worship

• Develop immediate and future plans for

   o Altar and Communion materials and supplies

   o Liturgy

   o Preaching

   o Eucharist

   o Hymnody, chants, choral/instrumental music

   o Visual and other arts

   o Visitor and new member information and integration

   o Children’s Worship

   o Adult Education, Discipleship

   o Youth Education and other programs

   o Children’s Education

   o Nursery

   o Pastoral Care
   o Prayer Ministry

   o Fellowship

   o Communications, bulletins, newsletters, emails, tweets, etc.

   o Outreach, missions

   o Facility acquisition and setup/teardown, liaise with owner

 • Incorporate

 • Develop logo and style sheet

 • Design website

 • Select administrative/financial tools

 • Write job descriptions; develop staffing plan

Join Us for Prayer-Conversation-Discernment-Planning on Saturday Morning!

Starting this Saturday, March 27!
Weekly on Saturday mornings from 9:00-10:00
Aldrich Church, 3501 Aldrich Ave S, Minneapolis
http://www.aldrichchurch.org/

We have a venue, and it’s a glorious one! Matt Johnson, the pastor at Aldrich Church, has graciously agreed to let us meet in their sanctuary on Saturday mornings. Enter using the door facing Aldrich Avenue on the south end of the building and follow the signs I’ll post.

• 8:30-9:00  gather for coffee and informal conversation
• 9:00-10:00 assemble for some worship, prayer, Q&A, discernment and planning

On Friday I will email some materials that we’ll use in this meeting to folks on my weekly email update list. If you’re not receiving that weekly email, let me know by sending a note to

MplsAnglican@aol.com

I will also bring copies of the materials to the meeting, but if you can’t join us on Saturday you’ll be able to be at least partially in the loop! And if you can join us, it might be handy to review them in advance.

We’ll play this by ear – in subsequent weeks we might need to meet longer than an hour (or even at a different time). Let’s see how it goes.

I’m excited!!! Are you?

Mark Your Calendar for Weekly Saturday Morning Prayer/Discernment/Planning Meetings

Starting this Saturday, March 27!
Weekly, on Saturday mornings from 9:00-10:00.
Venue TBD

If you would like to join some folks in praying about this initiative, in discerning whether you might be led to participate in its worship this summer, and in planning the work needed to get it off the ground, please join us on Saturday mornings at 9:00 to 10:00. I’m still working on the venue for these meetings, so stay tuned.

If you would like to participate but Saturday mornings won’t work for you, let me know by sending an email to MplsAnglican@aol.com . I can send you copies of the materials we’ll use at these sessions, which will allow you to pray and participate with us as you are able. And I could meet with you individually if you’d like. Also, please suggest an alternative meeting time for the group if something else would work well for you over the next couple months.

Participating in one or more of these meetings does not commit you in any way!

 But I see a lot of value in us hearing each others’ perspectives and priorities, in seeking God’s leading together and in seeing who might be able to help with what tasks.

I had originally thought of scheduling these meetings for Sunday afternoons, but I have conflicts at least half of the time. So I hope a Saturday morning will work well for many of you.

How long we continue these meetings will depend on what we learn from each other and on how many tasks we agree should be completed before we start regular weekly worship services, but my best guess is that we’ll meet through the end of May.

Vote for a Name!

Would you be willing to share your thoughts and feelings regarding a name for this new church? Responding doesn’t obligate you in any way! But I would really like to know what phrases and names resonate with people.

At the bottom of this blog entry you’ll find a list of 42 potential names, which came from my little brain and suggestions from a few other people. Please send me an email at MplsAnglican@aol.com to let me know which three are your favorites - rank them on a scale of 1=high, 3=low. If you’d like to rearrange the words, suggest variations, or offer entirely new names, go for it!

To provide some context, I have developed a list of eight “distinctives” for this new church – of course, at this point it is just a draft list, but I think it forms a pretty good framework. They’re in no particular order:

• Orthodox in belief
• Evangelistic in outreach
• Reverent in worship
• Scriptural in teaching
• Egalitarian in serving
• Transformational in intent
• Prayerful in planning
• Knowing God in purpose

So here is my suggested list of names. Vote for your top three, and feel free to rearrange the words and to offer variations and other names.

• Agape Anglican Church
• All Saints’ Anglican Church, Minneapolis
• Anglican Bible Church
• Anglican Church of Christ the Way, the Truth, the Life
• Anglican Church of Redemption
• Anglican Church of Restoration
• Anglican Church of the Atonement
• Anglican Church of the Redeeming Name
• Anglican Church of the Resurrection
• Ascension Anglican Church
• Bread of Life Anglican Church
• Calvary Anglican Church
• Christ Our Hope Anglican Church
• Christ the King Anglican Church
• Church of Hope, Anglican
• Church of Our Lord, Anglican
• Church of Peace, Anglican
• Church of Prayer, Anglican
• Church of St. Justin the Martyr
• Church of the Covenant, Anglican
• Church of the Great Shepherd, Anglican
• Church of the Holy Spirit, Anglican
• Church of the Redeemer, Anglican
• Church of the Savior, Anglican
• Cross of Christ Anglican Church
• Evangelical Anglican Church of Minneapolis
• Friends of Jesus, Anglican
• Gloria Dei Anglican Church
• Grace Anglican Church
• Immanuel Anglican Church
• Jesus Our Savior Anglican Church
• King of Glory Anglican Church
• Living Water Anglican Church
• Reconciliation Anglican Church
• Redeemer Anglican Church
• St. John’s Anglican Church
• St. Paul’s Anglican Church
• Transformation Anglican Church
• Trinity Church, Anglican
• Word of God Anglican Church
• Word of Life Anglican Church

Choral Evensong from King's College Cambridge - Catch it Before March 20!

A wonderful choral evensong was broadcast from King's College Cambridge last Wednesday evening. It is available online on BBC3's website only until this Saturday. I highly recommend it, especially for those of you whose souls are fed by traditional worship, poetry and music. The broadcast is about an hour long.

You will find the broadcast here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00r8b3p 

I've transcribed the texts of some of the music.  Just send me an email at MplsAnglican@aol.com if you would like a copy.  (I couldn't find the exact translation of Psalm 55 that was used in the setting they sang, so I provided the ESV translation in my document.)

Catch this broadcast while you can!  You'll thank me!

Doing Theology

I just started listening to an online course called “Foundations” which is available online from “Theology Network,” a service of UCCF (the UK Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship) at   http://www.theologynetwork.org/christian-beliefs/creation-and-new-creation/studying-theologyrs/starting-out/foundations--a-new-course-from-theology-network.htm   I commend it for your consideration!

Their recommendation is:

“Get together with a bunch of mates once a week for 10 weeks and discuss each week’s topic as outlined below. You can listen to the talks on your mp3 player during the week, and then discuss what you heard when you get together. We’ve given you some discussion questions (at the bottom of the resource page) to start you off.”

Want to join me in this endeavor? Shoot me an email at MplsAnglican@aol.com

The ten sessions (each about 1 - 2 hours long) in this series are:

1. Introduction
2. The Doctrine of God
3. The Bible
4. The Fall and Sin
5. Jesus Christ
6. The Cross
7. Justification
8. The Holy Spirit and Christian Living
9. The Church
10. Creation and New Creation

The teachers for this series are:

• Mike Reeves - UCCF's Theological Advisor, before which he was an associate minister at All Souls Church, Langham Place, in London (where, incidentally, yours truly had her first introduction to Anglican worship many decades ago!); his PhD is in Systematic Theology
• Don Carson - Research Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Chicago
• John Piper - Pastor for Preaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis
• Tim Rudge - UCCF's Field Director

A Big Goal (Leading to a Bunch of Smaller Ones!)

About a week ago a friend asked me when I hoped that this new church would start holding regular weekly Sunday services somewhere. I wasn’t prepared for that question, and I hadn’t really dared to think about it, so I answered with “gosh, I don’t know, it’s not really up to me, it depends on how God leads us and on what others who are interested in this ministry think, blah, blah, blah, …”

I’m so thankful for friends who ask questions that I can’t answer. It gets me thinkin’ and prayin’! Although my answer was true…it does really depend on how God leads…there’s nothing wrong with putting a stake in the ground (or a fork in the jell-o!) to have something to aim for and plan around.

So how about this for a goal:

First services on Memorial Day Weekend, May 30, 2010

I personally like this goal for many reasons, not the least of which is that since so many churches cut back their programs in the summer, we could be downright counter-cultural! And:

• Many families who might be interested in this church have kids that are very involved in their current church’s youth programs September though May, making it tough for them to be involved here as a family before June.
• Many adults’ programs take a hiatus in the summer as well, giving those adults some time to think about and try something different.
• It would give folks some substantial time to “try out” the new church. By the time fall rolled around, they could confidently say “not for me” or “hey let’s give this the ol’ college try.” Low risk, high potential reward!
• People who might be interested in leading any of a number of ministries and programs could make themselves known and step up to help shape their program of interest.
• Summer is usually more relaxed, providing the opportunity to relate with folks who come on a more casual basis, maybe over picnics or coffee and lemonaide or….
• The need to “be there” for folks pastorally is as strong in the summer as any other time of year, but sometimes other churches’ pastoral services are cut back in the summer as well.
• There’s plenty of time to make mistakes on a small scale and correct them before fall programs and services start up in earnest!

Obviously, lots of work and decisions and conversations need to occur in the next couple months. And we need to hunt down a place to meet. And we need to select a name. And we need to start regular prayer/planning meetings soon. But it gives us something to shoot for!

Please share your thoughts and concerns, either by posting a comment on this blog entry or by sending an email to MplsAnglican@aol.com

AnglicanTV - See for Yourself!

Kim Larsen, who is coordinating the establishment of Hope Anglican Fellowship in Hudson WI, clued me in to AnglicanTV when we talked on Monday. What a great resource! Isn’t technology grand? Check it out for yourself: http://www.anglicantv.org/

On AnglicanTV you can find lots of interesting interviews, bible teaching, workshop sessions from last week’s Anglican1000 Summit and other conferences, video from the Church of England Synod, etc. You can “meet” others in the ACNA movement and maybe get a better sense of who they are, what they’re thinking, how God is leading them, what their energy is, etc. – a better sense than you would get just reading their material or hearing about them.

One video that I would particularly recommend is called “A1000: Rev Beasley – Look Up and Step Out.” The leader of this hour-long workshop is Rev. William Beasley, who is the missionary rector to the ACNA regional midwest diocese-in-formation (where this new church for SW Minneapolis would connect). In it you can vicariously participate in the Anglican1000 Summit, catching some of the vision, and learning about others’ mission fields in this region. Rev. Beasley introduces leaders from new churches in Chicago, Kenosha/Madison/Milwaukee, and the Twin Cities area.  His presentation on Jesus’ admonition in Luke 10 to “Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest field. Go!” is insightful, fun and very energetic! Some of my favorite little tidbits:

• “We do not have faith in our abilities, we don’t even have faith in our faith. We have faith in the Lord. He is the Lord of the harvest. It’s his harvest field. It’s his harvest.”
• “You know how you translate that word “go” from the Greek? GO!”
• “Don’t expect to know everything before you start. Expect to make mistakes. As we follow, we learn.”
• “These new churches did not start with a budget! People called by God stepped out in faith. The resources are in the harvest.”

I’ve watched only a couple of the videos so far. Please feel free to post a comment on this blog entry to let its readers know what episodes particularly strike you. Or, as always, feel free to send me an email at MplsAnglican@aol.com with your questions and comments.

The Important Thing is to Stay On the Path!

The first verse of a wonderful Lenten penitential hymn goes like this:
Creator of the earth and skies,
to whom the words of life belong,
grant us your truth to make us wise;
grant us your power to make us strong.

That’s been my prayer for this week!

It’s been a great week of conversations and contacts and questions and ideas and research. Clergy friends and laypeople from a variety of denominations have been very generous with their time, insights and advice, and have referred me to others who can help and/or who might be interested in being part of this adventure. Additional conversations have been scheduled for the next three weeks.

This Monday and Tuesday a church planting summit was held in Texas. You can read about it on the Anglican1000 website: Church Planting Summit  Over the next couple weeks I’ll be talking to at least three people who were at that summit to gain additional perspective, resources, ideas, etc.

I’ve been fully aware in my head that the whole path won’t be clear all at once – that we shouldn’t expect to see more than just a little bit ahead of where we are at the moment, but that we should move ahead with what we know and with where God seems to be leading, while staying attentive. The important thing is to stay on the path! But as I’ve been talking to old and new friends this week it’s been so cool to see one idea expand into another and to experience some little “course corrections” early in the journey. I wouldn’t have started this journey if I didn’t believe that it was the right thing to do, and my conviction about its “rightness” has grown throughout this week.

But, project manager that I am, I have still started a task list and a project plan and a Gantt chart even though I know that big and small things can and will change considerably. I just can’t help myself!

Two questions will need to be answered pretty soon. If you would like to offer your thoughts on either of these, please leave a comment on this blog entry or send an email to MplsAnglican@aol.com

1) What should the name of this church be? It would be nice to start referring to it as something other than “a new Anglican church for southwest Minneapolis,” and it will need a name to start the incorporation process.

2) When should it meet, especially in the initial months? On the one hand, a non-Sunday-morning timeslot would be great for people who want to be involved in the startup of this church but who also want to continue to worship and serve at their current church. On the other hand, a typical Sunday morning timeframe would be best for folks who want to involve their whole families right from the start since conflicts arise with kids’ and other activities almost any other time of the day. As some of my friends observed this week, it should be possible to rent lovely Sunday morning space from a Synagogue or a Seventh-Day Adventist church!

What is the Anglican Church in North America, and Where Does it Fit in the Anglican Communion?

A formal call for the establishment of another Anglican body in North America (as an alternative to The Episcopal Church) rose out of the “Global Anglican Future Conference” (GAFCon) in Jerusalem in June 2008. The representatives at this conference represented about 35 million Anglicans worldwide; it was assembled in response to years’ worth of mounting concerns about the “crisis gripping the Anglican Communion over scriptural authority.” And clearly a catalyst for this meeting was the 2003 consecration of a partnered homosexual bishop for New Hampshire and the ongoing perceived violations of the 2004 Windsor Report. GAFCon called for changes and commitments that would allow Anglicans to “give clear and certain witness to Jesus Christ.”  Jerusalem Declaration

In the succeeding 12 months existing U.S. and Canadian “missionary” dioceses (established by various African Provinces of the Anglican Church), the Reformed Episcopal Church (established in 1873) and other individuals and groups worked to develop an initial ecclesial structure and to draft a constitution and canons for The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). ACNA had its Inaugural Assembly in June 2009, at which time they established their constitution and canons and consecrated their Archbishop, Robert Duncan of Pittsburgh. At that time ACNA united about 100,000 Anglicans in 700 parishes and 28 dioceses into a single Church. It is a Province-in-Formation as it still needs to be formally recognized as a Province of the Anglican Communion, although a majority of the other Provinces have already individually formally recognized it.

On February 11, 2010 the Synod of the Church of England passed a resolution that recognizes and affirms the desire of those who have formed the ACNA to remain within the Anglican family. Press Release

Since last June, about 100 new parishes have been added to the ACNA roster (some are newly planted churches, some have moved from The Episcopal Church).  http://www.anglicanchurch.net/

This week ACNA held an “Anglican1000” church planting conference. The goal is to plant 1000 new churches in the next five years, something Archbishop Duncan called for at his consecration.  http://www.anglican1000.org/

This could be one of those new churches!

So, Who is this Mariellen, and Why is She Leading this Charge?

Hello! My name is Mariellen Jacobson. I’m a layperson who worshipped at a large Episcopal church for the last 10 years.

I was attracted to the Anglican tradition and the Episcopal church, having come from an Evangelical background, by its beautiful and profound liturgy and worship (including wonderful music in the classical Western European tradition), great adult education, opportunities for contemplative prayer/worship (primarily a Taizé service), the opportunity to plug in and serve in a huge variety of ways, terrific fellowship (including some great church dinners) with some lively and interesting parishioners, the opportunities for women to teach, preach and lead, and the knowledge that some of the Christian thinkers and writers I most highly respect were Anglicans (my first visit to what became my parish was to hear John Stott speak!).

So why leave all that great stuff? Over the past few years I have grown increasingly aware of an accelerating and, I think, fatal departure from core doctrine on the part of many Episcopal clergy, bishops and other leaders. Many of them deny the uniqueness of Jesus Christ (to them he is only “a way”). The concept of the authority of scripture (which should inspire an effort to really know scripture) seems foreign. It seems that the desire to know God is being supplanted by a desire to “be relevant,” to adapt to the surrounding culture (rather than to transform it). Obviously, this is not true of every Episcopal church and every parishioner, but the decisions and communications of so many of its leaders make it a place that I cannot see myself staying and serving God for the rest of my life. Also, the financial priorities and management decisions of the national church make it increasingly difficult for me to contribute to my local parish. Rather than stay and try to help turn the tide (a strategy to which others might be called), I feel led to help establish an alternative – an orthodox, traditional, egalitarian Anglican church in my neighborhood.

Over the years I served my parish in various leadership roles - as its treasurer for four years, as a musician (choir member, music librarian, French horn player), as a member of the adult education planning team, as a leader of its “parish profile” team (when we were searching for a new rector), as the chef for dinners served at several big fundraising and other events, as a member of its strategic planning committee, etc. I also served the Diocese of Minnesota as a member of its “Bishop’s Commission on Mission Strategy,” as a leader on its “Mission Strategy Network” committee, and as one of the founders and the communications coordinator of its “Lay Leaders’ Network” (the Wardens and Treasurers of many of the diocese’ churches).

I have also served on the Boards and in other volunteer leadership roles of various not-for-profit arts organizations over the years. Professionally, I have held technical (computer and information services) and management roles in several industries; currently I work as a project management and business analysis consultant. I love to find and connect people for the purpose of bringing together the knowledge and skills needed to accomplish a worthy objective. And what more worthy objective is there than to equip the saints and bring others to Christ? This new church will need individuals with gifts in teaching, preaching, youth leadership, music, children’s education, pastoral care, evangelism, liturgy, infant care, eucharistic ministry, missions, art, administration, communications, properties, outreach, serving, … Where can you help?

My “life verse” is Philippians 3:12 “…I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (NIV) I see this mission as the next chapter in my “pressing on” story!

An Invitation

If you are interested in exploring the possibility of “planting” a new Anglican church in southwest Minneapolis, contact Mariellen Jacobson at
MplsAnglican@aol.com
or by posting a comment on this blog.

This new church would be affiliated with The Anglican Church in North America
http://anglicanchurch.net/
possibily initially through the Diocese of the Holy Spirit
http://diohs.org/

Some distinctives for this new church:
Orthodox
Scripture-Centered
Liturgical
Transformational
Evangelistic
Sacramental
Prayer-Filled
Creedal
Equipping
Spirit-Led
Egalitarian
Classical

Contact Mariellen if you would like to be involved in the prayer, brainstorming, discernment and planning stages for this potential new church, or if you would like to be kept informed of its progress.