Campus Synergy Summit 2015 ... incredible!

 

 

In my role as the national coordinator for post-secondary campus ministries in the PAOC I have the opportunity of working with some of the best leaders in our movement. None of them are in it for fame or fortune. They do it because God has called them to it and they know in the depths of their being that what they are doing is significant and strategic. They are reaching our nation, indeed the world, through the campus. And they are doing it in ways that are both creative and courageous.

The seeds of something greater...

 

I love this tribe: Compassionate, intelligent and articulate servant followers of Christ who are writing a new chapter in the larger story of post-secondary ministry in Canada.

I knew that if I could just get them all together, from East to West, in one place where they could worship and pray together, hear and learn from each other’s stories and strategize for the next steps in our collective journey, it would be ‘nuclear’.  That was the purpose of our Campus Synergy Summit. And, quite simply, 'nuclear' happened. Those of us who were there are aware that we were part of something transcendent. We are still searching for words to describe it.



These people are my friends. I really wanted them to all meet each other. I make the connections between them regularly in my mind and heart. I knew what I needed to do was to 'externalize  the internal'. My unofficial mission statement for the Summit was to see happen in time and space  what regularly happens in my brain. That thing that lights me up on the inside, from knowing these people and the ministries they represent, needed to happen in real time. And did it ever! Seeing various parts of this tribe, from Halifax to Victoria connect with each other, in a beautiful camp context ,and challenge and encourage each other was beyond gratifying. There was also input by some of our national leaders, such as David Wells and David Hazzard. A genuine “synergy” happened. The event was so more than the sum of its parts.

 

Our vision going forward is:  Every Campus: by whatever means.   The challenge is: Why Not?  The corollary to that challenge is: Why Not Us?  It is not to build an edifice to hubris. It is to rise to the challenge as a movement and to serve the campus and the broader Church by being who God is calling us to be. And trust me, we spent a lot of time and focus refining just what that might be. We are all calling on God to help us understand just what that might look like.

 

 



Distilling what God has been saying to us...



 

So, what would it look like?  Well, it would embody Compassion. It would embody a Humility that recognizes that without God’s direct empowerment and leading it will surely wither. And it would involve a heart of Service, which seeks to bless the university or college, and particularly the multiple hundreds of thousands of students who are forging their identities and futures on the campuses of our nation. And it would do it with an expectancy of what the living God can and will do in and through people yielded to Him.

Among a host of other things, it would involve reaching out to those who are dispossessed and marginalized. It would involve challenging our comfort and embracing the incredible diversity that we see on our campuses and working to model the Kingdom in and through community on campus. In many ways, our people are doing this so well. At the same time, we all painfully realize that we have so much further to go.  It will involve a comprehensive, whole person approach to discipleship, witness and worship.

And it will involve a growing relationship with all three Persons of the living Triune God, Who is not only real, but alive, powerful, engaged, involved, dynamic and, of course, missional.

And it involves doing it together!

 

 

We need to be there

Videographer Scott Trapasso and his team took a couple of days to interview me and follow me around various campuses.   

Out of the hours of footage, he distilled five minutes which tell ( and show) strategic pieces of the story of what we are about at Campus Mission Canada. 

 So much to say... So little time.... :) 

I hope you take Take 5 ,click the link below, and have a look at what's cooking. 

We Need To Be There

random pic from my backyard, chosen because it is pretty...

The Plea for National Synergy

Hi.  I am going to offer you an abridged report I wrote for our Fellowship in which I review our history and make the case for national synergy.  Quite simply, we need each other and we are better together.  One would think this is a no-brainer.  Well, for most people it is. They see it. They get it. For a minority... well, not so much. Tribalism and provincialism ( figuratively) die hard.  

So, this blog covers a fair bit of ground. Some history is in order, here. And then ( good) reasons why Campus Mission Canada exists to distill and advance what God is doing on the campuses of our nation. I encourage you to hang in there. It will be worth the read..

• We didn't start from the top down. Nor do we operate that way.  Consider the following highlights ( which only begin to tell the story).

We have been planting and innovating campus ministries across the country for over thirty years ( this is a one sentence summary of two pages of text :) ).  .

Over the past decade, efforts were made to network these ministries and develop an emerging consensus of who and what we are and how we do what God is calling us collectively to do. This began in the formation of Campus Guiding Groups where some of the key players in campus ministry met to share their insight and experience in developing something on a national scale. It is this cooperation and partnership that gives Campus Mission Canada (CMC) its multi-dimensional approach to campus ministry.

This led to an “AHA!!” moment. The various ministries each promoted their own views and methods. But then they saw that they could celebrate and  embrace what the other regional ministries were doing, and even use them to augment and enhance their own ministries.  As a result, there was a recognition at the time that there were three viable models that not only could “work” but which could profoundly impact the campus. 

Namely: Clubs.  Campus Churches and Chaplaincies. 

In 2009, Robb Powell took on the national role of Coordinator of campus ministries for Mission Canada. One of the first things he did was to attempt to inventory what was going on in our campuses and to distill models and best practices.  He added two more models to the mix: Church- based outreach on a campus), such as Red Frogs,  and Creative ventures ( such as the Greenbean Café in Windsor or The House in Kelowna ).

So, putting it together..

	·         Clubs                                              ·         Campus Churches                                                  ·         Chaplaincies                          ·         Church-based ministries                                      ·         Creative ventures

C5  expresses both the diversity and unity of our approach to campus ministry. We recognize there is simply no one size fits all model. Our ministries employ different models and many of them employ more than one. C5 enables us to distill and communicate what we do on the campuses of our nation in a way that utilizes our history and strength as a Fellowship. 

What is the Role of Campus Mission Canada?

For the sake of simplicity, let’s narrow it down to four points.

1.    Support.  Getting the right resources to the right people. Being there for them. Understanding them.

2.    Envision.  Keep our vision to reach the campus clear. Distill and communicate our values and our best practices. Ensure that the Fellowship knows what we are about and that our aims are understood.

3.    Extend.  . Either we come alongside of ministries, churches and districts to help them fulfill their vision for the particular campus or we act as catalysts to bring together the right people and resources to bring about the right result.  Either way, God is served.

4.    Network.  We work to create forums for campus ministers to connect. Further, we desire to connect campus ministers with local churches, and regional and district ministries. The hope is to bring people together and to ensure that communication lines are open.

Let's make a distinction, here.  

Mission Canada is a missions agency. It recognizes gaps in Canadian culture that needs missionaries and it deploys them.   However, Campus Mission Canada, while part of Mission Canada, is a Network. It is " a coalition of the willing".  We connect dots and create synergies. 

A Plea for National Synergy

CMC does not replace what happens at the District level. It looks to be a catalyst to support and augment the District efforts and look for genuine synergies. While they ought to be self-apparent,  consider the following points ( each of which are really subtitles

o   The loss of the emerging ( goodbye) generation is a national (international) issue.  It transcends regions, districts, provinces and nations.

o   Collectively, it will take more than our best efforts to address it.

o   We are better together.  When campus practitioners gather they inspire and challenge each other to create and adapt.

o   In spite of their diversity, campus ministers “get” each other and derive enormous benefit from networking – both online and in person.

o   We can celebrate the strengths of the various models from the various regions without being limited to them.

o   We can leverage the strengths of the various ministries. It is an opportunity to both give and receive.

o   We do not have to keep reinventing the wheel. We can provide information and resources that will enable the new ministries to springboard off of our shoulders.

o   In many ways, if one were to look at the quality and diversity of PAOC campus ministries across the country, it becomes apparent that we are the “Research and Development” arm for the Fellowship.

o   Uniquely, as a Fellowship, we have a multifaceted approach to the campus and the formation of campus ministries.

o   The university is a powerful and multi-layered institution. We can reach it at many levels.

o   We have made ( or adapted :) ) in Canada solutions to Canadian realities. 

o   Across the country, we have some of the finest young leaders in the nation. They “get” the campus and the opportunities and challenges of operating in what can be similar to a foreign field right on our own doorstep.

o   Given the size of our country and the mobility of the emerging generation, we need to be connected in order to serve our constituency well.  

o   We know where the political boundaries are ( Yonge Street, Lloydminster…) . The weather ignores them. So does the flow of students and information.

o   We are able to leverage the experience of our American counterparts – who have also been well served by integrating at a national level. 

o   We are finding that reaching the campus is a key international  missional strategy for reaching a city, a region and a country.  We can offer and receive value by sharing our knowledge and resources internationally.

o   By having a consistent voice speaking for our campus ministries, it increases recognition and partnership with the local churches and the districts.

o   It also offers support, resources and quality control for the ministers.

o   Our campuses need Spirit-filled communities that embody the gospel with Power, Love and Wisdom

Actually, the list goes on.  We have every reason to work together in collaboration.                                   We have every reason to share resources and experience.

We collectively need each other. No district, church or individual is an island.  

We do not operate in silos.

And let us make this clear. This is true at a larger level, as well. As we learn how to integrate as a movement, we can both contribute to and learn from a larger conversation as we co-labor with other groups who serve the same Master - and who also seek to see Him known and glorified. 

Can we learn from each other?  Can we grow together?
We have to...

We can if we choose to.

The world awaits.

It's been a while...

There is a certain irony that the more I have to write about, the less time I have to write it. This year took off like a loaded gun and it simply hasn't let up.  There is so much to capture and distill and I find myself running to keep up.  Which, quite frankly, is a wonderful problem. It is incredible to see the gains we have made in the past few years. 

Student Centre  Western University ( Ont )

Orientation Week at Ryerson University, Toronto

David Burke  our guy at Ryerson and Aaron Mix-Ross, pastor to students at Stone Church near the U of Toronto

Lift Church at McMaster University 

here are a few mindshavings to share....
Mission Canada, the national missional arm of the PAOC, of which Campus Mission Canada is a part consists of five major emphases.  Those would be Quebec and Francophone Canada, Aboriginal Canada, New Canadians, Urban Centres and then the emerging generation.  It is this last one that includes our campus initiatives, along with youth  and children. 

However, when it comes to the campus, it would seem that it combines all of the above. 

Campus Ministry interfaces our other missional priorities. You will find new Canadians, Aboriginals, Francophone, Urban and Emerging generations on nearly any campus in our land. Further more, you will reach these priority groups at a time when they are evaluating and being equipped for the rest of their lives. 

At CMC, we have worked hard at creating a culture where campus ministry is simply inevitable. A culture where campus mission is what we do and what we produce. One in which it is intentional and celebrated. That means a variety of things. It means that in some ways we play a direct role in identifying and deploying the right people and ministries to the right campus and in others it means that we help create the environment and connecting links for this to happen by other means. That may be individuals or churches or districts rising to the challenge. 

Consider the words of the apostle Paul as he helps the Corinthian church sort out the relationship between different ministers and ministries. 

5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.

Depending on the field, we have different roles.  There are times we till the soil. Other times  we plant. Sometimes we water. Other times we are able to harvest fruit that we did not plant or cultivate. But in all cases, it is important that we find our place within what God is up to and what it is that he is growing and producing.We look for where we can best support what God wants to do. 

We have no ambition to be  'the latest and greatest'. We just want to be obedient. We want to bear fruit that lasts. We are not necessarily the best at everything. But, together and combined we are good at a lot of things.  Sometimes, very good. We have come to recognize that we are a significant part of what God is doing on the campuses of our nation and a key part of what He intends to do. He expects more of us.  And what He intends to do is work through willing and available vessels.  He works through those who are open to His working through them. 

Your Scribe

At Campus Mission Canada, we are several things. First, we are a network. That means that we are a coalition of the willing. A group of ministries that share a common national and international burden and a common view of how God works in our own day and age. We want to represent our Master well. 

Secondly, we are catalysts. That means we work at not just being a network but in actively networking ( as a verb)  and sharing resources and expertise. My definition of myself as a catalyst is that I work to bring together the right people and resources to bring about the right result.  Part of this means we represent campus ministries to our larger Fellowship and beyond. We are not isolated but rather united on the things that matter.

Thirdly, as part of Mission Canada, we deploy missionaries.  Campus Mission Canada is a catalytic network. Mission Canada, the larger organization of which we are a part, is a missions agency. This means that we seek to address the gaps that exist within our nation that require an equipped individuals to reach out to it.  So, some of our campus ministers are mission Canada  missionaries.

Red Frogs Support Network at UBC.  Making a splash.

What is the dream?  Well, stay tuned.  Whatever the final description, it involves the following:  We work together. We share resources and expertise across the country. We support and encourage each other.  We work together better than apart.  The dream is not one organizational head. The dream is capturing and distilling the collective genius of what we do all across the country. We start more and better ministries that produce more and better followers of Jesus.

Back to Ryerson

I had the privilege of walking with David Burke through the hurdles of becoming a new Mission Canada missionary to Ryerson University.

 

By way of introduction, David is young, recently married and a recent graduate of Masters College and Seminary, where he served one year as its student president.

Top shelf, thoughtful and passionate, he is also the son of Paul and Vicki Burke, founding pastors of Church In The City (CITC), in downtown Toronto.  He has planting in his blood.

Before we look at Ryerson, and the formation of LIFELINE I want to comment a minute on the process of David coming aboard. In so many ways,it has been done right.

It is a wonderful example of cooperation at all levels. 

Not too long ago, I was at a lunch where most of the major stakeholders in the Ryerson project were represented.

Paul Burke, representing CITC, and putting on his pastor’s ( rather than dad’s) hat, explained that David will be working with them part time at the church but he will be released half-time to initiate Lifeline at Ryerson.

Craig Burton, the Eastern Ontario District Superintendent,  affirmed that they see this as their project and that David is their guy on campus. And they are weighing in with tangible support.

And of course, considering that David is now a Mission Canada missionary ( nationally appointed )and part of our team, we see him as our guy, too.

And that is as it should be.  Local, District and National. There was a wonderful spirit of generosity and blessing in the air.

Back to Ryerson....

So, you can see a bit of my travels at Ryerson in a previous blog, along with my reflections. You might find it interesting. It is one block from what David describes as the Times Square of Toronto ( Yonge and Dundas ).  It is right in the core of urban Toronto.

Yonge and Dundas. Ryerson is half a block away.

David and I did a walk through the other day on the first week of school. It was instructive and helpful.

para-curriculum a la student union



Deja vu all over again.. ( updated :) )

 

Although the majority of students are there to get an education and to get a job after graduation, there is a very strong current of what could be described as a progressive (radical) social agenda being pushed by various student groups. The imagery and feel of their presentations felt like a time warp back to the late sixties and early seventies. They have updated the language and tweaked a few issues.

well,  you get the idea...

 

 

What David will be doing , amongst many other things, is offering alternatives to the strident para-curriculum. ..better.... And of course it goes much deeper than that.

Urban University

 

We are looking at various options for a weekly gathering and he has a specific model in mind for multiplying disciples. It is the kind of “Big Hairy Audacious Goal” ( BHAG) that is way beyond what he could do in the natural. It is a God sized dream that would change the culture of the downtown, not to mention the university.

As we talked, we agreed that we want to think Kingdom. We do not want to displace anyone or any group doing God's work on campus. It is just that it is a Huge challenge and we want to play our part.Part of this is recognizing that the job is not getting done and needs more laborers.  Part of it is realizing that we really do have something fresh to bring to the table. Something that will complement and ultimately strengthen what God is already doing on campus.

But at this point, it is a seed being planted into the ground. As it has been well said in the proverb “ It easy to count the seeds in an apple. It is impossible to count the number of apples in a seed”. Such it is, here.

you can contact him at dburke@paoc.org