behind the scenes meeting - november 2016

PowerPoint Presentation

World Caf Reflections:93 Theses

Questions

What do I love about Grassroots? What should never change?

What needs do you see in Thunder Bay/Northern Ontario that you think Grassroots is uniquely built to meet?

Questions

What do I love about Grassroots? What should never change?

What needs do you see in Thunder Bay/Northern Ontario that you think Grassroots is uniquely built to meet?

ExplorationDevotion to ScriptureOpenness to Outside PerspectivesAnchored in the ResurrectionTheological ExplorationSearching for A Transformational Way of LifeSearching for Fresh Expression of ChristianityMany People Can Fit In Here

Big Points

Encouraging In-Depth Study of Gods WordHumility in Asking Hard Questions/Open to ChangeRadical Care and Support for One AnotherFocus on Children and FamiliesDevotion to JesusInvestment in Quality Leadership

Big Points

We have some dynamics to work through as we think about meeting needs in Thunder Bay, including how we work with others, a sense that we need training for justice/outreach, the challenges of approaching ministry with First Nations people, the merits of reaching out at all,and what approach we will use to share Grassroots love.

Big Points

Heart for Disinherited PeopleHeart for People Going Through Personal BrokennessHeart for Mentoring and Gender HarmonyHeart for Biblical and Theological Education

Big Points

We have a unique set of values and approach to theology. We are humble explorers of a fresh expression of Christianity. This dynamic creates a unique environment of in-depth study, asking hard questions with humility, a community of faith who radically supports one another, embracing young families, deepening devotion to Jesus, and the formation of quality leaders.

Unique Values, Theology, and Environment

Theology and Values


Like many other churches, Grassroots finds passion in the search for God, reality, and the truth. With our scriptures in hand, we devote ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ.

We honor The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, establishing a 21st Century Way of life inspired by the first Christians.


What makes Grassroots theology and values unique is its posture of exploration.



What makes Grassroots theology and values unique is its posture of exploration.

We combine a devotion to scripture with openness to outside perspectives. We anchor ourselves in the resurrection and encourage theological searching. We seek to promote a transformational way of life adaptable for a great diversity of people.


Grassroots has worked hard at not falling into a rut of empty religion, which means that we are sincere about what God is really telling us through scripture instead of just referring to tradition or church rules.

We discern God, reality, and the truth by following the story of God. When the story leads us in a direction that moves us away from dead tradition, we follow the Bible. We let the scriptures guide our passion for being truthful, loving, and relevant.


In the search for God, reality, and the truth, we are open to listening to outside perspectives.


We believe that the major lens through which we can understand and map reality is the Resurrection. This is the point onto which we will hold fast.Our conviction that the Resurrection interprets reality gives us the freedom to think outside of the box theologically and explore fresh expressions of Christianity.


We especially enjoy loving God with our minds, establishing well-thought-out viewpoints. We would rather know why we believe all of what we believe.

When we explore the outer boundaries of Christianity, we do so with humility. The best pioneers will have a proper fear of the wilderness.


What we are seeking for is a transformational way of life that embeds us into the very heart of God.

Our theology seeks to integrate our personal, social, and relational spheres. We desire to orient every sphere of our lives around the Lord everyday. Our theology is more than an intellectual exercise.


In our search for God and fresh expressions of Christianity, we are not primarily interested in issues (as such) or establishing too many dogmas. These will weigh us down. We want to explore the underpinnings of our beliefs and leave room for a diversity of viewpoints as much as can possibly exist in one community.

We live passionately what we believe and proclaim Jesus to the world around us without shoving it down their throats.

Sometimes people might think that explorers are trying to be hip or trendy, and Grassroots has some hipster flairs. We resist fashion but embrace exploration, individuality, and discovering transformational lifestyles.


Environment


These theological convictions and our posture of exploration lead to the formation of a unique Grassroots environment.

Grassroots

encourages in-depth study of Gods Word and emphasizes a type of teaching that is biblical, hopeful, challenging, relevant, and practical. promotes humility and asking hard questionsfosters a community of faith who radically support one anotherembraces children and enriches young families to bring up the next generation of disciplescreates space to deepen our devotion to Jesusfosters quality leaders


Because of our devotion to scripture, our emphasis on searching, exploration, openness to outside perspectives, and the quest for a transformational way of life, we emphasize a type of teaching that is grounded in the Bible, hopeful, challenging, relevant, and practical.

In our teaching, we give serious attention to the Bible/Scripture and how it plays out in our daily lives. We are true to Gods word and attempt to offer a take home to everyone, regardless of the level of faith they are at.



The teaching encourages us to think critically and offers new insights. Messages are presented as hopeful and encouraging, yet participants are challenged to grow.

Adult life group facilitates conversation about challenging questions. It helps participants go deeper into issues and doesnt settle for pat answers.

The teaching also imparts that it is okay not to know all the answers, it is okay to think outside the box with humility, and it is okay to listen to outside perspectives.

We also tend to promote humility and asking hard questions. This emerges from our explorers mindset, our love for outside perspectives, and our passion for theological searching.


There is humility in the community that says: Were a work in progress. You dont have to be perfect to come here. We find a real strength in acknowledging that this is where we are.

We also teach that it is okay not to know all the answers.

Therefore the community is not too formal, the dress code maxes out a casual, and people love sitting on the couches.


We love asking the hard questions and try to encourage people to have challenging discussions. We desire to foster the freedom to ask questions.

We value the freedom to hold different ideas with acceptance, and there is always room for growth. We are an evolving community.

We desire never to change our ability to change. If you look at our theology from 15 years ago, it is different from what it is now, because were not in a box and were growing and changing. We think different. We resist this is how weve always done it rhetoric.


Because we are explorers, we know of the special need to stick together and care for one another. Furthermore, we believe that the scriptures direct us to offer radical expressions of care for one another, inspired by the call to heal a broken world. In response to this, Grassroots fosters a community of faith who radically support one another, are welcoming to newcomers, and encourage each other to serve locally.


The Grassrooter is usually known as a caring person. The community can feel like a friendly family who helps each other. There are a large number of likable people who are action-oriented and offer care.

With a high value on love and care, people are taken care of without the expectation of anything in return. With some saddening exceptions, there is a lot of love and a lot of people helping people in practical ways.

Grassooters take care of each other well and come together during crisis. They take care of each others kids, help each other move, make meals, help people in the middle of flooding, celebrate together, and mourn together. Theres a spirit of care for one another that we cant lose.


Because we may find ourselves as explorers in harsh conditions and because we honor unity. We must use our gifts and passion, we must be one in Christ.

To achieve unity, we value humility highly and the need to be gentle yet firm with one another. We encourage one another to move wisely toward conflict rather than away from it.



Though we have not yet achieved total diversity, people at Grassroots come from various backgrounds, value uniqueness and mutual reverence for one another, and strive for gentle respect. We are not too pushy.

We have a mix of long-term TBayers but also are comprised of a large percentage of TBay immigrants. Many peoples families are not here, so we try be a church family for TBay immigrants.

We have deep reverence for where people are coming from, we strive to deeply listen to one another before we judge, and we try not to pretend to be somebody we are not. We value belonging, not fitting in.

We also love getting a bit of social time, including picnics, winter blues fest, and the Grassroots defunct talent show. Never end the talent show. Bring it back! and we wont the talent show bake emerge as vigilant outcries.


We are a small family community in a larger family body, and tribes and small groups seem to be an important part of life but lack direction and drive. People notice when you are missing.

Grassrooters take care of each other so they can help the world.

There is also a love for strangers at Grassroots.



Newcomers feel very loved, and there is a strong spirit or vibe of welcoming people from all stations of life. The newcomers lunches and the greeter (hand shakers) are an expression of this vibe.

Grassroots is open to welcoming marginalized people, though there are few marginalized people here.

There is also a strong desire to share the love broadly, to reach out to the needy in the community with practical outpouring of love.

We are particularly proud of the way we have shared love with the Syrian families and desire to show that same expression of love to First Nations peoples.



Because of its desire for forge fresh and relevant expressions of Christianity for the Next Generation, Grassroots attracts young families. Grassroots focus on children, youth, college students, families, and intergenerational connection is arguably one of the most important realities at Grassroots.

Children matter fundamentally at Grassroots. Children are included, appreciated, and valued. The adults care about the kids. On Sunday mornings and at different events there are always small children, or as one person put it Children climbing on mounds of children.

Grassroots strives to be a fun environment for kids who tend to like coming to Sunday School, seeing their friends, and the games they play. We like to allow kids to be kids.

The youth group is safe, active, and comprehensive. Monday nights provide discipleship, teens are involved in various ministries, and the yearly trip is anticipated. There is a unique depth of faith to our youth.


There is also a number of university students who attend Grassroots. There is a desire to enhance this aspect of GR ministry.

Overall, there is a desire to continually invest in student and families ministries. We have lots of kids to raise up in the faith, and this part of ministry needs to be welcoming and effective. We need to support current leaders, raise up new leaders, and continue to grow the childrens ministry.

There is also a desire to continue to explore more focus on intergenerational connections, develop the monthly schedule, which remembers that there are a lot of young families, and grow the openness to diverse families setups who find a home at Grassroots.


Our love of exploration, devotion to scripture, desire for a transformational life, and embrace of many different peoples leads us also into a deepening devotion to Jesus. We have a love for musical variety, an open communion table, a loosely-held liturgy, and a less-loosely held love for good coffee.


Grassroots loves a good variety of worship music, and there is a desire for worship nights. There is freedom and informality in worship. We express how we are led. We love to hear each other worship.

Our Eucharist table is open every Sunday, and we are not programmatic about our liturgy. We are flexible, and we can adapt to situations without losing the thrust of healing and preaching.



We like time to fellowship and mingle during the service, we love good quality coffee, and we love baptisms and Trobridge falls.


Good food done simply is valued here, and some kids liked the choclet fawten.

Because we are explorers with an openness to outside perspectives and many types of people, we need a solid core of leadership. Therefore we invest in leaders who represent our diversity and are full of integrity, humility, wisdom, and diligence. At the same time, we dont expect our leaders to be perfect or have it all figured out.

Leaders do best here when they have no secret agendas, ulterior motives, or quests for power. They take extra time to ensure that all are on the same page.

This unique environment develops in a quirky building, which is geographically located at the crossroads of Thunder Bay and shares property lines with Police Headquarters, Evangel Church, and Lakehead University.


As we dream about sharing Grassroot love beyond our community, we are in the process of asking ourselves: What needs do we see in Thunder Bay/Northern Ontario that we think we are uniquely built to address. A few ideas emerge, including issues faced by marginal, disinherited, transient or homeless people, the many people experiencing personal brokenness or crisis, the need for mentoring and harmony between men and women, and the desiderata of deep biblical and theological education.

Unique For What Purpose?

There were many thoughts and ideas on these fronts, but it is important to pay attention to various dynamics that need to be sorted before we can decide what to do.

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Dynamics


There were many thoughts and ideas on these fronts, but it is important to pay attention to various dynamics that need to be sorted before we can decide what to do.

These questions emerge around how we go about the sharing of our love. If we are going to forge ahead in these areas, our values drive us to seek deep unity first.

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These dynamics include working with various agencies and connections (not reinventing the wheel), the need for equipping, how we approach ministry with First Nation people, if we should reach out at all, and what our approach will include (4 main things or equipping people to reach out in their own ways).


There is a general awareness that Grassroots is good at partnering with other churches and ministries not always having to take the lead but providing an important and necessary support role. We have these connections, and we dont necessarily want to re-invent the wheel. Can we funnel our resources and manpower through existing ministries?


We have various rich connections, and Urban Abbey emerged as a ministry with similar theology who is up to great Kingdom work as hands and feet of Jesus. Other ministries mentioned were Right to Refuge, Shelter House, Teen Challenge, Ishaawin, Thrive, Grace Place, Hope House, and Dorion.


There is also a sense of need for training or mentoring on leadership and how to be missional. It would be amazing if there was a way we could become more equipped as members in this community to be able to reach out to the brokenness in our community and beyond our GR family even. Can we train up leaders from among us?


There is a percolating question on why First Nations peoples are not represented at Grassroots. There seems to be various opinions about whether are not Grassroots should make a concerted effort and what kind of effort to make to serve and welcome First Nation peoples. Are we moving in a direction to welcoming/loving/ministering to our FN friends? Or do we need to to support those churches that have a FN focus?


There also seems to be a general question about whether or not we should attempt to share the love at all. Can we share the love without losing our strong faith? Will good works diminish our ability to share the truth of the gospel? We are rooted enough in our theology, which would allow us to extend in a variety of directions, but we are uniquely built to address the needs of our own community. Should we be content with how we are well suited to take care of each other?


There also seems to be a number of different approaches to sharing Grassroots love, if we do. There has been a 5+5 approach, which encourages us to invest in ministries at our own points of passion. Do we need to have a church outreach program when people are doing a lot of missional living on their own? Do we need to choose 4 programs and alienate people telling them they do not being, or do we need to mobilize leaders to meet needs wherever they find their passions? Can we use Tribes to push our ability to be missional?


If we can navigate through these conversations, we discern that we may be uniquely suited to meet a variety of needs with our unique abundance of young able bodies and with our quirky but well-positioned building.

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If we can navigate through these conversations, we discern that we may be uniquely suited to meet a variety of needs with our unique abundance of young able bodies and with our quirky but well-positioned building.


Because of our community of faith who radically support one another, our anchor in the Resurrection, our embrace of children, and our devotion to Jesuss transformational way of life, we may be positioned well to spread our support out to marginal, disinherited, transient, or homeless people.


We may be uniquely positioned, geographically and in our ethos, for university/college ministry both with students and professionals.

We also may be uniquely positioned to supported immigrants and disinherited people with our building and our manpower.

What would it look like to robustly welcome immigrants to Thunder Bay?

There may be a role for us to have an adoption support focus led by people who have walked down that road.


It is a real option to lean more into refugee ministry, or to help people struggling with setting up their homes.

We might be able to use our building and manpower somehow to bridge the gap of racism in this down, address some of the effects of the residential schools, and broker mentorship for indigenous youth.


Again, because of our radical support for one another, our embrace of young people and their families, our anchor in the Resurrection, and our devotion to Jesuss transformational way of life, we may be positioned to help people who are experiencing personal brokenness or crisis.

People in society dont know how to connect on a personal level. Grassroots is positioned to re-teach this, because we are doing it regularly well. We want to be the family of God for people of Thunder Bay.

There are many broken, lonely, wounded, and depressed people in Thunder Bay seeking for connection and relationship in community.


There are also many trauma survivors and people with addictions. Perhaps these are people who are newly-separated or divorced. Some of these people may be in crisis and need meals, childcare, and financial support.

How can we help broken seekers feel welcome and significant?


Relevant ideas include investing in or supporting:a support group for university students, that provides some community in TBay and offers a place to bring up theological questions.rooming students.housing poor people.having or supporting an opportunity center.


Relevant ideas include investing in or supporting:supporting hope house.investing in Right to Refuge in a greater way.encouraging more people to adopt and have adoption mentors in the church.offering parenting help in the surrounding community.hosting a swap night for clothes at the church.offering free family movie nights at the church.


Relevant ideas include investing in or supporting:offering free family movie nights at the church.putting on coffee house nights.doing some community stuff outdoors.harnessing practical schools to meet simple needs, fixing, feeding. offering some child-friendly times and spaces at church.


Relevant ideas include investing in or supporting:conducing a childrens choir. getting involved in helping to heal broken familiesChristmas carolinghaving a healing ministry and worship nights. having coffee house nights.hosting and old-fashioned picnic. offering healing from trauma groups.


Because of the many people in our church who would be phenomenal at mentoring men and women, our devotion to scripture, investment in a transformational way of life, asking hard questions, radical support for one another, embrace of family and young people, and the desire to foster quality leaders, we may be uniquely poised to address the dissonance between men and women and the need for mentoring.


There seems to be a general desire to keep youth on the right path. The Over 18 and Screenagers showings reflect this desire.

There seems to be a desire to advocate for womens rights here at Grassroots, support pregnancies (especially those in crisis), and the recovery from sexual gender-based violence.

There also seems to be a deep desire to see restoration and reconciliation in marriages and families.


Relevant include investing in or supporting:Advocacy for womens issues, such as Take Back the NightOffering parenting helps.Supporting centers that promote healthy pregnancies.Offering trauma-support groups.


Finally, because of our devotion to scripture, desire for in-depth study of Gods Word, love for outside perspective, encouragement of theological searching out a transformational way of life, interest in the hard questions, and devotion to Jesus and because there is no actual Bible training in Tbay and because we have a PhD at the helm, we may have a unique role to play in offering deep biblical and theological education in Thunder Bay and Northern Ontario.


We may have a role to play in the deepening of Christian growth in the area, especially for people who may be uncomfortable coming to church.


Relevant include investing in or supporting:Education for people who are questioning or exploring their faith Education for interested academics and university students. Coffee night that could include some sort of educational component. We believe that this education should reflect our desire for a transformational lifestyle.This education should help us dive into the scriptures AND help us live sustainably, in part, reconnecting us with God in nature as we slow down.


Ministry Team Descriptions

Purpose of the Ministry Team is to design and create the ministries of Grassroots based on the values and dna of the church.These are the major decision makers of the church as they work on one of seven areas of Grassroots ministry. If these team members didnt carry their particular load, we would struggle to fulfill our calling. Seven Ministry Teams

Seven areas includeBuilding and Finance (Keith as Team Leader)Administration (Heather as Team Leader)Worship (With Keith as Team Leader)Missions/Outreach (With Claire R. as Team Leader)Tribes, Mens, and Womens (With Kirsten as Team Leader)Students and Families (With Angela W. as Team Leader)Education and Events (With Steve B. as Team Leader)Seven Ministry Teams

behind the scenes meeting - november 2016

Spiritual