photo Jill Homer
FXCA update january 2012
Happy New Year everyone!
The Fresh Expressions Canada (FXCA) Team, is a team of committed volunteers, who in addition to each following their chosen careers, also lend their significant gifts to our shared goal, “to encourage the development of fresh expressions of church alongside more traditional expressions, with the aim of seeing a more mission-shaped church take shape throughout the country.”
FXCA team member and web manager Ryan Sim, has been busy for the last year leading reconnect, a new church community of young professionals in downtown Toronto with little or no Christian background, based out of St. Paul’s Bloor Street. The New Year sees him embarking on a new project which he describes in his blog, Adventures in Church Planting. “For the next six months, I’ve been asked to research a new church plant in Ajax, Ontario, a suburban community in the Greater Toronto Area. All sorts of people have asked me great questions:
So I’ve decided to start blogging, in hopes that others can follow along and support me, pray for me, challenge me, and maybe even learn something (whether from successes or disasters!).”
Another team member, John Bowen MSM coordinator, is on sabbatical from Wycliffe College this semester. Two of his projects are:
(a) Editing a book of fifteen essays by various authors on the church’s mission in Canada today. This will be published by Wipf and Stock, hopefully early in 2013. (John is the editor of “The Missionary Letters of Vincent Donovan. 1957–1973“, also published by Wipf and Stock.)
(b) Reviewing the evaluations from those who field-tested the Reimagining Church course in the Fall, and making appropriate changes. The revised course will then be available to all who want to start mission-shaped conversations where they live.
Sue & Andy Kalbfleisch have been hard at work for much of 2011 filming and editing “A Missional Road Trip,” a 30 minute documentary for the Diocese of Toronto. Watch it here. In addition Sue is the Messy Church Canada coordinator, as well as coordinating Vision Days for FXCA.
The team really appreciate your support. Please pray for us as we go into a FXCA Consultation with Dave Male Feb. 1st & 2nd in Toronto.
Vital Chuch Planting Conference, Toronto, Feb. 2-4 2012 
The Missional Roadmap. The conference will be taking a deliberately practical focus this year to help dioceses, parishes and teams begin new missional projects, church plants and fresh expressions of church. Watch a short promotional video here.
The first Fresh Expressions Vision Day to be held in Saskatchewan, will happen on Saturday February 25th in Regina. This will be a wonderful opportunity for all members of the Christian community in that city to join in a highly interactive and inspiring day. For more information and to print out a registration form click here.
The next Messy Fiesta will be held at Christ the King – Dietrich Bonhoeffer Lutheran Church in Thornhill ON on February 18th – click here for more information. For more information about Messy Church in Canada, please contact Sue Kalbfleisch at sue.kalbfleisch@freshexpressions.ca and check out www.facebook.com/Messy ChurchCanada
That’s about it for now! Check at our website www.freshexpressions.ca for the latest news.
Please keep us in your prayers.
God bless,
Nick
Nick Brotherwood
FXCA team leader on behalf of the FXCA team
Nick Brotherwood is Assistant Director of the Institute of Evangelism. Since January 2011 he is also incumbent and pastor of St. Stephen's Church, Westmount, QC. In 2006, he was made a canon of Christ Church Cathedral in Montreal. In 2003, he and his wife Sue led a team which planted a new church—Emerge—focusing on 18-25 year olds in downtown Montreal. He was Bishop’s Missioner to Young Adults in the Diocese of Montreal from 2003 until the end of 2010. From 1989 till 2002, he was on the staff of St. Stephen’s Anglican Church, Westmount QC, where he served first as Assistant, then as Associate and finally as Priest in Charge. For a part of this time, he was also a chaplain at McGill University. Nick has extensive experience in Christian camping. In the 1970’s, he was a professional rock drummer—a skill he has never lost. Nick is married to Sue, and they have six children and four grandchildren at the last count. Nick has a long-term commitment to congregational health and evangelism, has wide experience of the church and its ministries, and a passion for seeing Fresh Expressions of Church spring up throughout out country. Click here to read all articles by Nick Brotherwood
