More Than a Franchise
By Keith Elford
The head of the Free methodist Church in Canada reflects on the goal
to ensure all Canadians have a healthy congregation within reach
The Free Methodist Church in Canada has a vision
“to see a healthy congregation within the reach of
all people in Canada and beyond.” It’s a vision we
share with many other Christians. As evidence,
consider the wide participation at the church planting congress
coming in November ( www.churchplantingcanada.ca).
Yet some among us might caution that such a vision can
sound arrogant and mechanical – a type of franchising plan
to flood the country with cookie-cutter congregations.
Let me reassure such critics that franchising is not the intention – I know that for sure in the Free Methodist Church.
The words “within the reach” actually highlight the necessity
of congregations understanding the subcultures of communities and finding appropriate ways to respond to what the
Holy Spirit is doing to bring about transformation within
their “cultural reaches.” (By the way, our understanding is
that this will only be accomplished in partnership with the
rest of the Body of Christ!)
But God sometimes complicates the task – not Satan, but
God – by challenging our tidy monoethnic plans with the
reality of Canada’s diversity. Consider how many congregations in your area worship in languages other than English or
French. (Canadian Free Methodists now worship weekly in
14 languages.) Add in the diversity of regional cultural values,
generational preferences, 24-7 work schedules and the availability of meeting spaces – it’s clear “one size” won’t fit all.
So what informs an evangelical vision – and specifically our
Free Methodist vision – making us more than mechanical franchisers of religion? Jesus’ agricultural parables. He launches
into his stories assuming we understand seeds are created to
reproduce themselves.
But like farming, sowing the seed of the gospel and seeing a kingdom harvest have elements of risk and failure. (My
view is that everything Jesus says about the planting of the
seed of the gospel in individual hearts applies to the planting
of congregations in neighbourhoods.)
There’s the risk of impenetrable spiritual resistance from
the demonic.
“The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who
hear the message about the kingdom and don’t understand
it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that
was planted in their hearts.”
There’s the reality of inadequate discipleship where
spiritual depth has not been cultivated.
The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the
message and immediately receive it with joy. But since they
don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away
as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word.
Worldliness often discourages and distracts.
The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who
hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded
out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no
fruit is produced.
Despite all these realities – and even though the level of
response will vary from place to place – a harvest does come!
The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly
hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of
thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been
planted!
Let’s also keep in mind the “all by itself” mystery:
This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed
on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up,
the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.
All by itself the soil produces grain – first the stalk, then the
head, then the full kernel in the head (Mark 4: 26-28).
It is evident that, though human participation is involved to
see the good news of shalom (wholeness that comes from God)
planted in human hearts and neighbourhoods, the Holy Spirit is
active before, during and in the culmination of the harvest.
In the Free Methodist Church, as in many other Canadian
evangelical churches, we have been faithful to this vision by
planting diverse kinds of churches. A 2008 study states that
72 per cent of the new Free Methodist congregations planted
since 1995 are surviving. This does not mean they are thriving.
We’ll know in about 25 years if they will be fruitful, enduring
ministries. But as God raises up teams of disciplined, Spirit-led
planters and as the resources are provided, we remain committed to the multiplication of congregations. It’s the only way
to obey the vision “to see healthy churches within the reach
of all people in Canada and beyond.”
Keith Elford is bishop of the Free Methodist Church in Canada, which
is based in Mississauga, Ont., and has 150 congregations in Canada.
This column continues a series by affiliates of The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. For a list, see www.evangelicalfellowship.ca/affiliates.
