Bishop Steven and Ann Croft, from Sheffield, England, and Diocese of Edmonton Bishop Jane Alexander, participated in the Vital Church Planting West 2011 Conference, May 26-28th in Edmonton. In his opening address to the conference – attended by more than 80 participants from BC to the Yukon to Quebec – Bishop Croft described his role as former Archbishops’ Missioner and Team Leader of Fresh Expressions. A life-long Christian student, Bishop Croft said his focus, since 2004, has been to help the established church embrace new ideas and challenges of mission. He prayed that participants would have the courage to let down their nets in deep water, so they might catch a “fresh vision of Christ”.

Keynote Speaker Beth Fellinger engaged the conference with her personal experiences planting churches in Ontario. Fellinger spent the first six months as lead pastor at a church plant in St. Thomas, “having conversations at coffee shops” and getting to know the needs of the community around her. She compared the church to the shoes on our feet. Not one of us is wearing the same shoe, yet sometimes we think of church as “one size fits all”. She added that our favourite shoes eventually wear out, necessitating change.

The VCP West Conference featured workshop sessions on rural, aboriginal, sacramental/contemplative and family ministry, fresh expressions of church, missional action, Vision 2019 and a noon-hour discussion about postmodernity. The conference also offered alternative worship experiences, such as Standing Stones – a fusion of Christianity and Cree culture; and Interface Worship – which utilizes artistic elements to recognize points through which God and humans interface with each other.

See the September 2011 issue of The Messenger for more on the VCP West 2011 Conference.