Calgary Church Planting

I think it is because I have been specifically reading a book on Church Planting, but I have been thinking a lot recently about what it will be like to plant churches in Calgary. The more I read the more I feel like The Summit, which was the church plant up there from 2003-2006, did things completely wrong. While I do not think there location itself was a bad decision, I wonder if their methods were faulty.

For starters, they planted the church in the northwest part of the city. Up there are a lot of new homes being constructed and lots of new families moving in. Naturally, it makes sense to plant of church in an area like that. Studies have shown that during times of extreme change people are much more likely to seek spiritual guidance and consider going to church. Moving to a new area is one of those times when people are more open to the possibility of church.

However, I remember during the trip I took up there, we did a lot of outreach events in other parts of the city. Specifically, we went downtown and put change in expired parking meters, washed people’s windshields and surveyed people. The problem is that in city of over a million people, the mentality of the people downtown will be drastically different than those living in a suburban area. Not to mention, it is ludicrous to think people living downtown would spend a significant amount of time commuting to a church far away.

While that mentality might be acceptable in a more rural setting, where people are accustomed to driving 15 minutes or more to get anyway, in an urban setting people will not do it. Instead, I think we need to live in the areas that we plant our churches. If I plant a church in a neighborhood, people need to see me in that neighborhood every day. I need to shop at their grocery stores, get gas at their gas stations, and get coffee at their Tim Horton’s. I need to become indigenous to that area and get to know those people, instead of living somewhere else.