What is God doing on the fringes of Canadian culture? Flying under the radar of pop-Christianity, experimental churches are quietly establishing genuine Kingdom outposts in settings both feared and forgotten. ‘One Size Fits All?’ uncovers the obscure story of these Canadian missional communities and its leaders.
It’s very different from the Hip 2B Holy documentary that was on Global TV recently, and while that had it’s place, One Size Fits All, is so much more representative to me of the direction God has been taking the church.
There’s nothing else like this that I’m aware of from a Canadian perspective.
People and communities that are featured in this include:
Rob Abbott, theGig – Kitchener, ON David Brazzeal, Curieux – Montreal, QC Nick Brotherwood, Emerge – Montreal, QC Gary Castle, neXt Church – Kingston, ON Kristen Cato, The Open House – Vancouver, BC Kate Dewhurst, The Agora – Halifax, NS Al Doseger, Rustle – Kingston, ON Cyril Guerette, Freedomize – Toronto, ON Pernell Goodyear, FRWY – Hamilton, ON Jamie Howison, St. Benedict’s Table – Winnipeg, MB David Manafo, The Gathering Café, Montreal, QC Kyle Martin, The Open House – Vancouver, BC Paul Moores, Living Room Church – Vancouver, BC Joseph Moreau, Ecclesiax – Ottawa, ON Greg Paul, Sanctuary – Toronto, ON Helen Ramfield, St. Benedict’s Table – Winnipeg, MB Kim Reid, The Open Door – Montreal, QC Domenic Ruso, The Embassy – Waterloo, ON David Sawler, Lighthouse – Glace Bay, NS Brad Sommers, Pax North – Halifax, NS Scott Williams, Club 365 – Mission, BC
And there are so many other stories that weren’t captured and have yet to be told.
Check out the trailer below, and buy your copy here. My hope is that denominational leaders who are holding vacant buildings and the purse-strings to the future will see this… and maybe, just maybe, they’ll creatively invest in carving out a new path for being the church in Canada.
to Darrin Patrick’s Emerging Conversational, Emerging Attractional, and Emerging Incarnational…
not to mention other labels/streams like catholic, orthodox, purpose-driven, simple, neo and non-reformed, etc, etc, etc.
It seems every now and a group of us have a need to repackage the thing all over again… and I think we need to, because terms do get old, and sometimes words are necessary to bring greater clarity. However, I think we need to just as much reclaim the labels behind the great movements of the church throughout history as well, and not simply abandon them.
Can’t wait to hear what the latest one will be called…
They’ve created a site dedicated for it as well with a teaser video and the first chapters available for download.
Here’s one practical thought I really liked…
What if every church was able to get every person to commit 5 percent of their income toe the general church fund, but mobilized the other 5 percent of their income to their communities?
I just received an advanced copy of “The Tangible Kingdom – Creating incarnational community” from Leadership Network by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay. I have so many other things to read, but I haven’t been able to put this one down.
Without giving away too much of the content, let me just say it’s refreshing to hear the tone with which they write.
They are honest about their wounds, they give honor to ‘traditional church’, they’re open to the various types of people and structures needed in the local church today, and heck they’re even funny.
I haven’t finished it just yet, but I”m so glad they’re sharing their story with the rest of us.
It’s a fairly dense read and Alan coins a number of new terms, which might be why it took me so long to dig through… but it was well worth it.
There are plenty of reviews around on the book, a few personal gems:
All great missionary movements begin at the fringes of the church, among the poor and the marginalized, and seldom, if ever, at the center.
An advertising executive recently confessed to me that they are now deliberately stepping into the void that was left by the removal of Christianity from Western culture… Much of that which goes by the name advertising is an explicit offer of a sense of identity, meaning, purpose, and community… If through advertising marketers can just link their products to this great unfilled void, they will sell.
If we don’t disciple people, the culture sure will
The fact that God was in the Nazarene neighborhood for thirty years and no one noticed should be profoundly disturbing to our normal ways of engaging mission.
Start with the church and the mission will probably get lost. Start with the mission and it is likely that the Church will be found.
Some other resources by Alan Hirsch and on The Forgotten Ways
- The official forgotten ways website - Alan Hirsch’s Blog - Interview of Alan Hirsch - PDF of The Forgotten Way’s first chapter - Rodney Olsen interviews Alan Hirsch on sonshine.fm here - Jordon cooper does an excellent reflection on The Forgotten Ways - Soularize podcast roundtable with Spencer Burker, Neil Cole, and Alan Hirsch - Two audio sessions with Alan Hirsch and many others at Forge - Audio downloads of Alan speaking at the Canadian Church Planting Congress
Joe Manafo just sent me the documentary he made with Nathan Colquhoun, called One Size Fits All?
I’ve been chewing on Alan Hirsch’s latest book, 
