Malcolm Billing is a Regional Initiative leader for Highway 400, one of the fastest-growing areas of the Greater Toronto Area and a crucial link to the communities it connects.
Over the next two years, he hopes to identify new churches and leaders in the region who can help share the message and presence of Jesus in the fast-paced lives of the people in this area. Through his role, he is learning how to lead the conversation about multiplication – in sometimes unexpected ways.
In 2015, Upper Room Community Church began developing a growing heart for multiplication, leading to a prompt for Malcolm’s role to develop. The church initially recognized a need for to plant local expressions of church in the area and it was understood that creating this role would be a key part of allowing them to do just that.
Along the way, their relationship with another church plant called Connexion started to pick up. “Through that relationship there was a sense of opportunity for Upper Room and Connexion to partner in the work of multiplication,” says Malcolm. Together they began to move into a real partnership – sharing preachers on Sundays and working through the same content.
However, as Malcolm continues this story of partnership he notes, “What is interesting is that after a year of sharing our ministry in this way, Connexion found its own identity clarified and its call to its local community strengthened, igniting a deeper partnership with their planting church. As a result, the partnership between Upper Room and Connexion may come to an end.
”From an Upper Room perspective, it would be easy to classify this as a failure: a relationship entered with benefits in the short term, but no lasting partnership project. Yet, Malcolm notes, “I don’t think that’s how anyone sees it.”
He goes on: “Another way is looking at that year and saying well this has been a blessing for both our churches and that has been great, and move on. But what is really at the heart of this story is what I don’t think Upper Room initially realized: that that relationship could be a learning platform and basis for potential relationships with other churches in and around the area. We started thinking that our relationship with Connexion was going to look like one way. But what has actually happened is that our experience has opened new doors and it seems like other partnerships may be emerging.
“Multiplication is not merely about planting New Ventures,” Malcolm affirms, “but about helping various churches grow in their own communities and unlocking what God is doing through partnership.”
Where in a traditional approach to partnership, one party might say that they’re going to give some product to the other, Malcolm is leading the way in noticing how churches can genuinely partner together towards common goals without a defined end result – not working 100 steps ahead of the game but keeping in step with what God is doing.
Malcolm’s experience further offers a shift in perspective from churches as independent silos to first asking the question together of “What is God doing in this area?” and “How can we work together to partner with Him in that?”
Malcolm concludes, “I thought God was doing one thing and He was doing something else that was even greater. Better still, there’s no way to claim responsibility - it’s an affirmation that God is really in this.
"As long as we’re taking these faithful steps, God is faithful in His mission and His work."
PARTNER WITH HIGHWAY 400
You can support the ongoing work of Highway 400 through the Canada Helps fund for Upper Room. In the message section, type "For New Venture Highway 400."