What is a Regional Initiative?
Broadly speaking, a regional initiative is an effort to catalyze the process of multiplication in a particular area or with a specific church...
"It's not a traditional New Venture (an initiative with the permission and potential to become a church), but instead it's a focus on mobilization and multiplication that will potentially launch future New Ventures," says New Ventures COO Malcolm Billing.
Today we're learning about multiplication from the Bayview Regional Initiative, an initiative embedded within the the growth plans of Bayview Glen Church in Thornhill, ON.
Backstory:
As Multiplication and Mobilization Pastor at Bayview Glen, Kevin Chan admits that his calling and gifting to be a pastor wasn't fully defined for him until he and his wife and family spent 18 months on the mission field in the UAE. Though they embraced the task of language learning and subsequently moved their family to the Middle East to work with the C&MA Silk Road team in 2015, Kevin gradually realized that his giftings were more suited for pastoral ministry in the end. The decision to move back to Toronto, (the city in which both Kevin and Grace were born and raised) became clearer and clearer and in 2017, the Chans returned to Toronto.
But God, in His gracious guidance, doesn't waste our life experiences.
Upon returning to Toronto, Kevin found a new role in the Bayview Glen church community that he had left behind, one in which he could blend his heart for missions, (solidified by his time in the field) with his pastoral gifts.
In his role, Kevin oversees opportunities for people to engage more deeply with the gospel, on campus, in community and overseas. Bayview Glen hosts a multi-ethnic community, with over 80 ethnicities represented in their regular weekly attendance of around 1000-1200. Over 200 of these are children, and many are newly immigrated internationals. Part of Kevin's role at Bayview Glen is to strategize ideas for MULTIPLICATION in their community.
This is where the Regional Initiative comes in.
Multiplication
Under the umbrella of Multiplication, Kevin strategizes about how the church can grow and reproduce within its community. Here are some examples of multiplication strategies which they are currently tabling and which are in the process of further research and discernment:
1. Can they start a new campus in the near future? What would that look like: a brand new church or a campus (a satellite church)? What location might God be opening up for them? Considering the fact that there are a number of church buildings in the GTA with dwindling church communities, what buildings might be available to them?
2. What about living more intentionally in missional communities? With the help of Dave Lewis, BG's community pastor, Kevin is examining how they run BG's growing life groups. Their vision is to encourage life groups to become more active agents of the gospel within their communities. How specifically can their meeting together, doing life toegether, and worshipping together overflow into reaching their community together?
3. How best to develop leaders: Can they begin now to train "shadow" leaders for each of the key roles needed in a new church community (a teaching pastor, community pastor, family pastor, worship pastor)? How can they best attract, staff and train future leaders with the goal of releasing them to a new campus situation?
Mobilization
Under the umbrella of Mobilization, Kevin also influences how his church engages with missions in the 21st century.
Historically, someone would say, I want to be a missionary, then we'd support and send them. That was our active role, our touchpoint. We'd listen to a report, write a cheque and pray.
But the recent team that Kevin took to Haiti made global missions a personal encounter :
Every person can engage with the vision of global ministry, can really participate, from the youngest to the oldest.
Making opportunities for members to engage directly helps solidify the more tenuous ties to missions made in an "us-over-here" and "them-over-there" model.
It's something I wouldn’t have recognized or seen had I not been in the field, says Kevin.
The team of five surveyed future mission opportunities available with Haiti Partners, an organization that specializes in education and equipping the next generation of Haitian church leaders. Making this missions connection even more relevant is the fact that the founding director of Haiti Partners, Kent Annan, is the son of one of Bayview Glen's former pastors: Nelson Annan.
Kevin and eldest daughter Charis in the UAE
Mobilization is taking place closer to home as well.
Kevin brings vision to how Bayview Glen "onboards" people to their various serve teams who serve the city locally. His aim is to connect people directly and efficiently to missional service opportunities. Their serve page is a good example of how accessible these serve team opportunities are for a community their size.
Some exciting examples of mobilization close to home:
1. Members from the BG community join Toronto Alliance Church to help serve in their community soup kitchen.
2. Dentists from BG's congregation help head the Urban Dentist Clinic in Scarborough, a dental clinic that serves the 25% of Canadians who don’t have access to dental care plans.
3. A thriving ESL program, headed by longstanding BG member and retired teacher, Mary Hogan, serves the international community around them. This ESL program has been running for over 15 years and has grown immensely in the last two to three years. Currently they offer 12-15 classes, Mondays and Thursdays, with 200+ students registered. Most excitingly, the curriculum material has all been developed in house and is biblically based. Students range from age 30-60 and come from a range of ethnic backgrounds: Korean, mainland Chinese, Iranian. The program is so strong that it's been adveristed in China and South Korea. Needless to say, the program provides great exposure to the gospel and to Christians who are serving missionally.
Please pray for the Bayview Regional Initiative and for Kevin's work in Multiplication and Mobilization at Bayview Glen.