next steps...

A number of months ago we began a journey that would lead us to a place where only God had mapped out. If you've followed, you may remember my post on the decision we made to resign from our ministry role at CLC after 8 significant and fruitful years. That was back in July and we had no clarity as to what we would be doing next. Just a few weeks ago, on August 28, my family and I said good bye to Christian Life Centre. The wonderful people of CLC said farewell to us and us to them. It was an emotional day to say the least, but it was also a very affirming day as many friends left us with encouraging words. At that point, things still hadn't been settled, but we did sense that God was moving us into a direction that would change the way we do church ministry, not because it's so different, but because of the nature of this call.

Some really good opportunities with great churches came our way. I met wonderful, godly leaders who care for people and want those who are far from God to find relationship with Jesus. As good as all those opportunities were, we really felt that God had some other plans for us. After much prayer and discernment, we sensed that God was not calling us out of Durham, but wants us to remain here and plant a new church expression in North Whitby.

We have lived in this area for more than 7 years and have really fell in love with Whitby and Durham. God has put this city and region on our hearts and we sense that He wants us to plant ourselves in this location to lead and develop a community of people (neighbours, friends & soon to be friends) who will make our world a better place by the way we follow Jesus. We know that this endeavour is the biggest and craziest thing we've ever attempted, but we also know that God will enable us by his spirit to do all that he wants. North Whitby, along with other parts of Durham, is growing rapidly. With the this in mind, and the plans for the 407 highway coming together, there is no better time to plant a church in this area than the present. My friend and mentor, Bill Morrow, said in reference to an ancient proverb, "the best time to plant a (tree) church was 20 years ago, the second best time is today".

This month we will start worshiping and doing community with Brooklin Village Church. They will be the Mother Church of our new baby church. We are so glad that the leaders of BVC have a heart to reproduce themselves. Planting and reproduction is in their DNA. We look forward to a healthy relationship with them as our Mother Church. The sponsoring Denomination is the Canadian Brethren in Christ (BIC). This is the same denomination the The Meeting House (Oakville & other sites) are a part of. They have a vision to plant churches in Ontario and we feel privileged to have their support and confidence in this Kingdom project. This is a hybrid of sorts: a PAOC church birthing a BIC church plant - then you have a pastor (me) with pentecostal roots who feels comfortable with a BIC denomination that is evangelical and holds high the value of a Spirit led life/ministry. I'll still be in partnership with the PAOC, maybe not on paper, but in our mission and in our hearts. I have many valuable friendships there and will continue to keep those relationships as we work together to reach and care for our world. I'll be praying for my fellow churches. If they win, we win; if they do well, we do well. My prayer is that all churches cheer each other on in our mission to make disciples. For the next number of months we will hang around and do life with Brooklin Village Church while we plan & prepare for a church launch sometime in 2012.

Janet, Jacob, Madison & I are up to the task at hand, but will need lots of prayer and support. I know this much - if God doesn't show up, we are toast. Because of that, your prayers and support are appreciated. If you'd like to know more about how someone can participate, please feel free to contact me at jonathanmanafo@gmail.com and I'll fill you in on the details. As you can imagine, planting a church requires lots of things to come into place; prayer and support are two very key ingredients to this equation.

I'll be posting more in the the coming weeks; updates, a church name, website, vision and mission, needs of the community and needs of the church, etc.

We are really looking forward to seeing what God has in store. Thanks for following our journey the last few months.