The Urgency of Proclamation: Sharing the Hope We Have God is clear in Psalm 139:16b when he says, "all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." Not a moment of our lives is unknown to God. Wherever God takes us, He has a purpose in it. His purpose is always the same. If we choose to join God in His great purpose in the sometimes very painful moments of our lives, we will see it. Read
Can We Now Agree that it's Time to Become a Different Kind of Church? Perhaps most have awakened to the reality that somehow, the ground has fundamentally shifted under our feet. How are the times changing? Here are four cultural realities which require a different kind of response from the church. Read
There Is An "I" in Leadership Leaders are learners. We learn as we lead. Serving God in leading outbound churches demands leaders look at what is not working and change accordingly whether they expected to or not. We get experience from our mistakes or from the experience of others. A few takeaways that stuck going through the briar patch of change. Read
"Things We're Learning" Leadership Series with Joe Friedland, City Point Church, Brossard, QC In this interview, Joe shares some solid advice on how to navigate this pandemic, with so many different opinions being shared on what we should and shouldn't do. We chat about being flexible and agile as leaders, because of health care regulations constantly changing. He also speaks on how important keeping the right perspective is. We trust you will be encouraged with this conversation! Read
Replanting a Church in Kahnawake - with Vicky Burke In this interview, Vicky tells us some exciting news about the church she is replanting in Kahnawake Indigenous Peoples Reserve in Quebec. She has such a passion to see peoples lives changed and it comes through so strongly in this conversation. Read
Opportunities for Ministry in Quebec - with Gary Connors In this interview, we chat with Gary about his Mission Canada work, Fit4M, and the exciting opportunities for ministry in Quebec. Gary also shares his passion for the people of Quebec and how he is ready to resource leaders to see this province reached for Jesus! Read
"Things We're Learning" Leadership Series - with Lorne Young In this short interview, Lorne Young (Discovery Church, Edmonton) outlines 7 quick things he's learning about life and leadership in this Covid season. If you need encouragement today, take a few minutes to check this out! Read
"Things We're Learning" Leadership Series - with Derek Sheahan In this interview, we talk with Derek Sheahan (Advance Church, Calgary) about how important it is for leaders to shift and adapt regularly. We also discuss placing purpose ahead of plans and ask the question: When is the right time to bring Spirit-led change? Read
20 Quotes to Encourage Church Planters & Pastors I love quotes! I especially like quotes from people who have a track record. They inspire me to press forward even when the going gets tough! Here are 20 quotes that I hope you find encouraging as you live out the calling and adventure we call ministry life. Read
Can We Now Agree that It's Time to Become a Different Kind of Church? Perhaps most have awakened to the reality that somehow, the ground has fundamentally shifted under our feet. How are the times changing? Here are four cultural realities which require a different kind of response from the church. Read
Your Preaching is Overrated You may not agree, but you needed to hear it. I’m not saying that the Word of God is overrated. I’m not saying that you’re preaching isn’t good. I’m not saying that preaching isn’t important. It is. I’m saying it’s overrated, and the person overrating it is probably you. Read
Living on Mission Outside of Church Work as a Pastor - Interview with Adam Browett Are we full-time pastors and part-time followers? In this interview with Adam, we talk about what living on mission looks like when we are off the clock. Are we still looking for opportunities to share Christ wherever we are? Do we know and care about our neighbours? Do we live a life of evangelism that we want our church members to emulate? Adam shares from his experience and also gives us some ideas on how to grow a burden in our heart for all those around us far from God. Read
Hold the Model Loosely and the Mission Tightly - Paul Fraser In this video Paul encourages all leaders, in the midst of all the fast moving change we are experiencing, to not forget to be about the main things. Hold the models loosely and the mission tightly. Read
Evangelism: Reconsidering Our Approach in a Pandemic Many churches have found effective and creative ways to be on mission and to engage in evangelism during the coronavirus crisis. At the same time, some evangelism approaches have been affected just like church life (and, let's face it, all of life) has been disrupted. Read
What Should We Be Measuring in Ministry There is a fairly strong agreement that we are measuring the wrong things in ministry – primarily income, attendance, salvation, and baptisms. However, when the conversation naturally moves to suggesting solutions, few are offered. Read
10 Leadership Qualities of the Post-COVID-19 Church We are almost six months into a world changing pandemic, and it’s now clear that many things that are changing will remain changed. So, we have a choice. We can either lament the losses that we’ve encountered, or we can navigate forward, by faith, into a new chapter of our God-given mission. Read
Disciple-Making Movements with Dr. Jeremy Feller In this video interview, we chat with Dr. Feller about the incredible fruitfulness happening in Ethiopia through Disciple-Making Movements. In recent months, they have received reports of well over 300,000 people coming to faith in Jesus Christ! Take some time to listen to the whole interview to hear how they are seeing such fruitfulness and how we can apply some of those ideas, principles, or methods here in Canada! Read
New Churches Network Stories: Dan Lupo @ LIFT Mohawk Pastor Dan Lupo works with LIFT Church and is the planter and former site pastor at the Mohawk campus. LIFT Mohawk was planted in 2018 and is focused on providing a church community for college students amid the chaos of post-secondary life. Read
Are You Actually Called to Plant a Church? Do you feel like you're being called to plant a new church? Well, not so fast. In this video, Daniel Im walks through some of the different questions and indicators you should ask yourself before setting out to plant a church. Read
The Church's Prophetic Witness in a Post-Christian World Our goal isn’t to make our home here, but to reflect our coming home when our King brings down the New City Jerusalem to earth. Moving forward in this post, my goal isn’t to straighten out the complexity of the church’s engagement in culture. However, my aim—at the very least—is to help believers think about our existence and thus our engagement as aliens and sojourners in a pagan and Post-Christian land. Read
Churches Gather, That's Part of What They Do: Thoughts on Ecclesiology in a Pandemic Likely, over the past months you have seen or read countless tweets and posts around the following ideas: “The church has never been closed” or “The church isn’t a building; it is a people.” Theologically, if the church cannot gather corporately (in-person), an element or part of the essence of the church has been closed. And, in line with being closed, we need to prioritize it being open—and see it being closed as a deficient practice to be remedied at some point. Read
City-Level Kingdom Collaboration: A Long-Term Analysis As you’ve already heard by now, the pandemic has raised many questions for the church in North America and has revealed, both, the strengths and weaknesses of how we think about mission and church. We may be moving from what has been primarily a Church Growth paradigm for church planting in North America to what some would call a City-Reaching paradigm—something that requires a long-term commitment to City-Level collaboration. Read
Living Sent with Robin Wallar from LIFT Church In this Take-5 video, we chat with Robin about his new book Living Sent, and why he wrote it. He, his family, and the LIFT Church leadership team are quietly leading an effective discipleship movement, which is currently on 9 University campuses all over southern Ontario. Read
Re-open, Re-launch, or Re-imagine: How Leaders are Thinking about the Re-gathering of our Churches In this video Paul talks about three common mindsets emerging as leaders think about returning to full regathering of our churches, as restrictions ease in our provinces and territories. He also asks for leaders to engage and join the conversation as we think through some very important next steps as we start this new decade. Read
Time for a New Normal Returning to normal after such a historic moment would be nothing short of missing one of the greatest opportunities of our lifetime. History doesn't always repeat itself, but it tends to rhyme. We must not go back to normal. Instead, we must take the best of what we are seeing now and continue those things. Let me share three things that I hope we will keep moving forward. Read
What are Disciple Making Movements? Disciple and discipleship are "hot" words today. Despite the volume around these concepts the reality is that little of it resemble the "multiplicative" nature of Jesus' early disciples and the impact they had on the world. There is hope in find our way back. DMM is an acronym for a street level executable disciple making strategy that fosters disciples making disciples. DMM has a built in self replicating DNA that catalyzes viral movements. Read
10 Recommended Church Planting Podcasts Denominations, networks, and reproducing churches are utilizing podcasts to help church planters stay encouraged and equipped in their planting journey. Podcasts are an easy and regular way for church planters to learn from other seasoned practitioners, especially when much of their time is spent investing in others throughout the week. The following list includes ten recommended church planting podcasts that can help church planters and planting leaders stay sharp and inspired: Read
Responding to Racism and Building the Right DNA in your Church - An Interview with Chris Chase In this interview with Chris, he shares about some of the responses from Christians that he's encouraged and discouraged by. We talk about how to not be defensive in our responses, but to let Christ speak through us, and how to build the right DNA in our churches (new and existing) as it relates to Kingdom values around racism. Read
Responding to Disequilibria "How do I help people focus when the information that is coming is ambiguous, and there seems to be no specific target to aim towards?" In this short blog, Pastor Darrell Muth shares some helpful thoughts on waiting on the Lord, looking up, listening and ultimately trusting in God. Read
The Future of Church Planting and Four Lanes for Planters In this interview from the Healthy Leaders Network in Saskatchewan, Paul talks with Josh Singh about the future of church planting and the four lanes they see planters potentially fitting into. They chat about some new lanes for planters that will be much more common moving forward in church multiplication. Read
Five Early Findings from Churches That Are Gathering The regathering of churches for in-person services is garnering a lot of attention in both the religious and secular media. There are very few organizations other than churches that meet as a large group every week. The implications are significant. Read
Let's Get Phygital It’s a term that has been used to describe the “new normal” for almost every facet of society moving out of the pandemic of 2020. Phygital is the concept of using technology to bridge the digital world with the physical world with the purpose of providing unique interactive experiences for the user. Read
Short-Term and Long-Term Effects of COVID-19 on the Church in America As we slowly emerge out from sheltering in place to a “new” normal, what will the new normal look like for churches in America? Read
General Conference 2020 Church Multiplication Plenary Speaker Mike Miller With the cancellation of our in-person PAOC General Conference, we still felt that we needed to hear from Mike Miller, who was going to be the speaker at the Church Multiplication Plenary Session. Mike was gracious enough to record his talk for us so we could have it available here. We know it will be an encouraging word for you as a leader and for us as a fellowship! Read
5 Church Multiplication Shifts We Need to Make in the Next Decade Paul is taking some more time to unpack his original report for the PAOC online General Conference citing stats from the last 10 years of church multiplication in our fellowship. He talks with us about what we need to be thinking about as we plan for the next 10 years. Read
Moving from Community Focus to Community Engagement; An interview with Jim Molloy, Chad Nickerson, and Dave Sawler Multiply Network Lead Team Member Jim Molloy, from the Maritimes District Office, interviews pastors and practioners Dave Sawler from Glace Bay, N.S., and Chad Nickerson from Saint John, N.B. They talk about real, practical steps for how we can help our communities navigate this pandemic season and also into the future. They discuss the importance of developing community partnerships, being consistent in your help to your local community, and how to make sure these new community engagements stay with our churches moving into the future. Read
Short-Term and Long-Term Effects of COVID-19 on the Church in America In the days, months, and years after COVID-19, when America (and much of the world) will be rebuilding, the church has an opportunity to give a glimpse of the kingdom of God that was inaugurated at Jesus’ first coming and will be consummated at his return. The glimpse of the King and his kingdom is more than just spiritual reconciliation with God. Read
The Mental & Emotional Health of Pastors and Their Congregants Amid COVID-19 In this unprecedented time full of disruptions and uncertainty, Barna has continued to check in on pastors and church leaders across the U.S. In this article, we’ll look at the findings from this week’s national pastor panel data, featured on the latest ChurchPulse Weekly episode, to see what pastors have to say about their own mental and emotional well-being, as well as that of their congregants. Read
6 Ways to Shepherd When You Can't See the Sheep In the wake of our pandemic, many godly shepherds are now faced with the daunting challenge of shepherding from a distance. We can’t be with the sheep, at least not in the ways that were once understood. So, what’s a shepherd to do now that proximity with the sheep is impossible? Read
Creating, Leading, and Sustaining a Prayer Movement in Your Ministry - 'TAKE-5' with Travis Holownia In this 'Take-5' interview with Travis Holownia from Resurgence, we chat about this movement, which started in prayer and continues on 11 years later. We talk about the purpose, passion and priority of prayer along with some practical tips on how to keep the prayer movement strong in online settings. Read
Dealing with Anxiety - 'TAKE-5' with Dr. Gerry Tonn In this 'Take-5' interview, we talk with Dr. Gerry Tonn about what anxiety is, how we can deal with it, and who can help us with it. We learn about the acronym SAFE and the benefits of processing anxiety through that lens. Read
Ten Things Your Church Should Have in Place Right Now “The church has left the building.” We see this on church signs, hashtags, and t-shirt designs. It’s a great saying and an actual reality. But what are the most urgent things we can be doing as the church is scattered? Here are ten things that you should have in place already—if you don’t, you are late and it is time to get going. Read
Secularity, Political Christianity, and COVID-19: Sovereign Conditions for Gospel Movement Three separate yet distinct streams appear to be converging into what could become the perfect, Kingdom conditions for a gospel movement. These streams are the shifting tide from secularism to secularity within North America, an increasing distaste for politicized religion, and an invisible bug that is proving to be more powerful than Wall Street, geo-political powers, or our fascination with ecclesiastical supremacy. Read
From Surviving to Thriving: The Global Pandemic Edition Instead of a hard sprint, it might be better to think of your leadership in the crisis as an expedition. You have to strategize resources for the long haul. You will be with a small group of people over a long period of time. There is inherent danger and decisions that have to be made soberly, but not in fear. Anxiety, emotional fatigue and mental health are very real things to consider—possibly more important than toilet paper roll count. Read
Developing Three Purposeful Rhythms in Life and Church - 'TAKE-5' with Dru Fess In this Take 5 interview Dru from Praxis Church in London, Ontario talks about the healthy process of the church growing from a multisite to a self-governing church, discovering their identity as a community and how they find life in the spiritual disciplines. Read
Gen Z and the "Church Within a Church" Experiment - 'TAKE-5' with Scott Poirier In this Take 5 interview we chat with Scott Poirier who has recently launched Z Church in Winnipeg. With the support of the Christian Life Church where he is on staff, he and his team has started to explore what a church community could look like for the next generation. Read
Crisis Leadership, Christian Leadership and the Coronavirus Epidemic Too many leaders practice reactionship in crisis, not leadership. Your job isn't just to react to what's happening, it's to lead people in light of what's happening. Read
Missional Mishaps in Contextualixation Terms like "unchurched" and "unreached" are softer labels than "broken", but they mask the same kinds of mispercetions. Only after Jesus drew close to people did he speak into their lives or address their needs. Read
A Different Harvest Harvesting requires intentional investment with those who, often on the surface, have no interest in the good news of Jesus, or at least in the cultural assumptions they have about Him and His church. Read
Multiply Network Vision Casting - with Paul Fraser In this video, Paul Fraser, Director of the Multiply Network, shares his heart for church multiplication, some exciting things happening in 2020, and some thoughts on where we need to be going in 2020 and beyond. Read
Prayer, Power, and Planting - 'Take-5' with Ben Narayanan In this episode, we talk Ben Narayanan from Avant Life Church in North Vancouver about the priority of prayer in the life of the church. With all the things you need to make a church plant go and grow, we cannot underestimate the power of prayer and the place it should take in our plans. Read
Multisite Alignment - 'Take-5' with Mark Colwell In this episode, we talk with Mark Colwell, who is the campus pastor of Christian Life Assembly in Maple Ridge, B.C. We chat about the importance of bringing alignment of the vision and values of the main campus to the Maple Ridge campus while still contextualizing ministry to the needs of the community they are serving in. Read
Innovating Our Missiology for North America There are a handful of crucial issues that are and will continue to affect mission and ecclesiology in North America with increasing measure, perhaps forcing even greater innovation in missiology and mission strategy than what we have seen since the Church Growth movement. Read
Unleashing the Gift of Evangelism in 2020 One thing is for sure: evangelism is not going anywhere, and more than ever, we need to reengage in conversation and dialogue around evangelism. Perhaps more than this, we need to embrace and unleash the power and gift of evangelism in our post-everything world. Read
Why the “Nothing in Particulars” May Be the Most Gospel-Ready Audience The “Rise of the Nones” captured widespread attention by Christian leaders in recent years. While it was once difficult to quantify the “nominal” Christian dynamic of religious preference in North America, the radical proportion increase of those claiming no religion put these realities front and center in the minds of evangelicals. Read
Saskatchewan: The Land of Opportunity for Church Multiplication - 'TAKE-5' with Josh Singh In this Take 5 video we chat with Josh Singh (Elim Church, Saskatoon), who is the new executive officer of church multiplication in the PAOC Saskatchewan District. In this episode we talk about the needs, opportunities and successes of church multiplication in this great province. We hear his heart for rural planting and for our university and college campuses in his district. Read
Multiply Network Conference - May 3-4, 2020 in Halifax We're excited to host our first ever Multiply Network Conference, May 3-4, 2020 in Halifax, NS. We are gathering just prior to our PAOC General Conference, so come a day early and hear Pastor Jeff Leake from Allison Park Church in Pittsburgh share from his wealth of experience in Church Multiplication! This conference is for planters, senior pastors of multisite churches, site pastors or simply those interested in church multiplication. We hope you'll consider joining us. Read
How Do You Define Evangelism? Evangelism is not the same as mission. Part of the problem comes when people confuse the overarching mission with the task of evangelism. The mission involves both gospel demonstration and gospel proclamation. A vital part of the mission is gospel proclamation, which is what evangelism is. I think evangelism at its simplest is the telling of the gospel. But I think evangelism includes not just the telling. There’s also a desired response and typically some sort of invitation to that response. Read
5 Disruptive Leadership Trends That Will Rule 2020 A brand new decade is here, and with it a massive amount of change as well as a lot of potential. So here’s a question: why should trends matter to leaders? For starters, we live in an age of massive disruption. For several years now, I’ve kicked off the new year with a post on disruptive trends leaders need to watch. After all, if you see the future, you can seize the future. If you don’t, you won’t. Leaders who miss emerging trends miss a lot. Just ask Blockbuster, Sears or the taxi industry. Read
6 Disruptive Church Trends That Will Rule 2020 While it might seem like a lot of change and challenges ahead, you and I lead in an age of massive disruption. And leading in the church is even a little more complex than leading in the marketplace for numerous reasons. Here’s one of them: America is moving from a Christian to post-Christian culture faster than most people imagined, and will soon match the level of secularization found in places like Europe, Australia, Canada, and other Western nations. Read
These Are a Few of my Favorite Things - Paul's Picks of 2019 As we finish off the year, I thought I would share some of my favourite things I listened to, watched, read and ranked as I travelled throughout the year. Maybe there is something on this list you never heard or thought of. Maybe it’s something you might look into more, or straight-up disagree with (probably my Canadian airport rankings)! Read
Celebrations, Success and Challenges in Two Years of Planting with Derek Sheahan In this interview, we hear from Derek Sheahan (Pastor of Advance Church, Calgary) about some of the challenges and learning that has come in the first two years of church planting. Read
'Why Multiply: A Sobering Reminder Why WE MUST Keep At It' By Paul Fraser Church multiplication can’t be a fad that fades but a mission that grows in our hearts every day, month and year because every Canadian deserves an access point to the Gospel. Read
Top 10 Church Planting Related Books from 2019 It takes multiple disciplines to fully express how different the cultural climate of 21st century North America is compared to when our modern versions of church planting developed over forty years ago. These books capture how some leaders are responding to the church planting challenges and opportunities in the 21st century. Read
Four Marks of a Kingdom-centric Church A church existing for the Kingdom of God will always be reminiscent of a heroic, rescue mission for one very loved and lost lamb. Read
The Technological Discipleship Gap Christians have seen the emerging digital marketplace, and rather than thinking critically about its nature and effects, they have dived in. Innovation for the glory of God, we tell ourselves, even though we know that innovation for the expansion of the platform is often closer to the truth. Discipleship may not even cross our minds. Read
Multiplication, Management, and the Heart of a Planter - 'TAKE 5' with Brett Esslinger In this short 'Take 5' interview, we chat with Brett Esslinger, the Lead Pastor of both West Edmonton Christian Assembly and Engage Church. He chats with us about what it looks like to be a lead pastor of both congregations and how he still wants to continue to grow his passion for church planting! Read
Marks of a Multisite Pastor - 'TAKE 5' with Kevin Janzen In this Take 5 interview we chat with Kevin Janzen from Hope City Church in Edmonton about what kinds of gifts and leadership characteristics are needed to be a successful multisite pastor! Read
Modes of Mission: A Missional Practice There is one more missional mode that is enacted when the Church embraces the totality of God’s mission—and that mode is “multiplication.” Multiplication is used by God to advance his mission throughout the world. Read
Church Planting Series: So What Does Church Planting Actually Look Like? Church planting looks a lot like merging onto the highway via an on-ramp. It’s a bit risky, a bit challenging, and a bit scary. But it’s a necessary step towards moving your church toward multiplication. Read
Funding Future Facilities Today’s economy requires churches to have specific funds set aside for ministry and facilities. For a church plant, the start-up phase requires support from outside groups and it requires the planter to be a good steward of the limited funds available. From the beginning of your church plant, I encourage planters and their leaders to set aside funds for future facilities. Read
World Impact’s Research on Effective Urban Church Planting Our mission statement is, “World Impact empowers urban leaders, and partners with local churches to reach their city with the Gospel.” To truly live into our mission statement, it is important to know who our urban leaders are, and what it means to empower them. Read
Moving Our Congregations to More Effective Evangelism Too often, people view the connection between discipleship and evangelism in one of two ways: either they inseparably lump them into one category, or one gets relegated to the wastelands of our faith life. If we are honest, usually evangelism gets the short end of the stick. The truth is, discipleship must include evangelism. Being a disciple of Christ means doing the work of evangelism. Read
Discipleship, Doubt and Development: 'TAKE 5' Interview with Rob Good from Promise Church In this interview we catch up with Rob to get an update on their church in Bradford, Ontario, their discipleship model, and how they are working at implementing it. We specifically talk about the "questioning" part of their process and how maybe making room for people to process what they are learning will allow greater development. Read
Campus Church and Discipleship: 'TAKE 5' Interview with Jordan Cameron from Evensong Church In this interview we chat with Jordan about what they do for campus church in Dalhousie University in Halifax and how they work at discipling students. We also talk about a big "why" as it relates to planting churches and ministries on our campuses. Read
The Metrics of Mission: How to Count What Counts Numbers can be deceptive. Everyone knows that. Bigger doesn’t equal better. Often, it is much worse. Strength is no indicator of spiritual significance. In fact, weakness is the biblical meta-narrative. More is not always the means to mission. Often, it becomes the very appeal to maintaining mediocrity.......So, our numbers – the metrics that we frequently count – can be missionally deceptive. Read
The Most Strategic People Group in the World Today As the western world becomes increasingly post-Christian, every church and network needs a comprehensive strategy on how to make disciples of the next generation. This strategy must include planting churches with and among college students. It’s my contention that college students can not only be viewed as a distinct people group, but that they are the most strategic people group in the world today. Read
The Linkage Between Church Planting and Developing New Christians The New Testament writers never really needed to define church planting—in the same way fish do not need to explain water and humans do not need to explain air, the Bible writers never needed to tell people to plant churches. Read
Take 5 with Matt Bombay In this interview we talk with Matt Bombay about the launch of South Point Church starting later this month in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan! Read
Take 5 with Reuben Deodhar In this interview we talk with Reuben Deodhar about the launch of Zoe Church starting early in October in Mississauga, Ontario! Read
Raising Up Church Planters for the Next Generation The Send Institute Missiologist Council gathered to frame a conversation vital for leaders to consider with regard to the missional landscape and future of church planting in North America. In this discussion, Dr. John Davidson talks about the need to raise up church planters for the next generation. Read
RAISING UP A GENERATION: HOW TO CALL MILLENNIALS INTO LEADERSHIP How do you use the paradigm of Millennials to bring them into leadership? Some of these techniques are about them, and some are about you. You can’t do what you have always done and you can’t lead how you have always led. But these small tweaks can help make a difference. Read
Church Planting Research and Development: Part 1 There are certain clear points of orientation from which we must not deviate; to do so would disembowel the very nature of Jesus’ church. But God has also appointed wise leaders under the authority of his Spirit to press into the unknown, with passionate, humble, faith-filled vision that experiments with the best missiological means of deploying that church within the culture and in harmony with Scripture. Read
6 Keys to Reproducing Normal-Size Churches We will simply never move the needle on lasting impact with an overdependence on a few megachurches. We need a far-reaching movement of normal churches trusting a supernatural God to do far more than any of us might think possible. Read
From the Editor's Chair by C.B. Smith - testimony Article, January 1946: Campbell Bannerman Smith (1900-1961) was born in Ontario in 1900. He attended the Canadian Pentecostal Bible College in Winnipeg where he met his wife, Beulah Argue. Following his ordination in 1928, his ministry appointments included pastoring in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan District Office, Ottawa, and principal of the Eastern Pentecostal Bible College. In 1944 he was elected General Superintendent of the PAOC and served in that position from 1945 until he resigned in 1952. He then pastored in Victoria until returning to Ontario in 1958 to fill the presidency of Eastern Pentecostal Bible College. Read
Missions by W. Ralph Hornby - testimony Article, January 1946 Rev. W. Ralph Hornby pastored four PAOC churches from 1933-1958: Ruthilda, SK, Dauphin, MB, Brandon, MB, and London, ON. He also a wrote a few articles for the Pentecostal Testimony during his ministry tenure. Read
Miracle in Metro by Rev. Roy E. Upton - testimony Article, January 1971 In 1956, Rev. Roy E. Upton began holding weekly drive-in Sunday services were held at a Dominion Store parking lot. In 1957, construction of Scarborough Gospel Temple began in a wheat field. In the early 2000s, the church continued to expand and even moved locations. Now known as Global Kingdom Ministries, it continues to stay true to its original mandate of missions and outreach. Read
'Take 5' with Randy Young In this 'Take 5', we talk with Randy about the Pentecostal World Conference happening in Calgary at the end of August. He outlines for us what to expect at this year's conference, the theme, and ways the conference will be blessing the city of Calgary. Read
Right Attitudes Toward Church Planting The following article was published in The Pentecostal Testimony (now testimony) in August 1985. The writer, Rev. G. Douglas Stiller, pioneered Spruce Grove Community Church in Alberta. He was involved in church planting at Christian Life Assembly in southwest Calgary and served as the Church Planting Co-ordinator of the PAOC from 1993-2002. Read
The Clarion Call to Advance In his 35 years of credentialed ministry with the PAOC, Rev. Willis G. McPherson pastored in several churches and ministries, starting in the summer of 1934, when he first applied for credentials. The following article, written by Rev. McPherson, was taken from The Pentecostal Testimony (now known as the testimony), Volume 27, Number 2, originally published January 15, 1946. Read
Interview with Louis Halbgewachs In this interview, Louis talks about how pastoring in rural Saskatchewan lead him to start an online church. He shares his thoughts on the role online campuses can play in church multiplication. Read
The 5 Biggest Online Churches Of course, you might be reading this article asking yourself, “Why would someone sit at home and attend a virtual church on their computer when they could go to church with their neighbors and be together in the same building?” Read
Take 5 with Ken McIntyre In this Take 5 interview we talk with Ken McIntyre, from Hope City Church in Edmonton, about their online presence as a church, how it is helping the church grow, and some of the things they are learning through this process. Read
Online churches don't hurt local church growth: study A new study, billed as the most extensive of its kind, is touting the benefits of doing church online — and no, it’s not to simply build a crowd. Read
Is Online Church Real Church? Online church is real church, but it’s not enough church. Read
Take 5 with Peter Ramsis from Father's Heart Church in Surrey, BC In this video we get an encouraging update with how this new Arabic speaking church plant is doing. We also hear how Pastor Peter and his family were called to Canada and about the many people in the community of Surrey coming to Jesus through this disciple-making community! Read
Take 5 (Part 1) with Kevin and Erin Machado In Part 1 of this video we chat with Kevin and Erin about how God led them to start missional communities in neighbourhoods and the heart behind what they are doing. Read
Take 5 (Part 2) with Kevin and Erin Machado In Part 2 of this video we chat with Kevin and Erin about the "how" and "what" of their missional communities. We hear some the highlights and challenges that come with leading this model of disciple-making community, as they continue to learn and grow. Read
Missional or Attractional? The Value of Embracing a Both/And Mentality If missional churches are going to gather at all, shouldn’t they leverage the gathering for all its worth? If attractional churches are going to make disciples, don’t they need to teach them to be disciples who live on mission with Jesus? Read
Foggy Road Ahead: Leading Pioneer Planting Pioneer church planting is different from traditional church planting in that the goal is to not only form a new church; it is to also to explore new ways of being the church. Because the future remains foggy for the church in the West, we must care for these seeds of the future and nurture them as they develop. Read
Can Multisite be Missional? While the origin of multi-siting may have had missionary roots, it seems to have quickly shed them. As churches embraced the church-growth paradigm and its corresponding assumptions, they invariably found themselves in competition with other like-minded churches in the city. Read
Church Planting Reading List This is certainly not a comprehensive list, but when church planters ask me to suggest a few books to help them think differently about church planting, this is the list I share, categorized under three headings: Read
Seven Benefits to the Coming Opposition The church of Jesus Christ has always resembled her King best when she was in a place, not of dominance, but of yielded weakness. A quick glance through our history unmistakably reveals that when we become powerful, we behave in counter-kingdom ways. We baptize the world’s operating systems and use its muscle to advance our own comfort, security, and prominence with precious little thought given to the mission of our Founder. Read
Take 5 Interview with Dave Wells In this video we discuss the important role the Multiply Network plays in the PAOC family and how we are dreaming about the future beyond 2020. Read
Take 5 Interview with Daniel Yang In this episode we talk about what the SEND Institute is, the importance of church multiplication networks and why they need to continue to adapt and grow. Read
Take 5 Interview with Andy Moore In this interview with we chat with Andy about the GT Church multiplication story and some of the challenges along the way. He also shares some encouragement for senior leaders to consider when multiplying the churches they are leading. Read
Interview with James Clarence In this interview we ask James, who is leading Tehillah Young Adults at First Assembly Calgary, what has changed in young adult ministry in the last five years, what do we need to be doing in our preaching and how can we best engage this very important demographic of leaders. Read
Take 5 Interview with Jason Ballard In this short interview we ask Jason from Christian Life Assembly in Langley B.C. how we as churches and leaders can better reach and communicate with millennials. We get his take on what they need and are looking for. Read
Three Lessons from Year One of Church Planting Travis Jones, lead pastor of Motivation Church, shares three important lessons that he learned from his first year of church planting. Read
5 Things Millennials Are Looking For In a Church One of the questions almost every church leader I know is asking is “How do we reach Millennials?”—that demographic of young adults now in their mid-twenties to age 40. It’s a great question. Read
How to Effectively Reach and Retain Millennials We identified characteristics of churches that were engaging young adults by reaching and keeping them as part of the church. Here are three significant ways in which churches can effectively reach and retain Millennials. Read
7 Simple Ways to Engage Millennials and Church The church’s ability to capture the millennial generation is one of the biggest challenges we face. Here are 7 simple ways to engage Millennials and church. Read
Interview with Stephanie Borsato Stephanie Borsato is a bi-vocational church planter in rural Nova Scotia. When she is not working at the local community hospital as a medical doctor, she and husband Mario lead Église du Phare (Lighthouse Church), a faith community designed for the francophone Acadian population they live and work in. Read
Take 5 Interview with Emma Narayanan This month’s 'Take 5' episode features an interview with Emma Narayanan. While living in their native Australia, Emma and her husband Ben knew God was calling them to church plant in Canada. They now pastor Avant Life in North Vancouver, BC. Join us as Emma shares more about their story. Read
Interview with Janelle Keough Janelle Keough and her husband Steve were happily involved as volunteers in their church...until God started stirring something new within their hearts. It eventually led to a process which included quitting their jobs and moving clear across the country, from BC to Nova Scotia, to work as church planters. Read
We Need More Lydias in Church Planting One area where the church’s beauty is displayed is in God’s design for men and women to be partnered in ministry to advance the Gospel and plant new churches. The North American church, currently comprised of slightly more women than men, has an empowered regiment of gifted women to be catalyzed on mission. Read
The Great Opportunity Commissioned by a private foundation, “The Great Opportunity” is an independent report estimating that over 40 million young people who were raised in Christian homes could walk away from a life with Jesus by 2050. But, if the church can help them engage with Christ at rates from just two decades ago, over 20 million can know a life with Him. Read
13 Tips for Women Church Planters As a church planter, though, I know there are much more important considerations—especially for women church planters—that determine a church plant’s success. So I conducted telephone interviews with 14 other female church planters who range in age from 40 to 80. Read
Interview with Sam Farina Sam Farina lives in Dallas, TX and draws from years of experience in church leadership and public speaking. He holds a Doctorate of Ministry with an emphasis in professional coaching. After pioneering to create the Assemblies of God Coaching Network, he continues to train coaches for the network and serves on their coaching board and task force. In this interview, Sam shares about the benefits of coaching for church planters, and what we, as a PAOC fellowship, can do to become a multiplying movement once again. Read
Take 5 with Luc Lombardi In this Take 5 interview we chat with Luc Lombardi who is a professional coach. We talk about the benefits and importance of coaching. We also talk about church planting assessment and what are the characteristics and behaviours needed in church planters. Read
Should I plant a church? Pastor Jeff Leake of the Reach Northeast Network answers the question "How do know if I'm supposed to plant a church?" Read
Future Shock – 12 Attitude Shifts Necessary for Thriving in What’s Next The Church that Jesus is building is serving in the midst of all this societal turbulence. We are called to be in the world but not of the world. Being in it means we must wisely navigate the mind-boggling twists and turns that the cultural whirlwind sends our way Read
Church Planting to Engage the Marketplace Entrepreneurial church planters, however, are creatively entering this mission field by engaging and gathering communities of faith in the marketplace. These missional entrepreneurs leverage the networking and value creation provided by businesses in order to form communities of Christ followers among unchurched people. Read
Future Leaders On the Horizon of Church Planting As we contemplate the future horizon of church planting in North America, it is imperative for us to consider one of the main ingredients for these efforts – the planter and core team members. Inevitably, we must ask the question, “Where will these discipled leaders come from?” Read
Interview with Jerry Berenguer In September 1992, Jerry went into full-time ministry and began what is now called Champion Life Centre. 26 years later, God is continuing to use him to advance His kingdom through church multiplication. Check out what Jerry has to say about leadership pipelines and development in this interview. Read
Take 5 Video with Paul Fraser In this Take 5 video Paul takes some time to outline some great things happening with the Multiply Network and gives us some encouragement for 2019. Read
What is a Leadership Pipeline? In this episode of 90 Second Leadership video, Todd Adkins, the Director of LifeWay Leadership, discusses how a leadership pipeline works. Read
Why Has It Become Harder To Stock the Church Planter Pipeline? For many church planting networks, stocking the church planter pipeline has become increasingly more difficult in these last few years than it has been over the last few decades. Read
Multiplying When You’re Not Mega: Leadership pipeline Soon it became obvious that not only should we be training another church planter, but we should be training people to serve in each ministry position a church plant needs. Read
5 Places to Find Your Next Church Planter A Church Planter Depot where you could find in one place the right people for a church planting project would be nice. But alas, there is no such place. And honestly, it is probably good that we have to search for such leaders. Read
Interview with John Ippolito John and Kathryn Ippolito reside in Laval, QC, where they have lead the congregation of Laval Christian Assembly since 1992. John also serves as the Secretary-Treasurer for the Quebec District and is part of the Multiply Network Lead Team. Read
Take 5 Interview with Sam Sibley Sam Sibley is the Lead Pastor at Christian Life Centre in Ajax, Ontario. Check out Sam's experience with church multiplication and what he's learned along the way. Read
Interview with John Albiston John Albiston is an Effectiveness Coach in the Alberta and Northwest Territories district office. He works with leaders to see both church multiplication and revitalization move forward at a local church level to reach people far from God. Read
Balancing Church Planting Strategies and the Holy Spirit Take some time to check out this short video interview with Bill Hogg from C2C and Daniel Yang from Send institute. Making sure we have right priorities in these two key areas is critical to fulfilling the Great Commission. Read
The New Normal in Church Planting In its essence, church multiplication is the action of churches planting churches and often, subsequently, their own networks. This is becoming the new normal in church planting. Read
Reaching Religious Nones I was recently invited by a group of Canadian church planters to share five insights from my sociological research on religion, with an eye toward engaging “religious nones” – those who say they have no religion. I said the following: Read
Take 5 Interview with Len DenBraber In this interview, we chat with Pastor Len DenBraber from the British Columbia and Yukon District to talk about his district's church multiplication vision. Thankful for the insight and wisdom he brings to our Multiply Network Lead Team. Read
Take 5 interview with Jason Small In this interview we talk with Pastor Jason Small from the Western Ontario District about their church planting vision and strategy. We are grateful for the passion and experience he brings to our Multiply Network Lead Team. Read
Interview with Brian Egert In this interview with Brian, we ask him about Mission Canada, church multiplication and what we need to be thinking about in the future to reach Canadians. We are so grateful to have Brian on our Multiply Network Lead Team. Read
Who Should Fund a Church Plant? When it comes to paying for the new church plant, who should be the one paying the bill?Are national denominations needed to solicit and divide funds for all their church planters? What role should local and regional organizations play? Where do other churches come in? Read
What I Have Learned in Year One It’s hard to believe that it’s already been a year since I started as the National Church Multiplication Coordinator. With the first year under my belt, I thought I would take some time to talk about some of the things I’ve learned about our amazing PAOC family this past year! Read
Will the multisite model stand the test of time? Remember when Matt Chandler announced that The Village Church would be transitioning from several campuses to individual autonomous churches? People were shocked. What would cause a growing and successful mega church to end its era of multisite? Read
How to Share Your Faith Critically and Contextually Today In every time period and historical context during which it has been shared, the gospel has confronted culture in one way or another. Read
Can’t Multiply Without This… We can congregate, but God captivates. We can stimulate, but God saturates. We can populate, but only God can penetrate. We need greater hunger in our hearts again for the moving of God’s Spirit in our churches. Read
Today’s Teens Twice as Likely as Adults to Say They’re Atheists New research from Barna Group reveals that U.S. teens are more than twice as likely as adults to identify as atheists. Read
Interview with Eric Lafleur Eric, and his wife, Nicole, are church planters in Laval.  In this interview, Eric shares a little about the unique challenges to church planting in Quebec and how their church, Église Generation, is reaching out to their community.  Read
 'TAKE 5' Video Series: Patti Miller We continue our 'Take 5' video series with a conversation with Patti Miller of Evangel Pentecostal in Montreal, Quebec. You'll enjoy hearing Patti share about ministry in a post-Christian context and what they are doing to find success in making an impact in their city. Read
Interview with Joseph Friedland After serving for nearly 26 years in the largest english evangelical church in Montreal, Joe and his wife Janet, along with their daughter, transitioned in September 2016 to plant a church in Brossard, a city of 85,000 people, just 15 minutes south of Montreal. Quebec has been called the greatest mission field in the Western world and, like many cities in the province, Brossard has a very small number of protestant evangelical churches. As a family, the Friedlands are privileged to be unlikely people in an overlooked place, doing extraordinary things to ”reach the one”. Read
What if Everyone Leaves Your Church…to Plant More Churches? “Now, wait a second. If we send people out, won’t our church decline?” Statistically, the most likely scenario is that it won’t. Read
The Magic Number is 25 In the next two years, all we need is 25% of our existing churches to start one new disciple-making community in order to reach our 2020 goals! Read
How Cultural Attachments of Yesterday Diminish Our Effectiveness Today Ask any veteran of the international missionary world and they’ll likely be happy to tell you what one needs to do to see success. Among the many skills they’ll mention, one theme will bubble to the surface over and over again: you must to be a humble learner. Read
Interview with Jason Eliason Pastor Jason, his wife Kelsey and their three children are launching a new church in Surrey, British Columbia called Citizens Church on September 16th! Take some time to read their story and journey towards church planting in this interview! Read
Take 5 Video with Lorne Young This month we start our Take 5 video series with Lorne Young from Discovery Church in Edmonton. Discovery Church is less than a year old and Lorne has some great updates to share that we know will encourage you!! Read
Interview with Rob Good Pastor Rob Good, his wife Valerie and their two children are launching a new church in Bradford, Ontario called Promise Church on September 16th! Check out their journey to this point and hear their heart for church multiplication in this interview! Read
Interview with Jonathan Lambert Jonathan and Natasha are passionate about the local church. They have a heart to see people discover the love of Jesus, and the fullness of life that He came to offer everyone. That passion has led to great faith steps over the years, the greatest of which compelled them to relocate their family to Calgary, AB in the winter of 2012. Thus began the Experience Church journey. From the beginning the goal was to gather people around God’s vision to transform the city, nation and beyond. In this interview, Jonathan talks about church planting in Calgary and being part of the ARC Network. Read
Interview with Tim Keller: Church Planting - Networks, Denominations, and Broader Ministry In this video, Pastor J.D. Greear from The Summit Church interviews Tim Keller about church planting networks, denominations, and broader ministry topics. Read
5.5 Questions with Greg Laing Greg Laing is a Western Canada leader for the C2C church planting network under the umbrella of Mennonite Brethren missions. He works on behalf of C2C to help our PAOC planters and churches see church multiplication efforts come to fruition through C2C processes and partnerships. We are grateful he also finds the time to sit on the Multiply Network lead team! Read
Three Things Successfully Multiplying Churches Do Churches that multiplied within their first five years did a few things at a far higher percentage than those that didn’t. Read
5 Things We Can Learn from Church Planting Networks The popularity of Church Planting Networks (CPNs) is certainly growing in Canada, specifically with our younger pastors and leaders. Why are some leaders gravitating more towards networks than denominations when it comes to church multiplication? Read
Are Church Planting Networks Focusing on Multiplying Churches? In this report, we will share best practices in church planting systems as well as the organizational shifts necessary to see denominations and networks move beyond addition into multiplication. Read
Interview with Phil Kniesel Phil Kniesel is the Lead Pastor at Hope City Church (formerly Mill Woods Assembly) in Edmonton, Alberta. He and his team have a God-inspired vision to reach 1% of Edmonton, and in order to reach that goal, they are starting their first multisite in southwest Edmonton this fall! In this interview, Pastor Phil shares a bit about their journey and some of the lessons being learned in their pre-launch season. This is a great story growing, and a win for the City of Edmonton! Read
Rob Ketterling video on his new book "Front Row Leadership" Take a look at this video with Rob Ketterling talking about his new book, Front Row Leadership, created by Church Multiplication Network, (Assemblies of God U.S.). Read
5.5 Questions on Church Multiplication with Rick Boyes Rick Boyes is the Lead Pastor at Gateway Church in London, Ontario. You may remember last month’s interview with Rachael Ernst and Charles Karugu regarding the new church site at Western University - Rick leads the sending church that got it all started! The main campus church has also started another multisite in Komoka, Ontario. Pastor Rick has some great things to say in this interview regarding multisites, the next generation, Canadian culture, and building the Kingdom of God! Read
6 Dirty Secrets about Multisite Churches That (Almost) No-one is Talking About As an unabashed fan of this approach to reaching more people, I do have a confession to make. There are aspects of being a multisite church that aren’t as great on the inside as they look on the outside. Read
Multisites Need to Multiply The Multisite Model of church multiplication is growing and doesn’t look to be slowing down any time soon. I am encouraged that leaders and churches all over North America are expanding the Kingdom of God through multisites. Read
5 Network and Denominational Shifts Necessary for a Planting Movement in North America There’s a certain desperation in the air. Not necessarily the kind that’s derived from a sense of hopelessness, as if the dispiriting upshot is inescapable. It’s a desperation that’s motivated by reality—the kind that takes a long, hard look at the facts and resolves that risk, experimentation, and change are no longer a nicety but a necessity. Read
Interview with Rachael Ernst & Charles Karugu Gateway Western Campus is a multi-site of Gateway Church in London, Ontario. This new disciple-making community started in September 2017 with co-pastors Charles Karugu and Rachael Ernst on the Gateway University Campus. They are both working bi-vocationally as they lead this new church. Read about their journey in this short interview and celebrate with them the great things God has started in this new church! Read
Church Multiplication Video from General Conference Our team put together this great video on Church Multiplication at our General Conference in May. Take a few minutes to check it out by clicking on the link. Read
5.5 Questions for Jeremy Keys Pastor Jeremy Keys and his wife, Mathilda, planted a multicultural church called City Mosaic Church six years ago in northeast Calgary. Pastor Jeremy has worked bi-vocationally from the very beginning and has some great thoughts on church planting with this model. We asked Jeremy questions about bi-vocational ministry and the story of City Mosaic. Read
Breathe in the Busyness There’s this app on my watch that reminds me to breathe. I’m not quite sure how to turn the setting off, but a few times a day, I hear this annoyingly soothing little jingle that reminds me it’s time to breathe. Read
3 Biggest Needs for Church Multiplication It’s now been 21 years since my last formal education experience. When I graduated from Northwest Bible College (now Vanguard College) and started my first ministry assignment, I remember thinking that my learning was now complete. That thought could not have been further from the truth! Read
Rethinking the Missionary Nature of the Church If we are to understand what it means to be “missional church,” we must consider the importance of understanding the church as a sent, missionary body. Read
Interview with Wendy Payne We sometimes think and hear that rural church planting doesn’t work and that church multiplication is reserved for urban areas. That is simply not true. Read
Church Multiplication (Andy Moore) Andy Moore is the lead pastor at Glad Tidings Church in Victoria. In this video Andy gives great encouragement and insight into the importance of church multiplication. Check it out! Read
SEVEN QUESTIONS FOR: PAUL FRASER: It’s about kingdom work Paul brings a wealth of experience to this challenge. Here is a glimpse into his story and his heart. Read
Dreaming Bigger and Taking Risks: Awakening a Pioneering Heart I have come to the conclusion that the more I try to guess what God has for me next, the more it simply eliminates that idea as a possibility. Read
Revitalization or Multiplication? Or Both? With many denominations in Canada in plateau or decline, there is an interesting discussion growing among leaders on where our greatest focus should be placed to reverse these troubling trends. Read
Guardrails for a Disciple Making Culture 2 Timothy 2:2 is one of the most quoted verses in regard to discipleship. And yes, Paul does talk about discipleship here. Sometimes in zeroing in on this verse, we miss the broader context of this Pastoral Epistle. Read

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