So much great stuff going on right now at CMC. There is much to celebrate. Let me give you an example.
This weekend, on Sunday night, we saw the launch of a new campus church at Brock University called Collide ( www.wearecollide.ca), which is a planting of Central Community Church in St. Catharines, ON in cooperation with Southridge Community Church (MB). In fact, the cooperation and partnership of these two churches is a Kingdom story in and of itself.
Anyways, it meets in the Isaac’s Pub on campus at 7 pm on Sundays. Led by Roy Olende ( of Red Frogs fame and no stranger to this blog ) it is off to a flying start.
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| Meet Roy! |
So, let me tell you about it.
Due to his servants heart and sheer likeability, and the amazing impact of Red Frogs on the Brock campus, Roy has found enormous favour from the student union and the administration, alike. They have grasped the fact that Red Frogs has added value to the U, and that it makes a positive difference. As a result, doors have swung open for Collide.
Isaac’s is a great venue for a campus church. High ceilings, an intimate space that offers room for growth, good acoustics and sound system and good accessibility all add up to a win. And its not bad looking, to boot.
The worship leading was low key. Talent helps when you want to go low key, and the two guys that led worship on the guitar and bass had it. They did a solid job.
Roy spoke. Gentle, passionate, genuine… people are drawn in by the warmth of his personality as well as the great stuff he has to say. And what he had to say was worth listening to. It was about being real, being genuine and about the magnetism of Jesus, Himself. It was about being more like Him.
The group was set up with tables. I know from varied experience that tables and table discussion can be incredibly powerful. However, if it is not done right, it can be detrimental. A big part of Roy’s efforts leading up to this launch is preparing his student core to lead discussions after his message. Tables work well when an effort is made to proactively overcome people’s natural reticence of sitting at a table where people do not know each other. In the wrong context ( I can think of current examples) it can lead to ‘cliquishness” which can put a damper on what the Holy Spirit wants to do.
However, the group all broke up to partake of the refreshments and then gathered again at tables to talk about what Roy talked about. The idea behind this is to encourage students to think about how they would apply what they just heard – as well as give them the opportunity to discuss it.
This emerging generation is increasingly allergic of just being talked to , but they want to engage it for themselves as well. As a result, a number of our ministries have taken the cue and worked with it, to great effect. Epic Church at U of A, and The Embassy at Humber College are two examples of where this works very well.
More to come....
