By David Wells

OUR future as a church is dependent on the church's local, district, national and international leadership.

These leaders must strengthen our existing churches and ministries, while championing a new wave of creative and sustainable churches and ministries that reach people not currently connected to Jesus or his church. It is not a case of either/or; it is a case of both/and.

To be effective in our mission in Canada, I believe we need leaders who focus on strengthening the existing church -- even as we champion new ministries with an entirely different DNA than the existing church.

To illustrate, let me tell you about two settings I was in awhile ago.

I visit with a vital senior man who has given his heart and soul to his local church. He and his wife love Jesus, and love to serve others; but changes around their church are starting to wear them down.

He asks: "Where do we go to be find worship we can participate in, and to hear preaching that starts in the Bible?" A Friday church luncheon with friends at the church, and some good gospel music, is next to heaven in his mind.

I fly next to a senior woman who is about the same age as my friend. She long ago abandoned the church, and now runs a pottery gallery on one of British Columbia's Gulf Islands. She enjoys smoking a little marijuana, and loves her grandkids -- whom she is going to visit. A Friday luncheon with people at the church, and some gospel music, is the furthest thing from heaven in her mind!

Two seniors sharing life in Canada -- but living a world apart.

I, as a church leader, am responsible to make it possible for each of them to experience the life of Jesus -- but how?

In pondering and praying about this dilemma, I have come to some clear convictions which I believe are rooted in Jesus' ministry.

The non-negotiables

In order for both of these seniors to experience life in Jesus, they will need to have a number of things in common:

During their lifetime, they both need to hear and experience the good news that they can meet Jesus personally and be transformed by his word and Spirit.

They both need to be part of a true Christian community where they learn to love God and others.

They both need to share the good news unselfishly, and to live lives of righteousness, mercy and justice on behalf of others.

But there are a whole bunch of things these seniors do not have to share in common, including attending the same church or liking the same kind of speaking, music or activities.

In other words, to be about the mission of Jesus comes down to a very short list of non-negotiable items.

So how do we communicate good news, build meaningful Christian community and live out the life of Jesus -- when people's lives and backgrounds are so different?

This leads me to my second conviction: There is more than one way for the Canadian church to communicate effectively, and live out the non-negotiables.

Hard copy vs wireless

I am fascinated by the history of the communications giant Nokia. It began as a Finnish pulp and paper company in 1865, generating paper for newsprint. Although it added other subsidiaries, it maintained its core communications DNA, moving into coaxial cable for telephones and then TV production.

In the 1960s, radiophones were developed, followed by telecommunications and fiber optics. By 1992, Nokia was mass-producing mobile phones. Over one and a half centuries, Nokia has maintained its ability to be about what it was always about -- effective communications, both hard copy and wireless.

Hard copy communications such as newspapers and books are still an effective way to communicate. I usually read two newspapers a day.

The church in Canada has, over the years, developed an established method of communicating and living out its message. We have established places of worship and ministry, where we often invite others to come and be with us as we teach and preach God's word.

We have created numerous programs for all ages and backgrounds, so that people can become connected with us and experience the non-negotiables.

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Millions of Canadians, including my senior friend and myself, have come to a life-changing faith in Jesus through the church as we have inherited it. Effective 'hard copy' churches are still seeing numbers transformed through their services and programs.

Wireless communications are the principal means by which many communicate today, as they use their cellphones to call or text friends and businesses around the world.

We know we cannot communicate with every Canadian if we rely solely on 'hard copy' means. In the same way, we know we will not reach and disciple a large number of Canadians (including pot-smoking grandmas) if we rely totally on 'hard copy' churches.

This is not to say that they are wrong or obsolete -- just that we also need 'wireless' churches, that focus on going out and being among those who do not know Jesus.

As we spend time with Canadians in a multitude of contexts -- at home, school and work -- we will understand how to share the good news with them. Over time, we will see our friends transformed to become lovers of God and others.

They may never enter a 'hard copy' church as we've understood it; but they are nevertheless a form of the church, as they meet, worship, share the good news and do life together within the contexts of their homes and workplaces.

Remember: where the church meets is not on the list of non-negotiables, but the principle of gathering in true Christian community is.

My deep conviction is that we need both 'hard copy' and 'wireless' churches. Both my God-loving senior friend and the pot-smoking, pottery-making grandma need churches that will be about Jesus and his mission.

Who knows? Maybe my friend and his wife will spend a little time going 'wireless,' and will build a friendship with the grandma who lives in a different world. That would be superb!

But for that to happen, we will need brave, dynamic leaders who will strengthen the existing church to be as effective as possible -- and who will also go boldly into lives where we are not involved presently.

A new DNA

Here is a very sobering statement: more than half of all Canadians will not be reached by the existing hard copy 'come and gather' church. I chose a deliberately conservative figure, because we do not have hard data yet in Canada.

There are two main tracks for arriving at this general conclusion. Where more extensive research has been done in countries spiritually akin to Canada (such as the Australian research reported by Alan Hirsch), the existing evangelical church models (including Hillsong) are identified by 12 to 15 percent of the population's values as churches they would be interested in.

The actual attendance figures are, of course, lower. Christian leaders in Canada have indicated that, at most, only 20 to 25 percent of Canadians have values and cultural tastes that attract them to the existing church.

Our Canadian statistics -- released by the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC), Statistics Canada, Reginald Bibby and others -- show evangelicals (by stated beliefs/values) of any affiliation (including Roman Catholic) as always being under 20 percent.

An extensive EFC-commissioned survey done in 2003 came in at 19 percent. Of course, affiliation with acknowledged evangelical churches runs more in the eight to 12 percent range. In addition, weekly church attendance figures (of any affiliation) is around 20 percent, with once-a-month attendance being closer to 30 percent and Once-a-year attendance always running under 50 percent.

Therefore, there is no reason to believe that more than 50 percent of Canadians can be reached by the existing Canadian church (primarily the 'come and gather to our events/programs' model), even though it is effectively operated.

My argument is that the existing church should be effective at what it does, because there are many Canadians who will be reached and discipled that way; however, we also need ministries with an entirely new DNA -- 'go and be among' disciple-making communities.

What I see is a family of churches and leaders that will go anywhere, and pay any price, to strengthen existing churches and champion new ministries -- which the Lord of the harvest will use to reach Canada, and the world.

David Wells is general superintendent of The Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. This article is adapted, with permission, from a much longer statement.

March 10/2010