Stephen Bray is a church planter in St. John’s Newfoundland, one of the least “churched” cities in Canada (Only 1% of the city’s population attends worship services on Sundays.) Stephen is associated with Mile One Mission. M1M is a group of men and women who hold a deep conviction to see Gospel-centred churches raised up and supported amongst the peoples of Newfoundland and Labrador In Newfoundland. There, Christians traditionally identify as Roman Catholic, Anglican, United, Salvation Army or Pentacostal. Historically there has been no presence of Reformed or Evangelical churches. However, as a young man, he was introduced to the teaching ministry of RC Sproul and the doctrines of the sovereignty of God and the gospel of grace.
What kind of church should be planted in St. John’s. Is it time to develop a mega-church drawing all kinds of people to a central ‘campus’? There are two new mosques in town and a refurbished synagogue. What would be an adequate gospel response?
Prior to starting a church, Stephen spent 18 months learning about the city. What was going on with the government? He met with police officials. He met with social services, with paramedics, fire departments, politicians; he met with all kinds of leaders that would meet with him and just ask, “What’s happening? What are you happy with? What are you not happy with? What’s going right? What’s going wrong? He called as many churches as he could and asked what is your membership? What is your average attendance? How long have you been here? What’s going right for you? What are you excited about? What are you discouraged about?
After all that, he proposes a model of being church that views the “mega-church” with a “celebrity” pastor as a failed model. Rather, he proposes a small church (200-250 members) that is focused on urban neighbourhoods. This model sees 10 churches of 200 members having a much greater influence in the city and civic society than one church of 2000 members.
Mentioned in the podcast:
Mile One Mission https://www.mileonemission/
20 Schemes https://20schemes.com/
The Gospel Coalition (Canada) or TGC https://ca.thegospelcoalition.org/
The Gospel Coalition or TGC https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/
RC Sproul see https://www.ligonier.org/
Union School of Theology https://www.ust.ac.uk/
Michael Reeves https://www.ust.ac.uk/faculty-publications#michael-reeves
www.tyrannushallpodcast.ca
www.facebook.com/tyrannushallpodcast