Dear Resurrection Church,

I wanted to take some time to communicate where we are as a church plant. For many of you, this is your first time in a church plant. On top of that, it's most likely your first time in an Anglican church plant. I want to give you a glimpse into our plans for the future, as well as point out some of the distinctive aspects of planting an Anglican church.

If you check out our website, you'll notice a page titled "The Plan." There, we sketch out how we think Resurrection will go from budding to flourishing. This plan, of course, is subject to change based on the Lord's plans; it's His plans to which we ultimately submit ourselves. However, that doesn't mean we don't do our best to plan ahead. So, we have identified 4 phases to church planting. As we transition to weekly public gatherings at Desert Streams, we are moving into the "Pre-Launch Phase."

During this phase, we will meet weekly for worship each Saturday. Our worship will not be "full" in the sense of music and liturgy. But it will be full in the sense of our engagement with the Scriptures, God (through the Sacraments), and each other. Our goal during this phase is to continue to grow our community, both in depth (knowing and being known) and width (adding more folks to our church). Our worship will oscillate between scaled-down worship with no music and full-fledged liturgy with music. These fuller services (with more liturgy and music) are considered preview services. They will showcase what our church's worship is hoping to look like long-term. Our next preview service is tentatively planned for Febuary 15th. This is an excellent time to invite friends who are "liturgi-curious."

We have no definitive timeline for how long we'll be in the Pre-Launch phase. My prayer is that our church will continue to grow so that we can launch sooner rather than later. Ultimately, we are trusting the Lord's timing in this season—and truthfully, we're having a ton of fun getting to know one another. We may want to rush into growth, but we are letting the Holy Spirit grow this church at His pace.

A few things need to happen prior to the "Launch Phase":

• First, we will need to grow. It takes a lot of volunteers to create liturgy in the Anglican way and we don't want to overextend and burn out our volunteer pool.
• Second, we need to hire some part-time staff. One of those positions is a Director of Children's Ministry. (If you're interested, let's talk!)

I invite you to join me in prayer for growth, both spiritually and numerically. We deeply desire to have a vibrant Anglican church here in Bend that meets the spiritual and physical needs of the city—and I'm confident we're on the right track!

In the certain hope of the Resurrection,

kyle+

This is the final in a series of posts inviting you to understand the values of Resurrection Anglican.

Values are the things that undergird a particular community’s way of being. They are the building blocks of how communities operate and what motivates them.

Here at Rez, we have identified five values that we want to inhabit as a community. They are liturgy, sacrament, Scripture, formation, and hospitality.

The last value to discuss is formation.

We believe that everybody is being formed into something, whether we realize it or not. The world we inhabit shapes our desires and these desires form us into people with a particular aim, a telos. As Christians, we want to be oriented toward Christ and toward his kingdom. We desire to be more like Jesus. For that to happen, we need to be formed by the Spirit into his likeness.

Being formed into the image of Christ doesn't happen naturally. In fact, we are naturally bent away from him. As a result, we intentionally do things to interrupt our lives and actively engage with God in our formation: we spend time in prayer, we read Scripture, we reflect on God's presence, and we participate in community and worship. Here at Resurrection, formation is at the core of all our values. We want everything we do—from reading Scripture to liturgy to hospitality to receiving the sacraments—to bend us and orient our lives toward Jesus. This is Christian formation.

We'd love to invite you along this journey towards Christ-likeness with us! If you're interested in learning more, please reach out to Fr. Kyle.

This is the fourth in a series of posts to invite you into understanding the values of Resurrection Anglican.

Values are the things that undergird a particular community’s way of being. They are the building blocks of how communities operate and what motivates them.

Here at Rez, we have identified five values that we want to inhabit as a community. They are liturgy, sacrament, Scripture, formation, and hospitality.

Let’s talk about Scripture and how it relates to who we are as a church.

In our current cultural moment, knowing what is true can feel difficult. Politicians are adept at spitting out “truth” but the “fact checkers” are always quick to rebut. Social media is full of people who seem to know everything about epidemiology, globalization, education—you name it—and are quick to point fingers at those they deem wrong.

What we’re experiencing can seem like a blurring of truth, making it hard for people to see with clarity what’s up and down, what’s right and wrong. And when one’s individual “truth” comes into conflict with another’s, it can be hard to know who to trust.

Here at Resurrection, we want to be grounded in a truth outside of ourselves. We recognize that the source of all truth is Jesus—the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We can best understand and know Truth by looking to Jesus and immersing ourselves in the Scriptures that reveal him, both the Old and New Testaments found in the Bible.

I love this prayer found in the Book of Common Prayer:

“Blessed Lord, who caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and the comfort of your holy Word we may embrace and hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”

Our hope is that the Bible both informs and forms us into people who love like Jesus, think like Jesus, and act like Jesus.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Bible and what it has to say about Truth and Jesus, reach out to Fr. Kyle.

This is the third in a series of posts to invite you into understanding the values of Resurrection Anglican.

Values are the things that undergird a particular community’s way of being. They are the building blocks of how communities operate and what motivates them.

Here at Rez, we have identified five values that we want to inhabit as a community. They are liturgy, sacrament, Scripture, formation, and hospitality.

The third value on our list is hospitality. Classically understood, hospitality is hosting, feeding, and serving others. The hospitality industry is made up of sectors such as hotels, restaurants, and customer service to name a few. However, the Bible understands hospitality as something different; something that isn’t outsourced but rather practiced together in community. This way of hospitality is motivated by the image of God in others.

At Resurrection Anglican, our approach to hospitality, first and foremost, is a reflection of our theology. As we experience and encounter the loving God who dwelt among us, we do as he did: we eat and celebrate, serve and care for others. We take seriously everybody who comes through our doors and into our home and church. C.S. Lewis said it well in his book, The Weight of Glory. He said, “Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.”

Eugene Peterson calls this kind of hospitality eucharistic. The word literally means “to give thanks.” When we give thanks to God for the love he has shown us, it looks like loving others in the same way he loved us: sacrificially and generously. As it says in 1 John 4:19, “We love because he first loved us.”

When we practice this kind of eucharistic hospitality we experience God himself because all people are created in the image of God. When we host people for a meal, we dine with Christ. When we help somebody move, we serve Christ. When we open our homes and families to others, we open these things to Jesus.

We believe this is a hospitality worth practicing. We’d love to share it with you. If you’re interested in learning more, please reach out to Fr. Kyle.

This is the second in a series of posts to invite you into understanding the values of Resurrection Anglican.
Values are the things that undergird a particular community’s way of being. They are the building blocks of how communities operate and what motivates them.

Here at Rez, we have identified five values that we want to inhabit as a community. They are liturgy, sacrament, Scripture, formation, and hospitality.

Let’s talk about sacrament. The definition of a sacrament is “an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.” Baptism, Holy Communion, and Marriage are a few examples of the sacraments that can be received in the Church. Through the sacraments, we encounter Jesus in real and transformative ways.

Unfortunately, one short blog post can’t cover the depth of the sacraments. However, I’d like to distill one aspect of why this value is important for us as a church community.

The Greek word for sacrament is mysterion. It’s where we get the word ‘mystery’ from.  In the sacraments, we encounter something both mysterious and knowable. We experience the mysterious God in the tangible elements of bread and wine, water, and the laying on of hands.

As Christians, we aren’t expected to know everything. We aren’t expected to have rid ourselves of every doubt we may have concerning God and Christianity. This is what mystery (i.e. the sacraments) teaches us. I like what the Orthodox Bishop Kallistos Ware says, “A mystery is something that is revealed for our understanding, but which we never understand exhaustively because it leads into the depth of God.”

Isn’t that precisely what faith is? Faith is placing our hope in something we can’t fully understand. In order for faith to be faith, we have to be stretched into these areas of mystery. It’s okay to have your doubts. In fact, bring your doubts to church. Doubt doesn’t imply unbelief or faithlessness. It more likely means the opposite–that our faith is alive and growing.

In the sacraments, we bring our doubts to the table while experiencing the grace and mercy of Jesus. I hope you can join us with all your doubts as we collectively follow Jesus Christ.

This is the first in a series of posts to invite you into understanding the values of Resurrection Anglican.

Values are the things that undergird a particular community’s way of being. They are the building blocks to how communities operate and what motivates them.

Here at Rez, we have identified five values that want to inhabit as a community. They are liturgy, Scripture, sacrament, formation, and hospitality.

Let’s talk about liturgy. Liturgy literally means “the work of the people.” When we gather together to worship God, we don’t come to consume worship, but rather we come to create worship.

So much of our culture is a culture that consumes. We go to concerts to consume a performance. We go to the movies to consume a story. We go to sporting events to consume competition. These aren’t necessarily bad. However, worship is different, because when it comes to worship we can’t be spectators. We are called to be participants in worship as we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to God (Romans 12:1-2). The liturgy allows us to participate and create worship together.

Our liturgy is an ancient form of worship. Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, we use prayers that have been used by the Church for millennia to help guide and shape our liturgy—many of which can be traced back to as early as the 2nd century. These are forms of worship that have withstood the test of time, uniting us with the faithful Christians that have worshiped this way for millennia.

The goal of our liturgical form of worship is to shape and form our desires. Through the liturgy, our desires will be shaped toward loving God and loving our neighbors.

Want to learn more about liturgy? Reach out to Fr. Kyle or come experience our Table Group!

Peace,
Kyle+

Currently, there are 47 churches in Bend, Oregon. Does this city really need another one? After all, starting a church, or “church planting,” is risky. There’s no guarantee that Resurrection Anglican will become all that we envision it becoming. So, why take such a risk when there are already so many churches here?

To start, there is only 1 church for every 2,000+ people who live in Bend. That means Bend needs more churches to reach more people! I like what Fr. Dan Alger says in his book, Word & Sacrament:

“If the gospel is the hope of the world and is the life and mission of the church, then more local churches means more embodied gospel. It is as simple as that. We plant churches because more local churches means more disciples, more evangelism, more worship, more tangible expression of the kingdom of God.”

As Christians, we should rejoice in the work of starting new churches because it amounts to God receiving more praise and adoration within the context of worship! And, it means more people have the opportunity to be brought into that worship and discover true life in Christ.

So then the question becomes, why are Fr. Kyle and Chelsea choosing to church plant? The only way to answer that is by emphasizing this calling God has placed on us. God has called us to partner with him to do this challenging and vulnerable work. For us, the risk was not planting a church. Namely, the risk of ignoring God’s call. And we pray that we’ll never become deaf to his voice. And so, we go forward with fear and trembling—and a lot of excitement. We cannot wait to see the community that God will build in this church.

If you’re interested in joining this new Kingdom work, reach out to me through our website or email me directly at kyle@rezbend.com. There are plenty of ways you can partner with us in starting Resurrection Anglican. I’d love to hear from you!  

Peace,

Fr. Kyle