Tim and Melissa Heerebout our native Canadians with a heart for their country’s largest and most influential city – Toronto. They moved into the urban center last summer hoping God would use them to start a new church in and for the city. You can follow their journey at http://www.luvisaverb.com/.

A little more than two years ago my wife and I had our first child. The best piece of parenting advice we’ve gotten, and you get a lot when you’re pregnant, was this: start with the end in mind. I’ve found this tiny phrase to have huge application in my thought processes in birthing a new faith community.

It seems to me that most church planters want to reach the people around them. They want a church that reflects a culture that is indigenous to their town. However, rather than starting by identifying with and becoming a part of that culture from the outset, the default starting position tends to be to bring church culture to the table. We assume church needs to look like, well, church. It doesn’t seem like we’re starting with the end in mind.

With that on our hearts, our approach has been different. Our first move is not to bring church to Toronto. It’s to bring love; to serve and bring energy into our local culture. We’ve launched an organization called Voxtropolis that seeks only the good of the city and places us squarely in the midst of culture creation as artists and promoters who leverage our talents for social justice. It is not, and I can’t stress this enough, and will never be a church. Even so, it’s doing remarkable good and placing us squarely in the middle of Toronto’s creative community as people of value, impact and influence.

In doing so our web of relationships has grown amazingly. In just four months we were able to organize a team of 11 volunteers and almost a dozen artists to host an event for more than 100 people. We raised $760 for Habitat for Humanity. The majority of the people there weren’t believers.

Starting this way is giving us keen insight into the heart of Toronto. It’s showing us how God is already moving. It’s providing a web of relationships we’d otherwise never have. We’ve started in the culture, for the culture, so that we can plant out of the culture. I look around at our events and think “this is what I want our faith community to feel like”. There was something strangely familiar about that feeling; like I was a proud father holding a newborn again. It will take time, maybe a long time, but I can’t help but believe that starting with the end in mind isn’t giving us an edge towards success.

Guest Blogger: Matt Jeffreys

In May of 2008 Matt and his wife Sharon moved their family to Temecula to start a church for people far away from God. Today, Ridgeline is full of people finding faith and many who have begun to discover what it means to love God and love people. You can follow his blog at http://www.iamridgeline.com/matts-blog/

I saw a car today with about a dozen Christian stickers on it. Actually, stickers can’t be “Christian”…only people can, but you know what I’m talking about. Anyway, the back of this car was full of them, and several were just ridiculous. I thought more about what it really means to be Christian…what it means to be a follower of Christ.

I believe at the very core, it’s about love. It doesn’t seem like that’s the accepted understanding though. For too long the church has been fixated on the externals. You need to dress a certain way, act a certain way, vote a certain way.

You can almost hear church-goers ask… What’s love got to do with it?

You need to listen to a certain kind of music, only hang out with people who are “already convinced,” put your kids in Christian schools, read only a specific translation of the bible, and on and on it goes…

What’s love got to do with it?

I think we’ve lost the way. I think we’re asking the wrong questions, or more often, not asking questions at all. Jesus said, when asked by a few religious dudes which commandment was most important to God, “love God with ALL you are, and the second is tied directly to it, love those around you like you love yourself.” Jesus said if you can do these two things, you will fulfill all that God desires! Jesus also said that it was by the unique love we have for each other that the world would know we are indeed followers of Jesus.

What’s love got to do with it? EVERYTHING!

Ridgers, we may come up short in some areas, but we better not be found lacking in love! We’re gonna love those around us, those we come in contact with daily, and those God brings to Ridgeline. Republican or democrat, conservative or liberal, educated or uneducated, heterosexual or homosexual, under-resourced or over-resourced, black or white, we’re going to love. We’re going to love because God loves. We’re going to love because love changes hearts. We’re going to love because God loved us first. We’re going to love because it shows we really are followers of Jesus Christ.

It ain’t about stickers, or clothes, or music, or political affiliation. It’s about love. So let’s bring it!

See ya on the streets…