August Newsletter

Dear Friends,

As we begin to move toward Minnesota, we want to paint a clear picture of our transition within CRM. Our new supervisor, Gary Mayes, is the Director of ChurchNEXT, which is a collective of CRM ministries based in the U.S. We have asked him to give his perspective on our new role, as well as the new context in which we will be working. The following is Gary's letter:

Dear Friends of Bryan and Daleen,

By now I am sure that you know about the big transition that lies ahead for the Ward family. I wanted to write and tell you what this transition means for the rest of us. Having known the Wards for years, I am very excited about what they will bring to a new place in this next chapter.

First, indulge a little background. I believe we live in a pregnant moment of history where the U.S. is now one of the world’s strategic mission fields. The culture is racing headlong into the secular post-Christian reality that pervades Western Europe. Established churches are struggling and church plants are failing at an alarming rate. Over ½ of all congregations in North America did not see one person join through conversion last year. I know of one denomination that invested ten million dollars to launch 40 church plants to have only one succeed. Barna research reports that only 3% of 16-29 year-olds in the U.S. have a positive view of Christianity.

It is into this vortex, we are deploying Bryan and Daleen. We have asked them to help us pioneer new ways of planting and forming churches in this emerging mission field. They are instrumental to an R&D initiative that is exploring new methods, new strategies, and new ways of bringing the Gospel to life among people who are beyond the reach of—and even hostile to—traditional expressions of the church. My prayer is that in addition to reaching people for Christ we will successfully incubate pioneering efforts like this so that in years to come, our cumulative experience will be a goldmine for church planters and church planting movements on a broad scale.

We believe the church is God’s primary delivery system for hope and healing in a lost and broken world. However, this land that many of us call home cries for leaders who are courageous enough to find contextually appropriate ways to deliver the timeless truth of the Gospel.

Bryan and Daleen will work alongside Third Way, a creative young church planting community in St. Paul, Minnesota. In this role they will bring all of their experience from NieuCommunities. And, I have asked them to bring their cross-cultural sensitivities as a resource to sharpen the global work of the fifteen teams and initiatives that form this piece of CRM called ChurchNEXT.

Because you know the Wards, you understand why I am so enthusiastic about having them in a role like this. What I also hope is that for their sake and for the sake of the Kingdom, you would partner with them generously as they step into what might be the most complex and important mission field of their lives.

Grateful, for you and for them,

Gary Mayes, Director of ChurchNEXT