The vision of Always Forward as a Provincial initiative is to see every Diocese in the Anglican Church in North America become a church planting network.
A healthy church planting network has four primary components for the support of church planting:
Conviction
A conviction is an essential aspect of an organization that the organization cannot possibly function to live without. In other words, something is a conviction if not pursuing it would mean a fundamental change in the organization’s nature and purpose. A church planting diocese believes church planting is a normative function of the diocese and pursues it with intentionality and passion.
Culture
A diocese with a church planting culture values healthy risk and celebrates entrepreneurial ministry; it celebrates its church planters and naturally raises up new planters from its ranks. Always Forward will help create this culture in our Province and assist the Dioceses to do the same.
Collaboration
A church planting network does not see the work of planting as solely an individual endeavor, but rather the diocese’s shared work. Local planters are a part of a family and are an integral part of a larger shared strategy. Always Forward will help Dioceses work together for church planting and develop an environment for local collaboration.
Constructs
The unique nature of church planting requires specific systems and structures to equip and support the Diocese’s ongoing work. Always Forward will help to educate on the importance of the proper core systems and help find solutions for implementing them. We define these core constructs as:
- A Leadership Pipeline
- Planter Assessment
- Planter Training
- Coaching
- Ongoing Support
- Funding
- Mission Oversight