Greenhouse Downtown Montreal

2008-11-25T06:33:00.000-08:00

Let's do another Greenhouse. Thursday 27 noon. Hurley's 1225 Crescent, Montreal
If you want to continue after Christmas one of you will need to organize it. (there isn't any wifi at the beach I'll be hanging out on) We can talk about this on Thursday.

Our gatherings this fall have been very encouraging. We need each other.

Hope to see you on Thursday at Hurley's...
more info? brazzeals @ gmail

October

2008-10-01T13:02:00.001-07:00

Our last encounter was excellent - 2 newbies, great discussion. Our next meeting will be Thursday, October 16, again at Hurley's on rue Crescent.

Cheers,
David
more info?
email me at info @ curieux . ca

September Greenhouse

2008-09-08T10:17:00.000-07:00

It’s time to kick start the old Greenhouse meeting again. For the newbies on our list, it’s a monthly gathering that supports and encourages church planters and church planting especially that’s a bit alternative or experimental. It was birthed partly out of the www.resonate.ca website and partly out of our own need for friendship and encouragement.

We’ll meet again at Hurley’s (1225 rue Crescent) on September 24 at high noon. Some of us eat lunch but you don’t have to.

We’ll catch up on what’s been happening all summer as well as discuss this blog post from Michael Spenser, the Internet Monk.

It’s entitled Wretched Urgency It’s an old post but it has been one of his most read ever. Give it a read…do you agree or disagree? Does he take it too far? What would this do to our present ideas and methods on missions and evangelism?

May 21 Hurley's

2008-05-11T12:01:00.000-07:00

This is 10 day advance notice...incredible huh? So, we're talking not this Wednesday but next Wednesday May 21st at Hurley's (1225 rue Cresent Montreal) around 12pm. See you there.

April 23 - Hurley's

2008-04-19T15:14:00.000-07:00

We invite you to our gathering at Hurley's Pub...no real agenda, just passionate conversation about living out our faith and creating new ways help people become followers of Jesus here in Montreal.

April 23 noon Hurley's Pub 1225 Crescent Street Montreal

"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." Einstein

I'll bring some more of Einstein's quotes that connect with what were are about.

March 19 @ Hurley's

2008-03-13T07:25:00.000-07:00

We'll meet again this month at Hurley's 1225 Crescent Street, Montreal around 12:00 noon. I hope to see you there.

Montreal Greenhouse @ Hurleys Feb 21

2008-02-16T06:40:00.001-08:00

The Montreal Greenhouse is gathering again at HURLEY’S PUB (1225 CRESCENT STREET) @ 12h noon on Thursday afternoon Feb 21. There’s no agenda, just hanging out and catching up on what’s been going on with everybody.

The Skinny in the Greenhouse

2007-04-09T19:28:00.000-07:00

Saturday, April 21, we have the incredible privilege of hanging out with Andrew Jones, the TallSkinnyKiwi over at Ben and Benoit's apartment on MacDonald in N.D.G It will start about 2pm. If you need directions email me.

Andrew is a New Zealander who lives with his family on the Orkney Islands off the northern coast of Scotland. He travels extensively especially in Europe where he encourages churches among emerging cultures. He has been blogging his adventures since 1998 at www.tallskinnykiwi.com on the topics of God, spirituality, new media and new expressions of church.

You can also hear more from Andrew on Saturday and Sunday nites 7-9pm at the Undercroft of the Christ Church Cathedral - entrance is in the Cathedral shopping area - corner of University and Ste-Catherine.

Greenhouse w/ Jeff Pratt of Axiom

2007-03-22T13:41:00.000-07:00

1) The Greenhouse Montreal will have a special meeting Wednesday nite, March 28 (7-10pm) in order to connect with Jeff Pratt. Jeff works with AXIOM in New Haven, Conn. The meeting will take place at Ben and Benoit’s place in NDG.

2) Put on your calendar April 21-23. The Tall Skinny Kiwi will be in town. The Greenhouse will be invited to hang with Andrew on Saturday afternoon and Monday evening, among several other times.

3) Christian Direction Colloquium on The Emerging Church - Friday, March 30 (in English): 9 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

The place can hold 30 seats. The fee is $ 25, including tea, coffee, lunch and a copy of the new book An Emerging Theology for the Emerging Church of R. Anderson (IVPress, 2007). The colloquium will be held at ETEM 4824, chemin de la Côte-des-Neiges, Suite 301 Montréal (Metro Côte-des-Neiges, Bus 165 south or Metro Guy and Bus 165 north). Call CDI to sign up.

4) Did you miss George’s interview with Tony Campolo on the Hour? You can see it here. It is a MUST SEE VIDEO!

5) Can you host some pilgrims for the Taizé Montreal weekend, April 27-29?
Accommodation can be very simple. Participants aged 17 to 35 years old will bring sleeping bags and sleeping pads to sleep on the floor. The only meals eaten with host families will be breakfast daily and lunch on Sunday, April 29th. Saturday morning, they will leave their host families around 8 a.m. for morning prayer at Saint-Alphonse church (Crémazie metro station), and will not return until 10:30 p.m. after evening prayer. On Sunday, they will leave with their belongings after lunch. If you cannot provide accommodation for the entire weekend, it is also possible to receive pilgrims for the Sunday lunch only.

http://www.comnet.ca/~cdjeunes/TaizeMontreal2007/en/taize - info about the event

http://www.comnet.ca/~cdjeunes/TaizeMontreal2007/en/host - signup to host someone

http://curieux.typepad.com/curieux/2007/02/taiz_montral.html - video

David Brazzeal

Kim Reid

Monday night March 19, 7-10pm

2007-03-17T08:06:00.000-07:00

The next Greenhouse is Monday night March 19, 7-10pm at Duane and Miriam’s house - contact info [at] curieux.ca for directions

Our last gathering was excellent…a variety of experienced church planters and some exploring the horizon…according to Jared, just what the greenhouse is suppose to be.

This time we’ll take a look at a couple of blog posts by Andrew Jones. Since he’s coming for a visit in April (20-22) it will be a good way to get to know him.

So before you come take a look at these two recent posts:

Tiny is the New Small and Massive is the New Big from www.tallskinnykiwi.com

If you don’t know what the heck the greenhouse is click here.

ALSO

Wednesday evening - March 28, Jeff Pratt of Axiom in New Haven, Connecticut will meet with our Greenhouse. Stay tuned for more details.
March 30 – April 1 @ YWAM-Dunham The Thin Place – a meditative retreat. Contact lieu.etroit@gmail.com or 514.847.0497

The Thin Place

2007-02-27T07:43:00.000-08:00

I want to invite you to a very special and unusual retreat.The Thin Place is organized by YWAM Quebec and Curieux and Impact Churches in Montreal. Jeff Pratt is the founder of YWAM AXIOM in New Haven (Yale U) and is well connected to the emerging church movement in the US and the UK. As a young Mormon priest, it was his encounter with the cross that brought him to Jesus and, since then, to Christian ministry. On the eve of Easter, we'll focus on the relevence of the cross as the heart of the gospel, even in our post-Christian and postmodern culture.

Pierre LeBel

Next Greenhouse...

2007-02-14T17:23:00.000-08:00

...March 19th.

McLaren on the kingdom of God

2007-02-14T17:21:00.000-08:00

2007-02-08T20:29:00.000-08:00

Our next Greenhouse meeting will be Monday night, Feb 12, 7-10pm at Dave and Sanan Brazzeal’s house.

As you may know the Greenhouse is an encouragement / learning group for those interested in alternative church planting. We’re part of a group of other Greenhouses spreading across Canada.

To stimulate our discussion, we’ll take a look at this article by Scott McKnight: Five Steams of the Emerging Church

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/february/11.35.html/

If you need further info or directions…just call David or Sanan at 514.931.3925

Hope you can make it,

David Brazzeal

Kim Reid

Coffeeshop Discipleship

2007-01-19T06:17:00.000-08:00

Coffeeshop Connections
What one pastor is learning, as a part-time barista, about relationship and discipleship.
by David Swanson

I didn't intend to be a once-a-week barista at our local coffeeshop. It happened like this.

One morning my wife was going into the local coffeeshop to interview for a very part-time job to help cover the cost of her return to college. Just before she walked out the door, without much forethought, I asked her to see if the owner would let me work one night a week with her. We were both surprised when he seemed to think this would be a good idea.

Surprised, because I'd never met the owner, didn't drink coffee, and couldn't tell the difference between a latte and a cappuccino if its frothy mug was staring me in the face.

Not surprisingly, after working there three years, I've learned a lot about coffee.

Somewhat surprising are the connections I've observed between the coffeeshop and the local church where I'm a pastor.

Spontaneity
Our church is a highly structured and very busy suburban environment where spontaneous interaction with friends rarely happens. Just getting together with some folks is an exercise in long-range planning!

At the coffeeshop, however, I can count on bumping into someone who will be up for some conversation. It could be the Russian immigrant who is finishing up his computer science degree. Or the stay-at-home dad looking for some adult contact. Or a college student happy to be off-campus.

Our church offers a lot of really good things for its members. But as the church grows, it's hard to maintain the spontaneity that characterizes smaller churches (and coffeeshops).

If we believe the church community is the sum of its people, and if we believe that relationships are not something that can be programmed, then we do well to consider how to create margins in church life for spontaneous relational moments, similar to those that attract people to the coffeeshop.

Eclectic People
Not only don't I know who I'll bump into at the coffeeshop, chances are, they won't look like me. While many churches tend to attract people who are similar, the coffeeshop doesn't have a target demographic. You don't even have to like coffee; we welcome tea and smoothie people too!

One night while working a couple months ago, I introduced one of our regulars to a friend from church. For the next two hours these new friends, one a twenty-something artist and the other a single mom of two college-age kids, sat at a table listening to each other's stories.

Where else do soccer moms mingle with Goth kids dressed for the Friday night show? Or young, upwardly mobile commuters interact with a homeless man? Or a local pastor (me) interact regularly with anyone outside the church?

Space
The building at our church has been planned efficiently. After all, we want to be good stewards of our space. There are a couple of name-brand coffeeshops in our town that seem to have similar thinking: you enter, you find yourself in line, your order your beverage, and you head out the door. It's in and out.

Our little independent coffeeshop does things differently. Frankly, we're not efficient. We talk to our customers too much; catching up since we last saw each other. We serve our coffee in mugs (unless they ask for it "to go"), which seems to keep folks around longer.

And worst of all, we've cluttered the shop with comfortable sofas, armchairs, and coffee tables. It's hard to get out. It suggests customers are supposed to linger, talk, rest.

Our church activity centers around our once-a-week worship gatherings. A lot of great stuff happens on Sunday mornings that has been planned in advance. But there's one time, a no-man's-land, that I always look forward to for its very lack of planning. It's the time before, between, and after our services. This is the time when stories are told. When friends are introduced to new friends. When the visitor is invited to connect.

This is when we learn of the single mom who needs her roof repaired; or our homeless friend who needs a ride to the doctor this week; or that the church softball team is looking for a couple more players.

You can't plan this stuff. But I wonder, like the coffeeshop, can you make space for it? Or does the church become an in-and-out kind of place?

Experiment in Coffeeshop Discipleship
I was telling a friend at church about my desire to have a place to experiment with what I was observing at the coffeeshop. I wondered what would happen if we created an environment where folks could learn about the way of Jesus in a space that expected spontaneous relationships between eclectic people.

This was partially motivated out of a desire to invite others into the kingdom of God, but also to fill my own longing for this type of coffeeshop discipleship.

My friend liked the idea and volunteered a large office over an industrial building he owns. Within a month a few of us transformed that dingy office into what now looks like either a small coffeeshop or large living room. We call it "the loft."

On Sunday evenings you can find 15-20 of us gathering for coffee and conversation about what it means to follow Jesus.

People who hear about our Sunday evening conversations often ask me if it's "working." While I understand the question, there is no quick way to answer. If there is time, I might talk about our regulars.

Sherry is a Jesus follower who works as a stage manager in a theater in Chicago. The loft is a place where she can come and refresh.

Thomas is a guy we met at the coffeeshop. An artist and deep-thinking Jesus follower, he was looking for a place where his contributions would be valued.

Zeb grew up in a Buddhist home and now is part owner in a rapidly expanding business. I'm not sure where he'd place himself spiritually, but he's a regular on Sunday nights.

Laurie is a single mom who recently has been bringing her pregnant, soon-to-be-single-mother neighbor.

Dave grew up in a churched home before he walked away from the faith to see if he would "notice any difference." One of our most faithful participants, Dave is quick with a smile and an invitation to go rock climbing.

While I'd like to think these folks are coming for our stimulating conversations about following Jesus, I realize that is only part of it. I know this because they show up early, grab one of our second-hand mugs for some coffee and settle into a couch to catch up with someone they haven't seen in a week. I know this because after we've wrapped up our discussion for the evening, the conversations continue.

After a year and a half, our experiment is suggesting that much of the spiritual movement in people's lives is due to the space created for significant relational contact within an eclectic group of people.

Now I don't think our church is going to replace our sanctuary chairs with couches anytime soon. But then, that's not the point. Maybe the point is to create the type of environment that invites the Jesus-follower and the skeptic into conversation; the homeless and the CEO into relationship; the pastor and his neighbor into life together.

Maybe we have something to learn from the coffeeshop.

David Swanson serves as a pastor at Parkview Community Church in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, and as a barista at La Spiaza.

Copyright © 2006 by the author or Christianity Today International/Leadership Journal.
Click here for reprint information onLeadership Journal.
Fall 2006, Vol. XXVII, No. 4, Page 95

Next Couple of Meetings

2007-01-19T06:12:00.000-08:00

Kim and Dave pulled out their agendas at Hurley's and came up with the following dates for the next Greenhouse Meetings

February 12, Monday night 7-10pm
April 9, Monday night 7-10pm

Next Meeting

2007-01-12T06:06:00.000-08:00

Kim and Dave will be meeting at Hurley's to come up with the next meeting time. Does Monday night at my place still work for everybody?

Here's some other dates to be aware of:

March 30 - April 1 Meditative Retreat with Curieux, Emerge & YWAM in Dunham, led by Jeff Pratt from Connecticut; more details to come.

April 20 - 24 - Visit from Andrew Jones???

April 27-29 - International Taize weekend in Montreal led by leaders from Taize, France.

Next Meeting Nov. 20

2006-11-10T06:07:00.000-08:00

The next meeting of the Greenhouse - Downtown Montreal will be November 20 at David and Sanan's house. Contact info [at] curieux [dot] ca for directions.

Meet Shane Claiborne

2006-11-01T06:01:00.000-08:00

I'm reading Shane Claiborne's book The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical . It is one of those books that I don't want to finish. This guy, Shane, is inspiring me (along with several friends who have read it) to take seriously the words of Jesus and "stop complaining about the church we don't like and start living like the church we dream of." This 50 minute of Shane will give you an idea of some of his adventures as he radically follows Jesus: living an being arrested w/ homeless in Philly, visiting "Momma T." in Calcutta, visiting Bagdad during the war.

Have you ever had one of these moments?

2006-10-27T04:34:00.000-07:00

On-line stuff

2006-10-27T04:20:00.000-07:00

I recently ran across some pretty good online resources. I thought I would pass them on.
Simple Church http://www.dawnministries.org/globalministries/northamerica/simplechurch.htm

This website is part of the D.A.W.N movement (Disciple A Whole Nation). It does a good job at explaining this idea and giving you links to explore it further. In some ways it is the same as house church with a different name.

Houses That Change The World: Towards a Re-Incarnation of Church
http://www.dawnministries.org/downloads/download_files/houses_that_change_the_world.pdf

This is Wolfgang Simpson's great book about house churches and it is ALL on-line. For free!

Jesus Has Left the Building
http://www.harveststone.com/

Here you can read the intro and first chapter of a brand new book by Paul Viera. I love the title!

Church Planting Movements
http://www.imb.org/CPM/default.htm

This is a short book written my missionary strategist, David Garrison. It is the basis of the IMB’s (the org I work with) missionary strategy around the world. It is also growing in influence in many other circles.

The Emerging Church: Future or Fad
http://www.tallskinnykiwi.com/tallskinnykiwi/FutureorFad-A%20look%20at%20the%20Emerging%20Church%20Movement%20by%20Scot%20McKnight.pdf

This is a 7 page article by Scott McKnight.

and then...

Café Théo
http://www.cafetheo.ca

This is a website associated with a group that I'm starting with French leaders to discuss better ways to reach les Québécois. Take a look at the article by J-S Morin – Houston, Nous avons un problème! Join us some Monday morning.

David

Tiny is the New Small

2006-10-19T14:04:00.000-07:00

Here's a good post from Andrew Jones - www.tallskinnykiwi.com

Church for some of us happens in TINY increments, TINY spaces and sometimes with TINY amounts of people. It happens many times a week and many times a day when the various aggregations of God's people come together around coffee or taking care of business or helping someone and especially at mealtimes. It happens more often in my kitchen than in my study. Our "oikos", or extended family, changes daily depending on who is eating with us or staying with us that day, but it is still a tiny cellular unit that finds variety and visibility only when connected to other oikoses like it. Then it is seen as an integral part of the church in our city. . . .ok . . . town.

It is not always tiny - sometimes it is HUGE .....

Read the rest of the post here.

Next Meeting Nov-20

2006-10-19T13:25:00.001-07:00

The next meeting of the Greenhouse Montreal will be Monday November 20 7-10 pm at David B's house. Write to me for directions. There is no hockey game or concert at the Bell Centre so parking should not be a problem.

Some Good sites:
Canadian
http://www.resonate.ca
http://www.emergent.ca
http://www.jordoncooper.com/

USA
http://www.emergentvillage.com
http://www.theooze.com
http://www.internetmonk.com/index.php
http://www.urbanonramps.com/

Europe
http://www.tallskinnykiwi.com
http://thecomplexchrist.typepad.com/
http://jonnybaker.blogs.com/

Podcasts from Cultivate - The Learning Party

2006-09-20T14:32:00.000-07:00

Here's the link for the podcasts from Cultivate - The Learning Party

For Real This Time...Monday Oct 2

2006-09-20T10:21:00.000-07:00

Salut everyone,

The next meeting of our Greenhouse will be Monday night, October 2 (7-10pm) at our house (chez Brazzeal) on rue Victor Hugo. Send me an email at info @ curieux.ca for directions

Jared Sibert will be with us as well. If you don't know Jared yet, he's a great guy and has been instrumental in getting these Greenhouses sprouting up in other Canadian cities.

Hey, be in prayer for Kim and his family: His father-in-law is in the hospital with terminal cancer. The radiation treatments have wiped out his immune system leaving him very susceptible to viruses.

There are some good audio files on the www.resonate.ca website click here to find them.

I hope you can make in on the 2^nd,

Godspeed,

David

Next Greenhouse Meeting postponed

2006-08-07T08:21:00.000-07:00

The Greenhouse meeting that was set for Thursday, August 10 is being postponed to Monday, September 4 . It will be @ David and Sanan's house near the Lucien L'Allier metro. We are postponing it because there's still a lot of vacationing going on.

So, here we are......

2006-06-29T06:33:00.000-07:00

Welcome to all who are Montreal church planting dreamers. This greenhouse is for you. This blog is for you. I have just come off of a week of vacation. My wife and I went to California with my Father-in-law and his wife. It was hot and sunny. The pool was great. The food was good. The wine tasting was awesome. We needed a break.

It is hard to take a break from your "offspring". You find yourself wondering if it will survive without you. So many pastors feel there church can't live without them. VERY unhealthy view. I find I need to take a break, so that my church family will be healthy. The OD did very well without me,.... and we did very well without them too......

Peace,

K

Next Meeting

2006-06-28T19:01:00.000-07:00

The Greenhouse Downtown Montreal will meet again on August 10 from 7-10pm at David and Sanan's House. Contact info [at] curieux.ca for more info or directions.

Welcome to the Future Home of Greenhouse Downtown Montreal

2006-06-20T11:42:00.000-07:00

Stay tuned!