ReInvention
by Mark Whittall, Rev. Mark Whittall
In these days of declining membership in mainline congregations, a new church plant is a rarity. Even more so, perhaps, when the church plant involves an existing 145-year-old building, and a focus on ministry to college and university students, young adults living in the neighbourhood, and those experiencing homelessness and dealing with poverty. In ReInvention: Stories from an Urban Church, Mark Whittall shares the insights and wisdom he and a small-but-dedicated team gained as they worked to establish a new congregation in St. Albans Church, the second oldest Anglican parish in Ottawa. The challenges the team faced were not small: the renovation of the original building, negative reaction from the community to the placement of a day program for the homeless, creating new liturgies and a new kind of church experience, and learning how best to reach out to and involve people with little or no prior church involvement. The result of all these efforts, however, has been the transformation of St. Albans into a vibrant centre for worship, a beautiful venue for the arts, and place of shelter and safety for many of the city's most vulnerable inhabitants.
Paperback
English
Brand New
Author Biography
The Rev. Mark Whittall is the pastor of St. Albans Church and a priest of the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa. He is an engineer by training, and obtained graduate degrees in Theoretical Physics and in Development Economics from Oxford University. His first career was as an engineer and executive in the high-tech sector, rising ro the position of CEO and earning recognition as Ottawa's Enterpreneur of the Year in 2000. Soon afterwards he left his business career and turned to the study of theology. He served as Professor, History of Science at Augustine Vollege in Ottawa from 2002 to 2007 and was ordained as an Anglican Priest in 2008. After a brief stay in a rural parish, he tasked with building a new congregation at St. Albans Church in downtown Ottawa in 2011, wher he currently serves as pastor.
Review
Mark leads us on a journey where the future creates the present - the eschatological hope and vision that shatters the doubt and negativity of the past. Mark does not know the meaning of "it's not possible". - Reverend Gregor Sneddon, Rector at St. Luke's Ottawa How refreshing to read a story that runs against the familiar tropes of inevitable church decay and decline! Mark Whittall's account of planting a new church in a tough contect is the story of creative pastoral sagacity - an ability to reimagine church and to bring a vision to birth. - Kevin Flynn, Director, Anglican Studies Program, Saint Paul University. A lively and absorbing account of one pastor's experience in what is surley to be the reality for many of today's clergy; church planting and revitalization. This is a book that will encourage and empower others along the way. - Anna Carter Florence, Ph.D., Peter Marshall Associate Professor of Preaching Columbia Theological Seminary.
Review Quote
"Whittall's book is inspiring - who doesn't like the story of ta successful start-up? - But it also presents a profound challenge to the established order." -Franois Bregha, Image
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