How We Do Ministry

In the Greater Toronto Area, the church and Christians now live in a post-Christian, post-modern, multicultural, pluralistic, radically globalized, fully mobile, and highly personal world.

Caught in the Middle in this Globalized Society

Two competing value systems are emerging who both loudly claim to have the answers:

On one end of the spectrum, there is the ever-growing militant secular revolution touching all parts of society.
On the other end of the spectrum, there are many global forms of dangerous religious violent fundamentalism.

The Church is caught in the middle, with each end of the value system spectrum thinking we’re with the other side and perceived to be enemies of both sides.

What does the Church do?

Retreat? Rebuild the our monasteries and fortresses of the past? Wait till these grand storms pass over? Live in paralysis reminiscing of our former Christian culture?

No! Rather, there is something that God has promised and guaranteed.

There is something that gives us boldness to thrive in our culture, not just survive in the margins. No matter the style of church or what resources they have, there are places of guaranteed power, transformation, and life change for you and your church.

It's called convergence

At Sanctus, we have called it “Convergence”. We see Jesus modelling Spiritual Gifts, Spiritual Disciplines, and Spiritual Experiences. In Jesus, the convergence of these things working together provides the Church insight on how to operate, navigate, and thrive in our post-Christian culture.

As a result, we have organized Sanctus Church based on this idea and continually work this out in our day-to-day ministry.

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Jesus as our model

Jesus is not just our Saviour and Lord, but also our Model for Christian life and Church. Jesus “emptied himself” of his power [Philippians 2:7], so throughout scripture we see Jesus modelling for us how to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to know the Father’s will by engaging with Spiritual Gifts, Disciplines, and Experiences.

Spiritual Gifts

We see evidence of Jesus possessing and using Spiritual Gifts. As Christians, we do not possess all spiritual gifts but do possess at least one. Our gifts should be affirmed by our church community; we should seek to use our gifts for the common good and in The Church.

Spiritual Disciplines

On many occasions, Jesus retreats to pray and spend time with The Father. If Jesus needed to participate in the Spiritual Disciplines, how much more as Christians should we do this? They are simplicity, confession, worship, prayer, intercession, fasting, chastity, service, solitude and silence, celebration and fellowship, and study.

Spiritual Experiences

Throughout Jesus’ ministry, there were many experiences that are difficult to understand. As a result, as Christians, we can expect that we may also encounter similar experiences. It is prudent for us as The Church to not automatically dismiss spiritual experiences, but instead evaluate them for their biblical and contextual merit, identifying sources – holy, evil, or natural.

Church Organization

How We Apply “Convergence”

Planning

We utilize convergence in our weekly, monthly, and annual planning processes through prompting & planning. With prompting we enable those with the relevant spiritual gifts to receive, listen, and discern what Jesus may be saying to his church. Once we confirm what Jesus may be saying, we then plan out how we may steward what we have received.
Congregation

We utilize convergence in our congregation by making sure we know what Spiritual Gifts and skills are necessary for particular volunteer roles in the church. As we on-board people into volunteer positions we try and place people in positions what fit them well. We also build into our processes ways for people with particular spiritual gifts to speak into the church in a healthy fashion.
Staff

We utilize convergence in our staffing systems to make sure we are in-step with who Jesus is calling to work at our church. We desire for our staff's spiritual gifts to be maximized in their role so that there is guaranteed power in what they are doing for Sanctus Church. We also help facilitate times where our staff can engage in spiritual disciplines so they are better equipped to steward their ministry.