Over the past few years Cedar Valley Church has been reimagining what it means to be a church with a long legacy in a rapidly growing and shifting community. Our city (Mission) is booming with new developments and young families moving into a *slightly* more affordable place to live. That is bringing in new cultures, new life, new needs, and new ways of living day to day life. What all this has really motivated in our church is a desire to become closely connected and involved in the life and movement of the city and especially local neighborhoods around us. This also meant flexing the ways we gather and worship and especially how we express our faith compared to what may have been a comfortable legacy model from over 80 years of legacy.

 

Here's my two favourite ways we've been working on this:

 

1. FUN (it's not an acronym, it's just literally... fun!) We took a note from our kids and youth programs and began integrating 'fun' as a primary value in all of our ministries and services. How can we bring in elements and activities that make us laugh, that bridge generational gaps and help us be ok with a little 'silliness' together and laugh at ourselves. Here's a good example in my next point:
2. '5th Sundays'. For a few years now, we have committed to making Sundays that land on a '5th Sunday' in a month a unique and practical worship service. We still meet at 10am Sunday morning, but then after a devotional and some instruction, we dive into a completely different practice. We've cleaned up trash in our local parks and schools, we've packed relief kits for MCC, we've had picnics that involve using our food as art! As well as prayer walks, charcuterie communion, kids camp take-overs, and still more room for creative and fun ideas. These services get us outside of our comfort zones and physical walls, and they remind us that 'church' is so much more than songs and sermons. 

Practicing this flexibility keeps us motivated to constantly brainstorm and pivot when new opportunities arise to carry out the mission (in Mission!)

So, here's a few 'fun' facts about the person responsible for making a whole church reenact scenes from the Bible using mashed potatoes and chips:

 

• Previous to working as a pastor I was a Whitewater Raft guide and Safety Kayaker
• I have broken light fixtures in 5 different churches throughout the years (oops)
• I play the banjo
• My wife and I grew up less than 10 minutes from each other but we never crossed paths until our 20s
• I can eat 1lb of Reese Peanut Butter chocolates

- Grant Miller