Greenhouse Movement

Recent Blog Post: Canon William Beasley

Mentoring Preachers
When I mentor young leaders about giving messages to congregations, I usually lay down two guidelines as they learn to preach. Until you gain more experience in giving messages, I suggest that: 1. You do not quote anything other than the Scriptures—no commentaries, newspaper articles, your poems. There are plenty of ideas and stories in the Scriptures. 2. Go for the jugular. What I mean is for you to get on your knees and ask the Lord what is on his heart for his people. That means that we must immerse ourselves in hi.... Continue Reading

Recent Blog Post: Jens Notstad

Greenhouse Has a Heart for the Big Apple!
How did we choose New York City as a potential location for a new congregation? Because our friends, five Northwestern University alumni, live there now. While at Northwestern in Evanston, Illinois, they became leaders in our on-campus congregation, Church of the Redeemer at Northwestern. Church multiplication the "Greenhouse way" became familiar to them. So, why not start a congregation in New York City? Mike Niebauer and I traveled to Brooklyn to visit with our friends to discuss this possibility. We spent time exploring the Brooklyn neighbor.... Continue Reading

Recent Blog Post: Nate Beasley

The Beauty of Leading in Weakness
If there is one passage of Scripture that I feel equipped to lead a Bible-study on it is Ephesians 2:1-10. In the last 9 months I have led three different Bible studies on that glorious Gospel-exalting text. However, this past week I decided to take a different route. Most of the time I give a cursory look at the three evils mentioned in the first verses (the world, the flesh, and the Devil) before approaching the greatest "but" in the Bible (vs. 4) and hitting home the power of the Cross. However, this week I decided to ask three questions about those.... Continue Reading

Recent Blog Post: Jonathan Kindberg

Generation Dynamics in Immigrant Churches/Dinámicas Generacionales dentro de Iglesias Inmigrantes
I remember an English Sunday school class I was leading with Hispanic high-school students, while their parents were in a Spanish service. We were just beginning the book of Mark and were going in turns with each person in the circle reading several verses of a chapter. One student began to read: “The beginning of the good news about Heysoos the Messiah…” pronouncing Jesus’ name as “Heysoos” the anglicized version of the Spanish Jesús. This was both shocking and eye opening to me. Why did he pronounce it that.... Continue Reading

Canon William Beasley
Jens Notstad
Nate Beasley
Jonathan Kindberg

Wisconsin Unity Event 1+1+1+1= One Plus The One Plus equation undergirds the Anglican unity events in the Upper Midwest. Twin Cities area (1) plus Wisconsin’s SEWAAC (Southeastern Wisconsin American Anglican Council) (1) plus Anglican Mission Upper Midwest congregations (1) plus Greenhouse Movement congregations (1) equals (1+) ONE new enriched diocese—a diocese with synergy—on....Continue Reading
Karen’s Story To share her story I will show you the facebook status Karen posted today: To all my Glen Ellyn, Lombard, and Wheaton friends: This semester my life was truly changed by getting involved in CRU, a Christian community group at U of I dedicated to gospel, community, and mission. For those of you looking to experience God and your faith in a whole new way,....Continue Reading
Growing on the Gulf Coast "It is with humility and thanksgiving that we recognize that it is our Lord who has brought us to this place, this moment," The Rev. Clark W. P. Lowenfield, Dean of the Trinity Convocation of the Anglican Diocese of the South, said as he addressed the inaugural synod gathered Saturday, May 5th, in The Woodlands, Texas. Texas and Louisiana congregations came together this past weekend to adopt wh....Continue Reading
Easter in the Barn It was a cool, sunlit Easter morning on East Church Road this past Sunday as over 100 people gathered in a barn to worship the Lord and celebrate His glorious resurrection! Those in attendance varied from members (plus some family and friends) of Bread of Life Anglican in Madison, community members from the Cambridge/Utica/Stoughton area, connections from Redeemer Northwestern, and family and ....Continue Reading
Cesar’s Passion for the Gospel Cesar grew up in a family that rarely attended Church. However, his sophomore year of high school a classmate of his befriended him and invited him to go to church with him. Mormon church. So, Cesar went to Church with him for a year, which included going to Mormon “seminary” with him for an hour before school started every day. One day Cesar felt lik....Continue Reading
The First Midwest Unity Event On March 21st, I had the joy of sitting through a several hours’ long meeting in a church basement on a truly glorious, sunny March day. I didn’t begrudge a moment though; it was that good. Anglicans came from Chicago and across Wisconsin to the Twin Cities of Minnesota to talk about coming together in a diocese. This is heavy stuff for people who want to be Anglican Ch....Continue Reading
Multiplying a Congregation in a Storefront On Easter Sunday, Logan Square Anglican officially opened its doors to the neighborhood for the first time. Exactly which doors that would be was the question on our minds for a long time. After much exploration, we finally found our spot: an abandoned pizza parlor, which has been converted to a great community space. We are thankful for Frank, who after a three-minute negotiation offered us the....Continue Reading
Review of Anglican 1000 Summit 2012 On Tuesday, March 6th, four leaders from the Greenhouse Movement traveled to Plano, TX to participate in the third Anglican 1000 Church Planting Summit. In response to Archbishop Duncan's call for 1000 new churches in 5 years, the conference exists to encourage, equip, and send church leaders and planters in raising up new congregations. For Canon William Beasley, Deacon Mike Niebauer, Jon....Continue Reading
“True satisfaction comes from Jesus Christ” This is Brett's incredible story in his own words. I entered my college very much living for myself. I had grown up in a Christian home but I had decided along the way that I didn’t want a part of it. I decided that I wanted to seek satisfaction in things that I thought made me happy: friendships, school, and relationships. The more I sought satisfaction in what I wanted, the....Continue Reading
Carried Along by the Spirit: On Mission in El Paso “The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.” Luke 10:17 In January 2012 a Greenhouse team from Chicago (William and Anne Beasley, Jens Notstad and I) went to El Paso, TX to lead a workshop for the Southwest Diocese In-Formation on church multiplication. It was quite exciting to see a whole Diocese desire the expansio....Continue Reading
Starting a Congregation: The Story Begins “We should just start another church. You know that’s what William would say,” my wife said early into our 50-mile bike ride one Saturday. I stuck out my tongue and rode away. My wife Katherine and I are on Vestry of our small Anglican church and had talked for months about growth strategies. In our respective professional and social circles, we each had friends and acquainta....Continue Reading
Christmas Eve in the Barn On Christmas Eve 2011, Bread of Life Anglican and Church of the Redeemer at Northwestern hosted an evening church service in my family's 130-year-old dairy barn near Madison, Wisconsin. The barn had been out of use for around 40 years until this past summer, when the interior was renovated to host an October wedding reception. In late October, we took advantage of the renov....Continue Reading
Zach’s Story His Freshman year, Zach Baumann was a typical University of Illinois student: high achieving, personable, and smart, while also living a “party” life, and engaged in an unhealthy relationship. The summer after his freshman year, he worked at a pool near his hometown, and there one of his co-workers began to ask him questions about his life that were deeper than he was used to. He ....Continue Reading
Nursing Home Adventures: “I’m Jehovah God” I walked into Heritage [Nursing Home] one Saturday, and on my way to the rec room, I saw a lady I'd seen several times, maybe said "hi" to once or twice. This time she seemed a lot more open, so I stopped to chat with her for a while. "So, what's your name?" “Mickayla.” "What a nice name!" &n....Continue Reading
From the lips of babes… From time to time children in our neighborhood spring some rather loaded and surprising questions at me which I’m not really sure how to begin answering: such as the time when I was I was just getting in our neighborhood swimming pool only to have “Are you going to be the Pope someday?” launched at me by one kid followed in very short order by “Why do you have so much hai....Continue Reading
“My Life Was Missing Something” As a UIC (University of Illinois at Chicago) student home for the summer, my former next door neighbor, Robert, started coming to our Summer Community Group although he had not been in a Christian community for 6 years. One night the Holy Spirit spoke to him so deeply in his heart that he was moved to the point of tears. I recently had an opportunity to follow-up with him and this is wha....Continue Reading
Youth Retreat In October 2011, I led a youth retreat with the youth from Santa María (that I lead on Sunday mornings in Franklin Park, IL) and from Iglesia de la Resurrección (in Wheaton, IL). The Spirit’s presence was powerfully at work softening the hearts of the youth, and the Lord answered many prayers for our time together. Thank you all of you who were praying! The main Scripture for....Continue Reading

Greenhouse Movement

Recent Blog Post: Canon William Beasley

Recent Blog Post: Jens Notstad

Recent Blog Post: Nate Beasley

Recent Blog Post: Jonathan Kindberg

Christ Awakening for Mission Worldwide – Reciprocal mission with the global church