There are moments in the life of a congregation when the question isn’t simply where it’s been, but where God is calling it to go next. That was the focus of a recent Revive Weekend at St. Andrew’s Anglican Church in Delta, British Columbia, where Canon Mark Eldredge worked with the congregation and its leadership to identify practical strategies for renewal, growth, and mission.

Led by the Rev. Rob Collis, St. Andrews is a congregation with a history of faithfulness and conviction. Sixteen years ago, the church took a costly stand for biblical orthodoxy, separating from the Anglican Church of Canada and ultimately becoming part of the growing orthodox Anglican movement in North America. Today, St. Andrews faces a challenge familiar to many congregations across the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA). Its membership is smaller and older than it once was, even as the community surrounding it continues to change and grow. Rather than accepting decline as inevitable, however, St. Andrews is deliberately looking toward the future.

Under Collis’s leadership, the congregation has already undertaken important work to clarify its vision and mission. The Revive Weekend built upon that foundation, helping church leaders move from a clear understanding of their calling to the practical question of how to live it out. Throughout the weekend, Canon Mark helped participants examine the congregation’s present realities, identify opportunities for ministry, and develop concrete next steps and strategies for strengthening the church’s mission. The goal of Revive isn’t to import a predetermined program into a congregation, but to equip local leaders to discern where God is already at work and respond faithfully and intentionally. That work carries particular significance in Delta. Located just south of Vancouver, the area is beautiful, diverse, and growing, bringing new families and new opportunities for Gospel ministry.

The weekend also represented an important milestone for the American Anglican Council. St. Andrews was the first local congregation in the Anglican Diocese in Canada to host a Revive Weekend, opening the possibility to serve additional Canadian congregations in the future.

For Canon Mark, the weekend was both an opportunity to encourage a faithful congregation and a reminder of why congregational revitalization remains so important throughout the ACNA. Churches that stood faithfully through difficult seasons must also be equipped for the season ahead. St. Andrews already demonstrated its willingness to follow Christ faithfully when doing so carries a cost. Now, with renewed clarity about its mission and practical strategies for pursuing it, the congregation is preparing for what comes next. With committed leadership, a growing mission field just outside its doors, and, above all, dependence upon God’s grace, there is good reason to hope that the next chapter at St. Andrews will be one of renewed life, growth, and Gospel witness.