A Big Vision for a New ADNE plant in Portland, ME
A Big Vision for an ADNE plant in Portland, ME
The Anglican Diocese in New England is excited to welcome Rev. Dan & Carrie Wolf, leaders of ministry in Florida who the Lord has called Northward to plant a vibrant, missional church in the city of Portland, Maine.
Why Portland?
Greater Portland is the largest (pop. 535,420) and fastest-growing (4.15%) metro area in Northern New England. It has a burgeoning historic downtown with an experiential culture focused on food, arts, and the outdoors that is drawing an influx of youth professionals, young families, and tech development from throughout New England and the country. Portland also is the 2nd most post-Christian city in America with 60% of the population unengaged in a relationship with Jesus or the life of a church. To realize our diocese’s vision of the reawakening of New England, it is vital for Portland to have Gospel-centered, mission-driven church. Rev. Dan and Carrie Wolf are moving in August 2020 to join Jesus in this work.
The seed for this call to Maine was planted when Carrie was a little girl. Her family vacationed in Maine for 3 weeks in the summer and every Sunday her dad sought to take the family to church. Some Sundays they’d drive over an hour to try a church and what they found were small conservative churches that were struggling to reach the culture or aging churches that were not grounded in the authority of Scripture. As Carrie and Dan have vacationed together in Maine the last 12 years and learned more about the need for church planting in post-Christian areas, they have grown more burdened for God’s heart for the people of Maine.
Rev. Dan & Carrie Wolf with their two children in Portland, Maine.
Two summers ago, through numerous providential conversations and circumstances, they began praying about whether God was calling them to plant in Portland. Over a two-year process of listening to God, seeking counsel, and talking with leaders in Portland and with Bishop Andrew, Canon Justin Howard and the ADNE church planting team, God has moved their hearts from “what if” to “what could” to “we could” to “we are.”
Rev. Dan is passionate about reaching the unchurched and loves equipping Christians to engage in invitational evangelism, group discipleship, and immersive experiences that connect people to the heart of God. Carrie is a nurse who loves missions, justice, life-on-life discipleship. They are proud parents of a fun-loving two-year-old son named Coen and a sweet one-year-old daughter named Imogen.
Vision:
The vision for Portland is to plant a church that exists to “invite all people to explore, follow, and join Jesus to bring life to the brokenness in ourselves, our city, and the world.”
Rather than launch with a service, they plan to start hosting Alphas throughout the city to give people a chance to explore Jesus in a conversational way. As people encounter Jesus, they will form missional communities that will disciple people to follow Jesus and establish Jesus-shaped rhythms of life in community. Eventually as gifts emerge, these groups will all gather to worship together to be formed by Spirit, sacrament, and mission. These missional communities will serve as incubators to train leaders to discover their gifts and passions in order to join Jesus to reach the city and the world.
Specific areas of mission include marriage and family discipleship, refugee ministry, strategic global mission partnerships, and sending out teams to plant new churches throughout New England. Rev. Dan explains, “We believe we are joining Jesus to plant a church-planting church and we are excited to join with the diocese for the ‘reawakening of New England.’”
How Can You Help?
The Wolfs can’t do this work alone. Anything that is built to last needs a strong foundation and a support team. They are looking for partners who would pray with them and financially support this vision for Portland. If you are interested in joining in this work through prayer or giving, please email dan@graceanglican.church or click below and they will personally follow up with you.
The Anglican Diocese in New England has created an online giving channel specifically for this called Plant Portland. You can find it in the drop-down list of ADNE ministries here: Give to Plant Portland
Also, if you live in the Portland area, have connections in Portland, or are interested in joining the Launch Team, please email Dan because he’d love to talk via phone, Zoom, or ideally in person over a cup of coffee.