Dear Friends,
Over the past few months we have been emphasising the whole narrative of people coming to personal faith in Christ. One of the exciting examples of that was the Lower Mainland Leadership Forum on 2 October 2014, held at Trinity Baptist Church, Vancouver, BC. Over 20 churches were represented out of the 30 congregations in the Lower Mainland and we also had a strong representation from our friends at Carey Centre.
Claudia Merida (Grandview Calvary, Vancouver) spoke on social isolation and disconnection in Vancouver, asking each of us “how is Jesus good news in this?”
Shannon Youell (CBWC Church Planting Coordinator) spoke on personal evangelism in her community. She told the story of “Front Porch.” In Shannon’s community, many people are living on large acreages, and therefore are not physically close to each other like so many other communities. The challenge of not being able to see your neighbour is that you don’t get to know them in the same way as you might in a “closer” community. Shannon and her family therefore organised a community / neighbour dinner to get to know their neighbours. This has continued for a number of months and led to many great nights of family, friends, and conversation.
Last night, Darrell Johnson (First Baptist Vancouver) spoke at the Leadership Forum about the role of the Holy Spirit in going before us as we share our faith.
These conversations and events fall into a larger context. This Fall, many of our churches are beginning to run the ALPHA course. We will try to network those churches who have done so over the last year. If your church is doing the ALPHA course this year, please contact Shelby Gregg (sgregg@cbwc.ca) from next week onwards.
Please recall the parable of the sower:
Matthew 13: 1-9
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.”
I raise this because many of the possible 3000 folk that go to our summer camps have seriously contemplated coming themselves to a relationship with Christ for the very first time, or have recommitted themselves to that journey of faith. These journeys route fully if they are in the context of a community and church. Please pray that the seeds that were planted in people’s lives during the summer at camp in fact, like the parable, take root, grow and multiply a hundredfold. So today, here are some beginning stories about evangelism, sharing of faith, and a conversion narrative in our lives together in the CBWC.
Warmly,
In Christ,
Jeremy