Update Tuesday - Mission Teams

We are very happy to welcome our new friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, from Harrison Hills Baptist Church in Indiana who made the long drive into Hamilton yesterday.  It still amazes me to think that individuals whom we have never met personally, would consider investing so much of their personal time, energy and resources to come and help us serve in our community.  Our friends are using their holidays to serve here in Hamilton.  Their time will be spent serving meals to the homeless, plugging in and serving with community organizations and helping us to put up a shed that we will use to house things for our church and related ministries.  These are not the most glamorous ways to spend one's vacation time.  Our shared commitment to the cause of Christ, however, spurs us on to serve in His name, and provides the thread that unites our hearts and minds as we work together.

I have to take a moment to say just how blessed we have been by those who have (and will) come to serve.  We as a family, we as a growing fellowship and our community of Hamilton as a whole has been blessed and continues to be blessed by those churches who have in different ways partnered with us to see this new work planted and grow.  As we begin a new work and as we walk with some very new Christians it really is an amazing witness when we welcome people from hundreds of miles away who have come to help and serve.  We have been blessed as a family, as we feel the support and encouragement.  We have been blessed financially, as teams choose to cover the cost of our tire when we have a blowout on the first day of their trip with us.  We have been blessed as individuals and churches who have already invested their time, energy and resources to serve here and make significant contributions to our ministry.  We are also grateful to the churches and organizations who have provided funding from the initial stages of our ministry that help to get us here and on the ground to begin with.

There has been discussion about the need and usefulness of denominations lately (more on that in tomorrow's post) and many of the observations I agree with.  I truly believe in a Kingdom of God agenda rather than a tribalism mentality.  That being said, however, I look at all the support that has been key to starting and maintaining our work in these early days and I recognize how significantly God has provided through our denomination.  We have experienced just how significant it can be when there is a collection of individuals and churches, as diverse as we are, who agree on basic tenets of the faith and importantly on God's mission for his church.  When there is such a group, with such a common cause, who then agree to co-operate together, I believe that God is honoured and great things can happen for His Kingdom and His fame.