Beer Store Breakthrough

What started as serving coffee slowly became coffee (hot chocolate for those who don't drink coffee), sandwiches and conversation.  From there the conversation led to collecting prayer requests, eventually praying for people on the spot and then progressed to gathering a group to pray together on the sidewalk.  Most recently, I have begun to bring a scripture, specifically words of Jesus, starting with His "I Am sayings."  I have been sharing the scripture to begin prayer and then praying that scripture and an application for our lives before praying for individual requests.  This is the shape of what is now referred to as Beer Store Church.  Like many ministries, it has ups and downs, times of prayer and times of breaking up fights, rich times and times of wondering about the point of it all.  Yesterday, however, put a smile on my face; a bit of a breakthrough even.  

We began our prayer with Jesus' words, "I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me."  As soon as we were finished praying someone asked about people that lived before Jesus.  It provided an opportunity to talk of the Old Testament, its relation to the new, about seeing the Gospel in Old Testament texts and to give a brief survey of the Gospel story.  It also, and as importanly, gave me an opportunity to really listen to his questions and comments and better assess where he is spiritually.  

In the end I was really encouraged.  I was  encouraged because I love to talk about that kind of thing and walk with people as we discover truth.  I was encouraged because I have a clearer idea of where he is and can better move forward to meet him where he is at.  I am most encouraged because the question let me know that at least one person was actually engaged in what was going on.  

That in and of itself is reason enough to be there next week!

Three Keys to Kingdom Prayer

I heard some great news this week.  Our sending church, The Sanctuary Milton, has found a new place to hold its Sunday gatherings.  This is great news in and of itself, but it also comes with a bit of a back story which makes the story quite remarkable.

Back while I was still working at The Sanctuary Milton, the spot that we were renting let us know that they would be undergoing renovations for six months and that we would not have access to our meeting space.  We knew that we had to find a new location.  Being in Canada's fastest growing community, however, meant that there was a lot of people and groups looking to rent but few spaces available.  We looked and looked.  One of the places was a bit out of town but had some potential, and for some reason it found a place in the heart of my colleague Jim.  The management, however, had other ideas and let us know in no uncertain terms that they did not want to be bothered with hosting a church each week.  We ended up finding a great room at a great price elsewhere, but it had limited space for growth so we knew that another search could be in our future.  Over the last number of years, The Sanctuary Milton continued to meet in its new location.  More recently, the church has begun to grow a bit again, and has seen an influx of children.  They also have new folks heading up the children's ministry and are excited about what they are seeing and the possibilities.  With growth, the problem of space had reared its head again; a good problem to have but a problem none the less.  What would happen next?

Over these last few years, Jim has continued to feel a prompting to pray for that other location.  Every once in a while he would check again, but with the same management there was the same sentiment, so Jim just quietly continued to pray.  On a whim, and with a bit of desperation I am sure, when this last discussion of the need for more room arose, Jim decided to check back again.  To his great surprise, there was a new manager.  Not only was there a new manager, but he was a Christian.  Not only was he a Christian but he had come come to faith in the last city that he worked in, in a church that is connected to our denomination.  The greatest coincidence, however, is that he had come to faith in a church that was one of the first churches to partner with the Sanctuary Oakville, the first church that Jim had come to Canada to plant almost 14 years ago.  It took some time, but God was at work and we have seen an answer to Jim's persistent prayer.

When I heard this story, I was reminded of Luke chapter  11 in which Jesus teaches about prayer.  He not only teaches the Lord's prayer but He then follows it with two parables.  The first, is about a someone who has a surprise guests in the middle of the night and must go and ask a neighbour for bread in order to show hospitality to his guests.  The second, is about Father's giving good gifts to their children.  From these two parables we get three lessons about prayer, three keys to kingdom prayer that I believe Jim's prayer helps to highlight.

1)  Persistence:
The first principle is that of persistence.  When the individual in the parable first goes to their neighbour for bread they receive a negative response.  None the less, they are not deterred.  Similarly, Jim, although he received negative responses years, continued to feel prompted to pray, to trust God the Father and to hold fast to the belief that His heavenly Father could and would provide for his needs and the needs of the church. 


2)  Recognizing God's Glory:
Although some English translations put the emphasis of the first parable solely on the persistence of the one asking for bread, it is quite likely that there is something else going on as well.  Although there certainly is persistence from the one asking, seeing as he received a negative response but did not go away empty handed, the word that is translated "persistence" in verse 8 is likely better translated "shamelessness."  This being the case, it actually puts the emphasis back on the one to whom the request is being made.  It is drawing on ancient customs of hospitality which would make a failure to help his friend and neighbour a shameful act and bring dishonour.  Thus, the parable suggests that friendship alone should have been enough to want to help, but the threat of dishonour would certainly prompt a response of aid.  It is the same with God.  When we come to God with genuine petitions of need then we might expect that, as we were prompted to pray "hallowed by Your name," and "Your Kingdom come," (Luke 11:2), that God's honour and vindication of His name are of utmost importance.  We can trust God to intervene in the lives of His children as He restores honour to His name.   As one who has prayed with Jim many times over the years I know that God's glory is of utmost importance to Him.  I have heard him pray on numerous occasions for God to do something only God could do so that only God himself would receive the glory that is do.  Jim's heart for the church is that God might be glorified by a family of believers holding up the name of Jesus within the community.  Jim could trust that if a new space was a need for the church to move forward within the community, then God would hear and answer for the sake of His own glory.

3)  Recognizing God's Love:
Lastly, but certainly not least, is to recognize God's love for his children.  Jesus' teaching on prayer begins with the invitation to address God as Father, and ends with a parable about Father's giving good gifts to their children.  "If you then, being evil, now how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him."  Not only will God give good gifts to His children, but He will give the best gift, that being the Holy Spirit.  Our prayer is grounded in a relationship with God as Father, the one who loves and gives good gifts, the one who promises to meet the needs of those who love him.  Jim continued to trust God the Father with his needs and the needs of the church.  Through the sacrifice of Jesus, we are invited into relationship with God as Father, one who loves, cares for and provides for his children, providing not just good gifts to meet their needs, but the best gift, above and beyond expectations.

I mentioned earlier that this new facility was a bit out of town.  To be honest, its locations was not exactly ideal and visible.  In the six years since the first inquiry was made however, the town has continued to grow and expand at a rapid pace.  What once was outside of town is now right on the edge of the newest growth and right in the middle of some of the next biggest growth plans for the town.  So it seems that perhaps God was waiting a bit to answer this prayer.  Maybe one reason was simply that we might learn more about prayer. 

3 Keys for Fruitful Gospel Conversations

I had the most amazing conversation about Jesus the other day, and it started with an honest question.  The student was very hesitant, expressing that she was afraid that I might be offended.  I assured her that I love questions and see them as extremely important in the journey of faith.  Her question was “how do we know it is true?”  What followed was an amazing time of exploration as we delved into apologetics.

This experience helped me to recognize, and relearn, some invaluable insights about sharing the faith.  Firstly, is the importance of apologetics, secondly, the value of listening and thirdly, the importance of a safe place to ask questions.

Apologetics: Apologetics is not making an apology for the faith (although there are many who think that perhaps it should be).  Wikipedia defines it as “the discipline of defending a position (often religious) through the systematic use of information.”  It is making a well reasoned defense, or explanation for the faith.  In a post modern culture like we have here in Canada, it is no longer sufficient to simply say “because the bible says so.”  That will merely beg the question “why should I believe the bible?”  People hold very real concerns that Jesus and scripture are not historical, not accurate and not trustworthy and this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to questions and skepticism over matters of faith and religion.  So the question is, are we prepared to engage with such questions because it is becoming an increasing necessity as we share about Jesus.

Listening: I am also reminded about the real value and necessity of good, honest questions as we discuss and wrestle with issues of faith.  Personally, I have found that it is often questions that lead to the biggest breakthroughs and growth moments in the journey of faith.  Questions also mean that we are addressing thoughts and concerns that people actually have.  In order to hear questions, however, it means that we need to develop good listening skills and along with good listening skills we might actually have to engage with someone outside of the faith community.  It is amazing the things you learn when you engage with people, and you hear what they are thinking, questioning and how they perceive the church.  It is often different from what you thought, or what someone told you people think.  We will never be able to meet people where they are, and we will always be missing the mark if we don’t engage, don’t listen and don’t welcome good, hard, honest questions.

A Safe place:  Along with good listening skills and addressing questions comes perhaps the most important factor for faith conversations, which is creating a safe environment.  Is your environment, and more specifically are you, a safe place to bring questions and have conversations about faith?  This comes down to whether we treat all people with dignity, respect and compassion and, as we seek to serve, be willing to engage with people wherever they are at.  Apologetics and questions can lead to fruitful conversations but can also very quickly degenerate into debates.  If we are interested in winning the battle, proving the faith and beating down questions then we are not creating a safe place for people to engage.   Do we present ourselves, as open, caring and safe?

I admit, I was sad to hear that my friend was hesitant to share her questions because she was afraid of offending me.  It reminded me that I have to be more diligent about  ensuring everyone around me feel comfortable to share honestly and ask questions.  I need to be better at truly listening.  In the past I have been sharing what I thought  people might benefit from knowing when I could have been addressing what they were actually struggling with.  When I did, it gave such a rich opportunity to draw on some of the apologetic  insights that others have shared with me.  When that did happen, it was a rich and fruitful conversation and I long to have more of those in the future.

If you are looking for some apologetic resources below is a short list of resources I have found helpful, some specifically apologic in nature, some not, but all useful:

Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis
The Reason For God - Timothy Keller
The Case for Christ - Lee Strobel
More than a Carpenter - Josh McDowell

This is a very short limited list and I would love for you to add to the suggestion list.

How Is Your Face Today?

“I was walking to work this week,”  Emma shared, “and everyone just looked sad.  There were a lot of people out, but everyone just looked down.  Then all of a sudden this guy bounds around the corner finishing a morning jog, with such exuberance on his face and lets out  joyous exclamation of accomplishment.  I first thought ‘how could running ever produce such joy,’ but then I found myself asking, ‘I wonder what my face is expressing?’”

It was a great, and quite profound, observation that was shared at a Fellowship gathering a while back.   What do our faces express?  As the church, are we expressing joy and exuberance?  It reminded me of a passage from Eugene Peterson in A Long Obedience in the same Direction in which he quotes a friend:

For if a pastor is not in touch with joy, it will be difficult to teach or preach convincingly that the news is good.  If you do not convey joy in your demeanor and gestures and speech, you will not be an authentic witness for Jesus Christ.  

I think that it is safe to say that this goes for more than just pastors, but for all who would claim to be followers of Jesus.  So how about you, how is your face today?