Hello Friends and Family,
This past week has been really intense and mostly revolving around sex and sexuality. Most weeks have been decently busy with a variety of different speakers and assignments. This past week has been more of the same, with the exception that for this week I was able to attend the Canadian Mennonite Brethren Study Conference on Human Sexuality.
The week started with a speaker from a local church planting organization. He talked with us a lot about a method of mentoring called coaching. Coaching is very simply mentoring with a clear goal in mind. The idea is to be intentional with another person and identify areas in their life that they would like to progress concretely and then through a process of asking questions try and invite them to think deeper and explore other options they may not have tried yet. This was a very down to earth and concrete way of thinking about mentoring and while it does seem to avoid some of the messier emotional or counseling aspects, it is much more driven and as a result more practical. So for the first two days we learned about this and then practiced it with each other.
The rest of the week the other Trekkies and I attended the MB study conference on human sexuality as well as the annual general meetings of the Mennonite Brethren denomination. This was a very mixed experience for many of us, myself included. As a way to serve the conference and at the same time cut down on budget expenses all of us Trekkies served in the kitchens for at least a day of these 3 days. This was for many a negative experience, but I found it surprisingly encouraging. I have worked in and run my own kitchens before and as such I know what to expect and how to find my way around. I found our surly supervisors to be incredibly encouraging of me and while I think they could have done more to help out the other participants who were not used to said conditions, overall I was quite appreciative of the opportunity. My only real concern with this was that I might have to miss some of the conference, but luckily I only missed the AGM, which I could not have contributed to anyways so I did not mind much.
There was a lot of good to take away from the study conference I found, and unfortunately a little bad to. It was encouraging for me to see so many people in one place interested in and trying to understand how we as a church should respond to the topic of sexuality. The conference leaders made a big point about trying to include a wide range of topics in their definition of sexuality, but it was clear from the start that these questions were specifically relating to the LGBTQ community and our response. What was also clear from the start is that this was a very personal issue with many different experiences and perspectives on the topic.
There were some in attendance who were vehement in their beliefs and seemed unwilling to entertain other ideas, but I felt like they were in the minority, for the most part it appeared to me like most people were there to try and learn how to engage this topic in their own church community. This is why I was so excited in being able to participate in this conference. I have known and befriended people who would fall into the category of LGBTQ and I honestly struggle with how to identify with them from a christian worldview. On the one hand our faith tradition and holy scriptures indicate that people who deviate from the norm in this way are sinners. But then again so are everyone else, myself very much included; I usually just try my best to love them as I think Jesus would. But as this topic is starting to hit closer to home and more and more Christian couples are having kids who are gay, or neighbours who are bi, or even co-workers who are trans-gendered, we as a community of believers are starting to re-think our stance on the issue. I think that this is the wrong way to go about talking on this issue and I was encouraged to see a large percentage of the conference agreed with me.
Near the end of the conference, during an open mic time, one person stood up and said that "we (the church) need to do family right, because blood is thicker than theology." This was very much in the context of a personal, familial connection to an LGBTQ person and a frustration with a theology and understanding that their desired sexual expressions are to be considered sin. There were actually a few people near the end who expressed similar feelings. But as this is going on I feel the Lord bring my attention to Luke 14 and the cost of discipleship, where Jesus clearly states that we must put Him before our family. Now I understand that this can be very difficult and we still need to respond out of love, but this is where the rubber meets the road. If we truly wish to be Jesus's disciples then we must be so even when it is not convenient or comfortable for us to do so.
Another thing that really stood out to me about this conference was the use of Mathew 19, and 1 Corinthians 7 in response to people of the LGBTQ persuasion. For those unfamiliar the text in Mathew has Jesus telling His disciples that some people are called, born, or made to be eunuchs for the kingdom of God, and the verse in Corinthians is a celebration of singleness in the church. These two passages together seemed to me and several conference speakers to be an invitation for LGBTQ people to see their orientation as an invitation to being single for the kingdom of God. This was another widely unpopular assumption, but I think that again has to do with us as a church being too rooted in our culture. Sex is so pervasive and rampant in literally everything, that the idea that God does not want us to be having at least some sex is unthinkable. Our society tells us that the culmination of our existence is in sex, if you are not having it then there is something wrong with you. We need to break away from this idea. Jesus called us to be "in the world, but not of the world" and I guess that means that some people are going to be burdened with a life of singleness for the kingdom of God; just as all married people should be married for the kingdom of God, either way it needs to be about the kingdom. Now I know this sounds a bit harsh, but as someone who has never had a long term Girlfriend, never really been on more than a couple dates, this is my lot in life too, at least for now.
I was really encouraged by what one of the last speakers said in response to this idea of singleness in the church and how some felt it to be unfair. She said that both marriage and singleness need to be done for God. If you are single for any reason, then you, like the apostle Paul, need to devote all your attention on God. If you are married, then you need to be using your marriage to at all times be furthering the kingdom of God. She said that marriage was not about finding the sexiest person you could and fostering everlasting feelings of romance, but rather another tool for engaging God. Now she was not discounting the need for romance and to feel your partner is attractive, but rather that what needs to come first, is and always needs to be God, and the second is your own attractions.
Preaching
Preaching during the main service at church
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Sunday, October 18, 2015
Evangelism and Preaching week 6
Hello Friends, Family and Internet Wanderers
Week 6 is done and finished and this week ended busily, but started refreshingly slow; and as a result this post will be shorter than my past ones.
This past week I was able to spend some much needed solo time on Monday and Tuesday. These days were given to us to allow time to work on the sermons which we were assigned from the week before. It was refreshing and enjoyable to slow down for a day or two.
Then on Wednesday and Thursday we had a speaker on evangelism who has lived in Canada for a while, but also has a delightful Scottish accent. He talked about the different kinds and types of evangelism, using his own stories to demonstrate and highlight the way that God moves in the world. He was very adamant that God will not be put into a box and will use us in a variety of different ways and we need to be open and receptive to it. He also pointed out, much to my chagrin, that we as believers do not spend much time reaching out to others in our day to day lives. Often we are all ready to go and serve overseas or at our church, but not so much when it comes to our own neighbours. This struck me particularly as he asked us to name our neighbours and I didn't know any of them . Upon reflection I do not know many people who are not part of the my Christian 'bubble'. So I was challenged to be and think more missionally in my day to day life.
On Friday we preached our sermons for last weeks speaker who returned to listen to how we did. Everyone did something a little different, but by and large we were all successful. I was very excited to hear encouragement about how I did and especially from the speaker it was high praise. And what stood out to me is that he did not really critique anyone. He was honestly interested in building up our whole team and while he did offer a few pointers, he seemed more about encouragement than perfecting the art of preaching. I look forward to potentially working with or for him in the future.
This weekend has been fairly low key as well and that is refreshing as we have all been told that there will be no breaks this week coming. So with that I will sign off and hope to get as much rest as I can before I spend this next week running
Week 6 is done and finished and this week ended busily, but started refreshingly slow; and as a result this post will be shorter than my past ones.
This past week I was able to spend some much needed solo time on Monday and Tuesday. These days were given to us to allow time to work on the sermons which we were assigned from the week before. It was refreshing and enjoyable to slow down for a day or two.
Then on Wednesday and Thursday we had a speaker on evangelism who has lived in Canada for a while, but also has a delightful Scottish accent. He talked about the different kinds and types of evangelism, using his own stories to demonstrate and highlight the way that God moves in the world. He was very adamant that God will not be put into a box and will use us in a variety of different ways and we need to be open and receptive to it. He also pointed out, much to my chagrin, that we as believers do not spend much time reaching out to others in our day to day lives. Often we are all ready to go and serve overseas or at our church, but not so much when it comes to our own neighbours. This struck me particularly as he asked us to name our neighbours and I didn't know any of them . Upon reflection I do not know many people who are not part of the my Christian 'bubble'. So I was challenged to be and think more missionally in my day to day life.
On Friday we preached our sermons for last weeks speaker who returned to listen to how we did. Everyone did something a little different, but by and large we were all successful. I was very excited to hear encouragement about how I did and especially from the speaker it was high praise. And what stood out to me is that he did not really critique anyone. He was honestly interested in building up our whole team and while he did offer a few pointers, he seemed more about encouragement than perfecting the art of preaching. I look forward to potentially working with or for him in the future.
This weekend has been fairly low key as well and that is refreshing as we have all been told that there will be no breaks this week coming. So with that I will sign off and hope to get as much rest as I can before I spend this next week running
Sunday, October 11, 2015
Preaching and Gifting, Week 5
Greetings All,
This past week was a very hectic one as you can probably tell from this post being a bit later that I would have liked. This week I heard from the conference director on how to preach, and from one of the program leaders on spiritual gifting's and personality types. Then I capped the week off with watching my best friend get married to the girl of his dreams, literally the one who (almost) got away.
We were back in Gretna this past week and while I am not a fan of the lack of cell reception, I do find that being a bit further away from the world than I usually find myself is very helpful in centering myself on God and allows me to dive deeper into the teachings that are being offered.
On Monday and Tuesday I heard from the conference director on how to preach successfully. As some of you may know I have taken classes on how to preach, and have also had the opportunity to preach on occasion. I have also had the privilege of leading bible studies and other faith/bible centered teachings that would not normally fall under the category of preaching. That being said I found this information incredibly useful and interesting. Our speaker offered a method of preaching that I was unfamiliar with and offered many useful practical pointers on how to preach. It was both a refresher and a source of new information which will all come together in fruition as we have all been given the assignment to preach a 15 minute sermon for this coming Friday. So I am both excited to do this, but also quite intimidated as I will be preaching for someone who could end up being my boss after this program. But that being said I am more and more confident each day that ministry is the direction and call God has placed on my life and as long as I continue to lean upon and trust my Father I will be on the right path.
On Wednesday and Thursday we did personality tests and spiritual gift assessments. Now normally I really hate these, I find that they are not very indicative of how I am in a variety of situations. This concern was addressed early on with an addition of the "in ministry" qualifier. So in essence all our answers were to be made as if we were in our perspective ministries, this helped a lot. What also helped was the idea that we shift and move from one personality to another as we grow, learn, and experience life. So rather than the test saying that I am exactly like "____", it was I am probably a lot like "____" right now. I found this incredibly freeing and it allowed me to engage much more with the material. But what I found the most enlightening, specifically with regards to the spiritual gifting is that while we may be strong in one or more areas, God does not use us exclusively in our strengths, but also in our weaknesses. So I may be very gifted in the areas of prophecy and teaching, but that doesn't mean that God will not use me in any or all of the other areas of gifting as well.
Finally on Friday I participated in an Aboriginal blanket ceremony. I don't know what I was expecting, but I certainly was not expecting what happened. For any reading who like me had never done this before, it is a ceremony where a group of people walk on blankets symbolizing the Native American people as lines and borders are created and people are removed and blankets taken away to symbolize the loss of life and land respectively. Being from Manitoba, this topic is not unfamiliar to me, but what really stood out to me was the involvement of the Mennonite community. I was aware of the one Mennonite residential school, but what I did not know is that somewhere between 30-50% of the teachers in these horrible schools were of Mennonite background. Now I am pretty proud of my Menno heritage. We as a people have created and run some fairly solid and uplifting organizations from Mennonite Central Committee to Mennonite Disaster Services, and even Mennonite Brethren Missions, the organization putting on my program. But to think of residential schools as a part of my heritage shames me. I know I personally had nothing to do with these schools, but the fact that my people had such a large role in cultural genocide really makes me think; honestly I still do not know how to respond to this information.
The second half of Friday and all of Saturday were spent in an amazing celebration of my friends love for each other culminating in their wedding at noon on Saturday. I am incredibly happy for them, but also incredibly tired. As a member of the wedding party I had the honour and privileged to stand at the altar when they were wed. But being a part of a wedding is also tiring work so I bid everyone adieu as my bed is calling to me.
This past week was a very hectic one as you can probably tell from this post being a bit later that I would have liked. This week I heard from the conference director on how to preach, and from one of the program leaders on spiritual gifting's and personality types. Then I capped the week off with watching my best friend get married to the girl of his dreams, literally the one who (almost) got away.
We were back in Gretna this past week and while I am not a fan of the lack of cell reception, I do find that being a bit further away from the world than I usually find myself is very helpful in centering myself on God and allows me to dive deeper into the teachings that are being offered.
On Monday and Tuesday I heard from the conference director on how to preach successfully. As some of you may know I have taken classes on how to preach, and have also had the opportunity to preach on occasion. I have also had the privilege of leading bible studies and other faith/bible centered teachings that would not normally fall under the category of preaching. That being said I found this information incredibly useful and interesting. Our speaker offered a method of preaching that I was unfamiliar with and offered many useful practical pointers on how to preach. It was both a refresher and a source of new information which will all come together in fruition as we have all been given the assignment to preach a 15 minute sermon for this coming Friday. So I am both excited to do this, but also quite intimidated as I will be preaching for someone who could end up being my boss after this program. But that being said I am more and more confident each day that ministry is the direction and call God has placed on my life and as long as I continue to lean upon and trust my Father I will be on the right path.
On Wednesday and Thursday we did personality tests and spiritual gift assessments. Now normally I really hate these, I find that they are not very indicative of how I am in a variety of situations. This concern was addressed early on with an addition of the "in ministry" qualifier. So in essence all our answers were to be made as if we were in our perspective ministries, this helped a lot. What also helped was the idea that we shift and move from one personality to another as we grow, learn, and experience life. So rather than the test saying that I am exactly like "____", it was I am probably a lot like "____" right now. I found this incredibly freeing and it allowed me to engage much more with the material. But what I found the most enlightening, specifically with regards to the spiritual gifting is that while we may be strong in one or more areas, God does not use us exclusively in our strengths, but also in our weaknesses. So I may be very gifted in the areas of prophecy and teaching, but that doesn't mean that God will not use me in any or all of the other areas of gifting as well.
Finally on Friday I participated in an Aboriginal blanket ceremony. I don't know what I was expecting, but I certainly was not expecting what happened. For any reading who like me had never done this before, it is a ceremony where a group of people walk on blankets symbolizing the Native American people as lines and borders are created and people are removed and blankets taken away to symbolize the loss of life and land respectively. Being from Manitoba, this topic is not unfamiliar to me, but what really stood out to me was the involvement of the Mennonite community. I was aware of the one Mennonite residential school, but what I did not know is that somewhere between 30-50% of the teachers in these horrible schools were of Mennonite background. Now I am pretty proud of my Menno heritage. We as a people have created and run some fairly solid and uplifting organizations from Mennonite Central Committee to Mennonite Disaster Services, and even Mennonite Brethren Missions, the organization putting on my program. But to think of residential schools as a part of my heritage shames me. I know I personally had nothing to do with these schools, but the fact that my people had such a large role in cultural genocide really makes me think; honestly I still do not know how to respond to this information.
The second half of Friday and all of Saturday were spent in an amazing celebration of my friends love for each other culminating in their wedding at noon on Saturday. I am incredibly happy for them, but also incredibly tired. As a member of the wedding party I had the honour and privileged to stand at the altar when they were wed. But being a part of a wedding is also tiring work so I bid everyone adieu as my bed is calling to me.
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Spiritual Warfare and Panama, Week 4
Good afternoon to all the friends, family and supporters.
This week has been a bit slower than those past, but no less important in content or experience. This week focused on two things in particular, the first was learning about Holy Spirit and what it means to live in a physical and a spiritual world. The second was that we as a community were able to meet and host 2 missionaries from Panama and learn their story of how God is at work and through them. In addition to that our final participant showed up after being only three weeks late, but he is already becoming a very significant part of the community. Then finally I had my second youth night with the church I am working at and it went fairly well.
So the first 3 days of the week one of the program leaders spent teaching and talking with us about the realities of the spiritual realm. We learned what it means to use the authority granted to us through the name of Christ and a multitude of other things. During this time we also did a few exercises in evangelism where we would pray for God to point out to us particular people who needed to hear from Him today, and then we went out looking for those people. What really stood out to me during this time is how real the spiritual realm is and how little we, especially in North America realize. It seems like one of the enemies greatest tools of war has been to convince most of North America and parts of Europe that there is no such thing as the spiritual. If you were to go anywhere else in the world the people would tell you that spirits do indeed exist, but as I write this I feel like I am speaking of fantasy. It seems almost crazy to say that as a Christian I believe that both angels and demons exist and while they may not look anything like what have been depicted in the past, they do indeed affect us. I found myself this week being very introspective and examining my moods and trying to see if they were indeed appropriate to the circumstance and often they were not. As part of this week myself and another participant went looking for someone to pray for, we found her, and her response was to literally (I am using this correctly here) pick up her dog in the park and run away from us. Our only prompting was to offer to pray for her. I do not know any situation in which I can rationally understand that response. It is my and my partners suspicion that she was being influenced by the enemy. I cannot say with certainty either way, but what I can say is that the more I delve into and saturate myself with the Spirit the more I am noticing that it affects.
The second part of this week was listening to two missionaries from Panama. We heard their stories of faith and transformation and all in Spanish with translators doing the work of relaying the information to us. Both of their stories were amazing tales of God doing miraculous things in their lives. It seems like sometimes when we think miracles we think of transforming our circumstance, which can definitely be a miracle and God definitely did that in the lives of these two. But God also healed one of them from HIV and the other was brought out of a drug cartel; no small things here. Both of them are and were walking proof of the power and love of God's Holy Spirit. The main focus of their teaching was the idea that we are not working for results, but rather our desire is to be faithful and respond lovingly to our God who loved us first. These missionaries emphasized the point that we are to love all our brothers and sister and while we do desire to bring others to Christ, our first priority is to love. This really resonated with me, especially because of the nature of my ministry so far. The youth program has really just started but the group is really quite small and this teaching was really encouraging. So often the way we evaluate the success of a program is based purely on attendance, and to a degree that is valid, but especially early on I need to focus on loving those I am called to serve and lean not on my own understanding, but trust that God has a plan for my ministry, no matter how small.
So this past week has been packed full even more Holy Spirit, learning and re-learning. Please pray for the coming weeks that I will continue to soak up the teachings and they will make a lasting impact of my ministry. Pray for the youths I am leading and that I will stay centered and direct these students on the path God has laid out for them.
God Bless,
-Stefan
This week has been a bit slower than those past, but no less important in content or experience. This week focused on two things in particular, the first was learning about Holy Spirit and what it means to live in a physical and a spiritual world. The second was that we as a community were able to meet and host 2 missionaries from Panama and learn their story of how God is at work and through them. In addition to that our final participant showed up after being only three weeks late, but he is already becoming a very significant part of the community. Then finally I had my second youth night with the church I am working at and it went fairly well.
So the first 3 days of the week one of the program leaders spent teaching and talking with us about the realities of the spiritual realm. We learned what it means to use the authority granted to us through the name of Christ and a multitude of other things. During this time we also did a few exercises in evangelism where we would pray for God to point out to us particular people who needed to hear from Him today, and then we went out looking for those people. What really stood out to me during this time is how real the spiritual realm is and how little we, especially in North America realize. It seems like one of the enemies greatest tools of war has been to convince most of North America and parts of Europe that there is no such thing as the spiritual. If you were to go anywhere else in the world the people would tell you that spirits do indeed exist, but as I write this I feel like I am speaking of fantasy. It seems almost crazy to say that as a Christian I believe that both angels and demons exist and while they may not look anything like what have been depicted in the past, they do indeed affect us. I found myself this week being very introspective and examining my moods and trying to see if they were indeed appropriate to the circumstance and often they were not. As part of this week myself and another participant went looking for someone to pray for, we found her, and her response was to literally (I am using this correctly here) pick up her dog in the park and run away from us. Our only prompting was to offer to pray for her. I do not know any situation in which I can rationally understand that response. It is my and my partners suspicion that she was being influenced by the enemy. I cannot say with certainty either way, but what I can say is that the more I delve into and saturate myself with the Spirit the more I am noticing that it affects.
The second part of this week was listening to two missionaries from Panama. We heard their stories of faith and transformation and all in Spanish with translators doing the work of relaying the information to us. Both of their stories were amazing tales of God doing miraculous things in their lives. It seems like sometimes when we think miracles we think of transforming our circumstance, which can definitely be a miracle and God definitely did that in the lives of these two. But God also healed one of them from HIV and the other was brought out of a drug cartel; no small things here. Both of them are and were walking proof of the power and love of God's Holy Spirit. The main focus of their teaching was the idea that we are not working for results, but rather our desire is to be faithful and respond lovingly to our God who loved us first. These missionaries emphasized the point that we are to love all our brothers and sister and while we do desire to bring others to Christ, our first priority is to love. This really resonated with me, especially because of the nature of my ministry so far. The youth program has really just started but the group is really quite small and this teaching was really encouraging. So often the way we evaluate the success of a program is based purely on attendance, and to a degree that is valid, but especially early on I need to focus on loving those I am called to serve and lean not on my own understanding, but trust that God has a plan for my ministry, no matter how small.
So this past week has been packed full even more Holy Spirit, learning and re-learning. Please pray for the coming weeks that I will continue to soak up the teachings and they will make a lasting impact of my ministry. Pray for the youths I am leading and that I will stay centered and direct these students on the path God has laid out for them.
God Bless,
-Stefan
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)