A publication of Canadian Baptist Ministries www.cbmin.org
spring 09
Home Grown Transforming a community through the local church Pg. 6 Parkdale Joe A neighbourhood pastor Pg. 12
Is your church creating community?
It all started with a little change One student dares to make a difference Pg. 16
Purpose of mosaic mosaic is a community forum of local and global voices united by a shared mission. mosaic will serve as a catalyst to stimulate and encourage passionate discipleship among Canadian Baptists and their partners.
spring 09
It’s not the church’s mission, it’s God’s mission... we’re just invited to take part in it. Recently, former CBM General Secretary, Rev. Bob Berry, stopped by our office to lead the weekly chapel service. It has been many years since Bob retired from CBM and went back into pastoral ministry in the Maritimes. However, the legacy of Bob’s wisdom and leadership continues to resound in so many areas throughout the organization, and indeed around the world. With an inimitable combination of humility, humour and a remarkable depth of knowledge, Bob shared his thoughts around the church and the importance of looking at the past when thinking about its future. This issue is dedicated to looking at God’s mission through the church right here in Canada. Every year we hear more stories about churches closing and stats that declare the death of Christianity in Canada. But we believe that God is still powerfully using the church in ways that may never make a headline in the newspaper. For some, church may no longer look the way it used to. For every church mentioned in this issue, there are hundreds more out there re-defining new expressions of what it means to be a church living out God’s mission locally and globally. So, thanks for the reminder, Bob. We needed that.
mosaic is published four times a year by Canadian Baptist Ministries. Copies are distributed free of charge. Bulk quantities available by request. Contact us at: 7185 Millcreek Drive Mississauga, ON L5N 5R4 Tel: 905.821.3533 mosaic@cbmin.org www.cbmin.org Design: Genesys Creative Inc.
5 contents g-files Page 3 What Do You Mean by Missional?
ethically speaking Page 4 Buck the Trend
special feature Page 6 Home Grown
Page 15 Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way Page 16 It All Started with a Little Change
Page 11 Family Matters Page 12 Parkdale Joe A Neighbourhood Pastor Page 14 Christmas Snapshots
Page 18 Man on a Mission in Rwanda
Page 19 The View Page 20 Grassroots Heroes
Managing Editor: Jennifer Lau Editor: Laurena Zondo
Mission of Canadian Baptist Ministries Encouraging passionate discipleship for local and global mission.
Associate Editor: Giselle Culver Canadian Baptist Ministries is a federation of Conventions and Unions in witness and service.
by Rev. Dr. Gary Nelson
1 g-files
General Secretary of CBM
missional? Our friends were “missioned” at their church the other day. It is a moving service of worship. These friends are both teachers, one an effective public school literacy expert and the other a widely recognized university professor of English and Cultural Studies. Both are people of profound faith, passionate about their call to teach. Every year, members of this historic urban congregation go through an act of “missioning”. People are brought forward in the worship service and confirmed in their “call” to work intentionally and incarnationally in ministry wherever they are. They are brought forward in the liturgy and with words of commissioning, the sign of the cross is made on their hands and on their foreheads signifying word and deed. Lawyers and mothers working in the home are missioned. Everyone who
desires to see their particular occupation or circumstance as a Godgiven place of ministry and call takes part in this moving and deeply intentional act of worship in the church. It really makes sense. What does Sunday morning piety mean if the result is not a challenge to live a more authentic Christian life in the places we spend our time during the week? Maybe we do not “mission” people into their work places because we ultimately prefer them to serve the structures inside the walls of the church. Outside activities are perceived as a distraction from the higher activity of church. Christ came to announce and demonstrate the present and coming kingdom of God. Under God’s reign in Christ the whole world was and is being redeemed. “The church’s mission,” Robert Webber, author of The Younger
Evangelicals, therefore states, “is to be the presence of the kingdom”.1 The call is to build a church community which does not simply exist for itself. It actively engages the world around it while at the same time nurtures its sacred task of community and disciple-building within the church. The Church is both an instrument and sign of what God wants to do in this kingdom that Jesus brought to earth. The purpose of the Church is to join God’s mission, incarnationally pointing to what it might look like when a community of people becomes alive under God’s reign. “Missioning” is a way of making visible to each member, to the church community, and to the world that God’s people are at work. Capturing the “missioning” mindset will impact the way we live out the rhythm of kingdom living. It is a key theme in the Church’s larger task as the Body of Christ sent into the world to be a witness in word and deed. By living in the ‘missioning mindset,’ the Church moves beyond its bordered existence into the borderlands of engagement where faith, unfaith and other faiths intersect. To choose to do anything less will simply produce an inability to live authentically as the Church in the culture. To miss the opportunity to join with God in what He is already doing in our world. To be missional. 1
Robert Webber, The Younger Evangelicals: Facing the Challenges of the New World, Baker Books, 2002, pp. 240-241
Editor’s Note: This was adapted from Gary Nelson’s book, Borderland Churches: A Congregation’s Introduction to Missional Living. It is available for purchase through amazon.ca and chapters.ca.
ethically speaking
Buck the Trend
The average Christian in North America gives…
There is a lower percentage of giving to churches now than in 1933 during the depth of the Great Depression.
of their income to God’s work...
* US statistics: Barna Research
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2.5%
…and pays almost
10%
to debt interest
Over one third of regular church attendees give nothing
0%
spring/09
5
Âś feature
Home Grown by John Prociuk Transforming a community through the local church. See how some churches in Canada are cultivating a new, missional spirit that’s already bearing fruit.
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Then he brought me back to the entrance of the temple; there, water was flowing…and it was a river that I could not cross… then he led me along the bank of the river…I saw on the bank of the river a great many trees on the one side and on the other… on the banks grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit shall be for food, and their leaves for healing. Ezekiel 47
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Last summer I visited a “riparian zone” along the South Saskatchewan river. Derived from the Latin ripa, meaning “bank”, it doesn’t sound exciting until you are struck by the astounding array of colours and sounds – swirling, roaring water, fertile banks overhung with thick, lush vegetation, and pelicans from Ecuador circling for fishes. Riparian zones are areas where moving water and land combine to produce elevated ecological conditions, offering an all-in-one package of the three critical resources for life: shelter, food and water. They nourish and also attract an astonishing richness of life. The experience of this life-giving ecosystem reminded me of Ezekiel’s
startling vision of the temple bursting open with water, transforming and feeding the world. It also illustrates what seems to be at the heart of the recent evangelical emphasis on becoming “missional” in our churches. Simply put, the missional idea is about recovering the church’s true identity in cooperating with God to transform our world. What riparian zones accomplish ecologically, Christian groups devoted to fresh expressions of God’s Spirit can offer to the wider community. One such ministry is located on Main Street in Carlyle, Saskatchewan, the home of LIVING LIFE. Kevan Sears initially moved his young family to Carlyle in summer of 2007 to pastor an established church in this oil-rich southeastern Saskatchewan town of 1,300 people. But God had other plans. An abrupt end to their pastorate thrust them into a remarkable possibility. “Our denomination invited us to take time, think, dream, pray about what ministry could look like in Carlyle. We always wanted a family oriented ministry, and now we had to think of what it looked like outside a church structure,” Kevan explains. To do that, Kevan and his wife Hyacinte poured themselves into the community, exploring how God’s love and healing might touch the people. They spoke with key leaders of the town – the mayor, psychiatrists, business leaders, other pastors – to see what was available for enriching family life. “We joined the Cornerstone Family and Youth Board and learned that there
The Sears family in front of the future home of LIVING LIFE, a family oriented ministry that will serve as a gathering place for the community.
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Success can’t just be measured numerically – in terms of money and church attendance – but needs reframing around depth of relationships beyond church and in neighbourhood.
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is a lot of alcoholism, single parents, broken homes here,” Hyacinte explains. Kevan began volunteering for the Parents Associate School Council, and Hyacinte pitched in to help with the school’s lunch program. As the Sears listened, the townspeople resoundingly affirmed a family ministries initiative, with no reservations about a Christian perspective. “It’s because, bottom line, people in the town have experienced family breakdown and they know they need help,” Hyacinte says. “We have worked hard to be collaborative and to establish a credible presence for ourselves,” adds Kevan. “The townspeople know we want to stay and make a difference.” While the Sears built credibility, Canadian Baptists of Western Canada purchased a commercial building on Main Street – once a gambling establishment called the “Sugar Plum” – to be the future home of LIVING LIFE. After months of renovation, the Sears are now working with a contractor from Regina to finish the project by the spring of 2009. Once completed, people entering LIVING LIFE will first find themselves in a coffee house that will serve as a gathering place for the community. Past that, the blueprints sketch a ministry centre with offices, a library and meeting rooms to offer counselling, marriage enrichment seminars, family support, and divorce recovery groups. “We also are planning for a church, but not in the traditional sense. It will be through small groups, with strong emphasis on shared leadership,” Kevan explains. However, Christ is at the centre of all that is happening. “I have salvaged some lumber from the original building to build a cross, which I want to place in
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the front of the building,” says Kevan with a smile. The Sears have also built connections with local churches, becoming members of Moosomin Baptist Church, the nearest Canadian Baptist congregation down the road. “They have been very supportive and provide oversight through a steering committee,” says Kevan. “We are not territorial; in fact, we have plans for joint ministry. Transparency and collaboration is very important in this community.” With that comes trust. Recently the Friendship Centre – a First Nations community organization that offers support programs – contacted the Sears to indicate their desire to support the marriage enrichment component.
Then on the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing in the temple he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’” John 7:37-38 Adjacent to the Bow River in Calgary, in the older inner city community of Bowness, another riparian zone – a fledgling new Christian community named AWAKEN – has come to life over the last 18 months. “Our vision is about recognizing what God is already doing in this neighbourhood, and then joining God,”
explains Pastor Scott Cripps. “This is a new way of being faithful – it’s not about some new formula for doing church, it’s about discipleship and living out our faith in our culture, giving evidence of God’s reign in the community.” Even in a short time, the people of AWAKEN have become involved in Bowness in a variety of ways: serving supper with other churches, supporting a ministry to single moms, providing clothing for those in need, helping in neighbourhood cleanups and environmental awareness projects, visiting seniors homes, and establishing a community garden. Scott presently chairs the local ministerial which includes the local Catholic, Brethren, Anglican, Lutheran, Reformed and Pentecostal churches. “The neighbourhood is not carved up territorially. Instead we see the work of God as shared, and each church provides something. AWAKEN has entered that joint project,” Scott says. Many of AWAKEN’s members have also moved into Bowness to become part of day-to-day activities and life in the community – whether it be shopping, coaching, serving community meals, or joining ski clubs. “We expect everyone to be involved in small groups but acknowledge that extra time is required for other involvements and
neighbourhood projects,” explains Scott. “Right now we have 50 covenantal members, and an additional 70 people are part of AWAKEN in some way.” The AWAKEN community rents Bow Waters Brethren Church for worship on Sunday evenings, and joined with them to turn the adjacent property (an abandoned lot) into a community garden, augmented by a Calgary Foundation grant. This past summer the garden served as a gathering place and food source for 40 people, most of whom are not part of AWAKEN. Scott says the congregation is also dreaming of developing a “third space” in the Bowness neighbourhood, to further enrich community life – something like a coffee shop and Internet cafe, or a drop-in centre. The seeds of AWAKEN sprouted while Scott was leading an evening congregation at Westview Baptist Church in Calgary.
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AWAKEN Community Garden
“Our group began asking questions about God, the church and his kingdom and what those meant for our generation. Eventually our hearts became settled on a plan: the idea of a church plant in the neighbouring community of Bowness.” The leadership of AWAKEN values the ongoing support from their originating church and the need to be part of denomination, while at the same time staying committed to innovation. “The modern church is being marginalized within culture – it is losing its power to speak and transform. The future church has to be more prophetic, an exilic people being reborn in new way, and our emerging generation – many of whom did not grow up with modern church context – need to be discipled in this way,” says Scott. New definitions of success are crucial in this renewed vision. “Success can’t just be measured numerically – in terms of money and church attendance – but needs reframing around depth of relationships beyond church and in neighbourhood,” says Scott. “There is risk involved –
there may be a personal cost that comes with saying goodbye to old friends and comfortable communities. If you are insecure around these more relational measures of success, you can be spiritually attacked,” he adds. As we finish, Scott shows a request for help with a cleanup project that AWAKEN has just received. “The Community Association and social agencies have started asking us for help. People are starting to come to us now,” Scott says. This is what we want. We are trusted.”
Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty…” John 4:13-15 Kevin Vincent’s voice bounces with energy as he describes the people of Atlantic Community Church (ACC) located in Apohaqui, New Brunswick, a small village located an hour from Moncton. Kevin oversees a dozen full and part-time staff at ACC, another riparian zone that has nourished multiple communities in Atlantic Canada. “Our theology is that God is at work in the world, homes, around us – our job is to watch, listen, pray and engage where God is working,” Kevin explains. “When it comes to serving the world, we have to cultivate a missional imagination, and encourage people to be as creative as possible.” One such initiative was the creation of “Life Builders”, the service arm of ACC. Sometime ago, Life Builders contacted the “Sharing Club”, a food bank/clothing
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t Atlantic Community Church serving in the community
depot in the nearby town of Sussex. “We wanted to know how we could help the Sharing Club, so we asked them for a ‘dream list’ of their needs. They gave us a list, and we decided to do an ‘extreme makeover’.” Involving some local businesses, Life Builders formed a work team of 150 people and over a four-day period the group renovated the Sharing Club. “There was a grand re-opening. We did it as a gift, and kept it under the radar – we didn’t want the media to get hold of it,” laughs Kevin. Projects such as this are then integrated with Sunday mornings. “After we serve, we explain what we are trying to do,” Kevin says. “That is what discipleship is about.” The church’s 25-30 small groups – called “Life Groups” – have also been challenged to answer the question: If the Kingdom of God was fully manifested, what would it look like in our community and on our streets? After people brainstorm and write down ideas, they set goals to make the ideas reality. To facilitate this, ACC recently held an “Extreme Living Sunday”. Even the town council was invited to ask the church for ways they could improve the community, something the council admitted had never been done by any church! “We boiled it down to 60 projects across Apohaqui and nearby Hampton – each with team leaders. On Extreme Living Sunday the parking lot was full of trucks and equipment. We held a
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short service, and then let people go early to use the time to serve. Others stayed and prepared a meal for the workers. The next Sunday we had a story-telling Sunday,” says Kevin. “We believe that people want to serve, but often have a difficult time knowing how. Those among us who are not yet Christ-followers also want to serve. So if we can join together Christ meets us.” According to Kevin, something had to die for this new expression of Christian community to emerge. The parent church of ACC had shrunken in the late 1970s, and considered disbanding. However, after meeting with the denomination, a key decision was made by the remaining elders of the church. Realizing that an older dream of church had to die, these leaders – who Kevin calls “heroes” – blessed the new expression. “And since then they have remained supportive of what we are doing,” he quietly adds. The new church began in a school in the fall of 1996. A new multipurpose building was constructed in 2000, and in 2004 a children’s centre was added. The church now averages between 650 and 700 attendees every week, and a campus has begun in the nearby town of Hampton.
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“We are always experimenting with what works in Atlantic culture, but as long as we are wanting to serve, it’s okay to risk, to fail,” Kevin explains. This means preaching “radical generosity”, generosity with no strings attached! It means cooperating with Jesus, who came not to be served but to serve. Kevin was especially gratified when the Red Cross Director in the community recently called the church to ask if ACC can help them with their need for space. Kevin took the request to the Life Builders Board, and they are now working to make it happen. “That is what it is all about. We want the church to be a hub for the community so that when there is need, people will contact us first. When we serve, people meet God.”
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Revelation 22:1-2
Rev. John Prociuk has served with the Canadian Baptists of Western Canada as Director of Ministries and the Director of Clergy Care. His role includes providing leadership in bringing church leaders together to share and celebrate how God is working in their midst, and to facilitate deeper ministry partnerships.
Matters by Rev. Jim Rhyno Grand Falls and Ortonville Baptist Churches, New Brunswick
Are you up to the challenge of replanting a church? One pastor shares his experience. While this was going on we began to familiarize ourselves with the community. We met with a local school principal and asked her opinion about needs in the community. We learned of the need for values education among young people and children and so we launched Discovery Club, an afterschool program for elementary students. Eleven registered the first year. Some of our first year club members now attend youth group.
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It was a church in crisis. Down to five members and on the verge of closing, it was located in the small, but growing town of Grand Falls, New Brunswick, where the majority of residents are francophone. Neither my wife nor I speak French. We wondered how we could possibly have an impact. As we prayed about the situation, we decided that we would step out in faith that this was God’s leading. In November 2005 we moved with our three children to Grand Falls. We brought with us the vision of a family-friendly church established on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ our Lord. We approached the challenge of replanting the church carefully. First, we began a Bible Study. Often there would only be four or five of us who met, but a sense of purpose and mission began to develop out of our small group. We also attempted to modernize the basement of the church so that it would be more functional and attractive to younger families. We painted the dark paneling, replaced old windows, cleaned out outdated Sunday School curriculum, removed two old pump organs and a broken electric organ and converted a storage room into a class room with double-folding French doors. All of the labour was volunteer and most of the materials were donated.
We believe that God is blessing the emphasis on family ministries.
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Our children got involved in the planting. Emily spearheaded a plan to do CBM’s 24 Hour Blackout with interested youth. As part of the experience we volunteered to clean up garbage on the streets. We became active in our son’s minor hockey league. When we began a youth group, he invited several of the boys to attend. One of those families now attends church regularly. We held family events such as a youth/parent barbeque, traditional church picnics, and family Bible school. We made a concerted effort to involve youth and children in special services, drama and puppet ministry and invited families to attend.
We looked at how we could meet the needs of seniors and began Third Age Club - a monthly fellowship meal and program for seniors that alternates between Ortonville (a small, rural church that is also part of our charge) and Grand Falls. We also hosted a four-week Marriage Enrichment Seminar in Ortonville to help strengthen marriages and reach out to married couples. We believe that God is blessing the emphasis on family ministries. Our attendance in Grand Falls has grown to an average of 25. Often there are more. Last year we had the joy of baptizing two brothers from one family and they, along with their mother, have joined the church. Their father and brother are now considering baptism and others are interested as well. Our growth has been slow and gradual but we now have 16 members. It is not uncommon to have 10 or more children and youth in the service. God has blessed us, as well, with mixed French and English families so that we are making inroads into the francophone community. We often have prayer in French and English at our Bible Study, which may have as many as 12 in attendance. We are thankful for the progress, but we realize that there is a great deal more work to be done. Please continue to pray with us. May we see many more churches grow and reach out to families across our country.
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Parkdale Joe
A Neighbourhood Pastor
by Giselle Culver CBM Communications Assistant
t Joe Abbey-Colborne, Pastoral Director, Parkdale Neighbourhood Church
Every Monday, a small group of people gathers in the basement of a church in Parkdale, an inner city neighbourhood in Toronto, to share a meal together. While volunteers are busy in the kitchen, I join a few people sitting at a table with art supplies.
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We write on scraps of paper, naming things we have lost. Some are ordinary – keys, glasses, watch. Some speak of much deeper losses – friends, career, sanity, freedom. Eventually, the scraps will be collected into a Book of Lost Things, part of a community art project that tells the stories of those who attend this weekly drop-in centre, to acknowledge and preserve what’s important in their lives. Parkdale Neighbourhood Church (PNC) seeks to be a place of safety, respect and dignity for the marginalized in its neighbourhood, “a place where people can come and bring their whole life,” says Joe Abbey-Colborne, the church’s Pastoral Director. “A place that
helps people find community, find relationships that are open and honest and accepting.” After we eat, Mabel packs half of her meal to take with her, even though she hasn’t eaten in two days. She checks and re-checks her small silver
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coin purse, moving it from one plastic bag to another. I walk with her to meet a friend, carrying her bags as we make a few stops along the way, the first at a convenience store where she asks the clerk to let her buy bus tickets even though she doesn’t have enough money. Not this time, the clerk says. Next we try an upscale boutique, but whoever Mabel has received help from before isn’t there. As we walk down a side street, slowly because she is still feeling weak, Mabel talks about lending a friend her last $5, problems with someone at the drop-in centre, and what Parkdale used to be like. “In the war time, Parkdale took in people who were down,” she says. Parkdale was once an affluent suburb of Toronto, close to the lake and a popular beach and amusement park. But the construction of the Gardiner Expressway cut off this access, and the neighbourhood slowly began to change. Business declined and the old Victorian mansions were converted into apartments and boarding houses. In the 1980s, the provincial government closed two long-term psychiatric care facilities in the area, and many patients found homes nearby. Today, poverty, mental illness, addiction, and homelessness are facts of life here. PNC responds to these needs through worship and prayer, art and music, service and compassion. The drop-in centre is a small program, feeding about 40-50 people once a week. Joe facilitates the preparation of the meal with volunteers who attend the program, as a way to bring them into the centre of the community, to dismantle structures of power and privilege. “You don’t have to have all kinds of capacity in your life to come in and cook a meal,” he says. “It changes who prepares the food, it changes how we serve it. Everybody sits down and eats together.” At the heart of PNC’s mission is the mystery of the incarnation, the good news of Jesus coming to dwell among us. Learning to see Jesus in the poor, in
Mabel
Marlene and her husband Dave
the hungry, in the thirsty, in those who are in prison – in one way or another – as it says in Matthew 25 “informs everything we do,” Joe says. “Jesus comes and is present here but often in ways we don’t recognize.” For Joe, working alongside people who are marginalized has been an important part of his own spiritual journey, of God’s effort to reach and save him. “Whatever labels we want to put on people,” he says, “what they offer is their brokenness. And it made an opportunity to really embrace my own brokenness.” Although he started with an intense desire to help people, Joe has learned to enter relationships not just to give, but to receive; not just to fix, but to acknowledge his own need. “I’ve learned that until I’m ready to receive the presence of Christ in someone, I’m not ready to be the presence of Christ to them.” To bear witness to Christ is also “to keep my eyes open and my ears open and to be attentive to what God is doing in the lives of people who come in here,” he says. “And occasionally, I’m given an opportunity to reflect back to them what I am witnessing in their life.” Over the years at the drop-in centre, Joe has been inspired by people like Marlene, who has an astounding capacity for compassion and a fierce
determination to include people so that nobody feels left out; by Les, and his acts of service in shoveling the walk and chipping the ice without being asked; and by Mabel’s resilience and incredible ability to survive and persevere through terrible things. Mabel and I turn the corner onto King Street. Ahead is Nick’s Pizza Bar, where she’s meeting her friend. Her step quickens. “He always perks me up.”
connecting... Do you have a story to share about how your church is involved in the community? Let us know. Contact communications@cbmin.org.
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Christmas Snapshots by Pastor Rusty Hildebrand Immanuel Baptist Church, Blind River, Ontario
Little Church. Lots of Faith. Behind every item in the CBM Gift Catalogue, there is a treasure of stories about lives impacted – not only around the world, but also right here in Canada. Like this story. Usually the biggest challenge at Christmas is what to buy for someone who has everything. We wanted to present a different challenge to our church: buy gifts that change lives. Then we decided, why not give this same challenge to our community? In November, our church put on what we called the International Christmas Market, held in a vacant building on the main road in town. We set up stalls representing the various types of gifts that could be purchased from the CBM catalogue, including school, medical, construction, baking and other themed booths, allowing people to purchase these gifts to help the poor around the world. We also had handicrafts and other gifts donated that could be purchased, with all money going to CBM. For an authentic and international market flavour, we also had a variety of world music and decorations.
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This event took a lot of faith for our little church of 80 people. It involved many hours of preparation –at least 20 people volunteered for the whole day – and we had no idea if anyone would actually show up! But God taught us that He will provide, if we only act in faith. God brought over 200 people through the market, many of whom we would normally have no opportunity to interact with. Many saw the church that day as a group of people acting together in love for the good of others. Over $4,100 was raised, and at the end of the day we all said, “That was fun!” Our goal was to change lives around the world, but what we found in the process is that we were building community right here.
connecting... You can a give a gift that makes a difference throughout the year to mark any special occasion such as a birthday, anniversary or wedding. For every gift you make, you will receive a unique card for your loved one. Shop online today in the Hope-Full Gifts catalogue at www.cbmin.org.
Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way
What a Christmas! Wow, thanks, everyone! This past Christmas, over $322,500 was raised through our Hope-Full Gifts catalogue. You gave muchneeded support for the wide range of ministry CBM facilitates through our international partners – everything from goats and small business loans to pastor training and church development. Gifts that will really make a difference.
Here were your top five gift choices: 1. Education – to help send children to primary school in Africa ($44,705)
2. The always popular goat ($35,661) 3. Vaccinations ($28, 554) 4. Seeds and tools ($17,471) 5. Invest in a small business ($15,362)
Impact Ministry Through Your Personal Investments
by Ivan Sharp CBM Communications & Resource Development Project Manager
God has made each of us the investment managers for what He has entrusted into our care. A good investment manager should not only plan for today, but look ahead into the future.
It is amazing to see the level of impact Christians can make through provisions in their wills. Wills provide a last chance to direct the treasure God has bestowed on you. Provisions can be made toward your family and whomever else you wish, while giving you the chance to support the areas of ministry you feel strongly about. Recently, a senior member of the CBM leadership team shared a simple yet effective estate planning approach that he and his wife used to prepare their own will. As loving parents they made provision for their four children. However, in recognition of their long-term commitment to the Lord’s work through CBM, they wanted to make sure that they looked after what they view as their other child. So, they prepared their will with equal provision for CBM as their fifth child. They have not forgotten their lifetime commitment to God’s work and
the priority it has played in their life. Their last (legal) act on this earth will be to honour God with this gift and to make a lasting impact on the ministry in which God has called them to participate. Truly a way to finish well.
connecting... If you would like more information on leaving a gift to CBM, your church and/ or convention/union through LEGACY for Ministry™, please contact your regional representative: Western Canada: Rose-Marie Goodwin 1.888.922.6250 or rose-marie@legacyforministry.ca Central Canada: Meghan McIntosh 1.866.512.8911 or legacy@baptist.ca Atlantic Canada: Greg Jones 506.635.1922 or greg.jones@baptist-atlantic.ca
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It all started with a little change by Anne Drost CBM Church and Donor Relations Coordinator
Chemong Public School in Ontario takes up the challenge to raise $10,000 to dig a well in Kenya… a whole community gets behind the project… many lives will be changed. And to think that it all started with one student who dared to make a difference.
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knew she would make sure his money was used wisely. The class had previously raised funds for Africa after she shared what she had experienced during a CBM short-term mission trip to Kenya. She was one of a group of Canadian teachers to spend their summer break in Africa as part of a training program for Kenyan teachers. “I want my money to go to The Sharing Way (CBM’s relief and development department)” Jeremy said, “because we have a relationship with them. We trust them because we have sent money to them before.” This small and seemingly insignificant act began a year-long journey of fundraising for an entire school and community. The excitement spread all the way to a community in Kenya, soon to be home for a new well!
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Kicking off their fundraising campaign to build a well in Kenya, an excited group of Chemong Public School students met with Bishop Ndambuki of the Africa Brotherhood Church and his wife Mary in August 2008 at CBM’s office in Mississauga, Ontario. The Bishop and his wife were in Canada speaking in Canadian Baptist churches across the country. They come from Machakos, site of the new well in Kenya the school is financing. Machakos is a region that often experiences drought, and water is scarce and valuable. Chemong students were happy to learn that there is a preschool and a secondary school on the grounds of their soon-to-be new well and many in the surrounding community will also benefit from clean drinking water. Bishop Ndambuki congratulated the students for their commitment and leadership. “You are helping to change your world by showing this concern for others so very far away,” said the Bishop. “You will help many children go to school rather than spend hours fetching water.”
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School was just about to end for summer holidays when Jeremy Dennison, an enthusiastic 12-year-old student from Chemong Public School, stopped by the classroom of one of his former teachers, Miss Price. He held out his hands, which were filled with change from the proceeds of his recent yard sale, and asked if she could send the money to Africa. He had been in her class for Grades 5 and 6 and
: How has this experience changed you?
Hi, I’m Jeremy!
J: I feel I am more open to other people’s lives, it has taught me to give a little, not just take. It has made me a better speaker.
I’m dying my hair to raise funds for a well in Kenya.
: Your parents?
An interview with Jeremy Dennison Fundraising began with a car trunk sale in September, followed by a Halloween dance and pumpkin raffle in October, selling spices in November, a Christmas tree sale, production of a cookbook, and participation in a Polar Plunge in the middle of winter. It concluded with a Valentine’s roast beef dinner. Several churches and community organizations joined the project, helping students exceed their original goal of $10,000, covering not only the drilling cost but some of the associated costs such as capping, a pump, maintenance training, government paperwork, etc. Jeremy shows what can happen when you are willing to take the first step. He is grateful to his former teacher Miss Price, for teaching him “more than just math!”
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: How did you first hear about Africa and the need for water? J: My teacher Miss Price went to Africa and she told us about the problems. When I was in her class, we also raised money for tsunami relief and for AIDS orphans. : What stood out most in the fundraising initiatives you have done? Is there a particular event? J: The Polar Plunge because we had to endure a physical challenge ourselves to raise some money. : What challenge would you like to give other Canadian young people? J: When raising funds, persevere, because from the initial $23.75 I had, we raised over $10,000. Even a little goes a long way. Look things up on the Internet to see how you can help.
Mom: It has given Jeremy and I a different relationship than mother/son. We have worked together on his speeches and I have encouraged him to network. He understands now that the more people he speaks with and encourages them to get involved, the easier the job becomes. Dad: Nice to see him develop as a young gentleman, and get a little more confidence in himself. He has learned that only about 20% of the people do 80% of the work. Most people don’t learn that until they are older. : Miss Price? MP: I have been inspired by Jeremy and his family. It’s nice to see that he has a heart for people outside this country who have a need. : Where would you like to travel someday? J: Machakos, Kenya where the well is. Then when I am older I’d like to go to Australia – my dad was there and I want to go. : Favourite subject? J: I’d have to say math.
: Can you tell me how this has involved your family?
: What do you want to do when you finish school?
J: Mum has helped a lot. She is the chair of parent council so she has been very involved. Dad actually jumped in the plunge. Grandfather is part of the Lions Club. Being connected has helped a lot.
J: Art School and then be a university professor in Greek mythology.
: What you are doing is through The Sharing Way, a church-based organization. Can you comment on your own beliefs? J: The organization has faith in God and I go to church and have faith in God, too.
: What do you like best about your life now? J: Hunting and fishing and especially reading. : What have you heard others say about what the school is doing in raising funds for a well? J: I’ve done a good job! Way to go, Jer!
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Man on a Mission in Rwanda C: What do you want to tell Canadians about your country?
Meet Jean Samvura, our new Short-Term Mission Facilitator in Rwanda. An interview with Carmin MacMillan, CBM Global Programs Manager. C: How do you feel God has prepared you for this role? J: God has given me different opportunities in the churches – when we have visitors [to our country], pastors have always asked me to help receive and greet them. God created circumstances to allow me to lead teams from different backgrounds. I have a good feel for the various backgrounds – even though we’re all created by God, I see the differences and can celebrate them. I have worked for ALARM (African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries) as the IT [information communication and technology] Coordinator but I spent most of my time with visiting groups from Texas, California and Oregon – and some from
Europe, also. I developed a passion working with the teams, so this job with CBM is wonderful! God has taken me from working with machines, to working with people – and this is my passion. I thank God for that. C: Tell me about a significant leader in your life who has helped shape you? J: Dr. Celestin Musekura – the president of ALARM. He is a leader who leads by example. He has been a mentor of mine…he challenges and encourages me. He has achieved a lot in the areas of education and ministry and just spending time with him encourages me to do more. He has humility that is admirable and a passion for people and for God.
J: Rwanda is a beautiful country. God created it naturally beautiful – it is called a country of ‘a thousand hills’ and it looks like an artist’s painting. We have a beautiful culture and people who are very welcoming. In spite of the history that we have gone through, people are reconstructing their lives and communities. It is amazing to see how God can turn a country which was a stream of killing and bloodshed, to a nation of peace and reconciliation. It is wonderful that God has brought Canadians to partner with us to be part of the ongoing reconstruction process. We look forward to welcoming people…When Canadians come, it is a time for them to put their love and compassion into action.
Editor’s Note: Jean is a welcome addition to the multi-national CBM team in Rwanda, which includes Bruno & Kathleen Soucy, Colin & Karen Godwin, and Gato Munyamasoko.
New Short-Term Opportunities in 2010 CBM has several short-term mission opportunities available in Rwanda, working alongside our church partner, the Association of Baptist Churches of Rwanda. These include:
• Reconstruction & landscaping
• Solar power installations
• English camps • Teaching pastors’ workshops & seminary courses
t CBM Global Field Staff Kathleen Soucy (pictured top right) introduces a Canadian friend to some of her Rwandan sisters.
As part of your experience, volunteers can learn more about the culture and church in Rwanda, worship in local churches and spend time with national staff and community members. Please contact the Short-Term Mission department for details at stm@cbmin.org. We are now booking for January 14 – 31, February 11 – 28 and March 11-28.
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An interview with Duane and Carin Guthrie, CBM’s newest Field Staff in Bolivia Carin: I have a passion for women’s and children’s ministry, and with a large percentage of the microcredit recipients being women, there will be some opportunities there for networking and support and prayer.
by Giselle Culver
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: What do you hope to give? What do you hope to receive?
: Tell us about your journey to becoming Global Field Staff with CBM. Duane: We are a product of the local church and the investment in our lives that our own community made over the past six or seven years of our faith story. We’re relatively new to the Baptist community. New Life Community Church in Duncan, B.C. introduced us to Carey Theological College, where I started taking classes about three years ago, and the church’s involvement with the STEP program introduced us to CBM. We still feel very connected to our faith community in Duncan – we feel very much sent by them and will continue to engage directly in relationship with them. : What was the impact of your short-term mission trip to Kenya? Carin: We just started to feel more and more drawn and led specifically to full-time ministry, but we’re also now looking at the cross-cultural aspect of ministry as well. Duane: An incredible part of the global discipleship program – one that has affected me personally – is the impact on the team. My hope is that we will continue to be a part of that process as teams come down and we get to interact with them, that they will bring back to Canada a sense of mission, a sense of connectedness to their own community that will result in first and foremost a deeper walk with God in their own lives and then an outpouring of that in mission in their own context, in their own community – that they would become local Field Staff. The shortterm mission trip really caused us to
notice things that we maybe didn’t before and our hope is that others would feel the same way. : What challenges did you face in the process of discernment? Duane: It has been more challenging to raise funds during the start of a global recession, and to sell our business and home. The emotional challenges are leaving friends and family. I think that’s a pretty normal thing for anyone who moves away from home, whether that be from Vancouver to Toronto or whether that be from Duncan to Bolivia. : How has your background prepared you to work in Bolivia? Duane: CBM’s leadership identified certain aspects of our skill sets on our resume that would fit the call to El Alto, but that wasn’t entirely clear to us and so we just stepped out in faith and trusted the leadership, trusted that God had a plan. So we’ve been able to discover, in moments of treasure, that the various things we’ve run into have fit our experience. We could never have actually articulated those kinds of skills, we just are discovering them on the journey, and we fully expect that God will continue to reveal what he has done in us in the past that he is going to use through us in the future. Micro-enterprise is going to take up a large part of our time… That appeals to us, to me in taking some of these skills that I have and using them in integral mission fashion – blending business with theology – that’s going to be a very interesting journey for us, exploring what that looks like.
Carin: We hope to pour ourselves out, to be servants of the Bolivian Baptist Union and the people in the congregations that we will have access to, the recipients of the micro-credit loans. I guess that’s what it boils down to. Duane: I’m looking forward to making many new friends and in return hope to be able to give many people a new friend. That is something that has struck me about the Field Staff that I’ve had the opportunity to get to know – how they now have friends in a new part of the world and relationship is everything. Jesus shared the gospel through relationship. If the Master does it that way, it seems like a pretty good idea to follow that same model. That’s what I hope to gain and that’s what I hope to give. : What is your advice to others considering mission service? Duane: Apply! Just see what God has to offer. Do a short-term mission trip, get involved in your church mission department, apply to CBM, but do something. And it starts local. If you’re unwilling to walk across the street and do mission in your own community you probably are going to struggle in a cross-cultural situation. It has to start with being able to do something in your own local church.
connecting... Become a Partner in Mission with the Guthries. Contact Eileen Moore-Crispin at 905.821.3533 or eileenm@cbmin.org.
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