The Free Methodist Church in Canada | Winter 2012 | Volume 9, Issue 1
CONTENT COVER Is Joyful Obedience Possible? by Bishop Keith Elford PAGE 2 Editor’s Desk OUR HISTORY: Learning From The Past Canadian Missionary Pioneers: Rev Herbert E Randall by Dan Sheffield PAGE 3 Doing Our Part by Kim Henderson PAGES 4 & 5 Lessons to be learned from Hezekiah by Jared Siebert PAGE 6 Passages Does Anyone Want To Be Like You? by Sandy Crozier Giving Streams PAGE 7 Living Simply by Paula Moriarity Upcoming events PAGE 8 Canadian Ministry In South-East Asia by Dan Sheffield HISTORY VIDEO - ON THE WEBSITE Have you viewed the video celebrating the 150th Anniversary of Free Methodist ministry? You may find it a useful resource as an intro to our history or to use in membership classes. ::: www.fmcic.ca ::: [home page - last menu item on the left]
DID YOU KNOW? The MOSAIC is produced using environmentally responsible processes. The paper is acid-free, contains 10% post-consumer waste material, and is treated with a non-chlorine whitening process. Vegetable-based inks were used throughout the publication and it is 100% recyclable.
IS JOYFUL OBEDIENCE POSSIBLE? BISHOP KEITH ELFORD
A
few Sundays ago when I worshipped at the church where I spoke, I was seated on the front row. During the singing time, I became aware of the person sitting behind me because of the enthusiasm with which he sang. It was obvious that he was unfamiliar with the tunes because he struggled to anticipate where the melodies went, but this wasn’t slowing him down. He sang with joyful enthusiasm anyway…and boy did he sing!
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“The goal is joyful obedience – where our hearts are tuned to sing with praise and to be receptive to the word of God when we gather to worship and our head and heart and hands-and-feet are eager to go out to serve others with grace and truth.”
During the greeting time, I was glad for the opportunity to see who it was. When I turned around, there was this young guy in his 20s (let’s call him Bill), with one of those big, joyful smiles that one can’t miss. Later, he caught up with me as I was walking to the fellowship area and excitedly told me that he had just recently accepted the Lord Jesus into his life, that he couldn’t get enough of Bible study (he was attending three) and that in a few weeks, he was going to be baptized! I’m still thinking about Bill several weeks later. There he was—right in the second row. His enthusiasm was evident. The question occurs to me: “Where will Bill be sitting five years from now? Fifteen or twenty years from now?” You may be wondering why I am wondering where he will be sitting in the future? Over the years, I have noticed that there is often (not always, but often) a correlation between where people sit in worship and the level of joy in their hearts. During my 24 years as a pastor, I have watched warmhearted, new (or renewed) Christians enter the worship area with enthusiasm and try to get a seat as close as they could to the front. Sadly, over time, I noticed as the fervor of some cooled, they moved farther back and were less engaged. Even more sadly, I saw the trend of sporadic attendance set in and then, some were no longer there. Others parked in a pew somewhere in “the back third,” and, with crossed arms, endured the service, so no one could say they didn’t “attend church.” In another church I attended, all the board members sat in “the back third” and the pastor was even back there for part of the service! The first four pews were empty. It Bishop’s Notes
MOSAIC
Reflecting the diversity of ministry expression within the Free Methodist family
Sent out weekly (normally on a Monday) via the listserv. You can access these and past Bishop Notes from the homepage of our website www.fmcic. ca or at: fmcic.ca/en/who-we-are/ bishop-notes
New SCOD Blog
FMCiC’s Study Commission on Doctrine (SCOD) has launched a new blog called “conneXion” to promote theological reflection and dialogue about topics that impact the Free Methodist Church in Canada and/or the Church in general. On it, you’ll find articles, reflections, book reviews and other written pieces posted with this goal in mind. http://fmcictheology.blogspot.com
was both bizarre and sad. Clearly, no one was going to bodily identify with what was front and center in the worship service. But I digress… Of course, it was on purpose! Got you thinking about where you sit, didn’t I?
in The Free Methodist Church in Canada through a rediscovering of the Wesleyan Means of Grace. There is a lot about Rodin’s book that points us in the right direction. He wrote it for leaders; we took his concepts and adapted them to discipleship. (To
Of course, my concern is not about seating patterns. It’s about heart transformation; the Lord Jesus desires that those who follow Him do so with joyful obedience. Earlier this year, I introduced the Network Leaders and Mentors to R. Scott Rodin’s book, The Servant Leader (Transforming People, Organizations and Communities) because of its value as a leadership book, and also for its central thesis - that the Lord Jesus is looking for leaders who will influence people to follow Him with joyful obedience.
understand what follows, see the accompanying chart below.)
You may remember that the 2011 General Conference assigned the Network Leaders, Mentors, and National Leadership Team (NLT) the task of renewing discipleship
The notion that was put forward at General Conference was that every disciple needs
Here is our working thesis: Every disciple has a relationship on four key levels: with God, with him/herself, with neighbours (both believing and not-yet believing), and with creation (i.e. with possessions like time, talent, and treasure, and with ecological concerns related to stewarding the Lord’s earth). Don’t you agree that this is a list of the essentials? But, read on...there’s more.
THIS ARTICLE CONTINUES ON PAGE 3 “JOYFUL OBEDIENCE”
Disciples Living in Joyful Obedience