July-August 2019

live A Baptist resource for women on a mission July - August 2019 · $3.50

STEP INTO YOUR STORY 10,000 STEPS

Prayer Walking in Peterborough (p3)

A SOUL FOR JUSTICE Seek God First (p7)

GREAT CANADIAN BIBLE STUDY Change in Project (p18)

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in this issue columns THEME RESOURCES 3 10,000 Steps 5 Pray Without Ceasing 7 Deepening the Soul for Justice BIBLE STUDY 8 Walking Around Jericho CONNECT TO OTHERS 10 Stepping Into the Story 10 Rev. Cheryle Hana - Identity and Vocation 12 Rev. Julia Bowering - Mary’s True Song: Chosen, Holy, Called 13 Monique Tatsu - The Prayer Room 23 A History Moment 23 We Remember CONNECT TO MISSION 18 Great Canadian Bible Study 19 Empowering the Church in Cuba 21 A Window on Africa 21 Whitby Baptist Women Connect with Students

features connect to gOD 15 Chosen 16 Holy A reflection on the measure of holiness 17 Called On being called into pastoral ministry

Cover: Conference attendees at the photo booth.

Cover photo: Joshua Del Rosario

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When Christopher was three going on four, I would read four chapters of Little Pilgrim’s Progress every night—Helen L. Taylor’s adaptation of John Bunyan’s classic. Here are three lessons I gleaned as I read to Christopher: • Know the point from which you start your journey. Little Christian knows his starting point—the city of Destruction that lies on one side of the long meadow he’ll have to walk through to make it to the wicket-gate he barely sees on the other side.

The journey of 1,000 miles begins when you’ve placed an I Am Here sticker squarely on the map.

• Expect pain, disappointment, sorrow, failure and despair. The hill of difficulty will slide into the valley of darkness—right after you’ve had a good night’s sleep. You should expect to fight for the right to cross the meadow and indeed, to walk the way of the King.

• Take community when you stumble on it. Kind words. Companions. Simple food. Fresh cold water offered with concern and care. Little Christian finds unlikely community along his way—almost as soon as he leaves the city of Destruction. The king watches out for Christian—help comes when he falters. Other boys, true pilgrims, join him.

All these years later, as I’ve re-read Pilgrim’s Progress, I recognize a fourth lesson: We are all on the same journey. And that’s why sharing our testimonies and our stories matters. We pulled together this issue of live magazine wanting to encourage and inspire you to journey in community, with sisters like you, who are loved and called by God and whose actions in ministry and mission do make a difference.

RJ 

VOLUME 92, NUMBER 4

live (formerly The Link & Visitor) began as The Canadian Missionary Link (1878) and Baptist Visitor (1890). Published bi-monthly by Canadian Baptist Women of Ontario and Quebec 5 International Blvd., Etobicoke, ON M9W 6H3 416-620-2954 Fax 416-622-2308 bwoq@baptist.ca baptistwomen.com Executive director Diane McBeth Editor and communications director Renée James 416-651-8967 rsejames@gmail.com Art director Donna Lee Pancorvo of GEPM Group Inc. (gepmgroup.com) Contributors Nicolette Beharie, Rev. Julia Bowering, Kay Derby, Rev. Cheryle Hana, Helen Lenz, Rev. Tina Rae, Monique Tatsu, Judy White Circulation and subscriptions Subscriptions 416-620-2954 live@baptist.ca Subscriptions Individual: $20* (direct or through promoters) US & overseas: $39 All currency in $C unless otherwise noted.

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theme CONNECT RESOURCES TO MISSION

10,000 Steps Two women prayer walk in Peterborough Unsplash.com/ClemOnojeghuo

In 2017, Laura VanDerHerberg began a prayer walking ministry in Peterborough. Her housemate, Lauren Kennedy prayer walks through the city as part of her call to love and serve Peterborough. In mid-May, live magazine interviewed Laura and Lauren about why they prayer walked, how they keep at it and what budding prayer walkers may want to remember.

You can do a prayer walk to. Find a one-page printable guide at baptistwomen.com/resources/ prayer-walking

How did you each know that prayer walking was something you were called to do?

Laura: In December 2016, I had started prayer walking in Peterborough—almost every day that month.

In April 2017 I went to a Disciple A City event called Uncovered. At that event God asked me to do prayer walks before Disciple A City teams went out to do prayer evangelism. I began to prayer walk, confirmed in what I was doing by one leader who told me that he could tell I’d prayer-walked as salvations “came easy.” “He told me that prayer walking created fertile ground for the gospel.”

Lauren: In Peterborough there’s a history of churches working together in the city and that made me want to join in with what God was already doing. I committed live • July - August 2019

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THEME RESOURCES

to prayer walking through a section of Peterborough and God gave me a heart for the families I saw, City Hall, etc. Now it’s become part of what I do when I walk to work.

What were the immediate benefits for you? And what are the benefits now?

Laura: An increased heart for Peterborough; more awareness of what’s going on. And because we have the contact information for these intercessors across the city, when there’s a ministry request I can e-mail that request out to 170 people who are highly motivated to pray for the city.

Lauren: Another thing I’ll add: Science shows that walking supports your brain and mind. You’re able to focus as you walk. It’s a way for God to open your eyes to what’s around you—and a way to grow in love and concern for His community. In Peterborough there’s a lot of homelessness, hunger and poverty. So when I prayer walk, I begin to see the ways in which God is present with people in the middle of that suffering and how He wants to bring restoration to that.

Laura, how did you start the prayer walking ministry in Peterborough that you’ve led for the last two years?

Laura: I felt God asked me to

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start. I began by asking people at my church and in the Disciple A City community. Forty-six people signed up and were prayer walking by the end of summer 2017.

Today 200 people from the community prayer walk not just the city but into the region as well.

This ministry is now under Disciple A City.

The ministry’s grown! And been sustained.

Laura: Yes, in part because of some of the tools I built. My brother is trained in geographic systems and so I was able to break Peterborough into sections on a Google map that he made interactive. So when people signed up to pray we’d input their address into the map, see their neighbourhood and assign them to the section that they’d pray for, based on their address. That all means we’re able to create a paper map of their specific section and give it to them.

I passed the structure off to an administrator, Carol Devey, last May and she’s doing a fantastic job pushing the vision.

I also have a mentor and I tested this call by him. I also knew that this calling made sense and it was the direction in which God wanted me to go. I have a healthy fear of God and I don’t want to disobey. I do these things because God wants me to. He produces the fruit from all of it.

What are some lessons you’ve learned about prayer walking?

Laura: I currently prayer walk with a woman who is very expressive in prayer. I’ve had to get through the “block” that it’s obvious we’re praying. So be bold; be willing to be misunderstood by people who observe you walking. You don’t have to be obvious when you’re prayer walking, but if this is the case, be OK with it and walk anyway.

Lauren: There are so many ways to prayer walk and prayer drive.

Listen to the Holy Spirit. Be open and willing to be uncomfortable and know that He meets you in those places that are new. He gives you what you need and draws you closer to Him. Any final insights about prayer walking that you’d like readers to know?

Laura: Prayer walking is as much of a discipline as prayer itself. You have to be seeking God. You have to be praying. If you have rhythms of prayer in your life it will sustain your prayer walking.

Lauren: Something I’ve found helpful is praising God. Declaring His goodness and His sovereignty over the people and places we pass as we walk helps bring it all back into focus. We remember that it all actually already belongs to Him. We remember who He is and how powerful He is. 

THEME RESOURCES

Pray Without Ceasing Kay Derby set up the prayer team pilot project that began last fall at Baptist Women. Through a combination of phone calls and in-person conversations she gathered together a small group of seasoned women of prayer. Their mission: to pray for Baptist Women staff, board and key volunteer leaders. Kay divided up names and prayer requests among her group and simply asked each woman to pray for the names on her list and to reach out to those names as needed for fresh prayer requests. As executive director Diane McBeth shared at Baptist Women’s Conference last May, having this type of prayer covering has made a huge difference in the organization.

In this article, Kay shares why she felt called to prayer ministry and how she goes about gathering a prayer team.

Joshua Del Rosario

t Diane McBeth interviews Kay Derby at May’s Women’s Conference live • July - August 2019

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Why do you do prayer ministry and lead prayer teams?

One of the first verses that I received as a call to intercessory prayer was Isaiah 54:2: “Enlarge the site of your tent, and let your tent curtains be stretched out; do not hold back . . .” I went to the pastor of my church, gave him the verse and said that the Lord was speaking to me about it but I didn’t quite know what I was to get out of it. My pastor and I prayed about it and over a two-week period it became clear to both of us that I wasn’t only to pray for family and friends. I was to pray for more. God had more for me to pray about.

I then felt the need to go to the churches in my community, get the names of their pastors and pray for them. It grew from there.

I didn’t go to school or get trained. My teaching was from God’s Word and I just allowed God to speak to my heart about the Scriptures I read.

When you joined Heron Park Baptist Church in Scarborough, how did you gather the prayer team there?

While we did have an early morning prayer meeting, I knew that not everyone could meet early, but people could still gather and pray. We could be in unity and still praying about the same things even though we wouldn’t be meeting all in the same place.

That model of an intercessory prayer team came to me because it could address the concern of 6

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having to have a regular meeting at an agreed-upon time.

• I started with 10 women who came to the women’s group I ran at the church, inviting them to begin praying.

• I then invited women outside the group to join . . . making sure they knew that they didn’t need to come to the group to be part of this prayer team.

• A year later, I made a Sunday morning announcement, inviting anyone who wanted to join to put their names in a box at the back of the sanctuary.

Today, between 30 and 40 people at the church are praying over the same requests, some of them daily.

• From the beginning, I’ve kept the team connected by sending out a prayer letter every four to six weeks. In that letter, I write a word of encouragement, update the names of prayer team members and list new prayer requests for them to be praying on a regular basis.

How does someone keep it going when they’re called to be involved in prayer team ministry?

To women who feel shut down at their church, keep on praying! There’s a reason the Lord has put this on your heart.

If leadership tells you no when you ask them about

starting a prayer team, pray for them, that their eyes and hearts will be open to see the necessity of prayer. Let God change their hearts. Doors will open. Jesus says that His house is a house of prayer, not preaching.

To those who took The Prayer Network program guides at May’s conference or downloaded them online: God has called you. God will show you how to move forward and gather a team. I have found that when I prayed for a team to gather, people would come to me to be involved versus me having to ask them.

Finally, don’t be nervous. The Lord promises to be with you.

When you pray, there are no limitations on who and what and how God will move.

Download your Prayer Network program at baptistwomen.com/ resouces/the-prayer-network. 

Unsplash.com/JimKalligas

THEME RESOURCES

Deepening The Soul For Justice Why this book made it to Baptist Women’s book club list this year

with this book, Author Bethany Hoang offers key insights on seeking justice, but in an unexpected framework. “Seeking justice doesn’t begin at the door of a brothel. Seeking justice begins with seeking the God of justice.”

With this first sentence, Hoang calls us to a pursuit of justice that is more than good intentions. That sentiment is also why we recommend this book to you as part of our theme reading list. “At the end of the day, if your attempts to seek justice do not first begin with the work of prayer, we will be worn and weary,” she writes.

Hoang’s generosity as an author makes this book an amazing testimony to God’s love and detailed care . . . for us and those for whom we pray. She shares with candour about how she stops daily to keep Sabbath and to pray. She lets us in on the culture at IJM and how their corporate daily practices of “stillness” and noon-hour prayer anchor each staff member and each office around the world. She helps us recognize our need to consistently build a framework of hope through being in the presence of the Word and through opening the Word.

Stop. See. Open. Choose. Ask. Proclaim.

Remember. These are more than the chapter headings in this concise resource. With these words, Hoang encourages us to choose . . . to pursue God in prayer, first, every day: to rest in His presence every day; to open the Word every day. These actions will guide us into knowing what God calls us to do in the

face of injustice. They will also help us to lay down deeper roots of trust in the power and strength and goodness of God. These roots of trust will sustain our justice passion through all manner of trials, distractions, struggles and the sheer need to persevere in the face of evil.

In 2017, I read and prayed through Deepening the Soul for Justice as part of our team devotional times during Baptist Women’s short-term mission to Les Cayes, Haiti. It’s hard for me to separate all I experienced on that mission trip from my experience reading and praying through the book. Both experiences changed my understanding of God: Jesus is Lord of all the nations (nothing escapes Him) and God His Father, and ours, demands justice and deeply requires us to do justly . . . but not at the expense of intimacy with Him. At the time of writing this book, Bethany Hoang was the director of International Justice Mission’s Institute for Biblical Justice.

READOn Bookstore carries this title. See the ad on page 23 for contact information.

RJ 

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Walking Around Jericho A Bible study on prayer walking

The Hebrews have crossed the Jordan and entered Canaan. Jericho is the first key city Joshua and his fighting men must conquer. God gives Joshua an assurance of victory along with a detailed and unusual battle plan: walk around the city seven times. This may be the first prayer walk in Scripture.

As you consider doing a prayer walk this summer or fall, we invite you to spend some time preparing for that walk by doing a lectio divina (divine reading) of the battle of Jericho in Joshua 6.

Lectio divina is an ancient way of reflecting on Scripture. You come to the Word with the absolute belief that God will speak to you directly as you read. Learn more about lectio divina in Soul Sisters 2 (www. baptistwomen.com/resources/soul-sisters).

The Process (a) Read the Scripture passage three times. (b) Reflect on the focus question/ direction after each reading. (c) Respond in quiet prayer/ journalling. (d) Rest in God’s invitation for you then pray/share out loud with the group if you want.

Our regular Bible study author, Linda Ellsworth, returns with a fresh study on our theme in the September/October issue.

First Reading: What one word or phrase is the Holy Spirit impressing on you? Meditate on that. ________________________ ________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ 8

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Second Reading: Enter into the Scripture passage. What do you feel? What specific situation in your life today relates to this passage? Write down a prayer or pray quietly. ________________________ ________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________

Third Reading: What is God’s personal invitation for you from the Scripture? You can write down what God may be saying to you or a prayer of thanks. Or rest quietly in God. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ ________________________ _________________________ _________________________

BIBLE STUDY

Now the gates of Jericho were tightly shut because the people were afraid of the Israelites. No one was allowed to go out or in. 2But the Lord said to Joshua, “I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its strong warriors. 3You and your fighting men should march around the town once a day for six days. 4Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, each carrying a ram’s horn. On the seventh day you are to march around the town seven times, with the priests blowing the horns. 5When you hear the priests give one long blast on the rams’ horns, have all the people shout as loud as they can. Then the walls of the town will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the town.”

6 So Joshua called together the priests and said, “Take up the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant, and assign seven priests to walk in front of it, each carrying a ram’s horn.” 7Then he gave orders to the people: “March around the town, and the armed men will lead the way in front of the Ark of the Lord.”

8 After Joshua spoke to the people, the seven priests with the rams’ horns started marching in the presence of the Lord, blowing the horns as they marched. And the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant followed behind them. 9Some of the armed men marched in front of the priests with the horns and some behind the Ark, with the priests continually blowing the horns. 10“Do not shout; do not even talk,” Joshua commanded. “Not a single word from any of you until I tell you to shout. Then shout!” 11So the Ark of the Lord was carried around the town once that day, and then everyone returned to spend the night in the camp.

12 Joshua got up early the next morning, and the priests again carried the Ark of the Lord. 13The seven priests with the rams’ horns marched in front of the Ark of the Lord, blowing their horns. Again the armed men marched both in front of the priests with the horns and behind the Ark of the Lord. All this time the priests were blowing their horns. 14On the second day they again marched around the town once and returned to the camp. They followed this pattern for six days.

15 On the seventh day the Israelites got up at dawn and marched around the town as they had done before. But this time they went around the town seven times. 16The seventh time around, as the priests sounded the long blast on their horns, Joshua commanded the people, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the town! 17Jericho and everything in it must be completely destroyed[a] as an offering to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and the others in her house will be spared, for she protected our spies.

18 “Do not take any of the things set apart for destruction, or you yourselves will be completely destroyed, and you will bring trouble on the camp of Israel.

19 Everything made from silver, gold, bronze, or iron is sacred to the Lord and must be brought into his treasury.”

20 When the people heard the sound of the rams’ horns, they shouted as loud as they could. Suddenly, the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites charged straight into the town and captured it. Joshua 6 (ESV)  1

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Stepping into the story Scenes and musings from Baptist Women’s May Conference

p MC Kathleen Wilson prays for Rev. Cheryle Hana

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Plenary Speaker: Rev. Cheryle Hana ~ Identity and Vocation “Once upon a time in Canada women were not persons. Only men were persons according to the British North America Act of 1867, which used the word persons when referring to more than one person and “he” when referring to one person. It was argued the Act implicitly stated only a man could be a person. Then five brave women: Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney, Irene Parlby and Henrietta Muir Edwards began a legal challenge which would change the course of equality rights for this country. Ninety years ago, by declaration of Canada’s highest appeal court, YOU became a person. With all the rights and privileges of personhood.

Once you were not a person. Now you are a person.

This is the message of this great letter [2 Peter 2:9] to the church. Upon your faith in Jesus Christ, the enlivening presence of God transformed you into God’s own. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

Can you hear it? “But YOU . . . ” “But YOU . . . ,” not your mother, not your boss, not your child, but YOU

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are God’s own possession! Peter wants us to know that we are God’s and God’s alone because we were chosen by God and thereby become God’s elect people.

Identity is a lot like toothpaste.

It’s inside. The manufacturing of toothpaste begins with a tube.

The tube is sealed, and the cap added. The tube is then filled from the open end, crimped tight and placed in additional packaging for sale. When we open the packaging and remove the seal, we expect toothpaste. We get what the manufacturer placed inside— toothpaste. What is inside comes out, all the way to the very last drop.

Our identity in Jesus Christ is inside. God did that and it is high time we act like it. We are God’s.” u Top: Youth and seasoned adults in workshop; Below: Jenna Cowans and band led worship music q Four photos from our photo booth; Bottom right: Prayer at a workshop

All photos: Joshua Del Rosario

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Plenary Speaker: Rev. Julia Bowering ~ Mary’s True Song: Chosen, Holy, Called “Identity is poured into us like a song. A true song . . . that says over and over: ‘You are chosen.

You are holy. You are called.’ What if I started remembering this song? Allowing this song to shape who I am and what I do? Once upon a time there was a young woman Mary, who put powerful words to the divine melody playing in her soul: Luke 1:46-55 (The Magnificat).

It’s a powerful, joyful, dangerous song and it is the same song that plays at the core of you and me whether we can hear it or not.

So what happens when we listen to this song above all other noise?

First it transforms the darkness. For Mary, like we, knew sorrow. Her words do not mock our

pain. They enter into the darkness and transform it. Mary sang her words as someone already familiar with poverty and oppression. She sang it as someone facing rejection and possible death. And she sang it with great joy.

Second, it makes us brave. This is an extremely dangerous song to sing. Mary’s song was banned from public worship during the days of British-ruled India and it was banned in 1970s Argentina and in Guatemala during the 1980s. It is dangerous because it speaks of a God who turns power on its head.

Perhaps it’s more dangerous for us to sing than it was for Mary.

Because many of us sing it as those who have power; who know what it’s like to have a full tummy every day; who think we can do life on our own, by our own strength.

And this is a song about turning

Laura Matthews prays for Rev. Julia qBowering

q Cultivating Creativity Workshop

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all of that upside down.

How did Mary say yes to God utterly turning her world upside down? She knew the story she was part of. Mary’s words reflect the powerful words of Miriam after the Exodus, of Deborah during war and of Hannah at the beginning of the King David story. Each woman’s song acts as an interpretive key for the major events it introduces or follows. Each story has become part of Israel’s and the early church’s regular worship.

We are called to sing the song of the God who called us out of darkness; who has brought down the proud . . . and lifted up the humble.

The song of the God who came to us, who loves us and who is making all things—all things—new.

We must, if we want to grow up into our faith and push back the darkness, learn to hear the true song that is being sung over and in us.”

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ANOTHER CONFERENCE SCENE The Prayer Room: Favourite prayer stations from the creator of the Conference’s prayer room With most prayer stations that I have made, I tend to gravitate to the ones where I have to pray for others; I find it harder to pray for my own needs. This year’s theme of Chosen, Holy, Called really made prayer personal, and for me that is hard to do, to really look deep at myself.

By far the most personal station that I made was Loved: Out of darkness and into His Light. This involved building a large freestanding cross out of wood.

It is at the cross where God proved His love for us. But many times it is hard for us to feel very loved. The words in red on the darkness side of the cross reveal how we sometimes feel deep down about ourselves. Moving to the light side of the cross reveals how God sees us. As I assembled

the cross, painted the black/white sides and wrote each personal word, I was deeply impacted. I remember when I finished it, just sitting alone in my garage, absorbing each word. My prayer was that it would do the same for others as well.

My second favourite prayer station was Why you are where you are. I had laid out several maps and atlases, and women were to mark where they lived. I wrote some thought-provoking questions for prompts that I personally had to pray through: What is the purpose of my life in Chatham? Why am I in the job I’m in? If I am to truly to believe I was chosen to be live here, to be married to THIS man, to be mother to THESE children, then what am I currently being called to do?

Someone in the prayer room workshop asked me a difficult question: “What if I’m afraid to hear the answer?” I think we have all felt that way. To hear His call and

to respond to it are two different things. I believe when we struggle with this, the answer is to continue to pray, read His word and listen.

He won’t lead you to something He has not planned, carefully, for you to do.

The one station I have thought about most since the conference is the one that has you staring at a black sheet and then pushing a button to reveal the light of the cross. So many times I have spoken with people who are suffering from some depression, mental illness, tragedy, etc. and they only see the darkness. That can be a lonely place. I wish I could carry this station in my pocket and pull it out to say: “Look here, it may seem to be just dark but keep looking . . . there is a light that is calling you out.” It is up to us to declare it!

Monique Tatsu, First Baptist Church, Chatham

If you’d like to build your own prayer room on this theme, download the guide at baptistwomen.com/ resources/room-to-pray. You’ll have all the instructions needed to build the prayer stations Monique created. live • July - August 2019

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Clockwise from top left: Board members Elouise HeddWilliams and Shannon Stewart Women from First Baptist Church, Fort Erie Board members L to R: Joan Peacock, Jenya Bakai (past president), Jennifer De Luca (president), Brenda Lambkin, Samantha Hellman (finance), Dr. Darlene Maxey (vice-president).

Missing: Sue Sparks, Shannon Stewart, Hilary Vanderwater, Elouise Hedd- Williams and Kathleen Wilson Packing supplies for Dixon Ministry summer tutoring

The Conference

By Numbers 290: registrants plus staff, board and volunteers | 17: young women who took part in the first ever young women’s workshop track | $4,559: offering taken up to support Baptist Women

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CONNECT TO GOD

Chosen Rev. Tina Rae reflects on being chosen.

From her interview at May’s Baptist Women’s Conference

Joshua Del Rosario

pRenée James interviews Rev. Tina Rae at Women’s Conference.

What are the challenges to being chosen?

It is hardest to remember that I’m chosen when something goes wrong and I blame myself, when I don’t live up to my own standards, and when I doubt myself. Most recently, I struggled through being called to be ordained and asked myself many questions: Why me?

Really? Me? Do I qualify? But yes, I am chosen by God and as I wrestled with the question I came to that same conclusion . . . that God has called me to be ordained, but also to be a mom, a pastor, an artist and a spouse. It really helped me to remember these things . . . through God bringing affirming thoughts to my mind, through others

by Rev. Tina Rae Tina is on the pastoral staff at Westview Baptist Church in London.

You may follow her art on Instagram (tinarae.artist) or Facebook (ArtisticWorksofTinaRae)

encouraging me along the way, and through Scripture.

I also have to remind myself that He loves me for my gifts and talents, but He also loves me for my imperfections. Sometimes it can be easy to forget that. I know that I have been through difficult moments in my life and through moments where I made the wrong choice, but it amazes me that God still chooses me. Because of my faults, I have been able to relate to others, but I am also thankful for those times . . . that God has brought me through where He has redeemed me and taught me something new so that I could be chosen by Him to give the same hope to someone else.

What image illustrates that we are all chosen?

We chose the image of the Skittles because 1 Peter 2:9 speaks of being chosen and called “out of the darkness and into his wonderful light” and I thought of how we choose

candy out of a sealed (darkened) bag and bring it out to see and enjoy. I think that God understands that we can be in a dark place. He comes and seeks us out and chooses to take us out of that dark place, shine His light on us and show off the gifts we have that He is so proud of.

Psalm 139 emerged as an important psalm for you as you reflected on being chosen. Why? Our midweek program at church was challenged to learn several verses from Psalm 139. I practiced these verses with my kids and they are readily in my mind. I also still have the laminated card in my office to remind me if I forget. So as you and I reflected on being chosen, I was reminded of this psalm as it talks about how important we are to God and how much He loves us. Verse 14 says that: “we are fearfully and wonderfully made.” We are all loved by God and we are all chosen by Him and greatly valued.  live • July - August 2019

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Holy A reflection on the measure of holiness

For much of this year, my pastor has dived into the Gospel of Mark, mining it for what Mark shows us about God’s character and ways with us. Long after Easter had come and gone, we examined Jesus’ crucifixion and all that led up to it: that last supper, Gethsemane, Peter’s denial, Pilate. Several Sundays ago we looked at Jesus’ crucifixion.

I listened to him tell us all that Jesus endured before the actual crucifixion itself—the mocking, the pressed-down crown of thorns on His head, the flogging, His carrying of the cross’ beam in front of Him so that His back remained exposed to the lashes of the soldiers as He stumbled up that hill. And His death. Jesus died the most extreme, cruel and prolonged death possible. Even as I flinched in my pew at the excess of it all (did God really have to have Jesus, His Son, die this way?) Paul’s words to Christ-followers at Ephesus played like a script in my head: And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power . . . to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge . . . (Ephesians 3:17-18, NIV) Paul’s words made a terrible sense to me that Sunday. The width and length; height and depth of the ferocity which kills Jesus—the weight of that cross—gives us the measure of the width and length; height and depth of God’s desire for intimacy with us. And even so, that measure is infinitely less. God’s desire overwhelms. It overcame me as I absorbed Mark’s telling and Paul’s prayer.

I now realize that the Exodus and New Testament calls to live as those called to be holy are invitations to “know this love that surpasses knowledge.” These are calls to not look away from the terrible price God, in Christ, paid for our deliverance. These are calls to trust . . . that far from being subsumed in the vastness of that love, we will find our truest selves, our child-of–God selves (John 1, The Message). These are clarion calls to sanity and peace; to let go, finally, of all the lies that trap us in “own-understanding” theologies and blind us to the only thing required of us to become holy: allowing ourselves to be held, by Jesus, in all the ways we need to be held (Matthew 18:5).

RJ  16 live • July - August 2019

CONNECT TO GOD

Called Helen Lenz on being called into pastoral ministry

Tell us about how you have experienced God’s call.

When I first started seminary, I didn’t know what God’s purpose was for leading me there, but I had a strong internal sense that this was a part of his plan.

About six weeks into my studies, I went on a retreat for one of my classes. At a communion service at this retreat, two students were serving communion—one with the bread, and the other with the cup. When the student with the cup offered it to me, she said, “Christ chose you.” I didn’t think anything of it, and sat back down.

After the service, she found me and told me, “Those were not my words, I didn’t say that to anybody else, and I think that God may have something to say to you. You might want to go and listen.” t Laura Matthews interviews Helen Lenz at Women’s Conference

by Helen Lenz

Joshua Del Rosario

Helen recently graduated with her masters degree in spiritual formation from Tyndale Seminary and was a member of Uptick Baptist Women’s first cohort of young Baptist women leaders. live • July - August 2019

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In the period of two hours’ silence following this service, I was so afraid to go and pray. What if I misinterpreted what God wanted to say to me?

What if He asked me to do something I didn’t want to do? What if He didn’t say anything at all? After much stubborn dawdling, I headed to a lonely spot by a river and flatly asked God, “What is it? Talk to me.”

I heard very clearly, “Christ chose you to share the message.” Great, I thought sarcastically—but what does that mean? I sat with my eyes closed. It was a partly sunny day. A light breeze blew the clouds over and past the sun, and I felt the sensations of darkness and light, repeatedly.

I remembered one of my favourite verses: John 1:5, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

As I sat there, chewing on this verse, having just heard that I had been chosen by Christ to share His message, something I had known for years took on a new meaning—my name, Helen, means “light.”

Describe the process of responding to that call.

As this was happening, I felt gratified that God would offer me such a personal message and calling. I was named after a deceased relative— I don’t often come across anyone in my generation named Helen! The fact that my name, which I had despised from when I was a child, played such an important role in God’s call on my life, taught me powerful lessons about how intimately God knew me, how He had been involved in my story from before I was born, and how it is in His nature to redeem all things for His glory.

Given this evidence of God’s knowledge of and care for me, my natural response was one of trust and devotion. “I still don’t know what You’re doing, God, but I trust You.” What’s next?

When people ask me this, my response is usually, “Great question!” That means, I don’t know. I absolutely loved my time working in pastoral ministry. God allowed me to use the gifts He has given me, and also grew me a lot there. Yet, I also can’t limit the ways and places in which He wants to work. I am praying, waiting and watching (with a community that is doing these things with me) for the next opportunity. I hold my own hopes, dreams and expectations in an open hand for God to form and adjust as He leads me to what He has planned, where He has planned. This time of waiting and watching is not void of purpose—God still works here, in ways I cannot comprehend. It is exciting and terrifying at the same time. I often pray Father Charles de Foulcauld’s Prayer of Abandonment: “Father, I abandon myself into your hands; do with me what you will. I am ready for all, I accept all . . .” He makes no mistakes. I trust Him to lead me to the right place, at the right time—always.  18 live • July - August 2019

Great Canadian Bible Study An update on the Left Behind project in China At CBOQ Assembly in June, Canadian Baptist Ministries (CBM) updated us on the Left Behind project in China. As a result of the current political climate in China, churches have had to stop offering the program. For now, CBM has asked all Canadian Baptist women to support vulnerable children in Bolivia with the funds we raise through Great Canadian Bible Study.

Bolivia projects need our support and we will direct help to projects such as Jireh and Casa de la Amistad.

Please know that CBM continues to work behind the scenes to come up with a different way of offering the Left Behind program to the thousands of children in rural China, living without capable adult caregivers because adults have migrated to the large urban centres to work.

CONNECT TO MISSION

Empowering the Church in cuba Scholarships help local church leaders to go the extra mile

by Nicolette Beharie (with files from Cara Horwood)

Sarahi Fernandez knows what it’s like to wear many hats: pastor, psychologist, wife, student—to name a few. This is what life looked like for the 46-year-old pastor when she began serving at a Baptist church in Granma, a southeastern province of Cuba. But a few years ago—despite her determination and drive—Sarahi knew she needed to focus on the ministry. Taking a step of faith, she decided to resign from her job as a psychologist to complete her studies at a seminary in Matanzas, a western province of the island.

As the full-time pastor of a rural church, Sarahi’s income was just enough to cover her basic needs. School fees and the high cost of transportation quickly depleted her resources. A trip to the seminary takes several hours, due to an unreliable transportation system. Discouraged and disappointed, she had to put her seminary studies on hold.

Shortly after, Sarahi learned of CBM’s Empowering the Church program. In partnership with FIBAC (Fraternity of Baptist Churches of Cuba), CBM provides scholarships to church leaders and students in Cuba. Since the program began in 2017, CBM has awarded more than 30 scholarships to seminary students. As a pastor of a FIBAC church, Sarahi applied for the scholarship and received the support she needed to return to school.

This support, she says, was like a “bright light” that gave her hope.

This year, the Canadian Baptist Women of Ontario and Quebec is partnering with CBM to provide six scholarships to seminary students in Cuba. This will help pay for school fees, books and transportation.

Patricia Echegoyen, CBM’s Program Officer for Latin America and Rwanda, has seen how scholarships have encouraged lay leaders in Cuba. “In the context where they live, they have a sense of isolation. For them to receive this external support is really motivating,” she says. “Even though they struggle a lot just to get to the seminary, knowing they have our support is important to students. It gives them that extra motivation they need to overcome the other obstacles they face daily.”

FIBAC is one of the few denominations in Cuba that provides equal opportunities for women and men to serve in leadership roles as pastors. “A live • July - August 2019

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scholarship for seminary studies is not only financial assistance, but it also empowers and supports women in their role in the church,” adds Brenda Halk, a Strategic Associate with CBM who focuses on women’s initiatives.

For church members and leaders who want to deepen their biblical understanding—but don’t have the time or resources to attend the seminary in Matanzas— CBM’s program also offers training workshops. This year, five workshops are available to members of local FIBAC churches. The workshops focus on topics such as integral mission and evangelism within their local context.

Today, Sarahi feels more equipped to serve her community. “In the past, I only had practical theology training. Now, I have more academic training and have gained a deeper understanding,” she says, adding that she now has a healthy balance.

Sarahi aims to incorporate the principles of both theology and psychology in the church’s outreach to the community. In particular, she wants to better support the needs of the elderly through mental health assistance. She also wants to help improve the development of local children.

“I want to make my dreams a reality,” Sarahi says. “God placed me here. If I leave, then I haven’t completed God’s plans. I want to form and develop theology in practical ways for the community.”

Sarahi is grateful for the support 20 live • July - August 2019

she received through CBM’s program. “When we can’t form the word we want to say, we say ‘thanks a million.’ It says it in words we can’t express,” she says. “Thank you for trusting in me.” 

HERE’S HOW YOU CAN HELP This project is one of Baptist Women’s strategic giving projects for 2019.

The funds you raise throughout the year will support: • tuition/scholarships, books and materials - $3,000 • transportation - $2,500 • monitoring and evaluation - $1,000 • project costs - $500 Please send in donations directly to Baptist Women as we track funds raised prior to passing along to CBM.

q Bruno Soucy (far right), CBM team leader, Latin America, with a group of seminary students, CBM national staff and a FIBAC board member

Read about all the projects for 2019 in your January/February issue of live magazine.

CONNECT TO MISSION

A Window on Africa We continue to pray for our prayer partners, the Baptist Women’s Union of Africa. BWUA president, Marthe Nguimè Ekollo filed the following prayer requests.

1. Thank God for the Government of Rwanda pursuing peace and reconciliation between Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups, 25 years after the genocide.

2. Pray for loving relationships between Hutu and Tutsi and the healing of hurts from the genocide.

3. Since Kenya is experiencing drought, pray that God send rain in that country.

4. Pray for a joyful celebration of the centenary of the Nigeria Women’s Missionary Union.

5. Pray for travelling mercies as we travel and attend meetings across the world.

6. Pray for upcoming Youth and Men’s conferences in Zambia (August) and in Lagos (October) respectively.

7. Pray for a hugely successful fundraiser. May God send donors to support our ministries.

With love and prayer. 

whitby baptist women connect with Students At Whitby Baptist Women, one of the highlights of the year is our February Love Day meeting; after all, who doesn’t like to think about love? This year we focused on loving our post-secondary students.

There are 22 college and university students connected to Whitby Baptist Church. While some have grown up in WBC, others are linked to us through previous involvement in youth ministry.

Knowing that today’s students navigate challenges and handle pressures that are far more intense than anything most of us faced when we were students, the leaders of our Love Day meeting—Mair Greaves and Miriam Alford—had two goals: paint an accurate picture of student life and provide a way for us to support and encourage our students. q Joseph Ojo, Mair Greaves (leader), Dupe Ojo (Mom) and Liz Osborne (WBW president)

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To reach the first goal—a true understanding of what it means to be a post-secondary student in Canada in 2019—they invited 21-year old Joseph Ojo to share his experiences. Joseph is currently pursuing his graduate degree in mechanical engineering and working as a teaching assistant at UOIT. Joseph talked about adjusting to life in Canada after his family emigrated from Nigeria seven years ago and what it is like to be a student here. He went on to explain that he, like many students, juggles studies, work and various commitments outside of school. He also described the role his faith has played and continues to play in his life. Joseph was candid, open and humourous, and he graciously answered additional questions after the interview.

To accomplish the second goal—an easy-to-implement plan to support the students—Mair and Miriam gave us paper heart reminders, each containing a

student name, photo, program of study and school.

Every heart had a long, red ribbon looped through its top.

We were asked to take the heart home, hang it in a prominent spot (e.g. on a kitchen cupboard doorknob) and for the next month, pray for that student every time we saw that heart.

As an extension activity, we were encouraged to contact our students via e-mail to let them know they were being supported in prayer and to solicit specific prayer requests from them.

We ended the meeting with a devotion that inspired us to love each other with the love Christ has afforded us. 

by Judy White, Whitby Baptist Women, Whitby Baptist Church, Whitby

How to Prepare Your Own “Love Your Students” Event Before the event:

During the event:

1. Invite a student to your meeting. Provide interview questions in advance.

1. Interview the student; be sure to keep to the questions you had provided.

2. Get information about your students (names, schools, courses of study) and their photos. (Our youth pastor was our source.)

2. If the student is comfortable with it, have an additional Q&A session.

3. Using red cardstock, cut out one heart per student.

3. Distribute the hearts. Give instructions about hanging them in conspicuous places and praying often over a specified period of time.

4. Put the student info and photo on the heart.

After the event:

5. Punch a small hole at the top of the heart. Pull 1. Encourage your members to connect with their a ribbon through and tie it to form a loop big student via email to offer support and to open enough to go around a door knob. the door for prayer requests.

“Thank you so much for always being in my corner! Through these busy times, all the encouragement is appreciated.” (excerpt from an email from one of the students)

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A History Moment

We REMEMBER

“On awakening one morning, the word that was flashed into my mind was, ‘Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth. That evening another side of this was opened to me when a young man said to me, ‘What a host of memories you have laid up to enjoy now that you cannot return to India!’ At once, the morning text related itself to this remark. My memories were my treasures, and as our Telugu women love to bring out their jewels to show them, you can think I am opening out and sharing some of these treasures, with the earnest desire that our younger folk may see to it that they are laying up treasures in memory that it will be their joy to display to the glory of our precious Lord Jesus.”

Each generation has the opportunity to fuel mission for the next. Did you know that if you include CBWOQ in your Will, your estate will subtract an equal amount in tax?

In Memory of Dorothy Brannen, Brockville Margaret Gear, Cobourg Margaret McDiarmid Darlene Murray, Tillsonburg Margaret Torrance, Keswick Ruth Webber

Canadian Baptist missionary Ellen Priest writes in her preface to Leaves of Remembrance, her testimony of her time in India.

IN HONOUR OF Shirley Knight, Kitchener (90th birthday) Lloyd and Marlene Sylvester, Cornwall (60th wedding anniversary)

Bernice’s Picks . . .

Whisper: How to hear the voice of God

by Mark Batterson On sale for $20 The Ultimate Exodus: Finding Freedom from What Enslaves You diversity in worship matters. be the welcome.

NOVEMBER 1-2, 2019 logos baptist church • mississauga

Join CBOQ pastors, worship leaders and teams, as we explore how to winsomely develop intercultural worship. details & registration: baptist.ca/worship-for-the-world

by Danielle Strickland On sale for $16 Free shipping on both books.

All titles available from ReadOn Bookstore 5 International Blvd.

Etobicoke, ON M9W 6H3 Tel: 416-620-2934 Fax: 416-234-8840 E-mail: books@readon.ca readon.ca

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“You did not choose me, but I chose you. I appointed you that you should go out and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain.”

John 15:16 (HCSB)

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