10 minute read
Supplement: LAMP Ministry
LAMP: Sharing Jesus Christ in remote areas of Canada
Expect the Unexpected
by Nathan Schmidt, Staff Missionary to B.C.
And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ… | Ephesians 4:11-16
Expect the unexpected. After an unpredictable and challenging year and a half, I am guessing you can relate. We all have had to learn to do or practice things differently. While some of these practices are short-lived, others have inspired new and creative ideas for ministry.
People have been and continue to share more videos nowadays. Churches now are posting videos of their services, devotionals, and short messages from their pastor(s). This inspired me to initiate a collaborative project with my friend, Alex, who lives in Hazelton, B.C.
I met Alex while serving as a missionary with LAMP. Alex is from the Gitanmaxx people and works for the Salvation Army Church. Alex has a unique position for the Church since he is First Nations and a youth worker. There are not many church youth workers in northern B.C. As a result, Alex doesn’t have other people in his field to connect with, which prompted me to ask him to join the support group I belong to. The group is called the “Thunderkittens” and is mostly made up of Lutheran church workers, with many coming from a Director of Christian Education background. Each member of the group serves in a different type of ministry including worship music, discipleship, youth and family, and missionary.
Despite being 1,600 kilometers apart (1,000 miles), Alex and I filmed a video that makes us look as if we are together in person. We are planning to create six videos aimed at teaching simple biblical truths about what it means to a Christian. We pray it will be a useful tool in our ministry of supporting and equipping others and building up the body of Christ.
Note: Since the time of writing, the US/Canada border has opened to fully vaccinated Americans. I expect to be traveling up North mid to late August to have face-to-face visits in the communities I serve. Unexpectedly, Alex and I may be able to coordinate a video with us actually being in the same room!
Nathan Schmidt, LAMP staff missionary.
Alex, Salvation Army youth worker
An encouraging promise
by Gord Gilbey, Staff Missionary to Eastern Saskatchewan & Western Manitoba
I will never leave you nor forsake you. |Hebrews 13:5
While things appear to be opening up in Northern Canada, our teams and staff have not carried out summer ministry in their community since 2019. In 2020, we conducted ministry from a distance using a variety of virtual platforms and supporting our communities with gifts of crafts, personal protective equipment (PPE), Bibles, clothing, and other items. These gifts were greatly appreciated and touched many hearts.
In addition to providing these essential items for 2021, we sought a way to especially bless and speak into the life of the precious Indigenous children. An activity book with five days of teaching, puzzles, and colouring was designed and produced. We also purchased functional and fashionable cloth bags, which were imprinted with the LAMP logo.
Gitanyow mission team of Christ the Vine Church in Oregon assemble backpacks to be shipped.
While a few of the teams packaged and shipped backpacks directly to their community, most of our teams sent a selection of crafts, treats, and other gifts to be included in these bags to our field missionaries for packing and delivery. Randy, Andrew, Nathan, and myself are busily importing these gifts, packing the individual bags, and delivering them by planes and automobiles (sorry, no trains).
In total, there are over 3,800 backpacks which are currently being distributed to 38 northern communities! We praise God for all those who have generously partnered with us to help these children experience Jesus’ love.
Right: Gord Gilbey checks out backpack contents.
Please pray that our teams can soon visit their adopted community and friends who they miss dearly.Also pray that these backpacks will greatly encourage the children who receive them and remind them that, even in this long period of extreme isolation, the Lord will never leave them nor forsake them.
Air Purifiers for Deschambault Lake, Saskatchewan
With fires burning across the lake, the community of Deschambault Lake is experiencing smoky conditions. Members of the LAMP VBS team and Christ the King Anglican Church in Edmonton responded by raising funds to send much-needed air purifiers to families. Although not a perfect solution to the smoky conditions, the air purifiers provide a room where the air quality is better, especially at night. The Health Clinic was very happy to receive the units.
Waiting on the Lord
by Judi Luckhardt, Volunteer Missionary to Hall Lake, SK
I constantly find myself praying for patience for one thing or another. I have actually been known to make a right hand turn just so I don’t have to wait for a red light to turn green!
Our last visit to Hall Lake was December 31, 2019. Having VBS cancelled in 2020 was one thing, but to have it cancelled again this year was really testing me. When the LAMP staff told us about the backpack project they were setting up for this summer, I was so excited. My wait was going to be over!
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, “God has set the right time for everything.” Our community was anxious to see us, and we were anxious to go. Our cargo trailer was already full of clothing, blankets, canning jars, and whatever furniture we had collected over the past year and a half for our community giveaway, but something had been holding us back. Finally God said go, and we quickly gathered what we needed to fill 150 LAMP backpacks with VBS materials, crayons, craft supplies, a special little gift for each one and, of course, a snack.
Backpacks for moms and babies to be handed out by the Health Centre.
Working back and forth with the Band office, the date was set for July 15. It was mutually agreed just the two of us would be coming, a quick in and out of the community with a list of COVID-19 safety precautions. Hmmm, 1,900 kilometers round trip for a one-day visit…I wondered if maybe we were supposed to wait. Seriously, I really said that? No, they were expecting us, and we were going.
We were met with a number of surprises. The community centre in the satellite community of Sikachu has been completed. A member of our Sister2Sister ladies group has been holding weekly Bible studies with about eight regularly attending! We had packed enough extra devotion books and craft activities to leave behind for their fall get togethers.
When we arrived in Hall Lake, there was another surprise. The wornout community vans had been replaced with four newer passenger vans, all in good running order. They were fueled up ready for an emergency evacuation should the fires get worse. Unfortunately, a new fire did break out just to the east of us so the Band councillor left immediately to check it out. He had already arranged for helpers to offload our trailer and that proved to be another surprise.
The helpers were teens who have been faithful VBS students over the years. They recognized the LAMP plane logo, asked what was in the backpacks, and could they have one? I had wanted the backpacks to be used in the best way possible and had filled them according to age groups. Since I had marked the tubs it only took me a minute to find the appropriate ones for each of them.
After opening theirs, these amazing young people volunteered to deliver the backpacks door to door. They knew all the kids in the community, some that we have never even met yet, so this was just perfect!
Shortly thereafter, the group of women who have taken ownership of setting up the community giveaways started arriving, ready to sort and unpack the pile of bags and boxes we had collected from the many supporters that help us with this ministry. This left us free to make two more stops—the Health Centre and to fuel up with gas before the smoke got too thick.
We would have loved to stay to spend more time with the families we have grown to love, but our time was up. Even though it was only for one day, we felt so blessed to get a glimpse of how God is working in the lives of these special people He has entrusted to us. It was so worth the drive, and of course the wait.
Patience in hope
by Pastor Dennis Ouellette, Interim Executive Director
But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. | Romans 8:25
As I was reading and reflecting about the last few months, this Scripture verse stood out for obvious reasons. Many of us were hoping that life would return to some semblance of normal sooner. Our LAMP teams and missionaries were hoping to be able to visit their communities this summer. Yet the pandemic is still with us and borders are closed.* Meanwhile, everyone is waiting patiently, as difficult as that is, for things to open up.
The Apostle Paul longed to visit believers in other cities even though he was prevented at times from going. Yet he reached out to them in his letters offering hope and encouragement to guide and strengthen the people in the faith until he could travel there.
Youth in Hall Lake who offered to deliver backpacks.
Likewise, our LAMP teams are reaching out through a project which provides a backpack to children in the communities our teams serve. Each backpack is filled with items unique for that team’s community. We purchased the backpack with our logo and commissioned a pastor to design a Bible story activity booklet based on a previously popular VBS program. The teams supplied Christian materials (necklaces, bracelets, crosses, pocket Bibles, etc.), snacks, personal hygiene items, and more. Church volunteers and staff missionaries helped stuff backpacks that teams were unable to do because of the border restrictions.
All of these backpacks will be delivered either by driving in or flying them to the remote communities. Some have already been delivered. When this project is completed this fall, about 4,000 backpacks will have been delivered to children in the northern communities! It’s a way, just like Paul’s letters, to let the people know that even though we can’t be with them physically, we are with them in thought and prayer. We are still able to share the love of our Saviour, Jesus, from a distance.
One of the greatest blessings we can have in life is our relationships. That’s what makes it hard to be apart from the people who you care for and who care about you. But separation shouldn’t change our relationships. If anything, it helps us to appreciate them even more. We are looking forward to the day when teams will be able to return to their communities and see their friends face to face. The reunions will be spectacular! Until that time, we must wait patiently knowing that the Lord is working through us in various ways to faithfully serve the people in the North as the words from Jude 1:21 encourage us: “Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.”
*Canada’s border opened August 9, 2021 to fully vaccinated Americans and some Indigenous communities are welcoming visitors.
LAMP Mission Statement LAMP is a cross-cultural ministry sharing Jesus Christ with God’s people in remote areas of Canada.
