Skylines and Silhouettes is a continuing series with Emmaus City. If you would like to read previous entries, click on the links below.
WORCESTER, MA AND MONTREAL, QC: GOSPEL-CENTERED, SPIRIT-LED, MISSION-FOCUSED
A friend of mine and I recently spent a short weekend together at a Soma One Day Training with churches in Montreal, Quebec. For notes on the Soma One Day, check out these posts:
Let's just say the 11-hour round trip alone from Worcester to Montreal in less than 36 hours was worth the quick turnaround for our experience at the border. It went something like this:
Guard: Good evening. Where are you headed?
Me: Montreal.
Guard: Have you ever been there?
Me: No, this is my first time.
Guard: How long will you be staying there?
Me: Just a little more than 24 hours.
Guard: Why are you going to Montreal?
Me: For a church conference with other pastors.
Guard: (Pause) What will you be doing?
Me: Discussing God and how He came as Jesus to be our Savior and King.
Guard: (Longer pause) Do you do this often?
Me: A good amount.
Guard: (To my friend) And you are going with him?
Friend: I'm just driving him.
Guard: (Back to me) Who do you know in Montreal?
Me: A pastor.
Guard: When did you meet him?
Me: He and some people from his church came down to Maine in October of 2012 for a conference and we met there.
Guard: You've only met him once?
Me: Yes.
Guard: What's his name?
Me: Dwight Bernier.
Guard: Where does he live in Montreal?
Me: I don't know.
Guard: What's the name of his church?
Me: (Pause) Initiative 22.
Guard: (Longer pause) Do you have proof of this conference?
Me: Sure. (I give her a print out of paying for registration on Paypal.)
Guard: What's the name of church the conference is at?
Me: It says something like Future Urbain 21 (it's actually Evangel, but the registration said something else for some reason). It's on the print out.
Guard: Where is it located?
Me: It's on the print out. I wrote it down on the back.
Guard: Where will you be staying?
Me: At a friend of Dwight's place.
Guard: What's his name?
Me: Emilio.
Guard: What's his family's name?
Me: I don't know.
Guard: Where does he live?
Me: I don't know.
Guard: (Longest pause) You're telling me you're going to a city you've never visited to stay with someone you've never met and you don't even know where he lives?
Me: Yes.
Guard: Do you do this often?
Me: Actually, I just did this in November in Phoenix. I stayed with a family there I had never met before.
Guard: (Looks at our passports one more time, looks at us, gives us back our passports and opens the gate for us to continue into Canada.)
It was awesome.
I loved our conversation with her, especially when I couldn't tell her the last name of the person we were staying with or where that person lived in the city. I think in her confusion, she secretly enjoyed our open ignorance. Or she doesn't care who she lets into Canada.
After she let us cross the border, my friend laughed and said, "I don't think she had any framework for what you just said." Maybe not. But then I laughed and prayed that the conversation planted a seed of the gospel of Jesus in her heart that she would not be able to shake until she begins seeking Him for herself.
For the 22 hours I was in Montreal, I also met someone who was moving his family of seven from Pennsylvania to Montreal in the next six months because of his wife's and his love for the people in the city and for how God is moving through His people in a place where Jesus' grace and glory is scarcely recognized. I was deeply impacted by his faith and the faith I saw and heard among the family of God in this city where 0.5% of the people would say they are Christian.
Plus, when I heard about the 20+ church plants in the city committing to planting a new church every 5 years for the next 40 years, I felt honored to be with these men and women who are passionate about praying and laboring towards a movement of the Spirit that only God can accomplish.
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| Montreal, Quebec |
C2C Network – "He shall have dominion from sea to sea" (Psalm 72:8).
While I will provide a future post or two about what I learned during the Soma One Day with Jeff Vanderstelt, I also want to highlight the C2C Network – who helped organize and host the Soma One Day – and exists to be a catalyst for church multiplication throughout Canada.
There is no better way to tell C2C's story than to share two videos they have produced. Both videos are worth watching in their entirety; below are the links to the videos along with a few key quotes from each video.
C2C Network Video 1: Gospel-Centered, Spirit-Led, Mission-Focused
"We'd been doing outreach, going out every single week for the last two-and-a-half years, and we hadn't seen a single person come to Christ." – Jay Lee, Catalyst in Toronto
"A lot of people just view the church as totally irrelevant. They just don't see that it serves any real purpose." – Murray McLellan, Grace Fellowship in Saskatoon
"My community where I actually live is a community of more than 3,500 people that has zero churches in it." – Trevor Rysavy, Urban Grace Church in Calgary
"What I sensed God saying is, 'Who cares for these? Who cares for these lost people in the city?" – Adam Wiggins, Pacific Church in Vancouver
"The more I hear, the more I see that God's warmth is at work. God's Holy Spirit is doing things in people's lives. Through fasting, through prayer, through prayer walking, through perseverance, we've started to see one person come at a time. And that person bring another person. And then that person bring two or three more.
It's just exciting to really launch things with people who are truly hungry for the gospel, who can really see the transformation in their own life. And then they long to take that out where they live and where they work.
We're seeing people come to Christ from very non-churched backgrounds. We're seeing people with cocaine addictions, with crack addictions give that up and get into rehab. We're seeing broken families starting to reunite.
When you share the gospel, when you explain the gospel, when you pray the gospel and live out the gospel, lives change."
C2C Network Video 2: the Call, the Fire, & the Lord
" ... Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. ... " – Isaiah 43:1-3
"Our mandate is to plant churches across our nation because we see over and over again that one of the most effective ways to seeing people being introduced to Christ is through the initiation of new churches." – Gord Fleming, National Director of C2C Network
#1 – the Call – As commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.
" ... We have several hundred church planters from all across Canada, from Vancouver Island to Halifax gathered at our nation's capital to pray for our land. The reason we're here praying is because of the warfare that takes place. There is an enemy in Canada that does not want to see the church advanced. And thank You, Lord, that You promised that You would build Your church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. ..."
#2 – the Fire – For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap.
" ... there have been so many times when my wife and I planted this church that we were desperate for God. ... We had no idea what a faith-building exercise it would be. ... When we started out, I thought I was going to do something for Jesus. I didn't really pick up on what He was going to do in me, not just through me. Church planting really confronted all of the idols – all of the idols of my heart, all of the motivations of my heart were confronted as we sought how to plant ... People kept saying, 'You're so faithful.' and I said, 'Honestly, I'm just trying to survive.' ... "
"It's actually impossible to do what we're trying to do. We can't change hearts. Jesus said in John 15 that apart from Him we can do nothing. And as these church planters are entering into these cities, they're seeing that God's been going before them and preparing the soil for them. And as they plant churches, it's not under their strength. It's not under their logic or their initiative ... it is the Holy Spirit preparing them, calling them, equipping them and setting things out in such a way you can just see God is all over this ..."
#3 – the Lord – I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
"We're just here proclaiming what is already true. What's already done. ... Church planting for me in this journey has been about God transforming my heart in my life and our lives together and our family; and as God's doing that in us, we get the chance to be able to share that He's doing that in our lives with other people and you get to see what God's doing as He's raising up a body of gospel-centered believers together."
"The one thing we've learned through this all is that it's Jesus building His church because we couldn't do it. We came to the end of ourselves and had to fully trust in Him and look to Him. It's His mission and we just want to follow Him on it."
"And the gospel had to do a work in my heart. It had to really change my heart and challenge my motivations. And I had to be reminded that my identity isn't in my performance. It wasn't in how well I preached or how well I led, or what my church looked like, or thought my church was supposed to look like. It was in Christ and what He had done."
"Jesus is Lord from beginning to end. He's the Lord of the call, He's the One who sends, He's the One who equips by His Spirit ... He's also the One that provides the fruit, He's also the One that builds the church, that does all the work. So one of the big lessons amidst all of the opposition has simply been for us: Let God be God through the whole process. Let Him be the One who brings the fruit. Don't expect the fruit to be out of your efforts. So when people come to Jesus, when they move from lostness to foundness, you will never be able to take credit for that. It will not be because of what you did or where you lived or how you lived. It will simply be Jesus working through you and, at least in our case, despite us."
Could we in Worcester, like those in Montreal and across Canada, anchor ourselves in the hope that with Jesus, we can pray for and labor towards the miraculous?
Are we willing to go through the fire, to be cleansed and purged of what so easily causes us to stumble, stop, or retreat, and be led by the Spirit of God who can save our families, neighborhoods, and city?
Do we actually want to seek God's kingdom first, trusting Jesus' words that all the rest will be added to us in His gracious providence so that we can run the race ahead and finish strong?
Imagine if we could say "Yes." to all of the above.
That would truly be awesome.
Next post: Skylines and Silhouettes Part 5 | Worcester, MA and Richmond, VA
– Sully
If your curiosity is piqued, or something inside you is being stirred, feel free to connect. For other updates, like and follow Emmaus City on Facebook.
If your curiosity is piqued, or something inside you is being stirred, feel free to connect. For other updates, like and follow Emmaus City on Facebook.
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