Hello Folks,

Many of you have wondered about the work of "integral mission" by Grandview Calvary Baptist Church in Vancouver.  It is a complicated story with many parts.  The church is attempting to be faithful to a conversion story and narrative as well as a justice and mercy narrative.  This is difficult, not always successful, but a brilliant, Godly and devout attempt to hold these biblical imperatives in balance/tension.  (Balance is an over-used word, tension suggests conflict; both are true).

Much of the initial funding for the property around Grandview Calvary was financed by Shirley and Howard Bentall.  The God-drenched imagination and patient hard work has been the call of faithfulness from many people, including Tim and Mary Dickau.  Tim and Mary serve in very different areas of leadership. They are truly gifted and prophetic.  It is still an archaistic marvel (and as a parishioner, an embarrassment) that Mary serves unpaid.  Monica Hof and Emmanuel Ndabarushimana are part-time pastors serving the evening and morning congregations respectively.

So attached is an explanation of what the umbrella groups and community partners of Grandview Calvary is about: Salsbury Community Society.  The second page is a list of the component groups, their February prayer concerns and the names of their directors and their contact information.

You may want to share your our journey in these matters, or model a ministry on one of these works. Regardless, they represent a fascinating call on God's people in this generation.

Warmly

In Christ,

Jeremy

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

WHO WE ARE: A community of locally-rooted initiatives committed to the welcome and support of vulnerable people in the radical tradition of Christ. SCS is composed of four non-profit initiatives (NPIs): REED, Kinbrace, Co:Here and Crossroads. We have two partner organizations, Grandview Calvary Baptist Church and JustWork, and one covenant partner, Stillpointe.

•·        Community: We have deliberately chosen to define our relationship in terms of community as defined in the ecological sense: "a group of interdependent organisms of different species growing or living together in a specified habitat."

•·        Locally-rooted: Each of the initiatives has grown out of the neighbourhood vision of GCBC.

•·        Vulnerable people: We are particularly called to journey with people who are poor and marginalized of our society.

•·        The radical tradition of Christ:  In our vision and approach to our initiatives we seek to follow the ways of Jesus and be directed by the Spirit of God.

.....

OUR VISION: Through a holistic and relational approach to mutual transformation we seek to nourish individual, local, and global well-being.

•·        Holistic:  Not only does each initiative seek to value and offer dignity to the whole person, but by joining together with other initiatives we are able to be more holistic in our approach and in our actions.

•·        Relational approach: Each of our initiatives seeks to break down the barriers of service provider and client and instead relate to all individuals as fellow members of community.

•·        Mutual transformation:  We recognize that we are all in need of growth and healing. Our vision is that as we journey together we will all be transformed.

•·        Individual, local, and global well-being: We are inspired by the biblical vision of shalom, which brings peace, reconciliation, healing, and justice for all people and all of creation.

.....

WHAT WE DO: SCS is committed to fostering an inclusive, holistic community of mutual transformation and empowerment through work (JustWork), prayer and worship (GCBC), housing/hospitality (Co:Here, Kinbrace, GCBC), advocacy (Crossroads, Kinbrace, REED), education (REED, Kinbrace, GCBC, Crossroads), justice (REED, Kinbrace, Crossroads), and support (Kinbrace, Crossroads, Co:Here).

Dear Folks,

Faye Reynolds is a pastor and leader in our midst as she ministers with others in Women in Focus.  She is also on Executive Staff and leads worship in our regional covenanting sessions.  Faye also facilitates and co-ordinates a ministry cluster that includes the volunteers and staff of Youth, Camping, Urban Camping, Children and Family, short Term Ministry and Women in Focus.

Jan Passuke drew my attention to Faye's February Newsletter.  As I read it I thought how helpful it was to me personally and how some others might share that appreciation.

Thanks be to God for the notion of being "God's fabric".  Thanks be to God for Faye.

Warmly

In Christ,

Jeremy

This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Focusing In . . . .

"For we are God's poiema, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,

which God prepared in advance for us to do."  Eph. 2:10

Some things do get lost in the translation.  A word can spark great imagination or seem a simple statement of fact, as the verse above reminds me.  The Greek word "poiema" is the word that the NIV translates "workmanship", which is such a boring word.  But the literal translation is "fabric" which offers so much more potential.  We are God's fabric which invites the image of being woven into his beautiful tapestry.  Or, from the root of poiema comes our word for poetry which has the essence of artistry in its etymology.  I am a Valentine love poem, written by God!  Isn't that an amazing image of intimacy and tenderness?  And so much more feminine!

I also know that there are men who are very creative.  I've been reading Donald Millar's most recent book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I learned While Editing my Life and as he considers his personal life as an author, he imagines God also as an author - the author of our stories.  He writes,

If I have a hope, it's that God sat over the dark nothing and wrote you and me, specifically, into the story, and put us in with the sunset and the rainstorm as though to say, "Enjoy your place in my story.  The beauty of it means you matter, and you can create within it, even as I have created you." (pg 59)

As an author, Donald knows how story characters can take on a life of their own and he notes how one author was surprised that the protagonist ended up in Spain instead of South America as planned.  In Ephesians we have the sense that God has an intention or plan for us to do wonderful things in Christ, but we don't always follow the Author's intent.  We are invited into the creative process to write our own story within the great Story.  The question is; will we make it a better story?

It excites me to think that God weaves special people into our fabric, or characters into our story that will affect us and change us.  Think of all of the beautiful people that are part of your story - people who have blessed you or challenged you and made you grow, sometimes in spite of yourself.  Every encounter plays a part in our story and continues to form our personal character.  Our stories weave in and out of each other and we are changed.

You can call it God or a conscience or you can dismiss it as that intuitive knowing we all have as human beings, as living storytellers; but there is a knowing I feel that guides me toward better stories, toward being a better character.  I believe there is a writer outside ourselves, plotting a better story for us, interacting with us, even, and whispering a better story into our consciousness. (pg 86)

God is writing a beautiful story for your life and for mine, not coercively or controlling, but wooing us gently toward a happy ending.  How well we listen to his whispers will make all the difference.

By grace alone,

Faye Reynolds

Director of Women's Ministry

Women in Focus, CBWC