The Eudaimonia Blog

Well, I plan to return to the Grace Van office Monday August 7th and have my first Sunday back August 13th. After spending a couple of months helping the church transition into the fall season, I then plan to go back on my sabbatical for two months beginning Oct. 2nd. I structured my sabbatical in this way (3 months on, 2 months back to the church, 2 months on) because: 1) I wanted to help with the fall startup of the church; 2) I hadn’t had a sabbatical for fifteen years, so was not entirely sure how I would do being away for five consecutive months (perhaps the weekly rhythm of having served the church for twenty-five years has been something of a security blanket for me) and 3) I was looking forward to having time off in October and November since for a number of years now, I have had a trip planned with old university friends, to spend two weeks in Israel during those months. All that to say, while I will only be back for a bit in August and September, I am looking forward to being back.

As I prepare to return, I’ve been thinking a lot about what I’ve learned while taking the time off. There are some themes to share, but perhaps the first is the idea that a church our size is well-positioned to fulfill the Great Commission, which was Jesus’ call to His disciples to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20). A couple of weeks ago, I enjoyed visiting Christ City Kitsilano Church on a Sunday morning, which meets in 5th Ave. Cinemas just a couple of blocks away from our location. “CCKC” is a bit bigger than our congregation but not much bigger. In addition, because CCKC does not own property in the city, it also uses our building for their weekly worship practices as well as for their congregational meetings and community meals. While I have been away, our M3 team (Missions and Mercy Ministry) comprised of Nicole, Dilys and Tanya has been meeting with CCKC’s outreach team to attempt a collaborative work of serving our neighbourhood on Saturdays, in particular to support young parents and their children. I also gather with CCKC’s lead pastor Brandt Van Roekel with a couple of other neighbourhood pastors (including Pastor Abel) to do a pub time together each month, to take the time out of our weeks for mutual encouragement and strengthening. The pub we meet at is right down the street at 7th and Burrard. What is more, last Sunday, I visited St. Peter’s Fireside Church downtown that meets in Robson Square. I learned the their planting and lead pastor for the last ten years Alastair Sterne, stepped down last January from his post and that along with a number of other churches in our city (First Baptist, West Point Grey Baptist, Granville Chapel), St. Peter’s is now looking for a new lead pastor (there might be a few other churches I am forgetting). When I spoke to one of their staff, I quickly realized that the St. Peter’s family is very much in need of our prayers, just as we are of theirs. Through the years, St. Peter’s has used our building for various prayer gatherings. So something I’ve discovered is that a lot of churches are small churches in our city and also struggling to find resources and staffing. And yet, at the same time, I’ve found small churches to be among the most welcoming and to have tremendous potential to create a genuine church family that displays the values of God’s Kingdom here on earth, while faithfully proclaiming the Scriptures. I found myself actually most encouraged by going to churches roughly the size of Grace Van’s even more so than the larger churches where it is much easier to be a consumer and spectator, rather than full participant in the life of the church. The church we left in the US back in 2013 to come to Vancouver was one that had grown from thirty-five people initially to about 350 people, so I know a little something about pastoring a larger congregation. While smaller churches have significant challenges, in some ways it’s easier to focus on truly building into people in a smaller church than a larger one that requires so much “institutional energy.” This is why after spending fifteen years in our last city, we had determined if we were to leave our situation at the time (which we would in 2013), it would be for a smaller church. In particular I was inspired some years ago by Callahan’s book Small Strong Congregations.

Therefore, I’ve found that we as a community should be grateful for the unique opportunity we have to bless and encourage others for Christ as well as build into other Christ-centred communities in our city by our prayers as well as by being generous with our resources, such as our building space. As Callahan says in his book we should “claim our strengths” as a small congregation. But I’m also realistic and know that it can be a grind to sustain a small church in our city, as a congregation that isn’t quite as well-resourced as some of the larger churches or some of the smaller churches connected to larger networks and with fellowships and denominations that deep roots in our city. Grace Van was a “parachute drop” church-plant in the heart of Fairview back in 1999, in a denomination that has only a few churches in BC. We have now had five pastors serving in various roles over our twenty-four year history and all of us have had to raise funds from outside sources in order to serve here. Most recently the Siscos brought their family of five from the US and have had to raise about 60% of Abel’s salary in order to serve alongside us. Because our denomination and church isn’t among those with a long history in this city, it has taken a lot to sustain Grace Van through the years, not least of which has involved the generosity of her members through the years who have faithfully tithed (given 10% of their increase) and even given above and beyond their means to see Grace Van flourish. If you are one of those folks and reading this, a big hearty thanks to you!!! The big picture is that as we’ve remained on our knees, it has been truly a miracle and wonder that God has sustained us all these years and continues to do so. I am strengthened and encouraged.

So that’s the first reflection that small strong congregations like ours have a unique opportunity to serve the heart of God’s mission, His “Great Commission” (Matthew 28:18-20) in an international city like ours and that we should “claim our strengths and opportunity.”

Next, I have a further reflection on a theme I’ve been learning about, how the human heart always gives itself to some kind of “master.” That we are either slaves to freedom or slaves to sin, to use the Apostle Paul’s language in places like Romans 6 and Galatians 5. I hope to reflect on this theme in my next post and am coming to see just how important this theme is for the church’s growth and discipleship as well as for talking to “secular” Vancouverites in a way that builds bridges rather than burns them. To what do we allow our hearts to be mastered by? To this topic, I hope to reflect more upon in the coming days. As I’ve learned to say over the last decade of having lived in Canada, so I sign off this post, Cheers!