A missional Christian is....

Here is a funny video in light of our discussion at vineyard days about missional churches being the new buzz word...

A great Outcome

So one of the great outcomes of Vineyard days was gathering Sheri and Trevor as reps for the newly forming National Youth Development group for the Canadian Vineyard. These are great, great youth leaders and visionaries with a passion for youth in Canada. Here is what they came up with..... enjoy.





Hi Friends-I wanted to give a quick update on what came out of my time in Ontario for youth ministry development group meetings:3 of the 4 Development Group reps were present- Sherri McConnell from B.C. , Rob Hall from Ontario and myself representing the Atlantic. (Katie Schenk from Edmonton is the Prairie rep, but she couldn’t make it). Sherri is going to connect with her over the Christmas break, and gather some of her input. Monique also joined our talks from a National office perspective. This was the first face to face meeting for us all and it went well. We shared our personal visions for the next generations of the Vineyard in Canada, got to know each other, and then began talking about some plans moving forward.





Key points:


1) For the National Celebration in Penticton, we discussed running a concurrent equipping conference for students/young adults. Being in Kelowna, Sherri is developing a lot of this, so more details will unfold in the next couple of months.


2) We agreed to connect with Vineyard student ministry leaders within our regions, developing relationships and encouraging, resourcing them in any way we can. There are possibilities of equipping weekends for leaders within the regions.


3) The idea of short-term missions opportunities for Canadian Vineyard youth has a lot of energy on it. Beginning in the summer of 2011 we want students to be able to choose one of several missions outreaches lead by Vineyard leaders and joined by people from around the country. We plan to have the locations set by the National Celebration in 2010 so we can promote them and students can decide where they want to go and begin saving for the next year. Our first immediate action is for each team member to put together a photo/bio/personal elements of vision and send it to the whole team and to Jon for the website. I feel it was a valuable time- thanks for making the resources available.

Temptation

Here are some of the resources that I used for todays sermon in case you wanted more info.

1.The prayer at the end was adapted from a brilliant sermon by Charles Spurgeon.

“Lead us not into Temptation”

LORD, Lead us not into temptation
I don’t want to dishonour your name again
Lord, don’t lead me back there again.
I am not arrogant enough to think that I have the resolve to face my greatest fears about myself.
Lord, I have seen those who have lost life because of temptation….God I pity them, for it could be me…..help me Lord, and give those in temptation strength
http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols22-24/chs1402.pdf

2. wanna hear a great sermon....jim cantelon preaching on 'sex is the easy part'
www.wellchurch.ca

3. everyman's talmud-a great book explaning the sayings of rabbinic jews....

4. 2 other great classics worth reading
thomas a kempis the imitation of christ
jonathan edwards religious affections

Hell?

here is a nice little video from NT wright about hell.

Walking the Talk

Our first Vineyard Days has come and gone. I thought it was great that the Region pulled this off. It was easy for me because my only role was to run a workshop for 1 hour on Saturday.
It was to be on the whole thing of spiritual formation and leadership. I created this teaching around the idea that if you want to maintain your spiritual integrity in ministry, then you need to view ministry leadership through the lens of orienteering. Orienteering is a cross country sport where one navigates their way through unknown territory using only a map and a compass. I spoke about 4 different areas that one comes upon during the trek - the open field, the trail, lost in the bush, and the lookout. The open field represented Sabbath rest. As I was preparing this I kept feeling this prodding about practicing what I teach.

I try to do Sabbath rest, but I may as well be honest...'try' is not really accurate. I 'think about it' - that's as far as I usually get. Why? Lots to do!

Sabbath means quitting or stopping - on purpose! I know that the benefits are huge. But there is something inside me that sees all the work that has to be done...and it's a killer to NOT do it. So I'm feeling...really feeling that the Lord is putting a challenge in front of me: Take 24 hours straight, once per week and quit from doing things. I want to argue that this is not the season for this. We have begun to restructure, how can I possibly afford to take a full 24 hours off? But then I hear this other whispery voice saying - "you can't afford not to!"

My desire has always been to live like Jesus lived. You would think that by quitting [Oh yeh...quitting doesn't mean get busy around the house and do those chores - but to take time to do those things that bring me life - to rest - to read - to STOP.] Taking 24 hours totally off is radical for our culture - our culture measures our value by what we accomplish. And I've bought into that. So am I up to the challenge? I think so - I hope so, anyway.

So now the tough part - examining my schedule and life and fitting in this time...first. I invite you to follow me on my journey...
s

V Course Challenge

We just completed the V course with a group of 9 energetic people. We had 3 Sundays of exploring who Cambridge Vineyard is - everything from our history and values, to our core teaching of Jesus - the kingdom of God, and ending off with the challenge to engaging with other followers of Jesus - in other words, being part of community.
The last class was more experiential, so we had them participate in 2 team building activities. The object in the picture was the result of their second challenge...and this is what they came up with. I'm not going to tell you what it is because then we'd have to come up with a new activity! Can you guess what this is and why they needed to construct it? And you're not allowed to ask anyone from the group, either!

If you want to find out more, make sure you join us for the next session in the winter. Remember, it's not just for the newbies...but also for the oldies who may need a refresher!
s

Shauna's last supper

take a look at the photos of our last lunch with Shauna. we will miss her.