Changes
When Mary & I came to Squamish we belived that we were to be about planting a church. However, in the back of our minds was always this burning desire to be ministering to those who were in the greatest spiritual and physical need…the least, lost and broken. As we attended more and more to that calling, the Lord has redirected our ministry away from the classic church plant model and onto a street/mission focus…onto an incarnational, in-the-midst of model, as opposed to an attractional one. Sharing the facility with others is just one of the ways we can answer the call to be “in the midst”.
In some respects it has been a hard shift for me. I have operated through the last 24 years of ministry as a pastor in the financially stable and fully supported “if you build it they will come” stream. Things were predictable and sometimes even comfortable. To move into the “go and make disciples” stream is a “game changer.” While it seems a natural segue at this season of our lives, it has still been a bit of a stretch and challenge both spiritually and financially. It takes much more faith and dependence upon Jesus…and perhaps that is the whole point. We are very excited for the future of this ministry and the direction in which God seems to be leading us. So we continue, confident that we have been called here for a purpose and always seeking, along with the prayerful support of our mission partners like you folks, to share the love of Jesus with those who we find before us.
This year has also brought a change in our denominational affiliation. I have always had a heart for unity and have worked towards same both in our local community environment and in the wider context of our Anglican heritage. When, after many months of struggle both internationally and in North America, the Mission backed away 2 years ago from the forming new North American Province, I was heart-broken. Over the last 24 months I have become increasing convicted that this move was not in God's will, but had not been released to make a move myself. I believe that the Lord wanted me to stay and speak prophetically into that broken situation, both in teh ACiC and the Misison in the US, until the timing was right for a mich bigger change than our small church moving on to greener pastures.
That day has finally come and there are big changes for many of the Anglican Mission affiliated congregations and ministries. With the approval of our Board of Directors, and with Bishop Silas' blessing, Mountain Valley Mission is moving, effective 17 May, 2012 to the Anglican Network in Canada, a diocese of the Anglican Church in North America. Please continue to pray for all of the Anglican diaspora in North America, that they will become "one as Jesus and the Father are one.
