Please pray for
Quadra Island Bible Church
-our LPD Church of the Week
Quadra Island Bible Church was planted in 1974. It was birthed out of Camp Homewood, which began in 1948. Camp staff began Sunday School classes, and this quite naturally grew into a church. The church building is located next door to Camp Homewood, and they continue to serve together.
This church has an important Christian witness on Quadra Island, and like all churches, has had to navigate ministry through this season of COVID. This can be more challenging in smaller communities,where churches are highly relational, and technology to meet online is limited.
Please pray for Pastor Brent and Lynn Austring as they serve, and also as they minister part-time with North American Indigenous Mission.
We are thankful for Brent, Lynn and the Quadra Island Bible Church Family, and for their witness and ministry. They are our EFCC family on Quadra Island! Please pray for them.
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All in the same storm, but…
It has been said of this pandemic, “We are all in the same storm – but not all in the same boat.” There is much truth in this. Some have faced much hardship such as unemployment, financial hardship, loneliness and health concerns, while others have remained largely unscathed, or have even profited from this time of COVID.
It was a joy to meet with several pastors of LPD Churches this week. I appreciated hearing their stories, both as to they have walked through COVID personally, and also as to how they have provided servant-leadership to their congregations and communities. They have faced discouragement, and they have felt inadequate to the challenges presented. They have learned to trust God in a deeper and more personal way.
All of us have been journeying through this season of pandemic, a season characterized by uncertainty and unpredictability, fear, conflicting information, closures and re-openings and once again closures, and we are weary. As I write, we are awaiting the next word from our Provincial Health Officer – and people are not optimistic.
Daily, I receive emails from various church consultants. All are well-written, but often seem largely “tone deaf” to the realities of church ministry in this season. Articles about growing church attendance and various styles of worship seem somehow irrelevant these days.
As we met this week, we were all encouraged by the assurance that as pastors and church leaders, we are in the same boat and sailing through the same storm. It is so encouraging to know that we sail together. We will uphold one another in prayer. We will support one another, share resources and cheer one another on.
All of us are familiar with the account of Jesus boarding a small fishing boat with his disciples. (Mark 4:35-41). They had a long day of ministry, and as they make their way across the Sea Of Galilee, Jesus falls fast asleep, his head on a pillow.
We know the story. Suddenly, and without warning, a furious storm came up, the boat was swamped, and the disciples (several were experienced sailors) feared they were in danger of drowning.
Looking back to the sleeping Jesus, they became irked at him. How could he sleep while they feared drowning? They could have been convinced that Jesus could rescue them, or at least help. Therefore, wake him up! They could have thought that Jesus was of no use, and unable to help. Therefore, let him sleep! Instead, they assumed that Jesus didn’t care. While He might be powerful, He seemed indifferent to their plight.
Awaken by the disciples, Jesus calmly rises, speaks to the waves, simply saying, “Be still,” and instantly, all became calm. As a sailor, I know that it is unheard of for the wind and sea to calm at the same time. Waves are whipped up by the wind, and it takes some time for the waves to cease after the wind calms down.
Jesus asked his disciples, “Why were you so afraid?” The word He uses is of one who is cowardly or timid.
While the disciples feared drowning in the storm, they were terrified (megaphobos) of Jesus, and asked, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
As we go through life, and as we go through COVID, we might ask the same question as the disciples, “Does Jesus care?” Or, we might ask, “Is Jesus able to help?” We might even ask, “Is Jesus willing to help?” I have certainly asked all of the above as I have gone through the ups and downs of life and ministry.
Pastor Tim Keller writes, “Two things can happen when you suffer. One is you think, “I’m being punished.” But the cross says, no, Jesus took your punishment…The second question comes up, “well, maybe God doesn’t care, but he’s lost a child out of his love for you.
Looking back, we know that Jesus was not only in the same storm – He was literally in the same boat as his disciples, and Jesus in the same boat as us today.
As we live and lead through this season of COVID, we may not have all the answers, but be assured that our Lord is with us. We also know that God will use COVID to accomplish His purposes. We are not yet privileged to know just what, but we can trust Him and keep close to Him.
As my brother Bruce bravely fought amyloidosis, a disease that ravaged his body for 14 months until his death, we had no answer as to why. We still don’t, but have experienced God’s peace. As Bruce and I shared time together at St. Paul’s Hospital, we found great comfort in the promise of Christ’s presence found in Romans 8:38,39, knowing that whatever had happened, was happening, or could happen – nothing could separate him from the love of our Lord.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul wrote those words. He lived by them – in ministry, in unjust imprisonment and finally in execution. Nothing could separate him – or us, from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We are all in this together – with our Lord. May we learn to trust and rest in Him.
***
As we go through COVID, we are all learning lessons about church that can make us more effective in the future. Here is a link to the article, “6 Long Term Problems Churches Only Noticed Recently,” by Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research.
6-long-term-problems-churches-only-noticed-recently
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Upcoming Dates:
LPD Annual Meeting – virtual…
Saturday, March 6, 2021 – 10AM – 12noon.
We invite you to attend this important meeting of our Lower Pacific District.
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose trust is the LORD.
He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
(Jeremiah 17:7,8)
Registration is open – and is free!
https://www.lpd-efcc.ca/event/annual-agm-zoom/
Please consider gifting your registration fees to:
LPD Ministry Care Fund
Thanks so much for joining us for our annual meeting this year. We appreciate it! We are sorry that we are not able to bring you a conference this year – we always look forward to gathering together with you, and to our fellowship together. As we are meeting online this year, the AGM is free. Registration fees for conference are typically $75.00 per delegate for the weekend ($65.00 for “Islanders”). As many churches have already budgeted for conference, we invite to donate your conference registration fee to a fund that we are establishing to invest in ministry personnel, the LPD Ministry Care Fund. We are establishing this fund to provide ministry retreats for pastors and spouses, to assist ministry personnel in times of special need, and to invest in the ministry and welfare of those who serve. If you are able, please consider donating conference registration fees toward this ministry to those who serve. Donations can be made by e-transfer office@lpd-efcc.ca, cheque, or paypal https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id%3D7JTC99H5NCDBU&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1612483441277000&usg=AFQjCNFKqLK3rmBX0_SHnHiff7pUQtB1kg. Please designate in the memo that the funds are for the LPD Ministry Care Fund.
