I have seen the monster and he is me

A couple of weeks ago a story broke in the media about a particularly offensive response to new government legislation aimed at curbing human trafficking in Canada. Apparently the gist of the story was that the government of Canada was no longer going to be extending visas for foreign workers entering into the adult entertainment industry (i.e. strippers, escorts, adult film actors, and (unofficially) prostitutes. The official reason given was that, “Canadians have told us they want us to put a stop to foreign workers entering Canada to work in businesses where there are reasonable grounds to suspect a risk of sexual exploitation,” wrote Alexis Pavlich, spokesperson for the ministry of citizenship and immigration.

You can read up on the story in multiple news outlets – a quick Google search of AEAC recruitment visa will pull up pages of news articles on what’s been happening. The article that caught my attention was this one from Canada.com.

In reaction to the legislation that aims to curb their questionably legal source of labour, Tim Lambrinos, executive director of the Adult Entertainment Association of Canada, responded by saying that they would be approaching foreign college and university students on student visas to fill the positions – advertising it as a great way to pay for tuition. His rationale was that ‘Exotic Dancer’ implies foreign – and that the market demanded beautiful foreign girls take off their clothes and dance on poles for men. It was then that the other shoe dropped. It was also revealed by the minister of citizenship of immigration that the adult entertainment sector would no longer be able to recruit any temporary foreign workers to work in their industry; citing statistics that demonstrate that perpetrators of human trafficking frequently lure young women away from home with promises of more germane employment only to trap them into the sex industry through a conflation of drugs, abuse and debt-slavery – an example being the story of Timea Nagy which is chronicled in this article in CNEWS on July 5.  Timea was lured to Canada with the promise of a summer job as a nanny – but when she arrived in Toronto she was informed that she owed her employer $3000 for travel expenses and would be forced to work off the debt as a stripper and sex worker (prostitute) or they would kill her family back home.

As shocking as this all is – so far this has all been set-up for the bombshell that was dropped last week. Growing increasingly frustrated with the government making it hard for them to do business, Mr. Lambrinos indicated that the AEAC would have no choice then, given the restraints placed upon them, to start recruiting workers for his industry at Canadian high school job fairs. Deliberately stoking the flames of public outrage he mused in the media,

“We’re reacting to the government ... They’re saying we’re going to strip you of your workforce... The government is saying, indirectly, you need to get more aggressive and more proactive at recruiting locally... We’re not going to take it lying down.”

And with that shot across the bow the internet erupted in a mix of outrage and absurdity. Every reaction you could imagine started popping up in comment sections at the bottom of news articles, in Facebook discussions, in op-ed pieces sent into newspapers and in the blogosphere. Some thought that the government had gone too far in depriving the foreign workers of the protection that comes from a perpetually renewed visa, some thought that the AEAC had gone too far in talking about recruiting in high schools (keeping in mind of course that less than half of high school students will be 18 years old by the time they graduate across Canada) – but the most commonly heard type of comment of all was a variation on the theme, “If you come near my daughter I’ll kill you!”

                                                                                       

Now I would venture a guess that very few commenters meant that literally – this is Canada after all, we don’t generally behave that way – but the sentiment behind the puffed up rhetoric was frighteningly genuine. As a father now of a beautiful baby girl I cannot deny that my adrenaline started pumping at the thought of someone trying to recruit my little princess into the adult entertainment industry; how dare anyone treat her like that, how dare anyone expect that she is a commodity to be used and discarded for their perverted sense of pleasure. She is my daughter. She is precious, and perfect and worth far more than that. And I like all the other fathers imagining the consequences of that statement by the AEAC (and of course mothers too) was ready to cry for blood and ready to support any measures possible to keep these sickos away from our young women. After all, what sort of horrible person would subject our young women to this sort of predatory industry that uses them up and spits them out? What sort of person would stand by and do nothing while these women are recruited into a life of slavery (which is not too harsh a word – do some research on what happens to many of the women in this industry defenddignity.ca is a great place to start) while we stand on the sidelines and do nothing because they are pursuing a ‘legal’ career choice and the free-market needs their services?

The answer to that question was staring me in the mirror – it was me.

It was me, and you, and the overwhelming majority of Canadians who have turned a blind eye to the horrors of the sex trade in Canada for too long. It was we, who chose not to notice or respond when evidence of horrible crimes in human trafficking was brought to the media’s attention. It was we who didn’t seem to care when the news story was about foreign women being recruited into the adult entertainment industry but who became an angry mob complete with pitch-forks and torches when the spectre of our daughters being the next generation of strippers was raised. We are the guilty ones – and our anger and outrage at this publicity stunt by the AEAC betrays us.

God forgive us for so dehumanizing these women that we couldn’t muster the anger to rise to their defence when our society’s depravity was stealing away their youth, their innocence and their future. God forgive us for considering ourselves so much more important than them, and our daughters so much more precious than them. Every woman is someone’s daughter; every girl dancing on a pole, every teenager forced into prostitution, every young woman who is compelled – by violence, debt, drug-addiction or a lifetime of abuse and neglect – to take off her clothes so some man can dehumanize her with his eyes is someone’s daughter.  God forgive me for not doing anything to stop this.

I’m honestly shaken and disturbed by this self-realization and so today is just about me getting this off my chest. I’ve no applications for you today – no pithy three-step plans to make a difference – just a request that we stop living in ignorance. The world is a terribly messed up place – just because we can keep it out of our backyards doesn’t mean we aren’t responsible for what happens behind the fence.

Just my thoughts,

Chris

Confessions Part One

They say that confessions are good for the soul and so every so often when I’m feeling particularly tired, or unhappy, or dissatisfied with life and ministry – or when I take a secret joy at something that would be inappropriate or insensitive to share at the time I jot down what I’m feeling and save it for some later point in time when I can be less sensational in my transparency. What follows is merely a sample of that list – some things you just don’t need to know about me still. ;-)

1.       I really don’t like phoning you.
That’s not to say that I dislike talking to you – even talking on the phone – I could spend hours in conversation with many of you and be as happy as a clam, but I hate picking up the phone to make the call. It’s nothing to do with you (okay maybe occasionally it is – but not often) but it’s just that I still have a tough time dealing with rejection. I’m 32, happily married, vocationally successful and fairly confident in my roles and abilities but I still carry with me some insecurity in initiating relationships. One of the reasons I instituted Walk-in Wednesdays when I took over as the Lead Pastor was that it creates a standing invitation for you to approach me in a venue where I can warmly welcome you into relationship without the fear of rejection.

It’s not something I’m proud of – nor is it something I’m content with (I’m working at getting better) but it’s real and it feels somewhat cathartic to get it off my chest.

There!  That wasn’t so bad – let’s see if I can confess a couple more!

2.       Guns, Gophers and Jellied Salads
I’ve lived in the prairies for the better part of 13 years now between my time at school and my time in ministry. I’ve become thoroughly westernized and have adopted many local customs and affections in my time here – but there are still some things that I can’t get my head around. I love my many (many) friends and congregants who grew up with a healthy respect for personal firearms and I have no moral issue with hunting for food, sport, fur or otherwise. I’ve sat through countless tales of people reminiscing of their childhood days picking off Gophers with a rifle at the farm and I understand intellectually the western anger over issues like the gun registry. But even as I have adopted this as my new homeland I can’t avoid all vestiges of where I came from. To me at some deep, sub-conscious level guns will always be tools for cops, criminals and soldiers – if I’m ever weird around you in a conversation about guns or gun control, please don’t take offence – it’s just that at some deep level I’m still a product of the GTA.

Jellied salads on the other hand...

3.       I’m secretly jealous of my mainline colleagues
I’m an evangelical protestant by conviction and calling – but that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate what other streams of Christianity have to offer. I can really get swept up in the unity brought about by a good liturgical church service; I really appreciate the care and emphasis that is placed upon the Eucharist (Lord’s Supper/Communion) in those more traditional...traditions; and deep down I secretly love the idea of “robing-up” for a worship service. I think there is something very symbolic and beautiful about the vestments of the office. I was at an ecumenical service in town a number of months back and the question was asked whether we were robing or not – and I kind of felt left out. =(

And lastly...

4.       I think I have the most important job in the world
It’s not very humble, it’s drenched in an unhealthy sense of self-importance and it’s looking over the precipice of a dangerous messiah complex – but I really think that my job is terribly important. Pastoring Christ’s Church is a high and perilous calling – fraught with spiritual battles, emotional transference, and weighty eternal consequences. The bible tells us that we who lead in the Church will be held to an exacting standard and account – I read into that that our judgement will be commensurate with the burden of the Kingdom mandate that we carry and the degree to which we violated it.

I’m not saying that my opinion is necessarily right, or justified – and I’m certainly not saying that I’m qualified for the job that I have – in truth some days I feel like the most unqualified pastor in the world, but I am saying that I feel the burden of the office weighing heavily upon me. I think my job is important because I believe that the Church is important. I believe that the Church is Christ to the world and the agent of God’s redemptive plan in this time of history. I believe that what we do in the Church and how we live as the Church is the most important part of what we do and how we live period. I believe that more than kinship, ideology, affiliation, vocation or even family – the Church is supposed to be what defines who we are in God. The church alone is the Bride of Christ, the Body of Christ, the Temple of God, a Holy Nation, and a Royal Priesthood; and empowered by and indwelt by the Holy Spirit the Church becomes the very presence of God in this world. And while any given local church (including mine) misses the mark more often than not as an assembly of highly imperfect people being made progressively more perfect by the Spirit of the Living God; it does contain within it the nascent potential to be what it has been called to be and to function as it was designed to function by the one who ordained its existence. The local church is a precious jewel given to us by God – and it’s because I’ve been called to shepherd that treasure that I think so highly of what I do.

But then again – I might just be arrogant. But is it possible for both to be true simultaneously (my sinful pride, and the importance of the Church and my role)? Just some musings. After all, as Usher once famously said – these are my confessions.

Blessings,

Chris

For Penelope

Today I take a break from Assembly related news to focus on something much more personal - and the reason why I rushed home from Winnipeg and missed the final business session of the week. Today is my precious little daughter's first birthday - and to celebrate that occasion Joanna and I decided it would be a fitting day to present her before Lord in dedication.

At Estevan Alliance Church we practice child dedication as a rite of passage for parents as they acknowledge before God and the local church that their children are not their own - but rather a gift from God that they have the privilege of stewarding for God's glory. As a pastor I have presided over many child dedications and have tried to instill into the parent in my congregation an understanding of just how solemn and serious a commitment this is - but today was the day when my walk had to match my talk. Today was the day I had to present my daughter.

One of the things we've adopted in recent years at EAC is the practice of asking the parents to write a letter to their children on the occasion of their dedication. This letter is supposed to express to the child the reasons their parents have opted to participate in this rite and to lay out the promises the parents are making and the hopes they have for their child. I ask parents to write the letter with the intention of giving it to their child on their twelfth birthday. Just writing the letter itself, as I discovered, is an act of deliberate intentionality in parenting - it forces a parent to think hard about what they are doing, why they are participating in child dedication and to put down in writing their hopes and dreams for their child - but then we ask the parents to read the letter in church. We ask the parents as a part of the dedication rite to share with the church family just what they want for their child and then in response the church rises and commits to help and support the family in making that a reality. It's a beautiful ceremony and it's always the highlight of my Sunday when I get to participate in it as a pastor - but it was something else entirely to participate this week as a parent.


Thank you to Pastor Waylon for being so thoughtful and deliberate in dealing with the (undoubtedly) awkward nature of being asked to dedicate your boss' child in your first ever child dedication ceremony - you did a wonderful job - and thanks also to our church family at Estevan Alliance for being our family in a very real sense today. We have no biological family out here in Estevan - no one to celebrate such a significant milestone (dedication and first birthday) with and so for us it is not just a clever metaphor to say the church is our family - we really believe it and live that way in our context. We were so blessed that so many of you took the invitation to join us after the service for a pot-luck celebration in our backyard. The weather was absolutely stunning and the company was even better - when I counted at one point there were 67 of us in my yard. Penelope, Jack and Harry are tremendously blessed to have such wonderful (and so many!) spiritual grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins to celebrate with. We feel so tremendously blessed.

But I wanted leave you today with the letter Joanna and I wrote for Penelope on the occasion of her dedication today. I want to share it with you so that you know our hearts as parents and so that you can continue to hold us accountable to what we declared before God and his people this morning. And I wanted to leave this letter on this blog as an ongoing testament to what type of parent I want to be - and of my hopes and dreams for my little girl.

Here it is:

Dear Penelope, 

We are writing you this letter on the occasion of your dedication, which is also coincidentally the occasion of your first birthday. One year ago today we received the most amazing and wonderful gift – a precious little girl to complete our family. We were so excited to bring you home and introduce you to your brothers, your grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and the like – but today we’re especially excited to formally present you before your Church family. 

In the Bible there is a story about a woman named Hannah who prays to God for a child – and when God answers her prayer she understands exactly what it means and she turns that child over to God. She understood at a very deep level that her baby was not her own – but a precious gift from God that she was asked to care for and love and guide until such a day that he could choose to follow God on his own. Today we want you and everyone celebrating here with us to know that to us, that’s exactly what you are. 

You are an answer to prayer, a blessing beyond all measure, a treasure beyond all value and you are loved beyond all words. We want you to know that there is nothing you can ever do that will make us love you less and nothing that you can ever do that will make us love you more. But as much as we, your mother and father, love you with all our hearts – you have a heavenly Father who loves you even more. And because of that, we know that you are only ours for a short time. You have been given to us so that we can give you back to God – and to that end we promise to do all that we can to raise you in Christ. We promise before our, and your church family that we will give you every opportunity that we can to grow to know, to love and to respond to God in your own way, and in your own will. We pray for the day when you will make a decision to follow God with all your heart, and make your own public declaration through the waters of baptism. And we promise that when God places his call on your life (and he will) that we will not stand in the way of you responding in obedience – no matter what that means, or where that takes you. By dedicating you today – we release you into God’s will, even as we long for as much time as he grants us to prepare you for what that might be. 

We love you Penelope, and we cannot wait to see just the type of woman God is making you to be. 

Forever your loving parents,Mom and Dad

Happy Sunday,

Chris

General Assembly Update 3

Today was THE day that general assembly – and the last two years – had been building toward. Not only was today the day that we would elect the next president of the C&MA in Canada to lead our movement into its next chapter of history (a pretty significant thing in its own right) but today was the day that our denomination would decide the fate of so many of our female official workers with a vote on whether or not to limit ordination to men (as has been our practice) or to open it up to women as well.

This has been a long brewing issue in our family of churches that has been at times very divisive and more frequently very dismissive of people. Divisive as we have been a movement of churches that has lived with the uneasy tension of being pragmatic Complementarians in policy (not officially endorsing female authority within the church while pragmatically allowing it for the sake of doing the work of the Gospel) and dismissive because that pragmatism has created an environment where there is a two-tier system of recognizing and affirming the callings and giftedness of our workers – affirming some and not others based on the way God created them. This has been an issue that has been near and dear to my heart and one that I have long prayed that would come to the floor of assembly so that we could address this inequity of practice. Today was the day when assembly would together seek the Spirit of God and test the will of our fellowship by daring to broach this issue.

If you would like to understand some of the events that brought us to this juncture of history I would recommend that you take a look at my friend and colleague Jon Coutts’ brief survey of the history of women in ministry in the C&MA which you can find here, or for a more in-depth history of the discussion you can check out Alexandra Meek Sharman’s Master’s Thesis on The Great Debate, which Jon uses for source material for some of his history.

The committee on General Legislation had worked diligently over the course of two days to wrestle with the proposals sent to it by the Board of Directors and the many people who took the opportunity to present their concerns before them – as well as their own deeply held convictions (the committee was fairly evenly split on this issue) to bring something to the floor of assembly that recognized the diversity of perspectives we have in the C&MA and gave both major groups some semblance of freedom to practice what their conscience convicted them of while also being protected from what was commonly perceived as the militant agenda of the opposing viewpoint. I personally think what they came up with was brilliant – so good in fact that I won’t try to paraphrase but will relay their words to you verbatim. Here is an excerpt from their preamble to the issue of ordination:

While the Board has wisely framed the motion on ordination based on policy and practice in the Alliance, it became very clear in our discussions that we held very different views on the appropriate roles and limits for women in ministry. As soon as we use labels we bring in unwanted baggage. However, in a desire to describe our journey and recognizing the danger of using terms loosely, it can be said that Committee discussion divided along what we might call complementarian and egalitarian lines. In general, complementarians read gender passages through the lens of headship while egalitarians read the same passages through the lens of mutual submission. Both positions are deeply rooted in Scripture and a Biblical perspective which rejects the secular versions of male domination and rights-based feminism with which they are so often conflated. It is the prayer of your Committee that persons and churches holding both these views and also longing to be people transformed by Christ and transforming Canada and the world will continue to find a home in this family of Churches.

  

As we celebrate 125 years of Alliance history, it may be helpful to look to an important precedent. In 1906, the Alliance came together, much as we are here, in a Conference for Prayer and Counsel Respecting Uniformity in the Testimony and Teaching of the Alliance. At this Conference they talked about how to preach and teach the Fourfold Gospel, but significantly they also defined “Open Questions.” Issues on which they would agree to disagree. Two of these included subjects and modes of baptism, and Calvinism and Arminianism. These are not inconsequential issues. Those that believe in infant as opposed to believer’s baptism, or free will as opposed to predestination are grounded in traditions of biblical understanding that are not only deeply held but mutually exclusive. Yet for the Alliance these were not issues that would divide, but in the language of 1906 Alliance people would “agree to differ” and to hold to their own convictions “in mutual charity.” This approach is what it has meant to be Alliance historically and we long for this attitude to inform the current debate.

  

Much of the discomfort which was expressed to us, and indeed which individual members of the committee have expressed, is that the motion on ordination is taking us somewhere we are not sure we want to go. Anxiety was expressed, both by those who might be labeled complementarians and egalitarians, that their deeply held views were being marginalized and not heard in the present debate. In our discussions, this became apparent in the characterization of opposing positions which, often inadvertently and sometimes intentionally, questioned the faith and integrity of the other side. Many apologies were made as the theme of mutual respect emerged. Through this process the Committee came to the conviction that the way forward for the Alliance as a movement of churches is to create an environment in which both complementarian and egalitarian churches and individuals feel that their convictions are truly valued and respected. A beginning step on this journey to fully accepting and valuing our differences is in the creation of officially sanctioned statements that provide guidance to both perspectives. This would involve amending and re-inserting into the Manual the Position Statement “The Role of Women in Ministry.” This would also involve a process to create a parallel document to be inserted in the Manual reflecting a biblical egalitarian perspective.
[Emphasis added]

What ended up being presented was a series of four resolutions. The first two were parallel resolutions that would reinstate the old statement of the role of women in ministry and amend it to include the following statement:

“The C&MA in Canada has chosen to welcome both ‘complementarian’ and ‘egalitarian’ churches into its fellowship. The following statement serves to instruct and guide our complementarian churches.”

The second resolution would direct the President to facilitate a process that would create a parallel statement that would instruct and guide our egalitarian churches. With that framework in place and those protections for both side established the Committee would bring forward the two motions recommended by the Board of Directors:

1.       That the word “persons” be substituted for the word “men” within the Ordination Policy.

2.       That  the General Assembly instruct  the Board of Directors to carry out over the next two years an analysis that will identify the necessary pathways to the implementation of the amended ordination policy.

Debate on the first resolution started in earnest at 8:30 in the morning, but before too long a motion was made to table the motion on re-inserting the policy statement and to move to the question of ordination instead. That motion passed and debate then shifted to the question of ordination. It went back and forth for a while and eventually debate was extended and limited with a question to be called at 12:15pm. At 12:15 when the debate was closed a motion was made to call for a secret ballot on the motion recognizing that emotions were running high and unity was fragile. The motion was approved and the vote would take place upon the reconvening of business after lunch.

When we came together in the afternoon we began by voting on the ordination question and then moved directly into the presidential speeches and the election of our next leader. There was an obvious mutual respect and admiration between the four candidates and in a sign of unity each one of them was introduced and prayed for by another candidate when he came up to speak. Each of the four candidates presented a compelling vision for the future of our movement and in the end I would have been happy to see any of them elected to the office.

When the speeches were done we cast ballots for the president, the Board of Directors and acclaimed the executive of the Nominating Committee for Assembly 2014. After a brief recess we changed rooms and reconvened to hear the results.

David Hearn was elected our next President of the C&MA in Canada by a narrow majority on the first ballot.

The four nominees for the BOD were affirmed.

And by a vote of 380 to 281 the resolution to affirm the ordination of women in the C&MA was approved.

Assembly had time to conduct one final item of business before we adjourned for the day which was to task the president to implement the new policy (with a removal of the reference to ‘two years’) and then we were done transacting business and off to supper.

In the evening we had the always highly anticipated missions rally where the service was focused on our global ministries and International Workers. As with the rest of this assembly we highlighted justice and compassion issues related to global missions and we were treated to an inspiring message by Vijay Krishnan – pastor of The Upper Room church in the Toronto area.

After that eventful day I’m exhausted. Tomorrow morning is our healing and communion service and after lunch is the final business session. In the evening is the installation service for our new President and then assembly is done. I haven’t made up my mind but I’m inclined to say that we will be leaving Winnipeg after the healing service and not participating in the rest of assembly as we have to get home – so this might be the last update I post. Thanks for following along and please continue to pray for our movement of churches as we move into the next era of our life.

God Bless,

Chris

General Assembly Update 2

Thursday of General Assembly began with the business session that everyone had been anticipating since before we all gathered in Winnipeg. The second reading of the Committee on Nominations was read and then the sitting committees of Assembly (Credentials, Finance, Strategic Plan and General Legislation) each reported to the floor with what they had put together over the last couple days of review, deliberation and prayer.

The first substantive recommendation that came to the floor was from the Committee on Strategic Plan. I was a recommendation that the President bring clarity to the roles and responsibilities of local churches, church leaders and International Workers within the framework of the Seamless Link covenant. The committee was made aware (as was Assembly) that International Workers are now being required to enter into Seamless Link covenants with local churches before they are being permitted to return to the field after their scheduled home assignments and that ministry funding for our International Workers who had entered into Seamless Link covenants was no longer to be supported out of the Global Advance Fund. The GAF would cover the cost of getting workers to the field and would provide their living allowance while overseas but ministry funds were to come out of the Seamless Link partnerships. It was concluded that local churches and their leaders are under-informed on these matters and we requested that the President ensure that the details and implications are clearly communicated to the churches.

After a speedy and uneventful adoption of the report of the Committee on Finance, we were exhorted to come before God in prayer and seek the Holy Spirit for guidance, wisdom and unity before we opened up the recommendations brought to the floor by the committee on General Legislation. We broke into small groups and humbled ourselves before God seeking those things. Afterward we got down to business with the first recommendation brought to the assembly floor. It was this:

Board Recommendation #1 States:

                That the Board of Directors be authorized to hold Assembly 2014 outside of Canada.

Resolution #1

                The committee recommends the adoption of the Board of Directors Recommendation #1

This was a motion to give the BOD permission to explore and pursue the option of once again holding assembly outside of Canada as it was in 2010. The rationale given was that it was considered a positive experience by those who attended and that the connected short-term missions opportunities provided a “life-changing” experience for delegates who took part.

Right off the bat several people spoke articulately against the motion citing issues such as cost, timing, deliberative participation, and the intent and purpose of this assembly. It was noted that the timing of Assembly 2010 which was moved out of the usual summer months to save money on travel and accommodations became an impediment for our official workers and valued theologians at Ambrose University College as the revised dates fell into the middle of the semester. And I also spoke against the motion because I was concerned both by the diminishment of the witness of Assembly within Canada to the communities in which it is regularly held, and because we have not as of yet taken the opportunity to hold Assembly in Calgary since Ambrose University College’s relocation – and as a result many of our constituents have not become acquainted with our schools who are such a big partner of the denomination.

Several others spoke in favour of the motion citing such reasons as the increased and important focus on global missions, the accessibility for international workers and the ready connections that launch from an overseas Assembly to short term mission trips. It was noted that attendance was also only nominally lower for Assembly in Turkey than it was this year in Winnipeg (even though a representative from the Committee on Credentials later  acknowledged that there were significantly fewer official workers in Turkey than there are this year in Winnipeg).

In the end the motion was voted on and the results were too close for a voiced vote, and then it was determined that the results were too close to call on raised hands. A division of the assembly was called for and the Tellers counted delegates as they stood to declare their support (or non support) for the motion. After the numbers were tabulated it was announced that the motion had passed by a very narrow margin and that the BOD is now authorized to take Assembly 2014 outside of Canada if they so desire.

That was all the business we had time for on Thursday morning. The meeting was adjourned and we all headed off to lunch.

After lunch was the time that was set aside for break-out sessions on seminar topics that had been selected when delegates registered for Assembly. I attended two different sessions, the first one entitled “Greenhouses” was about identifying, encouraging and mobilizing emerging leaders and the second one was a lecture on a Biblical Theology of Wealth and Poverty. The first session was beneficial, but the second session stood out as extremely impactful and I would not at all be surprised if some of the material, and questions raised in that seminar finds its way into a preaching series within the next year – this is stuff that we in Estevan NEED to hear.

The evening was capped off by another worship service focused again on Justice and Compassion. This evening we heard about the National Women’s Ministry project centering around Defend Dignity from Glendyne Gerrard, and then our speaker was Lorna Dueck – a popular and well respected television journalist who is also a member of our Alliance Family and an advocate for justice and compassion issues. Lorna was both insightful and (once again) very challenging. Many people were prompted by the Holy Spirit to respond to her call and make a decision to live the Gospel out for others.

Myself and Aaron signing the agreements with Lorne Geil, Dan Jensen and Steve Kerr witnessing

One of the most exciting parts of the day for me was the opportunity to sign our first "5^th S" agreement with the Ancaster Dundas Church Plant in Hamilton, ON. We as a church have agreed to partner in the style of a seamless link covenant with a church being planted by Rev. Aaron Gerrard (who many of you may remember from last year’s family camp) and to take them on as a special responsibility and opportunity to be involved in crucial church multiplication ventures within Canada. Aaron and his wife Shalene will be joining us on July 15 in our worship service where Aaron will be speaking about church planting and the vision of ADCP after which he and Shalene will be available for a Q&A time with the congregation. You can obtain a copy of the agreement here if you want to know more, and read the first Ancaster/Dundas newsletter here. Please plan on attending that service to learn more about this exciting opportunity we are involved in.

Well it’s now fairly late and I’m ready to head to bed. Business continues tomorrow first thing in the morning and I’ll do my best to update you again after the day’s activities. Please keep praying.

God Bless,

Chris

General Assembly Update

General Assembly is in full swing and it’s time to report back to the home front what exactly has been going on at this event. Thanks so much to the family of Estevan Alliance Church for sending us as your delegates to this, the 17^th General Assembly of the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada. Lots of great things have been happening and a lot of important business is being transacted for our family of churches.

Pastor Waylon, Jean Morris, Joanne Greenwood and I left Estevan bright and early on Monday morning – in the midst of the storm to drive to Winnipeg where Waylon and I had meetings to attend on Monday afternoon. Jean and Joanne (who you have graciously and wisely sent as intercessors to pray over the proceedings) attended the missions reception on Monday evening and we all got some good sleep – grateful for the air conditioning in our hotel rooms in a very muggy Winnipeg.

Dr. Franklin Pyles and his wife Gay

On Tuesday Jean and Joanne attended a widely praised, day-long seminar on discipleship while Waylon had more meetings with the youth pastors hosted by the national youth team and I began the long task of committee work, serving on the committee for strategic plan. That afternoon Dan Jensen and Lorne Geil rolled into town to join the crew and General Assembly began in earnest with a special celebration banquet for the ministry and work of our outgoing president Dr. Franklin Pyles.

Wednesday morning was the first business session of the Assembly as we heard and received the first reading of the president’s report (Which you can access here along with all other pre-assembly reports) and the preliminary reading of the report of the committee on nominations which revealed the candidates for the position of the next president of the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada. The nominees presented were Rev. David Hearn (the official nominee put forward by the committee) who currently serves as the District Superintendent of the Pacific District (B.C.), Rev. Dr. Ken Driedger who recently completed serving for twelve years as the District Superintendent in Alberta, Rev. Dr. Ric Gilbertson who has spent most of his career as an International Worker and is currently the Co-Director of Converge (the program for mobilization and development of new international workers), and Rev. Gerald Hogenbirk who currently serves as a regional developer for the Silk Road region in the Global Ministries department of the C&MA. You can find out more about the candidates and read their profiles here.

On Wednesday afternoon while I went back to the woodshed of committee work, our delegates participated in round table discussions about the future of missions funding and the role and definition of ordination in the Christian and Missionary Alliance. The results of those discussions were forwarded to the committee on General Legislation as they worked on crafting legislation to respond to the questions put to Assembly by the Board of Directors and the constituency.  The major issue for discussion this year at General Assembly is Ordination. The Board of Directors has put together a very helpful and informative website to explain the issue here and I’d encourage you to explore it if you are interested in knowing more about how this issue got to the floor of Assembly. I’d especially encourage you to take the time to watch the videos because they say things very plainly and directly.

Wednesday evening was a worship service featuring what was Dr. Franklin Pyles’ last message as President of the movement, and eschewing his notorious (and subject of much loving-ridicule the previous night) suit and tie for a t-shirt and jeans, Dr. Pyles gave us both barrels in a deeply challenging message on Justice and Compassion issues – challenging the congregation and our churches to repent of our Christian narcissism and to live up to the identity that we have in Christ to be a movement that reaches the world with the whole Gospel.

That is Assembly to the end of Wednesday night. I’ll update this blog a little later with the events of Thursday and beyond – but please continue to pray for us as we seek to be a Spirit-led body that does the Lord’s work here this week and as we wrestle with contentious but important issues of theology, leadership and direction for the future of our movement.

Blessings on your day,

Chris