A day in the life...

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween everyone!

This morning was was our weekly YWAM staff meeting. We decided, in the spirit of building and developing our community, to have a less formal meeting and all bring something for a brunch. We all showed up with dishes, or tupperware full of yummys. There was a breakfast casserole, pancakes, pumpkin bread, fruit salad and a big pile of bacon! Of course, the coffee was flowing, but this morning the coffee creamer was pumpkin spice flavour - we like to be seasonally relevant(!)

Our time was spent in good conversation, and I felt totally at ease with us as a group. I know that we are going to be just fine, wherever God is taking us as YWAM, we as a community will be just fine.

There continues to be lots of conversations about what the next DTS will look like, tomorrow night some of us are going to eat dinner with another local community called 'Mustard Seed'. I look forward to hearing more about what they are doing. It feels like they are a few steps ahead of us, and rather then trying to start from scratch we should take this opportunity to learn from others around us.

I have also started working on the Mission Trip I am planning through Bethany to Mississippi. It will happen over the college spring break week in March, and will be mostly focused on poverty relief. We will be working in a very poor community and helping them wherever we can. We aim to promote the trip to skilled labourers too, and hope that we will be able to do some real building projects during our time.

I met with the church Youth Pastor, and heard his plans for the trip he will take to Costa Rica this summer. it was great to hear the plans. I also met with Megan who has led the Mississippi trip before, and will lead with me this March, and there are some huge differences in how they are approaching these short term missions. I am really seeing the need for there to be some standards set for short term mission trips through Bethany.

I think these standards will help offer a sense of consistency and this way people can know what to expect when they sign up to be a par t of a team.

The longer I am at Bethany the more I am seeing how little missions is an interest to the general congregation. Now I know that missions doesn't get everyone jumping up and down with excitement, but I think the real issue is that people do not know what's happening. With the Missions committee, I am trying to come up with ways to 'advertise' what is happening within the missions department.

We are such a huge church, weekly attendance of almost 1200 people a week, and yet I know the most effective ways share and to get people involved is through relationship. This could be a pitfall but I am choosing to see it as simply God's challenge to me. I believe he is using me. I am glad to have the space to try new things and work with them to make them fit the needs of Bethany.

The weather continues to get colder, and there has been a pretty fog to wake up to in the morning. It will not be long before it is time to bring out my heavy duty winter coat!! The pumpkins are EVERYWHERE, silly smiling faces looking at you as you walk down the street, what a strange season! However the pumpkin treats, such as the pumpkin spice lattes and the pumpkin chocolate chip bread, or the pumpkin red lentil curry are all very much appreciated, and again, it is only culturally sensitive for me to chow down whenever I get the opportunity!

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Thoughts by the fire (and thank you's...)

I am sitting at the dining room table in my house from here I can feel the warmth and hear the crackle of the fire burning in the fireplace. I LOVE this time of year!

Today was wet and windy, and I spent the afternoon looking after two of my favoutire little boys, Noah (10 months) and Micah (14 months). At one point, i knew it had started raining because of the loud drone as the drops hit the pavement with such force. I opened the door so the boys could see the rain, and after a few chorous's of 'Rain, rain go away' and 'It's raining, It's pouring', we closed it again and retreated onto the couch. There we snuggled up and read stories for about a half hour - having two little guys, especially these two, sitting still for that long is pretty amazing, and was a precious time for me. Just so peaceful.

I am excited to tell you a little more of the dicussions we have been having as YWAM Seattle. It has been a very uncertain season, as I am sure you have gathered from my emails and blogs, but i am hopeful that this time is coming to an end.
We seem clear and in agreement that we want to run a DTS next year. We are also sure that this school will look very different from our others and are excited as well as a little nervous as we start to create a vision statement and work towards finding the practical steps we need to take to make this happen.

We believe that as we live together in community and with purpose, we are a light in our neighbourhood, and our city. As we move forward with planning the school, we are also seeing the importance of putting some more words or definition to us as a YWAM community.

I am really praying for God's direction and more of his heart as I continue to work with Bethany Community Church and especially for the Aurora community. Every day as I walk to the church or around the lake, as I ride the bus, or get coffee I am around hurting people. From the homeless man who walks along my street with a plastic bag hat, to the insecure college student, from the little old lady that sits at the coffee cart at the lake every day to the kids going to school. So many people, each one with a different story...

Seattle is one of the least churched cities in the US (We fight for the title with Portland) It is a place that many homeless young people seem to end up. After being rejected as they drift across America, they somehow end up in the North West, in Seattle and then find acceptence from others in the same position. More conversations than I would like to hear include a story of being rejected, humiliated and abused in someway by the 'Church' or someone representing Jesus. Our ministry here cannot only be about telling people about the freedom that is found in Christ because people have already experienced the opposite. They often know more about faith and Christianity than many Christians I know, but things have been so tainted by the way Jesus has been falesly represented that they cannot believe.

We have to build trust through true relationship and by living life well. Loving and caring for oneanother in a way that shows Christ's love. We must restore hope in the hearts of the people of this city. We must invite others to live alongside us, and we must be transparent. We mustn't be afraid of rejection, but instead have integrity as we share about grace, by giving it freely.

As my desire to mobilise the church as a whole into action continues to grow and take shape, I am realising how vital it is that our ministries begin at home, with our families and our neighbours. We are called to reach out to the poor, the widows and the orphans, but we also called to love our neighbours. I want followers of Christ to get out into the Aurora neighbourhood and serve hot meals to the poor, but it must be partnered with walking next door and inviting the neighbours over for dinner, or offering to babysit or do a DIY project. I want to encourage people to really do something that involves sharing everyday life. It doesn't seem right to go out one evening a month to tutor disadvantaged children in the poor neighbourhood, or serve food at the soup kitchen, and tick that off as doing our part in the great commission. That feels more like we are serving for our benefit?

Volunteering in these ways is far from bad, infact it is a great blessing when done with the right heart. However it can't stop there, otherwise we are just another 'do-gooder' just another person who one night a month pulls out our God card. A person who makes their faith known as the reason they are serving but then goes home and yells at their family or continues an affair, or struggles with addiction all behind closed doors. This is when a seperation happens between Loving Jesus and acting like we are religious - just like the pharasees.

We are all guilty of this to some degree I am sure, I know I am. It is hard to be honest about our struggles. I think part of that might even be to do with our own expectations of what a Christian should look like. We want to be seen as perfect because deep down we think we have to be - our lives should be perfect because we are Christians, right? Please know that this is a journey I think I will always be on untill I am in heaven, learning to live in the freedom of Christ, embracing that I am fully known and fully loved, while being very aware of all my faults at the same time. However, I have had glimpses of what this freedom can be like, and I know it is the true Good news of the gospel. This is what I want people to know about my Jesus; His love, his forgiveness, his redemption and his freedom.

My prayer is that as I live life with others, they will see me. A complete person, who has as many struggles as victories, who laughs and cries, who doesn't have all the answers, but knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that she is loved and forgiven. I want my life to truly be a testimony of God's mercy.

My ministry in Seattle has taken a few different directions, but I see how God is refining me and us as YWAM Seattle. I have a peace and an excitement for what is happening and what will be as a result. I feel very blessed to be here, and have the opportunity to follow God's call on my life in this way. Thank you all so much for your faithful support. I hope you sense some ownership in the things God is doing here, because you play such a significant part in what's happening.

God Bless x

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

meetings, meetings, meetings

I have spent this week in what feels like back to back meetings. Some better than others. However, I wanted to tell you about a few I am really excited about, starting with the most recent one tonight.

I have just got home from a meeting with about 15 people, representing 4 different faith communities in the Aurora Neighbourhood. We met to talk about 'Food on Aurora'. It was a time to find out more about what these local churches were doing to get food out the people living on Aurora and to see where we can help and support one another - also making sure we are not overlapping.
At Bethany we have a small food bank/pantry and at Crosspoint Church they have 'Good Friday' ministry which takes food to the people staying in the motels on Aurora. As we talked we saw how many connections we each also had as churches with other services, food banks, drop-in centres just to name a few. I was so excited to hear all the things that are happening, and really, really excited to meet more specifically to find ways to link in Bethany Community Church to what's happening. It made me so happy to see all of us there together, not determined to make our things bigger or better, no competitiveness, just people seeking ways to serve and encourage one another as we are all striving to reach out to our community.
I am so pumped up as I write this i think it will take me a while to fall asleep as I have a million thoughts and ideas running through my mind (i am hoping blogging this might help?!) What an awesome opportunity to truly represent the body of Christ as we serve together!!

Another meeting was last night when i met with the Missions Committee at Bethany. October is Missions month at the church and we have quite a few events coming up to plan. It was the first time I had met some of the people and it was good to get to know them and see their hearts for missions. The big planning happened around our 'missionary meet and greet' it will be a time for church members to come, eat dessert and talk to some of the missionaries Bethany supports. We will have a number of our missionaries in town for that night, and i hope the event gets the support from the church that we would like!

Finally, Wednesday mornings are our YWAM staff meetings. It is hard to explain these times well (i hvae started this sentence many times but it comes out wrong) I can say that today felt like a sweet time of being honest together. Some good things were shared some really sad things and some more questions for us to figure out. Today felt like we made at least one big decision, which was to move forward with YWAM having a flat leadership structure and not a base director/leader. For many reasons this has been a hard decision to make, but personally I believe it is the right direction for us as a base to be heading. I look forward to having more information to share with you about this process in the coming weeks as we figure it out. Thanks you for your prayers for all of us YWAM folk, we appreciate it greatly.

I am now going to try and sleep...