The Least of These

If you'd have asked me a month ago what draws me to certain ministries, relationships, people - I'd have likely said something about a sense of compassion or call to 'the least of these' (Mt. 25)


But my trip to Winnipeg as a team leader for an inner city service trip revealed something to me... I am the 'least of these.' I'm drawn to people I can identify with. I'm most comfortable around those who are broken and unashamed, and I'm least comfortable in situations where the expectation is that we all have our act together and we don't let anyone see the cracks in the facade. So, while there's compassion no matter what, its not so much about being drawn to people for missional reasons as it is about looking for people to identify with. It is so freeing to be around people who don't expect certain behaviours and patterns. I love being in that space, and long to create more of those spaces around me. (my kids would love for me to have fewer expectations!!)


There's a theological twist to this revelation; I used to believe God had randomly acted in my life, my sisters lives, because of His love and our need... period. We'd been identified by his spiritual radar system as helpless and needy, so He helped. So, it makes sense that I identified my own offering of compassion and love in a similar way...


Its not so much like that, though.


Jesus was the 'least of these', too. He was also just being with the people who were most like him and not welcomed by those who thought they had it all figured out. And so His presence and action are most obvious in the places where He can identify with broken, rejected people, and they can identify with Him. And its least obvious in places when the priority is on being put together, successful.


Do you want to meet Jesus? Go to the places where what we define as 'success' is least evident. He's there already.

Project Club

A fun thing we have started is a Project Club... It is a great way to get to some of those things that never get done around the house. Ours has four members. We have only gotten together once so far; I was the lucky one to be first :) I'm looking forward to the projects we're planning. (even the doors!)

We did some organizing and sorting in my 'pantry'. (A job that has been on the back burner since I moved!)

Thanks, ladies.. I still smile every time I go to find things in there! And Owen continues to be creative about finding the chocolate chips! When is our next date? Lisa?

Words and Actions

I've been wondering quite a bit about a lot of things lately.. here's one. I hope some of you will comment with your thoughts and enlighten me with wise insights...


How have you responded at times when the words and actions of others in your life haven't matched? How about when the incongruence has a direct (non positive) impact on you?

Team Winnipeg, Final update...

I am not wearing mittens to type this, and I've had a long, HOT shower in the last 24 hours ... so I'm not at the Vineyard in Wpg. anymore, I"m sitting on my cozy, soft bed!!

We came home late last night, and my final job as leader of Team Winnipeg was to return our van to S'toon this morning. (well, almost afternoon!!) - which was followed by a nice breakfast out with my husband. (actually, I think there are a few more responsibilities this semester...)

In our debrief, we tried to come up with one word to summarize our thoughts/insights after the week... here they are:

Present... Fulfill.... Unity... Evident... Community ...

Active... Presence... Responding...

Processing... Love.... life changing...

awakening... growing

It really was a great time of learning and serving.

A couple of other random thoughts, especially for the team :

• Tori left a snickers bar in the front seat of the van, which I am presently enjoying. Snickers DOES satisfy. I will reluctantly share the bar with my nice husband.
• Harvey, you better be logging on to Facebook on Monday.
• I hope there are no UNPLEASANT experiences as you return to studies on Monday. A booter, for example, would be quite unpleasant. And I hope you all wear your seatbelts at all times.
• Thanks for your kindess and love for Sydney, you guys facilitated a wonderful experience for her!!
• The 'north side' has left an impression on each of you... I feel really thankful to have been part of the experience.

Who can guess what the "M" is for?!?!

Team Winnipeg update #3

Hi everyone! Team Winnipeg is in the middle of Wednesday and we are still having a great time here in the -50C weather! No joke, its really that cold with the wind chill. Since we haven't blogged since Monday, it seems we have a little catching up to do! By the way, if you want to feel sorry for us, we've been staying in a wonderful OLD building that is quite drafty. Some of us walk around with blankets and mittens when we're chilling out in our 'off' time. It IS that cold inside the building. The bathrooms are the freezing-ist places of all.

Hey its Tori! I have been having an amazing week here in Winnipeg and I have learned a whole lot about myself, the Church and about inner-city. After doing a lot of learning and processing the team has had many chances this week to put our passions and desires into action. On Tuesday morning we hung around the drop-in right here at the Vineyard. We got the chance to talk with a lot of people and to hear some great stories. For most people, all they need is someone to listen and they will begin to pour out their life story. They have incredible stories and lives. The evening was spent at Inner-City Youth Alive, where we hung out at their youth drop-in. The kids there are so tough, or at least their masks appear that way. I got the chance to go hang out at the Car Club that was happening downstairs. Car Club is a place where people from the community get to build race cars and ice racers. The kids that are involved in the club are from the community; kids that get picked on or don't really fit in at the drop-in. The atmosphere in that place was so different from the drop-in. The kids loved talk and I made a sweet connection with a girl named Caitlyn. I am excited to see her again tonight at a hockey game that some of us are going to with the kids from Car Club. I love being on the "North Side" and I am going to have a hard time leaving here on Friday. I can't believe there is only 1 1/4 days left!

Nick here,
I just wanted to say how amazing God is... the things he is doing in winnipeg and the way he is working in the lives of our group members is just amazing. We have been all over the place working with all ages and yesterday was one of the best days of the trip. We started off the day with by going to the drop-in centre and drinking coffee and having lunch with some of the people living around the vineyard here, and it was 'meat' day. Once a month the vineyard church gives away meat to the guys and girls around the community that come to the drop-in. They really blessed me, I got to speak with a guy named Bryan and he was a native man who taught me his language. He started telling me some of the bible stories, and he would start off by saying them in his own language and then he would tell it to me in English. He told me the story of Noah, and of Samson, and he wrote down some of his alphabet to share with me. I hope to be able to see him on Thursday again and learn some more of his stories, as well as connect with some of the other people at the drop-in. Then after this in the evening we went to the 13 and up drop-in center, which normally cuts off at 18 but some they let keep coming. Anyway, so they organized a floor hockey tournament and a pool tournament and also have a car club in the basement which Tori has already touched on. I was a goalie in the tournament and it was a real blessing for me, because they really reminded me of myself as a young teen, and growing up in sports and wanting to be all the pros and living in another reality almost. It really blessed me to see these kids as myself looking in a mirror. So that was kind of the day yesterday and with only one full day left I am excited to see what else God has in store for the rest of the trip.

Thanks everyone for reading (This is kelly posting now).. we're really blessed by the encouragements we've gotten from the Bethany staff and community!! We appreciate your prayers and have a strong sense of how important they are. There have been some tough things happening in the North End recently; a couple of shootings affected many of the youth involved at the drop in we were at, and it was such a blessing to hear the staff and regular volunteers discuss how the kids that were present seemed to be gathering together to grieve and escape some harsh realities. One of the kids I knew from a long time ago.. not so much of a kid anymore; a 23 year old woman with a very sweet daughter - was grieving the loss of her boyfriend who was killed on the weekend - joined the drop in youth to catch up with me and we had a great visit as well as a chance to pray and cry together. I was so blessed by the opportunity to be with her!!
More than anything else, the team has had the chance to see where and how God is very much at work in the inner city. There has been as much education and exploration as there has been service and volunteering.
We will be tired by Friday - but I'm not sure anyone is ready to leave!

Team Winnipeg.. update 2.5 ?!? (... just photos ...)

Yup.. we're here. old friends... new friends.



... The Preacher.. we had a time of sharing and communion at my sister's house.

We like Harvey's desk.

Someone's Journal...

Winnipeg update #2

Hey it's team Winnipeg again! AKA Cel and Kel here to give you a genuine update on the life and times of the bustling city. :)

So it's Kelly (Bart) here. The missions trip has been a huge learning experience thus far. I feel so blessed to have a team that is so supportive throughout all the experiences we've had. There have been times of encouragement where God's presence has been clearly evident, and other times when our team has witnessed things we never thought we would. It has all been a time of learning and our team will usually have a community journalling time at the end of the day when we are able to have some intense discussions. Most of these revolve around love, justice, and the church. A highlight of the trip was spurred by the conversation we had the first night. It came on the third night when the guys surprised the girls by buying us roses and telling us how loved and beautiful each of us is. We are learning how to incorporate love into our everyday lives and what being a Christian truly involves, which is more than most people had thought at first. The trip has been a turbulent mixture of emotions, trying and uncomfortable times, and fun team bonding and I am excited to see what the rest of the week will bring! Over and out.

Eh it's Celeste! Oh my lanta I don't even know how to start talking about this trip. As Kelly said we've already had so much fun and a plethora of "revelations" (according to Nick), I can't even believe that we've only been here for three full days. So while me and Kelly are all nice and warm in this office the rest of the team is in the garage of Inner City Youth Alive sorting old bikes and things that have been in storage since they had a fire in their workshop a few months ago. Tonight I think the plans are to meet with some friends of both Kelly D. and Harvey (our sort-of-tour-guide-leader-guy for this trip). I think one of the biggest lessons I've learnt on this trip is how God's plans are so seldom our own. The biggest blessings have happened when we've stopped what we're doing and just listen to God and adjust our plans accordingly. Last night was a good example. We went to a couple's house who had both previously worked at Inner City and we had dinner and just hung out. I don't think anyone expected anything more than that but as we were getting ready to leave people just started opening up and the night turned into an intense time of prayer and connections. Well I'm too tired to think of anything else to say so I'll hand it over to our fearless leader. Peace.

This is Kelly D.. and ... fearless? not so sure if that is fitting, but I must say I LOVE THE NORTH END OF WINNIPEG!! This trip has reconnected me with some intense emotions from back in the day when I worked with the organization our team is connecting with.. My heart is so at home here, and I've been startled at some of the events our team feels unsure about, because my steps in this place are sure and confident. THis is the place where I learned to rely fully on the Lord each and every day... Re-establishing that familiar connection on familiar streets - even with familiar faces - feels right and good.... but also brings many other mixed up emotions, too!!!

Keep reading and checking the blog .. we've still got many things planned. We're looking forward to making a meal for a group tonight.. pray with us that we'd learn from the people we meet and have sweet fellowship together. (By the way, that has been an intense lesson for us on this trip.. realizing that our time is much less about bringing or offering something we possess, but instead learning more about the depth and beauty of God from people in very different circumstances. We've quickly realized that much more is being offered to us than we could offer to others....)

Appreciate your prayers!!! Please pray for all the teams in Calgary, Saskatoon, Kelowna, northern SK, and Peru. If we can pray for you, let us know!! Take care..

Team Winnipeg Update #1

Hey Everyone;
Thanks for checking in to see what we're up to. I've asked two members of Team Winnipeg to share a few thoughts of the trip so far...

hey its Aleah, i am really enjoying my experience here in Winnipeg. This is my home city so it has been really great to see another side of Winnipeg even though it is a very broken part of it. But I also feel that there is a sense of hope and it is great to see the way that God is working in this place. I am a bit nervous and excited about the things that God is going to do with our team on this trip if we have ears to listen. Please keep us in your prayers.

Yo it's Chris, what to say about Winnipeg? Well so far it's been a real eye opening experience. There is so much that i did not know about inner city communities and poverty. There is so much history in an inner city community about how they came to be filled with poverty and why they are the way they are. It was interesting to go on a tour of the north end of Winnipeg and have Harvey tell us the history of it. Another thing that this trip has been showing me and a lot of the rest of the team is how the church is doing stuff in the inner cities, but there are so many churches that are just standing by and doing nothing or very little. That is very sad to see and most of us on the team feel it needs to be changed. It's only been less than 2 days and we have grown so much as a team and have learnt so much. I'm excited to see what is going to happen in the rest of the week.

Of course.. I have to add my 2c....
I'm writing this from the office of one of the Vineyard Pastors. He happened to pop into the kitchen as we were preparing our lunch. He asked us what the rest of the day holds... we told him we're making our lunch, and a few extra sandwiches to go and deliver to some of the folks in the neighborhood around us.
In a very gentle way, he reminded us that there is less dignity in delivering sandwiches than there would be in, say... sharing lunch with someone. After chatting with him for a second, I aske the team how we could change our plans to respond better to the community around us... we envisioned ourselves sharing a sandwich in the freezing cold with someone, and realized that offering a warm and cozy place might be an even better response. So, we're reorganizing our plans, and three of us are just going to go walking and see who we can invite for lunch back at the Vineyard.

I think the way the pastor we spoke to put it was something like this: always remember to look for the hidden beauty in the 'poor' --- and while you're at it, don't forget about the hidden brokenness in the 'rich'....

We're two days in and we have already made many connections (with people and in our own minds). We are on a beautiful journey.. thanks for your prayers. We have already learned much about the three things we're trying to explore on this trip:

• Hope
• Poverty
• Relationships

Until next time...
Kelly, for the team

Show all

a mission-y update :)

Very bright and very early Thursday morning, there will be several teams of students from Bethany College heading out to various inner city communities in Western Canada... equipped and ready to serve, learn, observe, and experience.

I have the privilege of leading team Winnipeg, and we are looking very forward to our time in that city!!! Our service starts with a scavenger hunt and neighborhood tour on Friday morning. (Yes, we are going the farthest... we will be in the van for about 10 hours on Thursday!!!) (Although, Kelowna has to be about the same distance? Maybe Dave is a crazy driver who won't obey speed limit rules like I plan to?!)

We'll be based out of Inner City Youth Alive, with a wonderful host named Harvey to show us the sights and make sure we're on schedule and kept busy. We look forward to hanging out at the Vineyard, ICYA programs, meeting with inner city missionaries and residents, working at drop in centres and even a DEMOLITION project!! Whoo-hoo! (You can be sure there will be pictures of THAT shown in chapel!!)

Some notes about Team Winnipeg:

We are: Chris, Thea, Aleah, Kelly, Sydney, Celeste, Nick, Richard, Kelly, and Tori.

During our team times, we made a word picture of our experiences/relationship with God: (a one word description)

Beautiful, Redeemer, Faithful, Love, Provider, Indescribable, Cool, Constant, Love
(Thanks Chris!)

Some of what we're hoping to explore and learn about is:

• understanding what poverty is (or isn't)
• how is God at work in the inner city of Winnipeg?
• how can we support that work during our short time there?
• what can we learn from the experiences of missionaries and residents of the inner city community?

Check this blog a few times in the coming week... we'll keep you updated on our time. Who knows... there may even be guest bloggers....

We'd love it you'd pray for us on our trip!

Also: Stay posted on the Bethany senior students trip to Peru....

small world

sometimes we find out that someone we know is connected to someone else we know, and it reminds us just how small the world is... What's the philosophy I've heard? Six degrees of separation?!?!? It's good to be reminded about the ways that we're connected. It's good to find common relationships and experiences - they build bridges between people and foster community.

.... but what about how we're connected because our actions have an impact on others? we're connected because the smile you offered to the stranger on in the parking lot made him less annoyed when I cut him off in traffic. I offer to do an errand or a favor for you, and suddenly you have time for a less distracted conversation when your mom or sister calls. A neighbor shovels your driveway, and your kids enjoy a longer, more relaxed playtime... it all goes around beautifully... and mostly without being noticed.

or, more deeply; our actions impact each other because your love, compassion and acceptance help healing and trust to grow in my life. I encourage you and you feel increasingly confident and courageous. We talk to each other about God and both of our spiritual lives are enhanced.

It seems like every thing we do - big, little, in between - affects others.

It's good to be reminded of this!

... how about when our actions have an impact that is not desired or less than positive? When something that you do affects my life, changes my circumstances, or creates a burden that I have to respond to even though I didn't choose it? What then? Now, the small world is not so warm or fuzzy, right? Now, we wish it were a more anonymous, private world - we long to protect ourselves from each other. We're tempted to think people aren't worth the bother. Lots of us live with shades of this response affecting all of their relationships.

But what happened to that beautiful interconnected-ness - it's only beautiful if it is positive? If things are going well, if I'm getting what I want? If you do what I think you should do, and if we all feel accepted by eachother?

Or is the potential of carrying an unwanted burden a fair price to pay in order to have the opportunity to experience the beautiful things about relationships? Does the potential of having to respond to situations we wouldn't have chosen create opportunity for more than stronger relationships - isn't it also an opportunity for growth as people? .... to be increasingly shaped, increasingly compassionate, increasingly forgiving, increasingly loving? ... and can those things grow as beautiful in soil that wasn't fortified with sorrow and difficulty?

Isn't carrying the burdens of others actually a privilege?

It is a small, connected world, and I'm thankful for the opportunity to engage - to ENTER IN - and to be part of what God is doing, where He's working.. whether I like what's happening or not. I'm increasingly aware of what a lie it is to believe that we have no impact and that our decisions don't affect others. It really is a small world.

I'm also wanting to be less concerned about expecting outcomes that are part of my plan .... and more open to letting the things that are going on shape and prepare me.

2008

2008 - The year in review..everyone seems to be reflective like this, so I'm joining in. I didn't plan on doing a post right now.. but I'm enjoying a rare moment of ..

'hmmm.. what should I do?' .... Start the new book I've been saving? Journal? Think about what we loved in 2008? So here goes... Hot coffee and quiet house are such a nice combination. (the hot coffee is frequent, the quiet house - not so much!!)

Best memories:

• Lorrie and Paul's visit in January (especially enjoying our life-in-Hepburn with them!)
• Karen and Bry's visit in the Spring (especially because they brought Dustin and it was our first great visit with new baby Haily) (especially searching for pine cones on walks and going to the park with Eryka)
• Our summer trip to Manitoba - taking three days to do what we customarily do in one. stopping much along the way.
• Getting ready for the HMB Retreat with Lisa. Great conversations and insights.
• OTTER FALLS!!! (as always!)
• All sorts of Bethany things - students, growing in gift awareness, engaging and entering into the work of God there
• The Russell Inn - hoping this becomes an annual event. Laughter is good for the soul. So are sisters.

Best Books

• Pillars of the Earth - Follett (I'm about to embark on the sequel... that's the book I've been saving :)
• The Source - Michener
• The Gospel of Mark and Tim Geddert's MARK comentary
• Hope's Edge - Lappe and Lappe (currently only 3/4 complete but definitely in the top books list - I know I'll be posting more about this in 2009!!)
  

Best community

• Supper Club
• Collaborative Journals
• Praying Ladies :) (the weekly Bishop's chair rotation)
• Canada AM and Connie twice per week (but the duck poop swamp walks in the outdoors were better!!)
• impromptu visits with Jess, meals shared in the city, the Dueck's deck and bbq suppers
• being able to have time with lots of wonderful little people (also called babysitting)
• small group - with other families and the one with the Sr. girls
• the kids' sleepovers with their friends almost every weekend.
• Zofia and family for Christmas visit
• Christmas with the Shields' - a great first Christmas sans famille et sans long standing traditions