In lieu of reading: I need to be reading, but spring break has me incredibly relaxed and my mind thinks it is summertime already. Instead of reading about using journalistic techniques to add impact to my sermons, I am going to share about me and Jeremy's summer plans.
When Jeremy and I worked camp last summer, I served as the Missions Mobilizer and spent the summer encouraging students and adults to pray, give, and go to the Roma people in Europe and the Canadians in Canada. Somewhere in between preparing for the summer and week 6 of teaching about these people groups, my heart grew heavy for our "neighbors to the north".
As the summer went on, and Jeremy heard me talk about Canada and the need for the gospel in this area in the world, something inside of his heart grew heavy for Canadians as well. We both were praying about going to Canada and did not mention it to each other until one day, Jeremy told me that we should seriously consider going there next summer. I told him I was already praying about it and he smiled...he had been doing the same.
When we got back from camp, we began looking up ministry opportunities in Canada through NAMB. We came across a church in Nova Scotia, Canada, who was looking for a married couple to come and minister to people around an island called Cape Breton.
As of now, we are in the process of raising financial support. When we go, we will serve with a local church on Cape Breton island. We will spend about five weeks there helping the pastor and his wife begin and strengthen new churches around the island. The pastor has a vision to reach out into 6 different communities around the island so Jeremy and I will be leading groups into these different areas to begin building relationships with people in order to build a community of believers. We believe that discipleship is key and will be investing a lot of our time into encouraging and discipling the people of the local church. The church will remain there after we are gone and will be able to further the gospel into the lives of the people they interact with each day. They will be the ones to disciple people and spread the gospel all across Nova Scotia and then all across Canada. Spirituality in Canada is dying quickly with the emergence of a post- modern culture.
Facts about Cape Breton:
-The church we are working with was started in 1835 and has about 120 members
-Cape Breton has about 105,000 people, but only about 1,000 believers (less than 1%)
-Within a six hour drive around the island, there are only two small evangelical churches
-Cape Breton holds one of North America's most scenic roads, the Cabot Trail (the picture above)
I will continue to give updates about our trip as the time grows closer. As for now, partner with us in prayer for the people of Cape Breton.
