Family Table FIRST PEOPLES VOICE | January 2018 The Pentecostal British Columbia & Yukon District First Peoples Newsletter
It is significant that God does not present us with salvation in the form of an abstract truth, precise definition or catchy slogan, but as story. Exodus draws us into a story with plot and characters, which is to say, with design and personal relationships. Story is an invitation to participate first through our imagination, and then, if we will, by faith – with our total lives in response to God. This Exodus story continues to be a major means by which God draws men and women who are in trouble out of the mess of history and into the kingdom of salvation. The introduction to Exodus as found in Hebrews 11:23-28 (The Message):
“By an act of faith, Moses' parents hid him away for three months after his birth. They saw the child's beauty, and they braved the king's decree. By faith, Moses, when grown, refused the privileges of the Egyptian royal house. He chose a hard life with God's people rather than an opportunistic soft life
of sin with the oppressors. He valued suffering in the Messiah's camp far greater than Egyptian wealth because he was looking ahead, anticipating the payoff. By an act of faith, he turned his heel on Egypt, indifferent to the king's blind rage. He had his eye on the One no eye can see, and kept right on going. By an act of faith, he kept the Passover Feast and sprinkled Passover blood on each house so that the destroyer of the firstborn wouldn't touch them. How does our faith benefit others? The NIV text translates part of verse 23 this way: “…they saw he was no ordinary child.” By faith, Moses’ parents took the lead because they saw the extraordinary in their baby boy. By faith they concealed their extraordinary child until a more opportune time. By faith, they overcame their fear of death. Exodus 1:22 reads,
“Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: ‘Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live’” (NIV). The small picture saw certain death. The big picture saw “Moses = drawn out.” Faithlessness will only see the temporal, whereas faithfulness will see the eternal. As
leaders, God is drawing us out of our despair and oppression to lead a people through the experience of desert shepherding. Moses’ 40 years in Midian prepared him to lead an exodus of a nation from oppression to promise. What is God using in our ministry or leadership to prepare us to lead our people to promise? Those forty years honed raw talent fueled by passion into humble, dependent, and submissive leadership. Those forty years also stripped away the shadow of the temporal that blinded the vision of the eternal God: the I AM of the burning bush. An eternal, miraculous God is prepared to confront us in our temporal private existence, far from the passion and pride of vision we began with, to reveal the empowerment of I Am. In the I Am, we find promised protection from death: “By
an act of faith, he kept the Passover Feast and sprinkled Passover blood on each house so that the destroyer of the firstborn wouldn't touch them” (The Message). By faith, as we trust God the I Am, will bring deliverance and freedom to those we lead.
If you have any prayer requests that you’d like to share with our Aboriginal Section, please email them to us and we’ll lift up our prayer requests together. Prayer requests can be emailed to: Rev. Edgar Lapeciros Rev. Dan Starlund elapeciros@bc.paoc.org waapsnagwaadm@gmail.com Executive Director for Cultural Aboriginal Section Pastor and Aboriginal Ministries
Churches without PAOC Credentialed Positions: • Metlakatla • Kispiox • Kitwancool • Anaheim Lake
MARCH 5: District Conference Aboriginal Section Meeting, Kelowna
Meeting at 10am with lunch to follow MARCH 5-7: District Conference,
Kelowna MARCH 8-10: TimeOut Next Gen Pastor Retreat, Kelowna MARCH 11-18: Aborignial Leadership Seminar, Waaps Nagwaadm Church
Pastoral Transitions: • Bella Coola
MAY 25-27: Historymaker, Chilliwack JUNE 1-2: Momentum Church Multipliers Retreat, Squamish JULY 29: ANCF (All Nations College Foundation) Graduation*, Mt. Zion
Pentecostal Chapel, Fort St. James SEPTEMBER 17-20: Aboriginal Leaders Summit, location to be confirmed *The All Nations College Foundation (ANCF)
MAY 7-10: PAOC General Conference,
provides ongoing discipleship and church planter training. For more information about individual or church training, please contact Pastor Edgar at elapeciros@bc.paoc.org or
Victoria
604-533-2232.
MARCH 30 - APRIL 1: Breaking the Chains Conference, Gingolx, BC
Please consider how you can be involved with a home missions project through financial and prayer support: • New entry for Kispiox • Love Corp (Korean summer mission) • All Nations College Foundation • YLDP (Youth Leadership Development Program) • Cross Cultural Outreach Society (serving mostly newcomers to Canada)
As we begin a new year, a reminder to everyone to please remember to continue to send in your tithes and find a ministry outside of your church to support. In addition to administrative costs, tithes also go towards training and church planting sessions throughout the year, as well as the Native Pastors/Leaders Summit and other gatherings.
We love seeing what’s happening around our section. If you have a photo you’d like to share with us, please send it to info@bc.paoc.org.
Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts” Malachi 3:8-12. General Support | Mail a cheque to “PAOC BC & Yukon District” with “Aboriginal Ministries” in the memo. Church Support | Influence your church to donate regularly. Prayer | Commit to praying regularly for Aboriginal Ministries.
20411 Douglas Crescent, Langley BC V3A 4B6 www.bc.paoc.org | info@bc.paoc.org T: 604-533-2232 | F: 604-533-5405
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