live A Baptist resource for women on a mission May - June 2017 · $3.50
MISSION | FAITH | ACTION
Room to Pray Baptist Women invites you to experience prayer in new ways (p3)
live
Connecting
in this issue columns Global Mission
5 » Helping the Most Vulnerable
Among Us 7 » A Window on Africa: Praying for South Sudan 8 » The Power of Listening Prayer 10 » Rwanda: Days of song and dance Reaching My Nation
12 » No Fixed Address Bible Study
14 » Knowing You: A Portrait of Grace Using My Gifts
19 » Women in Service or Silence? 3 4 4 21 22 23
Women’s Ministries » Room to Pray » Fresh Ways to Pray » Pray the Issue » Introducing . . . Heritage Connections » Laura’s Corner » We Remember
features 15 Revelation
The truth sets you, and God, free
17 Practicing the Presence Picking God Out
Cover image: Watercolour painting by Julie Hunt, sketched during her trip to Rwanda in January 2017 with CBM’s She Matters 3 team and painted at home in Canada. To learn more about the art and artists featured on our covers and on page 14, visit baptistwomen. com and our latest Behind The Cover blog post.
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in January, Dr. Sandra Broadus and I began monthly check-ins leading up to Baptist Women’s April conference. Dr. Broadus delivered the keynote presentations during the conference and so our chats focused on updates, questions and answers . . . all the behind-the-scenes details a speaker would want to know beforehand. Those chats also allowed us to pray for the women who would come. Come Thirsty Drink Deeply was the conference’s theme, based on Jesus’ invitation in John 7:37–38 to come to Him and drink of the water He provides. “As I was praying for the conference and my presentations, I realized that the women who come aren’t coming just to an event,” Dr. Broadus shared in our March conversation. “They’re coming because they’ve heard Jesus’ invitation. They are coming to Him.” Then she said this: “ . . . because there’s more.” More to the mission, advocacy and justice work that Baptist Women invites all women to do. More than. The more is an encounter with the risen Jesus that forever changes you and how you do ministry; an encounter that changes us as an organization. “Because there’s more.” What a marvellous promise—that as we choose to come close to Jesus, we will, together, taste and see more of the Lord’s goodness. Then do more. (Isaiah 58:11–12) As you read this issue cover to cover, I invite you to come close and discover more . . . with us. RJ
VOLUME 90, NUMBER 3 live (formerly The Link & Visitor) began as The Canadian Missionary Link (1878) and Baptist Visitor (1890). Published bi-monthly by Canadian Baptist Women of Ontario and Quebec 5 International Blvd., Etobicoke, ON M9W 6H3 416-620-2954 Fax 416-622-2308 bwoq@baptist.ca www.baptistwomen.com Executive director Diane McBeth Editor and communications director Renée James 416-651-8967 rsejames@gmail.com Art director Donna Lee Pancorvo of GEPM Group Inc. (www.gepmgroup.com) Contributors Cid Latty, Linda Ellsworth, Erinn Oxford, Sandi Smoker, Dr. Cynthia Long Westfall, Morgan Wolf Circulation and subscriptions Subscriptions 416-620-2954 bwoq@baptist.ca Subscriptions Individual: $20* (direct or through promoters) US & overseas: $39 All currency in $C unless otherwise noted. The publication of comments, opinions, or advertising does not necessarily imply CBWOQ agreement or endorsement. All material is copyrighted and may not be reproduced in print or on websites without permission. Advertising inquiries and freelance submissions should be addressed to the editor. Member, Canadian Church Press. ISSN 2293-5096. Canada Post Customer Number 1008592. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund (CPF) for our publishing activities.
*includes HST Funded by the Government of Canada
women’s ministries
Room to Pray An invitation to experience prayer in new ways If we want to fulfill our goal of truly having authentic experience of God, our prayer lives need to keep going deeper—into a deep connection with Him.
Friday November 3 – Monday November 6 This input will build until the first weekend in November when Baptist Women will host a number of interactive prayer spaces across Ontario and Quebec. We are aiming for sometime between Friday, November 3 and Monday, November 6. That Saturday is LOVE DAY and Monday is the Baptist World Alliance Women’s Department World Day of Prayer. This is an opportunity for us to surround our concern for our community and the world with prayer. Typically, these prayer spaces combine intercession with different opportunities for reflection and creativity. Often they include a variety of prayer stations. At one station you might braid some colour strands together while you pray for a family member. Another station may have prayer requests from around the world and as you intercede you mark the map. There may be chances to kneel in intercession, colour your thanksgiving, or have someone else pray for you. Many times prayer rooms are organized so at least one person is committed to pray each hour it is open. You can choose how you want to run your space. You will hear about groups who run their prayer rooms all night, and possibly for weeks at a time. That is great, but if you are new to interactive prayer rooms, you may want to start with one nine-to-five day. There will lots of opportunities to learn together. We will post examples, blogs, articles and a prayer guide. There will be photos, recommended books and Facebook Live chats. We will help you. Will you volunteer to host a prayer space in your city? Join us in making room for God to change us all.
Go to baptistwomen.com as we post new prayer resources each month. Order a 24-7 Prayer Manual from ReadOn bookstore. You can also get ideas from Google and Pinterest. Just type in: interactive prayer or prayer stations. You might be surprised at how many ideas there are. Baptist Women will host an interactive prayer room at their offices on Friday, November 3 and Monday, November 6. The room will be open during office hours. Check their website for more details.
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Our theme for 2017 and 2018 is Come Thirsty. Drink Deeply. Part of that will be a special focus on prayer. A flood of resources, manuals and ideas will be posted on our Facebook group, website, in blogs, in E-LINK, and here in live magazine.
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Fresh Ways to Pray Prayer Stations Kae Bushey from First Baptist Church, Wallaceburg, first experienced an interactive prayer space at First Baptist Church, Chatham. For Lent, she decided to create a prayer station at her church. Kae set up a tray with sand in it and 40 black stones. Anyone at the prayer station could “walk” their fingers through the 40 days of Lent, all the way to the cross, and then on to resurrection Sunday—Easter Sunday. An explanation invited people, as they “walked” over the sand, to think of a commitment they could make and do over Lent that would draw them closer to Christ. People were free to choose a commitment by taking suggestions from a yellow cup placed to one side of the sand tray. Have you debuted a fresh way to pray? Or breathed new life into familiar ways of praying? Let us know.
materials To create this simple prayer station • a theme/topic that’s the focus • •
• •
of the prayer station 1 three-fold cardboard display you can buy at Dollarama for $2 or less photos, prayer suggestions, Bible verses and quotes on the topic to stick on that cardboard display a printed sign with an explanation of what to do at the station a table on which to put the cardboard display, interactive elements: a tray, sand, 40 black stones, paper strips on which suggested Lenten commitments have already been written
Pray The Issue • Days for Girls and the Baptist women involved in sewing and distributing these feminine hygiene kits (page 10) • South Sudan—for peace, safety and food security. Pray for the churches who’ve opened up their compounds to feed and house families (page 7) • The special international projects for which Baptist Women is raising funds; for the women and children whose lives are changing because of these projects (see list of projects in the March-April 2017 issue of live, page 8) • That women will make space for God (pages 15 and 17)
Photo: Kae Bushey
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global mission
Helping the Most Vulnerable Among Us Serving the children in eastern Myanmar Haxiela was nine years old when he arrived at the student centre in Tachelik, a border city between Thailand and Myanmar (Burma). Haxiela’s parents are farmers from the Lahu Tribe and Haxiela was born in a small village in eastern Myanmar. At six, his father became a drug addict. “My family situation became worse and worse,” he remembers. His parents divorced, his father left, and his mother took Haxiela and his brother to live with his grandmother. He’s never seen his father since then and his mother works across the border in China, sending what little money she makes back to Haxiela and his grandmother. His family lives in such poverty that there is little food. He had no hope of ever receiving any education. Haxiela’s life changed because of the Tachelik student centre. Pastor Zhao and his wife Fan run this centre. Graduates of Bethel Bible Institute in Northern Thailand and former students of Conrad Kwok, they serve at Zhen Zhu Church in Tachelik. Pastor Zhao and Fan began the student centre in Tachelik when they saw the needs of underprivileged families in the area; families like Haxiela’s who barely made ends meet. Pastor Zhao himself has lived on the edge, dealing drugs and abusing drugs as a teenager. God saved and changed his life. With the support of Canadian Baptist Ministries (CBM) and Conrad and Fiona Kwok, who serve as CBM global field staff in the Golden Triangle region, the Tachelik student centre has grown from those first five children that Pastor Zhao and Fan took into their home, to 24 children and counting. The majority of the centre’s children are like Haxiela—minority tribal children from the
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global mission mountainous region of eastern Myanmar who come from broken families. Their parents deal or abuse drugs; their fathers are in jail; mothers have married multiple times or try to parent as a single mother. Churches in the region share about the centre with families in need. “A pastor from my village knew our family situation. He came to visit us and told us about the student centre in Tachelik,” Haxiela remembers. “I am very grateful that God brought me to this centre, so that I can have clothes, food, love and education.” The Tachelik student centre fills such a great need in the Golden Triangle region that Zhen Zhu church has opened up a second student centre 30 minutes away. “We are sure there’ll be no shortage of students for this program,” reflects Fiona. Students from poor families like Haxiela’s have limited education opportunities. Trying to get enough food to eat takes priority. These centres provide Haxiela, and children like him, with education, health care and an opportunity to learn social skills. Even so, the ultimate goal of Pastor Zhao and Fan is to give the children an opportunity to know God and become His disciples. “By God’s grace we see so many lives changed for the better,” writes Fiona. “From the 24 students at the first centre, 10 have already been baptized.” Since 2013, Conrad and Fiona have walked alongside Pastor Zhao, Fan and this student centre outreach program. They visit Zeng Zhu Church and the Telechik student centre six to 12 times a year. And they’ve seen the difference the centres make in the lives of children like Haxiela. “Parents want to send their children to a student centre that is full of love, not just operating for money,” says Fiona. “Please pray for God’s wisdom and guidance as we continue to support Pastor Zhao and Fan. Please pray that God will provide resources that are suitable and enough for them to run the program in the most effective and pleasing way to God. May God have all the glory.” RJ with files from Fiona Kwok
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In fall 2016, Baptist Women gave $6,000 to help with these student centres. Learn more about our international projects at www.baptistwomen.com. Photos courtesy Fiona Kwok
globalmission mission global
A WINDOW on Africa The South Sudan famine in numbers • 100,000 face starvation • Further one million on brink of famine • 4.9 million (42% of population) are severely food insecure • 207,000 children suffer severe acute malnutrition • Inflation is as high as 800% year-on-year • The UN has also warned of possible famines in north-east Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen Source: World Food Programme (March 2017)
CBM food aid arrives in South Sudan
Praying for South Sudan Years of civil war, a refugee crisis and a collapsing economy have taken their toll on South Sudan since it gained independence from Sudan in 2011. In late 2016, the UN World Food Programme and non-governmental organizations sounded the alarm, warning that more than a million children are suffering from acute malnutrition. “Our worst fears have been realized,” said Serge Tissot, of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. “Many families have exhausted every means they have to survive.” The civil war has disrupted farming and left people with little choice but to scavenge for food to survive. “People have been pushed to the brink, [they are] surviving on what they can find to eat in swamps,” said Emma Jane Drew, Oxfam’s humanitarian program manager in South Sudan. “Vulnerable people, out of reach of life-saving assistance due to the conflict, are paying the ultimate price,” she added. Aaron and Erica Kenny are Africa team leaders with Canadian Baptist Ministries (CBM). They report that exhausted women have carried their children to CBM’s partner churches crying for help. Hundreds have arrived each day. Faith Evangelical Baptist Church (FEBAC) pastors and their wives have embraced people as they’ve walked into their camps giving them water and prayer, but they desperately need food. The Kennys have asked us to “join . . . in praying for peace and an end to the fighting and suffering that has torn South Sudan apart.” In late March, the United Nations warned that 1.5 million people had fled South Sudan, crossing the border into Uganda to escape the fighting in their homeland, and creating Africa’s biggest refugee crisis. South Sudan is the world’s newest country. In fall 2016, Baptist Women sent $5,000 to Canadian Baptist Ministries to purchase food supplies for 500 families camped in a partner church in Juba. RJ
Photo: CBM
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global mission
The Power of Listening Prayer One woman’s call to mission – overseas and in Canada
Describe your call to do overseas mission My first call was to go on a two-week short-term mission trip to a region in Colombia that had been hit by an earthquake six months prior. This was 1999. On that trip, I actively prayed for people and I had a sense of flowing in the Spirit. My pastor said to me: “I don’t recognize you. You don’t move from your pew at church for three years, and here you are ministering and you have a real giftedness.” I started to cry: “I don’t believe God could use me. My marriage has ended and I feel like a failure as a mother.” And, at that moment, I heard the Holy Spirit whisper: “That was your idea, not mine. I didn’t expect you to be perfect. I love you as you are.” I finished that mission trip in love with the Spanish language and with Colombians. For months after, I sensed God calling me to mission; to return to Colombia. I waited, asking my pastor and my Life Group to pray for and with me, to talk it through with me. I waited to see is this was of God or just an emotional moment. Months later, after a long season of working as a nursing practitioner on remote First Nations reserves in Ontario, followed by a six-week stay in Armenia, Colombia, I knew I was to sell my
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First Nations women’s leader Wanda Sugarhead with Faith Holwyn at Fort Hope
global mission
house in Canada and return to Colombia. What did you do when you returned? I was 55 years old at the time, retired from my nursing career and having just sold my house in Canada. People were telling me you cannot learn a new language at 55. I did. I lived with a Colombian family to learn the language and worked with a public health nurse to do health care and set up a day care for children. Then in 2003, I led a group of women who had depression. I knew how to run a group but not what to say to them. For 10 weeks I prayed and God would give me the session and illustrations to share. The Spirit fell on that group. Lives were changed because of God. Women would leave their apartments to come to the group. They applied for jobs! Seeing this, the church asked me to teach their group of counsellors. I taught them the sessions I’d done with that group of women. Out of that teaching the Groups of Hope program was born. You had other missionary journeys after that first one. Yes. With Groups of Hope written in Spanish, I returned to Canada. In 2005, I joined Canadian Baptist Ministries (CBM) as a strategic associate. My first international trip under CBM was to Bolivia. India
followed. Then Kenya. I taught the Groups of Hope program in all these countries. Teaching at the 2012 North American Baptist Women’s Union Assembly led to teaching the program in Texas. As I taught the Groups of Hope, God continued to heal the hurts from the past. I saw God change relationships. Doors opened and hope blossomed. With Rev. Brenda Mann and Baptist Women I had a vision of Groups of Hope being used in First Nations communities. I did short-term missions to Mississtini, Kenora, Ohsweken, Oneida and Curve Lake. I went to Port Hope and Weagamow with a team from Uxbridge. These were all places I’d first gone to as a nurse.
I was a psychiatric nurse and had graduate-level training in brief, solutions-focused therapy. I had experienced pain: the end of my marriage and my abuse as a child. God used my journey to healing and what He was doing in my heart so I could say, with authority, that God meets us at the painful places in our lives . . . because He’d met me there. I had not travelled extensively prior to 1999. So I see the journey that God’s taken me on as one of trust to places where I could not have placed myself before. I’m as safe in Colombia as I am staying at home and crossing Yonge Street. Since 1999, I’ve taken 500 airplane trips. And I’ve been to Colombia 14 separate times.
You’ve been doing missions for a long time. What I’ve seen over my 13 years of doing mission is that God took the little seed that began with me hearing His call and walking with Him falteringly, not jumping in . . . He’s taken that seed and just watered it and it’s grown. You’ll find Groups of Hope published in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Telugu, Oriya, Russian and Ukrainian. God is using the French version to produce a Kreyol translation that will be used in Haiti.
How do you stay prepared? My inner relationship with God— developing prayer, meditation, making it a priority to spend time with God every single day. And I trust that God will speak to me through the Bible, and through the Holy Spirit. I read Scripture every day.
How did God equip and prepare you for all your missionary journeys?
What’s the number one lesson you’ve learned on the overseas mission field? What we classify as important . . . God may not. I learned to believe that when I was led to do something, that that was the most important thing to be doing right then.
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Canadian sisters Charlene Root, Sharon Loewen and Brenda Mann, join with Rwandan Groups of Hope leaders.
Photo: Brenda Mann
Rwanda Days of song and dance In January 2017, Canadian Baptist Ministries (CBM) led a She Matters 3 short-term mission team of 11 Canadian Baptist women to Rwanda. The team would experience CBM projects, facilitated with their ministry partners in Rwanda, to support vulnerable women and children. Projects included a single mothers’ group in Kigali, a literacy class, a food security project, a three-day retreat with women from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Rwanda and an opportunity to distribute Days for Girls kits filled with reusable feminine hygiene supplies. Sharon Loewen, Rev. Brenda Mann and Charlene Root
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decided to experience this STM together—the first time these sisters had ever done so. “I finally decided to go because Brenda and Sharon were going,” admits Charlene. “Since we don’t live close together it was wonderful to share and work in ministry with them.” Sharon went because Days for Girls kits would be distributed. Days for Girls Both Brenda and Sharon champion Days for Girls in their communities and several members of the STM team were involved with Days for Girls. On this trip, Brenda, Sharon and Charlene represented the dozens of women who had carefully
and lovingly sewn these kits for women and girls they would never meet. Not only were 155 kits distributed to women in Rwanda and Kenya, but the sisters ended their experience with a two-day detour to Kenya where they led a Days for Girls training workshop for 25 Kenyan women leaders. STMs are fluid experiences. Well-briefed by CBM global field staff Janice Mills and Laura Lee Bustin, the sisters knew that there was only so much planning and anticipating that could be done prior to the trip. “We’d spent months procuring materials and machines and yet I couldn’t see how it would all work,” admits Sharon. But work it did. The sisters (and team members) lugged sergers, sewing machines, other tools and materials through security in four countries without paying overweight penalties or duty, other than explaining to customs officials what the Days for Girls program was all about. It didn’t stop there. “We marveled how God orchestrated who should
global mission receive the machines, the kits, the tools and materials,” says Charlene. Another surprise lay in store for the sisters and the team: the livelihoods of adult women were being improved by having access to these kits. “Ernestine, one of CBM’s national field staff in Rwanda, would like to distribute another 1,000 kits to the many vulnerable women and girls with whom she works,” reports Sharon. “We can be part of that solution.” Violence and forgiveness Days for Girls kits offer girls and women the hope of fewer missed days of schools and work. At the three-day retreat, Rwandan and Congolese women shared their stories of lives gone too soon, wartime rape and community rejection.
With the retreat coming hard on the heels of the team’s visit to the Kigali Genocide Memorial, Brenda won’t soon forget the story shared by her Congolese prayer partner Juliette at the retreat. One night, after choir practice and while prayer meeting was in progress, rebels burst in, tied up the men present and raped the women, including Juliette. Juliette’s parents ostracized her when they found out she was pregnant. Yet “Juliette’s faith in God is enabling healing . . . in a way few of us will ever understand,” says Brenda. None of the sisters had realized the depth of forgiveness that would be needed, even today, following the genocide of 20 years ago, nor had they understood what it would take to offer that forgiveness. “The women we met displayed such
Sewing by hand
grace,” remembers Sharon. Display they did, in songs and dances before the Lord that gifted STM members with the sound and movement of a holy faith; a hope that staunches. “Our Rwandan and Congolese sisters teach us that God can help us forgive far beyond our own strength,” says Brenda. The sisters have returned to Canada filled with some of the optimism and faithfulness their Rwandan and Congolese sisters displayed. For many nights after her return, Charlene would dream about Rwanda. During the day, she would compare her life in London, Ontario, to that of her sisters in Africa. “I’m challenged to share my experiences and to advocate for our missionaries and for the people of Rwanda and Kenya. I’ve learned that physical blessings are not necessary to have spiritual blessings.” Brenda and Sharon agree. To learn more about Days for Girls visit their website at www. daysforgirls.org To join Baptist Women in raising funds for CBM projects that support vulnerable women and children in Kenya, read the January/February and March/April 2017 issues of live magazine, or visit www. baptistwomen.com. RJ, with files from Sharon Loewen, Brenda Mann and Charlene Root Photo: Brenda Mann
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reaching my nation
No fixed Address
In the fall of 2011 it became apparent that Parkdale Neighbourhood Church’s funding had run its course and could face closure. In March 2012 Erinn Oxford was invited to revision the ministry and she launched what is now known as The Dale Ministries, a church and community organization without its own walls. At Baptist Women’s November Day of Prayer conference, Erinn led a workshop on how to pray for poverty and economic injustice. In that workshop, she shared that when the ministry literally became homeless, she learned that being transient breeds the most insidious poverty of all: the poverty of relationship.
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The reaction to the news that we were about to become a church without a building was consistent. After the initial shock wore off, most members of Parkdale Neighbourhood Church shrugged their shoulders and said, “We’re with you in this. And maybe now you’ll get it a little more.” Getting it a little more was a fair challenge, given that these same people have experienced being homeless while I have not. This was an opportunity to understand more about what it means to be transient, something that the early church certainly knew about. The decision to give up the leased space that had been ours for years was not an easy one. Months prior, we had to face the harsh reality that our funding had run its course. We had long chosen to place at our core those who are particularly vulnerable to poverty and we could therefore not expect to be financially sustained through tithing. The strange irony was that while we couldn’t afford the rent, the community itself was thriving. We were even outgrowing our building. Looking to Acts 2:42-46 was helpful as we imagined a new way to exist in our neighbourhood. “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate by Erinn Oxford Erinn is the executive director and pastor of The Dale Ministries, a church and community organization in Parkdale, a west-end neighbourhood of Toronto.
Stephanie Robertson Photography
How one church enlarged its territory
reaching my nation together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” To cut expenses as much as possible, we cancelled Internet, got a cellphone instead of a landline and gave notice to our landlord. We gave away most of our belongings and packed just a few. I announced that though we had no building to move into, we were a community that must continue to meet and could do so in the park. I knocked on doors of local churches and organizations, asking if space could be shared with us. Some said yes, and our nomadic routine began: moving from one building to another for our church service and each of our drop-ins, while spending considerable time outside. Seeking to fully embrace the transition, we changed our name to The Dale Ministries. A dale is
that valley which cuts through a mountain, a safe place during a storm, reminding that God walks with us through all calamity. We became entirely dependent with no place to hide. Becoming a transient people was a fresh opportunity to witness God’s provision and care. On days when it seemed there wouldn’t be enough food to feed all 120 of us, there was plenty and even some left over. To my doubtful heart, it was a signal that God was and is with us. Our reliance on other buildings and people’s homes has enabled us to meet four days out of every week. Other days are spent accompanying people to appointments, meeting people on the street, visiting those in hospital. Administration and fundraising happen in coffee shops, libraries and at kitchen tables. We regularly break bread with one another. Though
Pray These Numbers Each fact tells a story. Each number is a life. Reach each statistic aloud. Then pray. • • • • • • • •
1 in 7 people in Canada live in poverty. Toronto has the highest percentage of impoverished children. Nearly 15% of people with disabilities live in poverty, 59% of them are women. 21% of single mothers in Canada raise their children while living in poverty, as opposed to 7% of single fathers. Women parenting on their own enter shelters at twice the rate of two-parent families. Indigenous Peoples (including First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples) are overrepresented among the homeless population in virtually all urban centres in Canada. 3 million Canadians are precariously housed, living in unaffordable, below-standards and/ or overcrowded housing conditions. Youth aged 16-24 make up about 20% of the homeless population.
our lives are complicated and challenging, we choose to practice gratitude. We also encourage being radically honest and vulnerable about our own brokenness. It is in the sharing of our struggles that we are reminded of how Jesus did not see the migrant or the settled, the housed or under-housed, the employed or unemployed; Jesus saw and loved the person.
Prayer Requests from Erinn • Access to affordable housing. • There can be a difference between being “housed” and having a “home.” Pray for people to have a sense of community beyond their four walls and for the capacity to create a good living space. • Parkdale is rapidly gentrifying. Pray that people who know poverty not be displaced. Pray that we learn live together well in our diversity. • Along with economic poverty, many people experience a poverty of relationship, only knowing isolation and marginalization. Pray that people develop friendships. • Pray for people with mental health challenges and addictions. • Pray for meaningful, paid employment. • Pray for women fleeing abusive partners. • Pray for women working in the sex trade, the majority of whom are controlled. • Pray that all people have opportunities to both give and receive; that their value be identified outside of the poverty they might experience.
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Bible study
Pretend you are an artist. (Perhaps you are.) You have been commissioned to paint two selfportraits. How well do you know your subject? Prepare the canvas Start with the following description. Read Psalm 104 (and Job 38-39). Using words, describe (paint) your understanding of God as CREATOR. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ But God is also a God of Mercy. Read Psalm 103 and describe God using the paintbrush of MERCY. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ God’s portrait of me To begin to grasp the vastness of the canvas of God’s character, as an artist, I must understand how God sees me. by Linda Ellsworth Linda is the member care coordinator for Christian Camping International, Canada.
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Using the paintbrush of GRACE, fashion God’s picture of you through the sacrifice of His Son. Read John 3:16-17; Romans 8:1-2, 10-11, 14-17, 35-39. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ read 2 Corinthians 5: 17-20; Philippians 2:1-11; Ephesians 4:20–5:21. With the soft gently-rounded sable brush of Christ, complete God’s portrait of you as you would like to see and be seen . . . COMPLETE IN HIM. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ My self-portrait You know yourself well. On another canvas, use the paintbrush of TRUTH and paint an accurate portrait of the “real” you. Read Romans 3:9-18; Matthew 15:10-20; Romans 7:22-24. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ Pick up the coarse-haired chiseled brush of SELF and read 2 Timothy 3:1-9 and Titus 3:1-3.
With raw honesty, paint any of the unwanted HUES AND SHADOWS remaining in your self-portrait. _________________________ _________________________ _________________________ Compare both canvases As you interact with those around you, both near and far, who do they see portrayed on the canvas of your life? _________________________ _________________________ ________________________
“How skillful the hands of the Artist
Who painted this picture of me He saw with the eyes of a Master How beautiful my life could be Where once was a portrait of gloom and despair This masterpiece hangs in its place It’s signed with His blood and it’s framed with His glory This beautiful picture of grace” Songwriters: Marshall Hall, David Phelps, Woody Wright, William J. Gaither, Michael Parke, Guy Penrod Published by: SOULWRITER MUSIC COMPANY, WORDSPRING MUSIC INC. 2008]
Watercolour art by Donna Cooper, Member of the She Matters 3 STM to Rwanda
KNOWING YOU: a portrait of Grace
feature article
Revelation The truth sets you, and God, free As an author of fiction, all my best characters come to me fully formed. They are whole beings with attributes and histories and paradigms for understanding their (albeit) fictional worlds. Sometimes I try to be responsible and follow the conventional wisdom of plotting out my story ahead of time; drawing up outlines, character sketches and so forth. While this process helps me get my mind to run along creative avenues, the details I painstakingly work out rarely end up in the finished manuscript. Why? Because true personality defies planning. Truth is more creative than fiction. The drawback of operating from pure inspiration, however, is that my characters rarely do what I tell them to do. They often surprise me with their words and choices; travelling their character arcs at their own paces. When I want my daily word count to climb faster, sometimes I’ll put words in their mouths and hustle my plot along by authorial fiat. But when I do, I find that all inspiration—all naturalness— disappears, and what was once a vibrant character with all the mysterious affectations of a true personality suddenly grows lifeless as a puppet in my hands whose mouth I am moving with my own fingers. It is only as I have observed this trend in my own writing that I realize that I have done the same thing to God. Sometimes I put words in His mouth. I anticipate His thoughts and answers, His reasons and so forth. And when I do, God is not God but rather a limp puppet in my hands. A crude idol of my own making who can only say words that I come up with; who has nothing to offer that I cannot offer myself; and who has no profound wisdom greater than the thoughts in my own head. Truth defies manipulation and God is not a marionette who dances to anyone’s tune. But we always come up with jingles for God to dance
Sometimes I put words in God’s mouth Unsplash.com
to—agendas for what we think the proper actions of ‘God’ must be; explanations that minimize or erase the uncomfortable and mysterious stuff about who He is or what He has said in His Word that sometimes we just flat out dislike. We don’t (and won’t) allow God to be who He is. We become like the child who invites a grown-up to play with her and then proceeds to tell him exactly how he will play, what words he will say and when and where he will say them. But no one wants to be the placeholder for someone else’s opinions. If I’m honest, I think I give God my opinions because sometimes I’m content with the shallow end of the spiritual pool. I don’t really understand what it means to experience His presence because on some level I know that there, in the light of Truth, all things by Morgan Wolf Morgan is a writer from Calgary, Alberta. She blogs about her faith and writing at www. anothergratuituousmdash.blogspot.ca
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feature article will be exposed. C.S Lewis wrote in The Problem of Pain, “It is safe to tell the pure in heart that they shall see God, for only the pure in heart want to.” Maybe I don’t long for God’s presence because I fear revelation. So instead I try to work for God. Like the speed cleaning that happens 10 minutes before company arrives, I rush around in fevered activity so that I can hold
my head up when scrutinizing eyes are on me. But even this is a dangerous conceit. It is the presumption of knowing what God Almighty is thinking. It is agreeing with a pernicious lie that conflicts with His Word which repeatedly affirms that there is no condemnation for those in Christ. The great irony of it all is this: if I were enjoying God’s presence, I might actually get
to know His character well enough to know when He’s being slandered. I might find that the only thing I can safely presume about Him is that He is always exponentially greater than all of my presumptions. I might find that the condemnation I fear is nothing more than an impotent fiction.
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Practicing the Presence Picking God Out
“What I’m after is intimacy.” Unsplash.com
by Sandi Smoker Sandi is the former president of Women In Focus (the women’s ministry arm of Canadian Baptists of Western Canada). She volunteers as a counsellor and course facilitator at South Island Centre for Counselling and Training in Victoria, BC.
Memories of my early days of parenting are a blur of sleeplessness and new parent angst; however, the fascination of my daughter’s presence remains. All the years of her life only prove her mystery and although I know her well, I only know her in part—deeply connected through love. I saw early on that parental love is an entirely different love, its quality is unmistakable. Honestly, I was unprepared for the shock of my daughter. There’s no training for it. No one else’s experience of their child is like mine. She suddenly appears and the ground is taken out from under me. I am humbled, vulnerable and mystified, all at once. In that miraculous moment my attention is riveted on her. Eyes, nose, hands, toes—she compels my gaze. By midnight, I can pick her out of a newborn crowd. The days grow into weeks and my inadequacies surface. The local library supplies how-to books and so I turn my gaze toward the experts. I want to do my best by her. Meanwhile, my little dumpling decides she’ll nurse or sleep when she feels like it, or not. What I didn’t know is that all the action needed to provide for her wellbeing is rooted in the loving wonder that results from contemplating her. Is contemplating God a similar thing? I know there is a God, I acknowledge His creation, His answers to prayer, His gift of salvation. But do I love Him? I feel blessed by His gifts and give thanks, but what
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feature article I’m after is intimacy, where I drop to my knees in trembling awe, shaken at the very core of my being because I am in the presence of the Holy and still called friend. How-to books are of little help here. Intimacy with my Beloved, for me, begins with contemplating the Son. Jesus offers Living Water to the woman at the well . . . and I recognize my own thirst. He heals the woman with the hemorrhage, asking what she wants from Him . . . and I hear Him ask the same of me. He forgives the woman caught in adultery . . . and I dance in freedom as the weight of my
guilty waywardness slips away like her condemners. I stumble into the divine—face to face with Triune Love, and I am never the same. When I think about my ideas of mothering before I became one, I imagined caring for my own as I had cared for other people’s children. My idea of mothering felt external. When I became a mother, the experience felt internal and profound. When Jesus performs miracles, the people are astonished in an external sense. When they know Him as Saviour and Friend, the experience is internal and
profound. I fix my gaze on the Beloved, where I am “less and less likely to confuse the Absolute with anything of the world. [I] live more and more in an atmosphere of worship . . . ” (Balthasar, Prayer, 163) Just as good parenting is rooted in love for the child, justice and mercy are contemplative actions rooted in Absolute Love and loving wonder.
Worship for the World When we think about Pentecost we may have amnesia when it comes to the implications of what we celebrate. In Acts 2:1-14 we see that the disciples are all together and the Spirit decends. People “began to speak in other languages as the Holy Spirit enabled them.” The sound of people speaking in other languages bewildered the hearers who each heard the wonders of God declared in their native tongue. In this context of corporate worship, people were not driven apart; rather everyone’s voice was heard and people were brought together. The result of this was that people put their faith in God and formed
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an assembly (or church) of believers who worshipped and served the Lord together. CBOQ’s Worship for the World program hopes to remind us of what it means to embrace a Pentecost perspective that includes and recovers worship in which a diversity of expression is heard in one accord. The vision is simple but the task is not. Even so, together we can work towards that which best reflects the kingdom of God. We may not be there yet but as we “press on” (Philippians 3:14) we may just glimpse something of that heavenward goal in our worship today. It begins with a Worship
Symposium on October 5, 2017. This is a free event running from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Spring Garden Church, Toronto. There will be worship, lunch, and round table discussions on practical ideas for making worship more effective and more inclusive. Contact Carol Gouveia at Canadian Baptists of Ontario Quebec for details: 416-620-2949 or cgouveia@baptist.ca. Baptist Women will have an interactive prayer space set up at this symposium. Read more about making room to pray on page 3. Cid Latty, congregational life associate, CBOQ
USING MY GIFTS
Women in Service or Silence? Biblical Principles for Women in Ministry
Dr. Cynthia Long Westfall continues her series on biblical equality in ministry. For copies of previous articles in this series, contact Baptist Women. BigStockPhoto.com
Paul tells women to be silent in the church service in 1 Corinthians 14:34–35. However, very few scholars believe that Paul’s command should be understood as prohibiting all speech or sound. Most believe that women should at least be able to pray together with the congregation, participate in congregational readings of Scripture and sing hymns and worship songs. So we have to figure out exactly what kind of talking or speech Paul was prohibiting and what kind of talking or speech he was permitting or encouraging. The way we do that is by looking at the other instructions Paul gave in 1 Corinthians to women about speech during the worship service, and what instructions he gave for all Christians—including women—to follow. Paul gives a very long set of instructions about worship in 1 Corinthians 11–14, and if we trace his teaching carefully and read 1 Corinthians 14:34–35 in context, we can see that we have enough information to figure out what Paul was talking about.
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USING MY GIFTS Paul expected women to participate The first thing that we see is that Paul expected women to participate in prayer and to prophesy during the worship service, and so he instructed them on how to dress appropriately when they did it. In the Greco-Roman culture, it was appropriate for a woman to wear a head covering (11: 3–16). Paul went on to say in chapter 12 that every Christian is supposed to be involved in service by exercising their spiritual gift(s) for the common good of the church (12:7). Prophecy is included as one of those gifts, but he also lists apostleship, teaching, working miracles, healing, service, leadership and speaking in tongues (12:28). In chapter 14, Paul said that he particularly wished that everyone could prophesy during the service because he valued it so highly (14:1–25). But he asked that each one should try to have something to share in the service when they met: a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation (14:26). Therefore, we know from the instructions to all Christians by Dr. Cynthia Long Westfall Cynthia is assistant professor of New Testament at McMaster Divinity College in Hamilton. Her book, Paul and Gender, is close to selling out its first run.
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and the instruction specifically to women that he expected and encouraged women to be involved in service and ministry such as prophecy during worship. Paul expected everyone, including women, to exercise self-control On the other hand, Paul didn’t like people talking out of turn in a way that created disorder, confusion or distraction during worship (14:27–40). Participants in meetings were expected to exercise self-control in their speech by taking turns, avoiding shouting or talking at the same time or being undisciplined. This was the rule or custom in the culture of the classroom, the congregations and in other contexts of Greco-Roman and Jewish culture (14:34). Paul addresses three specific problems in which people were talking out of turn: • Everyone speaking in tongues at the same time. Paul instructs them to speak in tongues one at a time and if there is no interpreter, they needed to be quiet (14:27–28). • Prophets speaking at the same time. Paul also tells the prophets to speak one at a time. He says that if another prophet starts talking they should be quiet and control themselves (14:29–33). • Women needing to be quiet. Paul says that women should similarly be quiet. If they had
questions or wanted to talk about other things they weren’t to disrupt the meeting. He encourages them to get their questions answered by their husbands at home, because it is rude for them to be talking during worship (14:34–35). Paul isn’t contradicting himself by encouraging women to participate in the service with prayer and prophecy and then prohibiting it. Paul is not preventing women from sharing a hymn, a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. He wants women to stop a certain kind of talking such as asking disruptive questions, which does not involve the exercise of a spiritual gift. Why did Paul pick on women? In the first century Greco-Roman world, men were often taught in classrooms, but if women were educated they would have been home-schooled. As a group, their level of education would have been considered lower than that of men’s. A lack of classroom socialization could lead to disruptive group behaviour and Paul wanted women to have remedial education to be able to fully participate in the service. He expected husbands to educate their wives at home so that their needs would be met, their questions could be answered and the church service would be in order.
women’s ministries
Introducing . . . Heritage Connections Edith died in her 73rd year, slipping from this life quietly to the next in a hospital bed in rural England. Until a couple of weeks before her death, she had lived alone in her own cottage. For five years before her death, she had shown signs of what was then called senile dementia, and a couple of years earlier, her only child had arranged to move her across the country to live closer to the family. Close to the family, but away from the familiar village where she had spent all her married life and widowhood, away from the little chapel where she had been involved for many years, away from her few friends who were still living. Her daughter and granddaughter spent time with her daily since the move, but she missed her friends and chapel participation. Annabelle, an elderly widow, lived for 15 years in her son’s family home. Every Sunday, a couple from her church took her
by Andrea Cambridge Andrea is Baptist Women’s volunteer associate – heritage connections
to morning worship where she enjoyed the community and sang in the choir. But as Annabelle’s physical health deteriorated, she needed more care than the family could provide and she moved, reluctantly, into a seniors’ residence nearby. A year later, the couple who used to take her to church moved 100 kilometres away. She was no longer able to attend regular worship. Social research tells us that the number one problem in our society today is loneliness, and this is particularly acute for seniors. People move to be closer to family. They become “shut-in,” no longer able to navigate outside their homes. Perhaps they have moved into care facilities and no longer enjoy transportation to their former place of worship and fellowship. Fellowship and church friendships are severed just when they become less mobile and less mentally agile and able to develop new relationships and friendships. Heritage Connections, an initiative of Baptist Women, offers support to those who are called to a ministry to identify and re-connect with women who used to be part of our fellowships but who are no longer present in our
worship services, Bible studies and women’s activities. The program has two purposes: first to help identify and reconnect with women and offer ideas and resources to nurture fellowship and opportunities to continue spiritual growth and participation; and second, to offer support and friendship for family and friends responsible for the elders in their care. Prayerfully consider whether this is something that the Lord has laid on your heart. • Have you noticed gaps in the pew? The places where women sat who used to attend faithfully, but who are now missing from your fellowship? • Do you have time available to visit with a shut-in or a woman now in long-term care? • Would you be willing to perhaps adjust your women’s group, home group or Bible study schedule or venue to include those who miss these fellowship opportunities? If you sense the Lord calling you to this ministry, I would love to talk with you about how to move forward. You may reach me at acambridge@baptist.ca or 647-922-9320. GraphicStock.com
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women’s ministries
Laura’s Corner Be Connected Have you ever wanted to connect with someone younger than yourself, but didn’t know where to start? I’ve been there! I’ve also been on the receiving end of women investing time, energy and love into me, and have experienced blessing and growth because of them. Now, as the youth director at my church, I’ve had to learn how to connect with our youth while encouraging our congregants to do the same. Whether it’s working with teens, or simply trying to connect with a 30-something mom, here is what I call the 3 C’s of intergenerational connection: Be Curious Be genuinely curious about the person God is calling you to. Most people love when you take an interest in their life, so start with simple gestures like asking more than yes or no questions, or comment on something you’ve observed that you admire or find compelling about them. Genuinely listening to their responses while resisting the urge to immediately parallel their reply with a story from your own life can go a long way—ask a follow up question instead. Practice cultivating a posture of curiosity and listening a little longer when initiating dialogue and you’ll be surprised where it can lead. Be Consistent Be relational. When consistent and intentional in your desire to connect, relationship will grow. Perhaps you choose to pray for your person once a week or send them a note once a month. Simply acknowledge them with a smile across the sanctuary. These small consistent actions will lead to a deepened interest, trust and desire to connect. Remember, this part takes time and you may not see “results” right away. So be patient, consistent and prayerful. Ask God to show you exactly how to show consistency in someone’s life. Be Courageous That’s easier said than done . . . it takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there with generation gaps that often make us feel intimidated and unequipped. But oh—what goodness happens when we connect across generations! Ask God every time you reach out, to give you courage and confidence—God is present and loves when we show up for one another.
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Immeasurably More In 2016, women at Aylmer Baptist Church prayed for women’s issues through the month of November, using Baptist Women’s Immeasurably More prayer guide. On February 13 this year, Laryissa Thompson, a public health nurse, spoke to the Dorothy Timpany mission circle at the church, sharing the news that an Elgin/St. Thomas health unit coalition had been formed. A steering committee had been struck and things were starting to happen! Thompson invited the women to think about aspects of poverty in Elgin: transportation, food security, housing. Then she asked the women to pray for the steering committee.
For the women listening, the formation of this unit and Thompson’s request for prayer were answers to their prayers of November. Let’s keep praying the issues and sharing how God answers. Prayer changes things.
by Laura Matthews Laura is Baptist Women’s program coordinator. Reach her at 416-620-2954 or at bwoq@baptist.ca.
women’s ministries
We REMEMBER These gifts in honour or in memory of family, friends and others you value will continue to bring good from their lives. Thank you.
In Memory of Don and Lois Dowdell, Midland Vera Hagan, Windsor Marilyn Tuson, Kelvin We acknowledge and appreciate the givings from the estate of Mary Jean Walker. A bequest to Baptist Women in your will is a powerful gift. It provides the means for you to make a huge difference in the lives of vulnerable women, children and youth at risk around the world, and in the future of our ministry. For more information, please contact Diane McBeth at 416-620-2954.
Come Thirsty. Drink Deeply. Baptist Women at Elim 2017 September 15-17, 2017
Speaker: Brenda Lambkin
Early Bird Registration $95 (after May 31, $105) Balance Due August 15, 2017 Shared $145, Private $170 Commuter rate with meals $160 Saturday only with meals $85 $10 Late Fee after August 15, 2017 Registrar: Cheryl King 1966 Delaney Dr., Mississauga, ON L5J 3L1 905-823-9175 • cherylking@rogers.com Make cheques payable to Baptist Women at Elim
Baptist Women’s recommended book club/reading list
Come Thirsty. Drink Deeply.
Spiritual Formation • The Cloister Walk, by Kathleen Norris/$16.75 • The Emotionally Healthy Woman | Eight things you have to quit to change your life, by Gerri Scazzerro/$17 • The Broken Way | a daring path into the abundant life, by Ann Voskamp/$18.99 • Prayer | a world famous classic to deepen and enrich your prayer life, by Ole Hallesby/$14.99 • Abba’s Whisper | Listening for the Voice of God, by Alan and Elizabeth Davey/$25
Leadership • Congregational Leadership In Anxious Times | being calm and courageous no matter what, by Peter L. Steinke/$21.99 • Faith, Life and Leadership | 8 Canadian Women Tell Their Stories, edited by Georgialee Lang/$20 Advocacy/Mission • Undaunted | daring to do what God calls you to do, by Christine Caine/$15 Free shipping on reading list books All titles available from ReadOn Bookstore 5 International Blvd. Etobicoke, ON M9W 6H3 Tel: 416-620-2934 Fax: 416-234-8840 E-mail: books@readon.ca www.readon.ca
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9”x12” original watercolour by Julie Hunt (huntgj@gmail.com Sketched in Rwanda while on CBM She Matters 3 STM and painted in Canada
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