Two Years in Vancouver – An Anniversary Perspective

On Sunday 2nd February we marked our two year anniversary as a church in Vancouver with a wonderful celebration together! It is breathtaking to stand at this vantage point and survey the landscape of where we’ve come from. What started as a prayer meeting in a front room is growing into an increasingly vibrant community.
God’s faithfulness has been constant in the journey. We’ve seen people come to know Jesus, making the decision to trust Him with their lives and follow Him. We’ve seen people healed; friendships blossom; babies born; couples getting married. People have stepped up into leadership for the first time, enjoying God’s grace as they serve others. We’ve stepped out in faith financially, and been blown away at how God has responded to our faith. Teams have been developed, serving our children, Alpha, our worship times, the setting up of our meetings. We’re gathering in LifeGroups across the city now- the heart of our community. Once one home, now eight!
Many have invited friends and colleagues to socials, to Alpha, to our gatherings on Sundays. Lots of us have been surprised when they’ve said yes! This last Alpha launch was our best attended with more than double the number of guests we’ve ever had before.
There have also been challenges along the way. Venues that have required persistent prayer. People who haven’t connected with our vision and values and have left us. Friends who haven’t responded to Jesus when we so desperately wanted them to and prayed that they would.
It has been an amazing two years!
A friend of mine always used to say: “You’ll never achieve as much as you’d hope in a year, but you can achieve way more than you think in 3 years”.
I wonder what our next couple of years will hold for us?
I have often been struck by the building projects going on in our city. As new condos or office blocks are being built the first thing we see is a massive hole in the ground. Often it goes many stories deep. The depth tells you something about what will be built. The taller the building the deeper the hole. For buildings to withstand earthquakes the foundations need to be very secure. For a tall building there needs to be a great supporting structure.
As a church we’re still very much in the foundation laying stage. You can see some things emerging, but much of it still looks like a hole in the ground!
As we go forward we want to see an eldership team emerge, something we will take time and care over, it’s important to get it right! God has called us to impact every aspect of the society we live in, from caring for the poor to influencing business. We know that He has given us a mission to build a model church here that can be replicated in many other places as we take up God’s call to plant churches.
While we don’t know what all this will look like, we do know that God will be faithful. And we know that we must be uncompromising in giving ourselves to His call on us to partner with Him in extending His Kingdom, and building a church which is founded in scripture, empowered by His Spirit and caught up in apostolic mission.
God has called us into something that is worthy of our lives. Let’s give ourselves to Jesus with joy, and see our lives as resource in His hand to be spent as He wills!