Church – Page 2 – Teaching Adventures

2014/04/25

Crucial Questions about Christianity

This is a great series on the many basic topics relevant to a new or growing Christian. Highly recommended. Of course, as with any book or series some answers or ideas fail to perfectly address all the issues possible. But as a general resource this is an excellent starting point.

Click here or on the picture above and order it now from logos. If you don’t have an account you will have to create one but then you can read any of these books online at http://www.biblia.com or if you have logos you can read it on your computer.

2014/02/18

Insights into the challenges of transitioning back to the country they once knew

Recently an article was published in CM Alliance.ca which is the magazine of our church denomination CM&A. It was very interesting to us since we are going on home assignment for the first time. Here is an excerpt:

Here is a peek into our minds to provide you with a window of understanding, insight to support International Workers in prayer, and knowledge to walk with us when we return. With mixed emotions we wonder: Will you want to know what God is doing in our country? Will we have more than a two-minute window to share our story with you?

Conversations may be awkward at first but we hunger for real connection; we thirst for deep discussions.

In many ways Canada will not feel like home anymore. We know life has gone on without us. We are now the outsiders, needing time to process cultural shock. And when we leave to return to our mission field we will relive our grief of saying “Goodbye” all over again.

When we return to Canada, we come face-to-face with what we left behind. we realize that during our time away, we have had a loss of family communication-physical, emotional,mental and spiritual. As our parents age, we wish we could have more time with them. Sometimes family members are in crisis and we’re in anguish when we cannot be there.

We often miss our favourite foods and styles of clothing. we’ve lost our cultural identity, realizing that neither Canada nor our new country takes precedence. We may miss our belongings, items that had memories attached to them.

There is also much we have gained. God has given us the opportunity to be an extension of the people who send us. We love the people and are excited about the chance to serve them. When we return on home assignment, our desire is to build stronger relationships! So even thought we have faced the absence of some of life’s blessings, we have gained much more by experiencing God in a depth our family may never have known in Canada.

An interesting article written by Linda Doell, she is an International Worker serving alongside her husband, Curtis, in the Caribbean Sun Region. To read more http://www.cmacan.org/magazine

2013/08/02

The Right Kind of Happiness

This is a super interesting article from the Economist blog concerning what kind of happiness brings health. The premise of the experiment was what kind of pleasure brings health, is it basically selfish pleasure or selfless (giving to others) pleasure. Past experiements show that both bring roughly equal happiness to a person. And we know happiness generally affects ones health. So do both types of happiness generate the same health benefits?

Here is a simple quote,

“Dr Fredrickson, an expert on positive emotions, has long known that happiness benefits health and leads to longer lives. Similarly, she knows that both hedonic [for self] and eudaimonic [for others] pleasures generate feelings that people describe as “happiness”. A simple syllogism, therefore, suggests happiness does indeed bring health and longevity. But, because of the overlap between the happiness-generating properties of both hedonic and eudaimonic pleasures, she had until she conducted this study found it impossible to determine whether both are able improve physical health and longevity, or whether only one of them can.”

Psychosomatic medicine_ The right kind of happy _ The Economist

2013/07/03

Love Kiev! Thank you!

The team named themselves ‘Love Kiev.’ While at home churches around Winnipeg participated in a city wide event called ‘Love Winnipeg’ where they do practical acts of kindness for people all over the city, Kilcona Park Alliance Church (our home church) sent a team to us in Kiev to do a very practical act of kindness- Renovations!

We have a large building that actually used to be a restaurant boat. With very little insulation, in the winter time everyone inside had to run space heaters and even then were still cold. You can imagine how cold and uncomfortable everyone was, plus the electricity bills were super high! In just 10 short working days the team managed to insulate the entire lower level (pulled off siding, built framing, put in new insulation, vapour barrier, OSB and then finished with new siding. We ran an small AC unit in one of the rooms and with the new insulation it stayed nice and cool (in the past even two AC units running wouldn’t cool the room).

If that wasn’t enough the team decided that they would pull up the floor in our large student lounge and put down new laminate, plus change a very ugly tree pole into a nicely framed in pole. Plus new furniture and moldings, and lights! Of course as a mission we don’t have an abundance of money, but everything was bought and paid for by the team’s prior fundraising efforts!!

Thank you everyone for coming!!! You are all AMAZING! And thank you to everyone who sent little gifts for our family and for our mission- what a huge blessing that we can’t even express a proper thank you for!

2013/03/02

Bibles for Orphans

jesus-story-book-bible Our church at home in Canada asked us if we knew of a good project that the kids could raise money for. We know that when kids discover God’s love for them and His rescue plan for the world they are filled with a sense of worth and purpose.

Recently Ben’s parents bought Cassie and Jay the ‘Jesus Storybook Bible.’ It is a bible with awesome illustrations, and actually fun-to-read bible stories, each one taking poetic license to show the way that Jesus is the fulfilment of God’s rescue plan even from the beginning of the world.

And so, the end result- Bibles for Orphans! It is an organization here in Ukraine that gets bibles into the hands of orphans. Currently they are raising money to get this bible translated into Ukrainian and distributed to orphans throughout this nation. Each bible will be $3. Click here for more information on this fundraiser: www.biblesfororphans.com

Our kids made a video for the children at our home church in Canada. Their goal is to raise $300 for 100 bibles. Each kid is giving of their own money- pretty cool eh? Click on our video link to see the cute video our kids made.

An excerpt from the intro to the bible:

“Now, some people think the Bible is a book of rules, telling you what you should and shouldn’t do. The Bible certainly does have some rules in it. They show you how life works best. But the Bible isn’t mainly about you and what you should be doing. It’s about God and what he has done.

Other people think the Bible is a book of heroes, showing you people you should copy. The Bible does have some heroes in it, but (as you’ll soon find out) most of the people in the Bible aren’t heroes at all. They make some big mistakes (sometimes on purpose), they get afraid and run away. At times, they’re downright mean.

No, the Bible isn’t a book of rules, or a book of heroes. The Bible is most of all a Story. It’s an adventure story about a young Hero who comes from a far country to win back his lost treasure. It’s a love story about a brave Prince who leaves his palace, his throne-everything-to rescues the ones he loves. It’s like the most wonderful of fairy tales that has come true in real life!

You see, the best thing about this Story is-it’s true.

There are lots of stories in the Bible, but all the stories are telling on Big Story. The Story of how God loves his children and comes to rescue them.

It takes the whole Bible to tell this Story. And at the center of the Story, there is a baby. Every story in the Bible whispers his name. He is like the missing piece in the puzzle-the piece that makes all the other pieces fit together, and suddenly you can see a beautiful picture.”

2013/02/07

Parenting

Darlene Cunningham

On our most recent road trip we listened to an excellent teaching on being married and raising a family in ministry. The teaching is by Darlene Cunningham, co-founder of YWAM. This teaching was particularly encouraging because it is challenging raising kids, never mind when that is within a small community. Darlene gives some really wise principles within a strong godly heart!

Listen here!

2012/05/20

Baptism

This last Saturday we had a church picnic and baptism. What a beautiful day it was and by that I don’t mean the weather. Oh, the weather was great too but what makes a baptism special is not the weather. It’s being a part of something incredible.

What is baptism? Maybe this is oversimplifying it a little, but it is an experience of identifying with Jesus. He loved us and so died an innocent death to give us new life. When someone is baptised, they are usually dunked under the water, symbolising death (death to sin) and then raised out of the water, symbolising new life, the new life they have received in Jesus Christ.

Two of our friends were baptised this Saturday. What a beautiful day it was. Congratulations Veronica and Pasha – Christ is risen and you have new life with him!

2012/05/12

Property Work Day

Taking care of the properties used for serving people is clearly important. Whether its a building used for meetings, a van for transport or a beach for camps, the time spent in cleaning, maintenance and repairs is part and parcel of the opportunity to use them.

Here in Kyiv, we have a property with some buildings, fields for soccer and games, and a beautiful beach. Each gets used in different ways and by different groups. So for us its vital to be a part of taking care of them. Our visiting family (Ben’s sister Lisa and her husband Mike) contributed to our property care during the most recent property work day by spreading sand, picking rocks and building walls (part of an addition to the kitchen). Thanks for helping out!

2012/04/05

Central Europe or Bust!

One of our teams headed to central Europe, to Hungary for the first month and then on to Latvia. They had some really cool opportunities, from teaching Revelation to entering a post-soviet prison teaching inmates how to read and study their Bible. Listen to Silvi share about some of her experience:

When I looked at their sincere eyes, smiles, and eagerness to participate I forgot that we were in a high security prison, sitting among murderers, rapists and thieves. We had been checked with a metal detector, our bags had been searched, the soda we brought smelled for alcohol, and our Bible’s leafed through for money. Even though the heavy doors were closed with a startling clang and if I ever wanted to go to the washroom I need to be escorted there by a guard – yet as we began to teach it was as if the window no longer had bars. The door was no longer locked. We were one family captured in the world of ‘Bible Overview’ or the story of Jonah.

When you ask people in your home groups to read the book of Acts maybe one or two will last it out past chapter five. We asked these guys to read the book of Acts in two days time and it was done and they had their list of questions for us! These young men of whom most had flunked out of their high school, and some of them very poor readers, were our most attentive audience!

2012/01/29

Ukraine / Russia Article

One of the teams that we sent out stayed for one month in Ukraine and then moved on to the mid-west of Russia. Here is a quote from one of the interns, James from Germany:

“From the training time on God began to show me that teaching the bible and even teaching in general is not really about me as the teacher, it is all about honouring God and serving the people in my audience. As a teacher I can be so focused on myself and overly concerned with my performance and what people think of me, but I’ve come to realize that what really matters is what the audience “walks away with”. Throughout outreach I was able to put this revelation into practice and learn how to better make God’s word applicable to people of different backgrounds.

One of our main goals was to equip Ukrainian and Russian believers to study God’s word for themselves using inductive principles. We guided them through small books such as Philemon and Jonah and were amazed to see and hear what they “got out of it”. God gave us many opportunities to strengthen his body, the church, and encourage believers to dig deeper into the bible.
I think it is just amazing how God speaks to his people. Our audiences were encouraged by the truths they discovered and how these principles could be applied in their own lives. That is really what it is all about. We study and teach God’s word in order to be transformed, becoming more like him and giving him glory!”

2012/01/24

Asia Update

In an earlier post, I mentioned we would like to highlight each of the teams that we sent out in October. The team on the left flew to Hong Kong and spent two months teaching there and in their northern neighbour. Their newsletter is the picture on the left – it’s a picture because the authorities in some countries scan all electronic information but if its a picture then the text is no longer text and basically, “unscannable”. Sylvie, one of the local leaders commented on their teaching, “in 10 years I haven’t seen anyone teach in such a way that ‘these people’ were able to understand!”

Thanks for being a part of sending Sonya, Tonya and Vicka to Asia!

** click the picture to see their update large enough to read the text :)

2011/11/20

Thanksgiving

In most of the places we have spent our fall in the last 5 years, there is usually more American influence than Canadian, which means celebrating American thanksgiving. So this week we will celebrate with all our friends here. (we found out that our friend Becky even imported pumpkin pie filling for the pies… we’re excited!)

This Sunday at church, we heard a really great line that defines thanksgiving for us. Most of the time, what happens on thanksgiving is a day of being thankful. So we do some special activities that remind us of how much God has blessed us. Which is good. But thanksgiving is so much more, it is an opportunity to remind ourselves that we are supposed to be thankful people. We’re not just thankful today, we’re thankful in all circumstances.

Paul, our pastor, reminded us of some of the times when we’re not ordinarily thankful. Like when the walk needs shovelling or something around the house needs fixing. Or when the clothes fit a little too snug or we can’t sleep in (because the kids are up bright and early!). Those are great opportunities to remember that we have a home to shelter us, plenty of food to eat, and kids full of joy and excitement for life!

Thankfulness is usually a matter of perspective and not usually circumstance – of course, that’s difficult to remember when we’re in the middle of it. But I hope that I become more thankful as the days turn into seasons and the seasons into years – becoming a person characterized by thankfulness, day in and day out!

2011/08/16

Homecoming

No we didn’t get all dressed up, but we have had a wonderful homecoming!! Our family and friends and church have embraced us with open arms! We have been plagued with a bit of sickness during these 5 weeks in Canada, but being with people we love has made a huge difference and we wouldn’t trade this time! One more week here and then we head back to Ukraine! We are excited to start staff training for Titus Project! We’ll update our picture page soon with shots from Ben’s new camera. If you want to see him receiving him camera (Surprise!) then go our video page.

2011/05/232025/12/19

Happy Birthday Cassie!

“

Look at me me me, I’m three three three, I’m as happy as can be be be, Can you tell? Can you see? I’m a very very happy me! I can build my blocks, put on my socks, I can even draw a circle.

We love you little girl – you’re a wonderful treasure in our life!

You have a wonderful attitude, bring such joy to us with your singing and dancing. You blow our socks off with how intelligent you are, you’re always learning new things, drawing new conclusions, using big new words and really surprising us at every turn! You’re the most wonderful gift from God we have ever received! You are finally three three three! :)

PS. You can watch a clip of Cassie performing the above song with her mom here or a different one here.

2011/05/20

Cassie’s Friend Katya

2011/05/20

Jay’s Friend Rawly

2011/05/20

Church Picnic & Baptisms

2011/05/11

The Island

Well, I recently wrote a great blog on this movie entitled “The Island”, but it got deleted along with our recent stuff … and I just can’t remember it. But its an interesting movie, that for me raised a lot of questions about the Orthodox Church here in Ukraine.

We’ll bring our copy home in summer, and we’d love to watch it with you and chat a little bit. And maybe, we can both grow a little more towards Jesus through it.

*** UPDATE
My friend Shaun sent me a copy of recent blog posts, THANK YOU! You can find the original post to “The Island” here.

2011/05/07

The Island

A few posts ago, 9 of Them, we mentioned wed like to feature some of their stories. Here is the first one.

One of the students in Sweden is from Ukraine, Dima. We met him and his wife, Zhenya, while we were still there running Titus. Theyre really an incredible couple, intelligent, passionate believers, from atheist background.

So what are they doing with YWM in Sweden? They are part of bringing Jesus to people who dont know who he is. Anyway, we got started talking about the Orthodox church while we were there. Why? Well, the Orthodox church is the major Christian presence in Ukraine and the post-Soviet world. And Ive been on a major learning curve since we arrived. Well do some posts in the future, talking about the Orthodox church. And we watched this very interesting movie with Dima and Zhenya, called The Island in English (you can see its facebook page here). During the Soviet years, the Russian Orthodox church dwindled because of the soviet states radical atheistic marxism seen in repression of religion. Listen to some of these stats:
– In 1917-1939, over 50,000 Orthodox priests vanished, 1000 churches & 60 seminaries were closed
– by 1933, of 600 churches in Moscow only 100 remained open
– by 1941, 98% of all Orthodox churches in Russia were closed
(Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Daniel Clendenin, p44).
Wow!
Anyway, the story of the Island takes place during WWII. The main character becomes a priest after having committed a grave sin. Its an interesting story and we will bring it home with us in summer, if youre interested, let us know and wed love to watch it with you. It will give you some understanding of what it means to live here.

As Clendenin very appropriately states where this all will lead remains to be seen.

2011/03/13

The Orthodox Church – Experience #1

Our first experience with the orthodox church happened in late May 2009. We were visiting Kyiv while considering where we might relocate Titus Project in Europe. As part of our visit, one of our hosts by the name of Tim Huddleston, now a treasured friend, took us for a tour around Kyiv.

As we learned, one of Tim’s hobbies was really understanding Kyiv’s history. It turns out to be very rich and interesting (but more on that later). Anyway, one of the landmarks on his tour was St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral. Writing this nearly two years later, I barely remember anything. I will briefly introduce two things that I do remember because they really struck me, but we will only go into depth in subsequent posts.

The first thing I remember was how different it was. Angela and the ladies put on scarves before we entered. There was the paintings and the dim light with candles and a few other things that I really hadn’t experienced, even in the old catholic churches I’ve entered in other European countries.

The second thing I remember was Tim’s comment. It was a teachable moment and he took the opportunity. He said that although worship may be very different than what I am used to, do not quickly pronounce judgment on it because there are many many positives to it and things we can learn from. It was, and remains, wise advice.

So why begin recounting our experiences with the Orthodox Church here? There are a few different reasons, but probably the most important is that the Christian church is vast, and vastly diverse in its style and character. To breathe Ukrainian air is to breathe a mixture of Christian faith. Need a picture? Consider how puppies are tied to the same pole, yet as they run around and around, they get tied together even while they run in many directions. So while we are all rooted to the same Christ, the atmosphere and experience of his worship may be very different, sometimes crossing, sometimes running in parallel. I want to explore this relationship more fully, understand these other worship experiences without prejudice and with love. And in turn, hopefully, bring my own experiences to people who might benefit from them.