The Mission Prayer at Work

In the Blenheim congregation we are praying the Mission prayer daily that we will be fully awake, ready and open to where the Spirit is leading and have the courage and wisdom to respond. I recognize that God's Spirit has really been working and directing each of us in some pretty profound ways. I want to share with you one amazing way how God has been blessing us and helping us to share with others and revitalizing our congregation.

Recently our congregation held a yard sale, bake sale, hotdog BBQ event on a rather busy Saturday. In advance we each delivered flyers to people in the neighbourhood and surrounding area. Everyone looked forward to this day and lots of energy was spent in preparation. We had multiple tables of new and gently used stuff inside and outside! It was a big project which we had talked about for some time and finally decided that it was time to actually do it. I am so thankful that we hosted this.

Two young adult friends of the church participated and modeled grace and generosity in a way that others had not experienced before. The one went to a local greenhouse and obtained fresh vegetables and arranged them on a table outside and was so positive and happy that it radiated love and joy to everyone. The other set up his own BBQ and BBQ station complete with stereo, in a very creative way that allowed him to serve hotdogs and play some awesome current WOW Christian music which had people dancing and singing in the parking lot.

We each were stationed at different areas to help with sales and customer service to make it easier for those attending. We all worked hard together to create an environment that was welcoming, happy and expressed thanks for coming and supporting our fundraiser. Again each person leaving experienced an expression of "Thanks for coming" and a big wave good bye as they drove out of the parking lot. The day truly was amazing. I was stationed close to the parking lot for the day. I overheard comments from people as they were leaving saying things like: "Wow, see I told you they believed in God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit", "Wasn't this a wonderful stop on our yard sale adventure today", "I am so glad we stopped!", "There are some really nice people at this church", "I hope they have another event, we will have to make sure we come back." It was a fantastic day of blessings and happiness.

I must admit that at the end of the day I was shocked when I went in our building while cleaning up and discovered that most of our pamphlets and printed items in our entrance were gone. At first I thought perhaps someone had removed them to prevent the wind from blowing them all around, but discovered that volunteers had observed people stopping and reading our Enduring Principles brochures that are displayed in our entrance and taking the other literature below as well. Awesome! We had not planned on that. A new good problem. We have to replace our pamphlets, but what an amazing blessing to have to replenish. I am so glad that it contained current information. We have one individual who looks after this and she has been bringing her Herald to the Church each month after she finishes reading it and placing it in with the pamphlets for others to read. It was even gone! I pray that those who took the pamphlets and materials will be blessed by the information that they contained and that we will be ready to continue to share and respond as opportunities present themselves.

While cleaning up I also heard many positive testimonies, particularly from an individual, who is not a priesthood member, and is a very quiet and humble person. He noted people stopping at the Chapel entrance and so he invited them in, allowed people to sit in our Chapel or come into the Chapel area and look around. He remained in the Chapel area, answered questions about our Church and our beliefs. Again not something that we had planned, but an awesome blessing and testimony of how God had been preparing us and developing each of us as disciples in some pretty amazing ways for service. All are called and gifted and truly God was aware and blessed our community in some very profound ways. I am thankful for the blessing that this man was open to the Holy Spirit and had the courage to respond and share his rich testimony with those who came.

The following day was Sunday. The Yard Sale blessing and ministry experience continued as ten children and four adult visitors joined us for our Worship service at 11. They had come to the yard sale the previous day and decided to come to Church. This truly was an amazing blessing and further testimony of God's Love, Grace and Generosity. We have continued to have various visitors from the community each Sunday since and for this I am truly thankful for the new opportunities that each of us has had and has to share in the journey of faith with others. God is using each of our gifts and talents to bring blessings to others. We are so thankful and continue to pray the Mission Prayer as we respond to those in our community. We are eager to share the Gospel and journey in faith with others knowing that this is not easy but we are willing to be open to the opportunities as we make an intentional shift in our responses for those whom we encounter. These are exciting times in the Blenheim congregation.

submitted by Wende Badder