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"So Cliff, just write about how you are preparing for Christmas." "Christmas!" I thought mean thoughts towardmy dear Ministry Centre friend Lisa, "I'm just trying to get through the summer, and then I'm going to getthrough fall, and then…". I really am usually the type that is on top of things, but this year has been a

busy one (two kids in sports & school, dedicated our children's wing this past Sunday, building is now completedthree years early, staffing, schooling, balding) so I'm not so much being proactive but reactive in the day-to-day work.Truthfully, I've been in survival mode, and hoping not to be voted off any of the islands I'm on! My journey in thepast month has been to move from just surviving to breathing, living, having a handle on my days and even preparingfor this Advent season. So if you allow me I'll open up my journal from the past month and invite you to make useof any of these lessons as you prepare for a meaningful Advent season (Please remember that these are journal entries,so not quite as 'polished' as an article should be. Also, I'll leave out the many entries bemoaning growing old andthe prayers of repentance after yet another trip to the penalty box in ball hockey!).

The Free Methodist Church in CanadaDecember 2004 - Volume 2 Issue 1

Reflecting the diversity of ministry expression withinthe Free Methodist family

Journal entry in early September: "Reading Proverbs1:7 where 'the fear of the Lord is the beginning ofknowledge…'. Beginning here can be understood [asone commentator explained] as controlling principle.'Fear of the Lord' is the controlling principle with regardsto how I process and respond to life. It is to be the guardat the door of my warehouse (how I process life). Lord,as I consider the next few weeks and even the upcomingseason, and all that is in my day-timer, let it all be in thecontext of the 'fear of the Lord' - the awe and wonderthat the Lion of Judah, Creator of the Universe loves me,was born for me, has a plan for me. The Message says"soak yourself in the fear of the Lord". I like that. If mykids soak in the bath for one hour, then for at least onehour in that day I am guaranteed clean fresh kids! If onlyI could 'soak' in this… I'll meditate on 'fear of the Lord'as controlling principle today.

Journal entry in early October: Lord I'm thinking quitea bit of Advent, and I'm wondering about "Un-decorating Christmas" as a theme. "The sermon shouldbe the pastor up-to-date" so Father start with "Un-decorating me"…

I love the definition of "pride" we have developed inour study in Proverbs: me preoccupied with me, good orbad or otherwise. The word picture we have used is of aman walking through a busy airport loaded down withluggage - one suitcase swung over each arm, two in eachhand, one in his teeth - as a result of all he is lugging, heis bumping into people, annoying people, and because ofall the luggage, not able to help a little old man who hasjust dropped one of his bags. Furthermore, peoplebumping into him annoy him because he is not quite

balanced with all the luggage he is carrying… That's meFather, way too often. Preoccupied with so much Cliffstuff, that I'm that airport man! That's the stuff of pride- me bigger than me because of all my stuff. So FatherI'm praying un-luggage me, un-decorate me. As a churchun-luggage us, un-decorate us…

Journal entry in October: Big bruise on my shin - I'mquitting ball hockey…

Journal entry in October: Twoamazing initiatives in thecoming month that will usherChristmas season in for ourchurch: concert of prayer in afew weeks, and the "Breaking ofBread Service". Board felt thatif we were going to coachanother church in the area ofunity and restoration, then wehad better check in here first.Never been to a service like this,but apparently we are each givenbread and freed up to walkaround the room to share this bread with each other. Ifanything is up between anyone, right then and there theyare to work it out. Someone joked that I'd need to havea big long French bread stick! Praying that's not true! Ilove Father, that this amazing church is taking thisinitiative!

Journal entry in October: I'd like this Christmas seasonto start 2005 and not just finish 2004. I'd like it to be

“I'd like this

Christmas

season to start

2005 and not

just finish

2004.

continued on page 3 - journal

COVERBathing, Un-Decorating,Praying and Ball Hockey: An Advent Journalby Cliff Fletcher

PAGE 2Editor’s Desk

Applying Lessons Learned:Refreshing the Wineskinsby Alan Retzman

PAGE 3Let Me Introduce You To Jaredby Bishop Keith Elford

PAGE 4Passages

John Wesley Returns toSouthern Saskatchewanby David Shepherd

PAGE 5An Awesome AdventureMature Study Teamby Jennifer Anderson

Prayer For GeneralConferenceby Greg Langille

PAGE 6The Open Door Community Churchby Kim Reid

PAGE 7Student Ministriesby Andrew Brown

PAGE 8Puppets and Balloons In Indiaby Doug Griffin

Hyderabad, IndiaA City of Extremesby Barry Taylor

EDITOR’SDESK

Jesus is foreveryone!

I have a great vantage point from

the platform of my church. When I

help to lead worship I am facing the whole

congregation. At times it is easy to get distracted,

but for the most part it is helpful to know if the

congregation is "with you" when you lead in

worship.

Recently, during an altar call I noticed two men

approaching the platform. The first man walked

slowly to the altar from one of the side aisles. He

kept his head down. In his left hand he held

several grocery bags filled with empty pop cans; in

his right, his coat. He looked disheveled and tired

as he stood there. The second man came down

the middle aisle. He was dressed in a suit - he

looked like a professional of some kind. His head

was also bowed down; he looked like he might be

crying. Two men, two different life situations,

standing at the same altar, both in need of God.

I've been reading through Matthew and Luke's

gospel accounts of the birth of Christ. In both we

see visitors that came to see Him: Matthew writes

about the Magi and their expensive gifts; in Luke

we are told of the angels appearing to the

shepherds. Privileged Magi and humble shepherds

- both kneeling down and worshipping the Christ

Child.

There is a striking similarity to me as I think again

of those two men at the altar. Drawing near to

Jesus transcends socio-economic classes and

cultural differences. It reminds me that we have all

been called to worship Jesus, just as the wise men

and the shepherds worshipped and praised God

on that first Christmas. We've all been invited to

draw near to Him and He continues to call us into

His presence. The only requirement is

acknowledging our desperate need of Him.

I hope that this Christmas season and the New

Year brings us, once again, to a place of wonder

at God's incredible gift of love to us all.

There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart ofevery man which cannot be filled by anycreated thing, but only by God the Creator,made known through Jesus Christ.

Blaise PascalFrench mathematician and philosopher

(1623 - 1662)

Peace,

Lisa HowdenManaging Editor

How does one choose leaders in a foreign land, like Sri Lanka? We needed a "wineskin,"to give a healthy structure to the growth of the Sri Lanka FMC. There was a challenge.Who will be the leaders? One Sri Lankan pastor, new to us, had only been at one

retreat sponsored by the team from Canada. He started chipping away individually at DanSheffield and me, divide and conquer tactics: "You need a church registration. I HAVE achurch registration. You may use mine for the Free Methodist Church. You need a to establisha bank account, I HAVE a bank account which I will turn over to you. Do you see how I canhelp you? So, let me join the inaugural Free Methodist Church in Sri Lanka."

It would have been easy to say, “This pastor has so much to offer us, itwould make things so much easier if we let him come in now insteadof building relationship by attending three retreats, like the others whoare to form the inaugural FMC of Sri Lanka." The retreats allowed usto build relationship, estabilsih credibility with the pastors and theywith us. The team, Dan Sheffield and I talked, briefly, and said no tothe offer of this pastor. That was a difficult decision, but a right one.

Applying lessons learned:

Refreshing the Wineskins

“No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwisethe wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost andthe skins as well; but one puts new wine into freshwineskins.” Mark 2:22

M O S A I C 2

WHICH CHARACTERISTIC OF LEADERSHIP IS MOST IMPORTANT?Later that day I was teaching about what isimportant to us as Free Methodist when welook for leaders. In preparing for this Godconfirmed the decision we made earlier. Itold the group of Sri Lankan (through aninterpreter) that there were five things thatthe FMCiC feel are important. These thingsreflect our vision and mission.

They are: Harmony with the FreeMethodist Church (Doctrine, ethos, DNA),Experience, Training and skills, Character,and Reputation.

Then I asked a question: "Which of thefive above is most important?" Their firstanswers were tell-the-teacher-what-he-wants-to-hear answers: "Harmony with the FreeMethodist Church."

"No, that's not it," I said. Those that wehad been building relationship with foralmost two years said, "Character is mostimportant." "You are right," I said.

The pastor who offered us a registrationand a bank account didn't get the rightanswer. This is the passage God led me to:

Don't look for shortcuts to God. The

market is flooded with surefire, easygoing

formulas for a successful like …don't fall

for that stuff. Be wary of false preachers

who smile a lot, dripping with practiced

sincerity. Don't be impressed…(with

offers of registrations or bank accounts.)

Look for character.

Matt 7: 13-17 (Message) (Italics, mine.)

Having the gift of leadership is what Goddoes for a leader. Character is what God doesin a leader. This takes time. Dr. J. RobertClinton, author of The Making of a Leader,writes, "Our greatest challenge as leaders is todevelop a godly character." (p. 57)

HOW IMPORTANT IS HARMONY WITH THE FMCIC IN BUILDING LEADERS?

I asked, "What do you think is second inimportance?" "Harmony with the FreeMethodist Chruch," said one or two. Somenever learn. "No, reputation is second." Wefound out after the retreat from PastorLazarus, the newly elected Superintendent ofthe FMC Sri Lnaka, that there were at leastnine Sri Lankan pastors of good characterwho stayed away from this retreat becausethey heard that this one pastor, offering aregistration and bank account was going tobe there. Pastor Lazarus reported, "He has abad reputation." (We learned that he wasunethical with money and inappropriate withwomen in his church.) God confirmed ourdecision again. Dan and I wondered whatmight have happened had we let this pastor,"despite his gifts," join this vulnerable newmission district. Had we associated with himquickly without learning who he was, wecould have destroyed what God is doing inSri Lanka. Character and reputation are firston any biblical list of characteristics forleadership. As early as Acts 2:42-47 we seehaving favour with all people (goodreputation) was one of the marks of allmembers of the church, as well as leaders.

The third in importance is harmony withthe FMC. Not first or second. The fourthon the list is experience followed by trainingand skills. If we have a clear sense on the firstthree the last two are much easier to develop.

A FRESH WINESKIN FOR DEVELOPING LEADERS IN CANADAWhat we learned was that these samecharacteristics are important to us indeveloping leaders in Canada. Whether youare called to youth ministry, chaplaincy, layministry, commissioned to a local church,planting a church, going oversees, or pastor acongregation, these five things are essential inbuilding up leaders. continued on page 6

By Bishop Keith Elford

like punctuation rules in Spanish: the exclamationmark at the beginning of the sentence, so that youknow the intonation to use as you read it!

Journal entry in early November: I have listened to my children recitetheir Christmas musical 17 gazillion times! In the car, at bedtime, atsupper-time, and lately in my dreams! I love that my kids are excited aboutthe play, as both are in the choir. I love that they don't mind playing thetape yet again! But it really must be true that God is more like them thanlike me in this way. G.K. Chesterton's words came to mind (from JohnOrtberg's excellent book The Life You've Always Wanted page 65):

"Because children have abounding vitality, because they are inspirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated andunchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; and the grown-upperson does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up peopleare not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God isstrong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God saysevery morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Doit again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity thatmakes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy

separately, but has never got tired of makingthem. It may be that He has the eternalappetite for infancy; for we have sinned andgrown old, and our Father is younger thanwe." Boy, does that sum up Christmas for me:

planning, shopping, stressing about money,wondering about a fresh way of describing Yourbirth, praying about new ways of coming at it so as not to bore the church!When really, it is a story that is newer and fresher than a new day or daisy!This is freeing, Father. So maybe I'll just go right home tonight and blastthat Christmas tape my kids are working to memorize - bring it on, again!And the Christmas message: say it again, the same way, don't change aword, for I do not want to be old anymore and fickle and stressed and…Maybe Father I can just crawl up on to your lap and ask your Word to 'tellme the Christmas story again.'

Merry Christmas from someone still preparing, but anticipating thisseason to be an exclamation point for 2005!

Rev. Cliff Fletcher is Senior Pastor at Barrie Free Methodist Church.

There is someone I would like you to meet, because as of January 1,2005, he will be joining the National Leadership Team of The FreeMethodist Church in Canada as Director of Growth Ministries. His

name is Jared Siebert. He is 30 years old, married to Kathy and they havea young son, Soren, 2 years old and another child due to arrive in March.

Some of you will already know him as the young guy, who with his closefriend, Al Doseger, co-planted the Next Church in Kingston, Ontario overthe past seven years. More recently, he and Franceen Neufeld have also beenco-planting a second congregation in the Colborne Street church called"Church in the Box." It is an intergenerational, chaordic (having both chaosand order), interactive approach that makes creative use of liturgy.

Jared has also been an Assistant Superintendent, leading a network ofchurch planters, while he himself has been developing leadership skills in aParent Church Network, led by Angel Valentin.

Director of Growth Ministries for The Free Methodist Church inCanada! So can he do it? Angel Valentin thinks so. He's ready to throw hisfull support behind Jared, and he'll tell you that though Jared is very giftedin many areas, he has demonstrated that he embraces the value of teamworkand has deep compassion for the hearts of people—especially thepostmodern generation.

This last quality was one of the key reasons the Search Teamrecommended Jared to the Board of Administration. As Glenn Gibson,who assisted the search process and who has observed Jared develop from hisdays as a student at Emmanuel Bible College, put it: "Jared is culturallybilingual." This means that he understands the language of the existingculture and the emerging culture, both inside and outside the church, is

comfortable in both worlds and appreciates thatGod is at work in all kinds of expressions of churchwhere there is a passion for Jesus and a heart forreaching out to the community. He recognizesthe importance of revitalizing existing churcheswhile facilitating the planting of newcongregations.

Jared grew up in a traditional evangelicalhome and affirms the foundation he was given.However, he also has his sights on the spirituallyopen emerging culture in Canada, and has bothpassion and experience to help recruit and coachleaders to enthusiastically enter that harvest field.Bruce Kellar, a second career pastor serving at

Cloyne, Ontario, is a member of Jared's planternetwork. Bruce is planting a new congregation in

nearby Flinton, and he will tell you that Jared isa lot of fun to work with, dedicated and

serious about his calling, thoughtful andhelpful with practical solutions to

ministry challenges.Betty Humphrey, the chair

of the national Board of

Administration, has watched a lot of the life ofthe church. She's ready for Jared's enthusiasmand youthful optimism and believes that he willbring real strength to the growth ministries area.After hearing Jared share his heart before theBOA, Betty commented, "He recognizes theenormous task that has been entrusted to him,but he also knows the 'Source' of his help. Weneed more young men and women to step up tothe challenge of leadership in the Church."

In the beginning, it never occurred to Jared tosubmit a résumé so why did he decide to step upand make himself available for this leadershipchallenge? He explains, "It was my (NextChurch) partner, Al Doseger, telling me that hehad been praying for something like this for mefor two years; my wife knowing in her spirit thatthis all made sense; the encouragement of RadZdero and Jason Johnston, Angel Valentin,Howard Olver, and others to consider this. Yet, as time passed, I felt Ineeded a little more ownership and 'God to heart' confirmation on all this.So in preparation for my interview, I spent four days on a solitude retreatasking God for direction, a proper attitude no matter the outcome, and thatabove all, I do his will. After that experience, I felt confident that God wasbehind this and that made it possible to say 'Yes.'"

It is this call that now energizes Jared to respond to the big challenges ingrowth ministries in the FMCIC. He comments, "I'm pretty sure that wearen't facing any new challenges in growth ministries or in any otherdepartment. It's just the same old ones packaged. Here's the problem: Godhas a plan; the challenge is will we risk it all to follow him? It's the samechallenge most of the people in the Bible faced when God presented his planto them. At the time, the plan always seemed risky, even a bit backwards(eg., send a stutterer to be God's spokesman, have a coward serve as a generalin God's army, send the holy God to die for sinful people, etc….). Thesituation is similar for us. We have a wet-behind-the-ears kid in the GrowthMinistries chair. We're not exactly the biggest or the most powerfuldenomination in Canada. In 2004, we had two-thirds of the money weneeded to meet the request of church planters in 2005. Yet through it all,we seem to have faith that God has a plan. The challenge for us is, Do wego along with his plan or not?"

Glenn Gibson, Outreach Canada's church revitalization specialist, hassigned a contract to be Jared's growth ministries mentor and coach for 2005.He has traveled Canada for the last seven years and has met a wide range ofcatalytic leaders from many different denominations. He is absolutelyconvinced that Jared is one of the up and coming church planting thinkersand practitioners in Canada with all the right stuff to take us into the nextchapter of our history.

I agree! Church, let's get to praying for Jared and Kathy. There areawesome days coming.

“He recognizes

the enormous

task that has

been entrusted

to him, but he

also knows the

'Source' of his

help.

Journal

3 M O S A I C

After an absence of several years, John Wesley and his theology are coming back to the south ofCanada's prairie province. Thanks to a partnership between the Free Methodist Church inCanada (FMCiC) and Briercrest College and Seminary, Prof. David Ashton, one of the best-

known names in Free Methodist education in Canada, will be in Caronport, SK, January 10-14 toteach a course on John Wesley and his theology to students from Saskatchewan and across Canada.

While John Wesley and his theology are taught widely outside Saskatchewan, the closure ofAldersgate, the denomination's Canadian college, in 1995 seemed destined to ensure that it wouldnot be taught again soon in Moose Jaw. Founded as Moose Jaw Bible College in 1940, and re-christened Aldersgate College in 1964, the school had offered several generations of Free Methodistsfrom Saskatchewan and beyond an opportunity to train for ministry in an environment steeped inWesleyan thought and theology. When David Ashton, professor of theology at the College left forWinnipeg and the Canadian Nazarene College, the teaching of Wesley and histheology essentially left with him. While a subsequent academic position at RockyMountain College in Calgary (1998 - 2004) allowed him to return to Saskatchewanoccasionally to teach weekend courses on Wesley and his theology, Ashton's recentretirement might well have signalled the end of Wesley's sporadic presence in theprovince.

Instead, however, a recent agreement between the Free Methodist Church inCanada and Briercrest College and Seminary means that, a decade after they departedsouthern Saskatchewan, Ashton and Wesley are coming back, much to the professor'sdelight. 'I must confess that having the opportunity to expand Wesley from aweekend to a full week is great because the weekend course left some important issueson the cutting floor. It will also be pleasant to return to one of my favourite placesin the world where I spent 10 years teaching and raising a family.' While the study oftheology sounds dry and dusty to some, Ashton argues that it's never been moreimportant, 'Everyone is a theologian. Some of us do it badly, often with sadconsequences. Others do it lopsidedly and explore only one side of complex issues.Good theology is listening to, and engaging with, those from the past and the presentwho are also interested in the great questions about the relationship between God andthe world. I think "doing theology" is the greatest sport in the world, and everybodywins!' While there have been many thinkers and theologians down through the ages,Ashton is convinced that Wesley's theology remains vital and relevant for FreeMethodists' today, 'In the Christian church in North America there is much morecross-pollination between the various denominations than ever before. This is a goodthing. It has reduced sectarianism in significant ways. Nonetheless, it is good to visitthe deep roots of one's own denomination, if for no other reason than to understandthe perceptions and the practices of the churches in which we participate.'

The Theology of John Wesley is one of four Foundational Courses required forcredentialing in the FMCiC. FMCiC candidates for ministry and students fromBriercrest considering ministry with the FMCiC can get all the Foundational Courseswhile at Briercrest. They are available by audit or credit, depending on the plans ofeach student's educational plan. Rev. Alan Retzman reports that he is very pleasedwith the fruitful relationship being developed between the school and the FMCiC.'We once again have a place for training candidates for ministry in Saskatchewan.'

According to Dr. David Shepherd, Dean of the Seminary at Briercrest, Wesley's return is goodnews for Briercrest as well. 'As an evangelical interdenominational Seminary serving the prairies andbeyond, we want to offer our students the very best in evangelical theology from a variety of differenttraditions. To do that we need Wesley. and that's why we're glad to welcome both him and Prof.Ashton back to southern Saskatchewan.' After several years in the wilderness, the time is clearly ripefor Wesley's return to southern Saskatchewan. Indeed, given the appreciation for what he represents,it will hardly be surprising if this is only the first of many happy returns.

Prof. David Ashton will be teaching The Theology of John Wesley from January 10-14. For moredetails contact Briercrest Seminary (dshepherd@briercrest.ca).

David Shepherd is the Academic Dean and Associate Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament at Briercrest College and Seminary in Caronport, SK.

JOHN WESLEYWHO WAS JOHN WESLEY? Why are more and more Christians interested inre-discovering what this spiritual leader from the past has to offer the churchtoday? It is increasingly clear that contemporary currents in ministry includingthe Church Growth, Small Group, and Charismatic movements have been shapedby Wesley's ideas about what it means to do theology and ministry. While theTheology of John Wesley course is required if you're moving toward commissioned orordained ministry in the Free Methodist Church in Canada, it also offers interested lay people thechance to spend a week with Wesley in the company of Dr. Dave Ashton, a man who knowsWesley well.

This coming January (10-14), thanks to a new partnership with Briercrest College andSeminary, Free Methodist students will not only be able to enjoy the benefits of an excellentlibrary and support staff, they may also be able to take the Theology of John Wesley for Collegeor Seminary credit.

To find out more about joining John Wesley and Dave Ashton at Briercrest thisJanuary, please call Dr. David Shepherd (306-756-3325) or email him atdshepherd@briercrest.ca.

Passages

AT BRIERCRESTSEMINARY IN JANUARY

We will soon bereleasing a CD with anew updated version ofThe Manual. Thisversion will have revisedparagraphs on pastoralevaluations andadjustments to severalother paragraphs.

On the CD, you willalso find the new revised Updates to print and insert inyour Manual. (We will also provide printed copies ofthese pages to those who ask.)

We will be sending one CD to every church.If you would like more CDs, would you let me knowhow many? (They are free of charge.)

M O S A I C 4

NATIONAL LEADERSHIP TEAMAPPOINTMENTJared Siebert, Director of Growth Ministries (NLT)January 1, 2005

APPOINTMENTSCarl Bull, Associate PastorOctober 18, 2004Cole Lake FMC, Cole Lake, ON

Scott Woolhead, PastorOctober 19, 2004Timmins FMC, Timmins, ON

Ryan Rear, PastorOctober 8, 2004Roblin and Grandview FMCs (MB)

NEW ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT Doug Wightman (replaces Fred Hubert)

ORDINATIONSMike Szabo, October 31, 2004Steve Cylka, January 16, 2005Scott Woolhead, (approved)

MINISTERIAL CANDIDATES APPROVEDEdgar Adams (Harrowsmith FMC, Harrowsmith, ON)

Maureen Adams (Harrowsmith FMC, Harrowsmith, ON)

Leonard Bruce (Peterborough FMC, Peterborough, ON)

Amy Caswell (Calgary FMC, Calgary, AB)

Angela Connell (Buchanan Park FMC, Hamilton, ON)

Rob de Vlugt (Cornerstone Community Church, Almonte, ON)

Dale Dirksen (House of ROC, Moose Jaw, SK)

Normand Doucette (Mountain View, Clarenceville, QC)

Vincent Makombo (St Henri FMC, Montreal, QC)

Jeffrey Nault (Smiths Falls FMC, Smiths Falls, ON)

Jody Pfeifer (Weyburn FMC, Weyburn, SK)

Robert Rasmuson (First FMC, Moose Jaw, SK)

Timothy Richards (London FMC, London, ON)

Pierre Sanambe (Sherbrooke FMC, Sherbrooke, ON)

Barbara Thompson (Cloyne FMC, Pineview)

Churches in TransitionCaistor Centre FMC, Caistor Centre, ONEastern Koinonia FMC, Toronto, ONKelowna FMC, Kelowna, BCKillarney FMC, Killarney, MBMelfort FMC, Melfort, SKNew Hope FMC, Bracebridge, ONO'Connor FMC, Kakabeka Falls, ON Richmond Hill Chinese FMC, Richmond Hill, ONSouris Valley Community Church, Estevan, SKSurrey FMC, Surrey, BCWesley Chapel Japanese Church, Toronto, ON

Pastors in TransitionDavid BarbourGermain FortinWalter McIntyreNorman ShepstoneMike SmeltzerDale VinkleEugene Whitehead

THE MANUALupdated and on CD

BELIEVE IT OR NOT, General Conference 2005 is fast approaching.Our General Conference focus is “Called to declare Jesus anywhere, anytime, inall kinds of ways!” Wow! What an awesome adventure!

It is also a very empowering adventure. Ephesians 4:12 says, “prepareGod's people (of any age) for works of service, so that the body of Christ maybe built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of theSon of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of thefullness of Christ.” (NIV) With this on our minds as the Mature Study Team,we felt a great need to “light a fire” at General Conference 2005 to this end .. . . Ephesians 2:10, “……work that we better get doing.” (MSG)

The purpose of the Mature Study Team is to ignite people's passion tointentionally:

� Identify the potential in people� Invest in them, so that they will be� Involved in fulfilling God's purpose for their lives.

We need your help in “lighting the fire”! The team needs to hear from thebody of Christ. Nothing is more life changing than the personal experienceof empowering someone or being empowered to fulfill God's purpose. Ourdesire is to present “The Never Ending Story” at General Conference ofempowering testimonies.

We need you to begin right now! Please send us a VHS clip (3 minutesin length) answering the following questions:

1. Who saw and identified you?2. How did they invest their time and resources in you?3. In what ways did they involve you in fulfilling God's purpose for your

life?

All tapes should be sent to:Arlington Woods Free Methodist ChurchAttention: Corey Peters225 McClellan RoadNepean, ON K2H 8N5

Deadline for receiving testimonies isFebruary 26, 2005. Please don't delay!Thanks so much for your participation. Ifyou have any questions, please feel free tocontact me, Jennifer Anderson, at 905-356-7800 or by email, spitfire@vaxxine.com.We look forward to seeing God's handactively at work!

GENERAL CONFERENCE IS COMING. This is a major event in the

life of the church. Besides the fact that it is our tri-annual family reunion,

it sets major policies for our denomination for the coming three years.

Why eagerly pray for GC 2005? Well, among other reasons think of

the cost. The budgeted cost for GC is in excess of $105,000. That's a lot

of coin! When making an investment of that

magnitude we want to get the most return. I'm not

thinking only in monetary terms, but this is simply

to put it into perspective.

I've been reflecting on the last General Conference

and looking forward to General Conference in May

2005. As an event it was truly magnificent. The

presence of God was so evident, wasn't it? We were

knit together into a common purpose and worship.

I remember the Sunday night service as being

particularly powerful. Our hearts were stirred as we

worshiped together.

It was very encouraging and joyful. I still chuckle when I think about

the delegate who said that they actually enjoyed General Conference!

Imagine God can even help us enjoy General Conference!

I honestly believe that the earnest prayer for GC has made a difference

for us as a church in the last 2 and a half years. Most striking, of course,

occurred when we added the words "and beyond" to our vision statement.

There are new initiatives happening as a result of this simple change

and the heartfelt prayer that went into the decision. There are other

things, but this is one that quickly comes to mind.

Recently, I was praying about next year's GC. I've been asking the

Lord to guide us thematically in our praying. I believe He is saying that

we need to pray that GC be a life changing event both individually and as

a denomination. We desire the presence of the Lord as we did at last GC,

but there is an effectiveness in His presence that comes when we ask for

it.

Individually who would not want to meet with Him and be renewed?

What if there is something in our lives that we need to have pruned away

so we can be more effective? Will any be there who does not have a

specific need that must be answered either for themselves or family

member or in the church? This can happen as we pray and

seek His face beginning today.

Some things we need to pray for specifically: that

God will mightily use the inspirational speaker,

Bishop Jose Ildo de Mello. Pray for the ministry of

the worship leader and team. They have such an

important ministry. Pray for love and

unity within the worship

team.

Let us expect that God

will meet with His people.

Rev. Greg Langille is Senior

Pastor at Holt FMC and Prayer

Coordinator for General

Concerence, May 27-30, 2005.

Greg LangilleGeneral Conference

Prayer Coordinator

Attention Pastor’s WivesCanada East Women’s Missionary International Executive

INVITES YOU TO COME APART FOR . . .

Rest, Renewal & RestorationA Winter Retreat

When: January 28 & 29, 2005 Friday 5:30 pm check-in to Saturday 4pm snack

Where: Wesley Acres Retreat Centre - Bloomfield, Ontario

Why: Come meet with God and friends in a casual setting whereyou can be ministered to.

"Come unto Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." (Matt. 11:28)

Watch the mail for your registration formPlan now to register by January 6, 2005!

5 M O S A I C

IT ’S FUNNY SOMETIMES HOW GOD MOVES.God often calls us to do something without showing us what He really wants.I think He knows that if He gave us the big picture in the beginning, wewould run screaming from the room.

The Open Door was borne out of a community that was built aroundOn Rock Ministries, a para-church evangelical organization whose mission isto love youth and build relationship with them. Through that relationshipthey will come to know that our foundation is God and that He wants to betheirs as well. This ministry started out as "just" a drop-in centre. 13 yearslater, we have a music store, recording studio, soup kitchen (The Open ArmsCafé) and a food bank. The interesting thing is that underlying all of this, incaring for our volunteers and people in our ministry, we "became" acommunity. We spend a lot of time together, at the centre and in our home.We eat together, laugh and cry together, we fight and make up; we encourageand rebuke each other. We struggle together with what it means to followJesus authentically and love the world.

As the ministry and relationships grew, we started to think that thereneeded to be a church that spoke more directly to us and the people weminister to. What we hadn't quite realized was that we were that church. Iwould say that we were a church about a year before we even knew it.

One day in September 2003, some brethren friends called me up to inviteme to a church planting congress in Vancouver. A day later, Jared Siebertcalled me and asked me if I would consider planting a church in Montreal.We started to ask God what He was doing. So, my wife Sylvia, a friend andco-worker, Sean and I went to Vancouver to this congress. It was there thatthings were confirmed for us that we need to move on the church plant.

After a few quick meetings with Dan Sheffield and Jared, we were on ourway. We held our first corporate service November 30, 2003. 27 people werethere. We were excited about what God was going to do, and nervousbecause we had no idea what we were doing.

We have church in The Vault, the drop-in centre operated by On Rock.So, church has a snack bar, pool hall feel. We start with lunch at 1pm. We

have a community pot that someone takes home every week and brings itback full the next week. Whatever they make is lunch. We add bread andjuice to it and we have lunch for everyone. At 2pm, worship begins.Worship tends to be loud and fast. We have an open mic, so people can jointhe worship band and sing if they feel like it. We occasionally have one ortwo of our hard-core people join the band to do a little screaming as well. Itis a great time of worship being expressed from within the community. Thenwe have teaching discussion time. I usually lead this, but, it is an open timewhere people can add their input, ask questions, share experiences, disagree,etc. It is kind of an organized chaos. The philosophy is that, in a communitywe learn from each other. No sermon illustration I come up with is going tomatch your personal experience, so share your life with us and let us learn.We are all learners and we can all teach as well. We close with a time ofpraying for each other.

Twice a month, during the service, we send a team downtown to feed thehomeless. As we gather for lunch people participate in making about 100lunches. We then pray for the street run and send our team out to be anextension of the church to the homeless.

At present we are about 50 people each Sunday. Our community isabout 75 people in total. Sunday service is not the defining factor in who weare. That is just our celebration of God and who we are in Him. Thedefining factor for us is the community itself. It is our relationship with eachother every day, that allows people to see our love for each other throughgood times and bad. By this will all people know that we are His disciples,because of our love for each other,…. and the world at large.

As I said at the beginning, if God had shown us the big picture at thestart, when He called us, we would probably have run screaming from theroom. But, God in His wisdom and mercy, believes in "baby steps". He isfaithful.

Kim Reid is church planter at Open Door Community Church in Montreal, QC.Visit their website at the-open-door.org

M O S A I C 6

T H E O P E N D O O R P H O T O G A L L E R Y

Worship at Open DoorFood preparation for the communityJust hanging out

AN EXPERIMENTAL PLAN TO DEVELOP LEADERS HAS BEGUNFive churches and their pastors are going to be testing interviewquestions that MEGaP hopes to use in all local churches acrossCanada. We will present what we find at General Conference2005. New wineskins are flexible and change shape. Developingleaders is important and will take on different shape over time. Thepurpose is to help the local church develop leaders. I've begun toask the Lord to give us 40 churches in the next three years that willdevelop just one leader. If they develop one leader each year afterthat we will have a constant flow of leaders who will continue toequip the whole church for the needs and challenges God putsbefore us in the FMCiC for years to come.

Developing leaders with these five characteristics can beadapted to other cultures. We are developing a model to buildleaders here and beyond our borders. That makes my heart beatfaster. This is a God sized dream. Scripture says, us older ones willdream dreams (Acts 2:17.) It's the younger one who have visions.Dreamers and visionaries are in God's plan. At any age, the fivecharacteristic will guide us in developing leaders.

Rev. Alan Retzman is the Director of Personnel for The Free MethodistChurch in Canada

Refreshing the Wineskins

Continued from page 2

1st year anniversary - this is howthey treat their pastor!

One thing I have heard over and over againfrom our young people and youth leadersis that they have a real desire to "connect"

with each other. It is much deeper than just gettingtogether in a big crowd (which is fun!); it has to domore with a desire for support, encouragement andopportunities to work together.

With this in mind the first annual Acquire theFire / Free Methodist Weekend was held on Oct.22-24. Acquire the Fire (ATF) is a major provincialyouth event held in Hamilton, Ontario and was thebasis for a great opportunity to connect our FreeMethodist youth and leaders. It turned out to be anawesome weekend of spiritual growth and inconnecting with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Approximately 450 FM young people andyouth leaders (from as far away as Sault Ste. Marie(~ 8 hours driving)) ended up gathering togetherfor this event. Our sponsoring churches providedaccommodation for more than 300 kids with themajority of those billeting in peoples homes. Onthe Friday night (after the ATF evening session) wepacked out Buchanan Park FM Church with almost350 youth for a late night meal and to take somemore time to worship God together. On Saturdayevening (between ATF sessions) we gathered onceagain for a time of fellowship and food.

I was encouraged to hear that the weekendwas a blessing to so many people …

“The event was amazing…and our kids wentaway with a new excitement about their faith.It's awesome for our kids to see the ‘big picture’and to realize that there are other youth outthere.”

Cindy Gibson - New Hope Methodist(Newmarket)

“We just had two of our teens share on Sundaymorning how God changed their lives throughATF. It was so powerful!”

Pastor Brandon Shillington - Kingston WestFM Church

“Two of the teens that went with our youth groupmade faith decisions, many more expressed adesire to develop a closer walk with God. TheFriday night FM worship service at BuchananPark not only ministered to the 300 plus teenspraising God until midnight but also to thesurrounding neighbourhood. Many of theneighbours located within earshot of the church

were amazed (rather than annoyed) that this largegroup of teenagers would be so excited to worship Godlate on a Friday night.”

Pastor Steven FeatherBuchanan Park FM Church (Hamilton)

“We had 19 teens and 3 adults at the event. One of theteens made a first time commitment to Christ at theevent on Friday night. All of our teens committed tofollowing Christ in the battle, not just in the ‘socialclub’.”

Pastor Rick Hamilton - Whitby FM Church

“Our youth were amazed at how many youth attendedAcquire the Fire....most had never attended such anevent. Lives were changed a couple of youth gave theirhearts to Jesus for the first time and others deepenedtheir commitment. I guess if I am honest I have alsocome away changed. It was good to worship GODtogether.”

Pastor Dale Hawley - Frankford CommunityChurch

. . . these are just a few of the things that God didduring our weekend.

I have been communicating with some of our “west”youth leaders about the possibility of a similar event outwest and we will continue work on that. I am lookingforward to more of these connecting events in thefuture.

Thanks to Pastor Maurice Vannest (Armadale) who isalso the administrator for ATF Canada for all his workin helping this come together. Thanks as well to ourSponsoring churches (Buchanan Park, Burlington FM,Caistor Centre FM and Freedom Christian Community(Brantford)) for their amazing hospitality in provingaccommodation and our Friday evening meal.

Special thanks to Pastor Mark and Jennifer Earle,Pastor Steven and Karen Feather, Pastor Greg and KellyPulham, Lizelle VanWeesel, Paul Griffin and AmandaGrimes for all their help in planning and organizing thisevent.

Andrew Brown is Student MinistriesDirector for The Free Methodist Churchin Canada and will be continuing in hisrole as President of Reach Forth(www.reachforth.net), a multi-denominational evangelistic sports andyouth ministry in Hamilton, ON.

“When I was told that I was going toATF I sighed and said "alright” …

Prior to ATF my relationship with Godwas really bad, I despised God because of alot of

unhappiness in my life. I had been goingthrough some bad times and felt ugly andrejected by society.

On the Friday night however, thewords from the speakers really hit homeand I found myself wondering why I neverreally believed in Him. When the pastorcalled us down to pray… I cried ... becausethe words finally had meaning to me and Icould look at God and myself in a new light.It was almost as though God had reachedout, touched my shoulder and said," I loveyou, you're perfect, and beautiful!"

Saturday after ATF I went home andasked Jesus into my heart. I re-watched the"Passion of the Christ" because I wantedto see it with a new perspective, and itmade me realize again how much Jesusloved me. Later that night I spent 4 hoursreading the entire book "Revolution inWorld Missions", it was a book that wasgiven out at ATF. I was interested to learnabout missions, to understand why theywere important and what God wasaccomplishing through missionaries. I alsospent time after that looking at andmemorizing Psalm 23 … it is such anencouragement to me.The next Sunday morning (I hadn't had verymuch sleep) I came and told my friends andleaders that I had asked Jesus to be part ofmy life.

Three weeks later I am more consciousof God than I have ever been before. Ioften realize when I do things wrong andthen I ask for forgiveness. He has also puta desire in me to do what is right and good.I am definitely going to Acquire the Firenext year, and those who may not have astrong faith or that have doubts aboutGods presence in their life should beencouraged to go and feel Gods greatnessin their lives.

Brianna

THE FUTURE LOOKS GOODQuick facts f rom the Personnel depar tment

MEGaP Interviews

As I read through the gospels and hear Jesus call to all of his followersto "…go and make disciples of all nations…" I have appreciated thatit isn't something done just "over there" but wherever we are placed.

One of the natural outcomes of our relationship to Jesus should be a desireto let others know of this great news of God's love. We as a church over thepast couple years have been saying, "Lord, we are sharing in our context, andseeking to do better, but where in the world would you have us to go?" Inspeaking with Dan Sheffield, he directed us to pray about places we hadn'tthought of before - one of them was India.

God kept drawing our hearts to India. Pastor Doug Griffin of NewHorizons Community Church, extended an invitation for me to join him ona trip September 2 - 12, 2004 to connect with Dr. Narendra John and hiswife Jaya as they work for the Free Methodist Church in the HyderabadMission District. As we the leadership prayed and discussed it we felt thiswas the way for us to further develop our "…and beyond" portion of ourvision statement.

It is impossible to put the experience into words. If there was onephrase that I could use todescribe Hyderabad I would have to say it is a cityof EXTREMES; the extremes in economics - great wealth (held by just a fewpeople) and then utter poverty.

There was extreme driving, but that is a whole other article which Iwon't get into.

There was extreme commitment to Christ as I heard the story of oneyoung boy in one of our churches who has been disowned by his familybecause of his faith in Jesus, which went against his family's Hindu practices.

In addition to visiting the Free Methodist churches in Hyderabad,Doug and I spent time offering leadership training to 100 pastors for fourdays. These pastors were from districts and villages who seldom get that kindof encouragement and resource. This was an incredibly humbling experienceto stand before a group of leaders, some of whom have planted 50 churches,and teach. Clearly both Doug and I felt that we were all students togetherof Jesus Christ.

It is accurate to say that my time spent with our brothers and sistersin Christ in India has changed my life. We as a church have seen others nowfeeling a strong call to obey the "go" of Jesus. Our view of the church'smission and our role in the world, including our own community, hasenlarged our hearts to see greater things that God can do. It is our desire tokeep deepening our trust, through being obedient to Jesus.

Let me encourage you to pray for our brothers and sisters in Indiaand that God will keep pouring out His power on them. Pray that Jesus willreveal to you how you can be more obedient to him. When we are we willhave the EXTREME commitment to Christ that brings extreme joy.

Rev. Barry Taylor in Senior Pastor at Trulls Road FMC in Courtice, ON.

Ministry opportunities expanded this summer as a four-person team fromNew Horizons Community Church in Sarnia made their way to Indiafor two weeks. Led by licensed lay minister Rick Venne, the team of two

women, one man, and a teen focused upon training church leaders in the use ofboth balloon-based story-telling and puppets for evangelism.

Fund raising began a year ago as the daunting task of coming up with$13,000 was faced. Through a variety of events as varied as roofing a house to aValentine Day's couples party, the goal was surpassed. Not only were plane ticketspurchased, but thousands of balloons and several balloon pumps were obtained,

and a dozen puppets with a puppetstage were acquired. Followingtraining, these items were leftbehind for Indian nationals to use.

The team began ministry inHyderabad as a part of a GatewayCity Initiative of the Free MethodistChurch in Canada. Three CanadianFree Methodist churches -Crossroads in Salmon Arm BC,Trulls Road in Courtice ON, andNew Horizons in Sarnia ON - arepartners together in reaching out tothis gateway city.

Hyderabad is a strategic citywithin India, being the home of sixmillion people of whom 30% areMuslim and 70% Hindu. Thesuperintendent of the HyderabadMission District of the FreeMethodist Church in India, Dr.Narendra John, determined upon anoutreach strategy that was church-based, with non-churched people

being invited to church buildings to view the programming. Hundreds of childrencame to the half-dozen venues, but the key emphasis was upon training the pastorsand leaders to use the balloons and puppets so that they could carry the ministryfarther after the team's departure.

Following a 750-kilometre drive through the Indian countryside, the teamdeployed to a second city: Mumbai. Known in the West as Bombay, the city ofMumbai is the world's third largest city with 18 million people, and is projectedto become the world's largest city around 2020 when the population is expectedto reach 30 million. Here the emphasis changed significantly due to a different

strategy. West India Annual Conference superintendent Shirish Ahaley tookadvantage of several contacts within the school systems in the north end ofMumbai. The team then trained both children and adults from the Andheri FreeMethodist Church to do the ministry under team supervision. Over the next threedays, this Indian-Canadian team went into nine schools and presented the gospelto 5200 children. Around 90% of those children are from Muslim or Hinduhomes.

Team member Diane Lecours experienced a "God moment" through thistrip. Prior to leaving Sarnia, Diane had seen a picture of women in India shownby a previous team on a Sunday morning as part of the weekly missions emphasis.She was struck at the sight of one of the women, and God etched her face inDiane's mind. Some time later, just prior to leaving, a woman in her cell groupgave Diane a gold ring in obedience to direction from God, saying that it was togo to someone in India. Who that person was, she did not know. Diane howeverput two-and-two together and realized the ring was for the woman whose face shecould not forget. It was late in the trip in the city of Mumbai at one of the FreeMethodist churches that Diane suddenly saw standing in the crowd the verywoman from the photo. For fear of losing her in the crowd, Diane asked her tostand still while she ran to where her purse was locked up. Bringing the ring to her,Diane then heard a beautiful story. The woman had recently lost all of her jewelry,a tragedy in India where the gifts of gold jewelry upon marriage constitute the only'insurance policy' a woman has against potential widowhood or divorce. But shehad trusted in God that He would take care of her. Imagine the light in her facewhen Diane presented her with the gold ring and told her the story of God'sprovision!

The trip wasn't all work. The team managed to find time to ride camels, swimin the Arabian Sea, take photos of wild monkeys, and even locate the Pizza Hutin Mumbai. They returned exhausted but elated at what had transpired. The bestnews of all is that the superintendent of a school system with fifty additionalschools in Mumbai has already requested that another joint Indian-Canadianpuppet team come to his schools to share the gospel.

Some may wonder why the Indians themselves don't go into those schoolsand provide the ministry. But that discounts the reality that there is somethingspecial about people coming from the other side of the world and providingministry, and it is this presence that opens the door to venues that would otherwisebe closed. After all, we're aware that a prophet is not welcome in his ownhometown.

Plans are being made to send another puppet ministry team in late summer2006. Might you be interested in joining that team? And is your church ready tojoin the challenge of reaching to a gateway city of the world?

Rev. Doug Griffin in Senior Pastor at New Horizons FMC in Sarnia, ON.