Re-inventing anInner-city Ministry

By Gisele McKnightBonnie Hunt knows she is exactly where God wants her to be, and that is running Inner City Youth Ministry in Saint John. “Everything just fell into place,” she said of the hiring process. “This is the job I was called to do.”Her seven-year job with a Red Deer, Alberta Anglican church, as assistant minster for youth and young fami-lies, ended a year ago, but the job hunt was not go-ing well. “I applied and applied, but all doors closed,” said Bonnie. “I just had to trust that something would come.” She was hired last August and arrived in Saint John with no place to live, “but even that fell into place.”PROGRESSIt’s been a challenging six months rebuilding ICYM, but she’s finally seeing progress. A new inter-denom-inational youth group will start in the south end after March Break and the Lunch Connection programs at three local schools are thriving.She’s also tried an event called Family Connection. In November, she invited the congregations of Trinity, Stone and All Saints to a hoedown — chili, pizza and square dancing. “About 100 people came out and we all learned to square dance,” she said, adding there will be more Family Connection nights in the city.She’d like to start a south-end program that teaches people to cook and plan meals using produce and oth-er fresh foods. And she’s just received the OK to pro-ceed with an Alpha parenting course at Hazen White/St. Francis, one of her Lunch Connection schools.“Over Christmas I watched 20 hours of parenting vid-eos and I’m not even a parent!” she said, adding the

SPRING2015SUMMER

program will probably begin in March. “I have to re-invent the inner city ministry,” said Bonnie. “My struggle is a lot of programs are working well. Kids are programmed to the hilt. “My challenge is finding things no one else is doing and working on that. What aren’t they getting?”LUNCH CONNECTIONWhat hundreds of kids are getting each week in vulnerable neigh-bourhoods is a hot meal.At Portland United Church, one of the early Lunch Connection locations, it’s a happy noise as 64 kids from Centennial School storm through the door on a chilly Thursday. Feeding so many students requires a team of dedicated volun-teers, and the lunch-hour regimen runs without a hitch.The kids sit as quietly as they can while Bob Fairweather, pro-gram co-ordinator, chooses a table. Then he invites those four or five kids to the front and they say grace:“Centennial School lunch program. God bless our friends and family. God bless our food. Amen.” It’s a simple blessing, with as much overt Christianity as they are allowed to inject into this ministry for hungry children. The kids know that coming across the street to lunch is a privilege, and to misbehave means they lose the opportunity. Consequently, they are almost always well-behaved. If they want more water, they raise their glass; more food, they raise their plate; more of something else, they raise their hand. A fleet of volunteers responds, talking to the kids and making sure they’re well-cared for.CHURCHES IN ACTIONBob, a member of Portland United Church, has been here for the entire seven years of the program and acts as on-site co-ordinator. He has a team of helpers, including his wife of 53 years, Penny, who do the cooking. The menu rotates: pancakes, apple

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slices and crackers; chicken burgers; grilled cheese; Kraft Dinner and chicken nuggets; rotini

and sauce; and the absolute, hands-down favou-rite, sloppy Joes.

“I love it here,” said Bob. “I love the kids. I love the program. It’s tremendous. This is the north end of the

city. The kids need this.” Bonnie agrees: “These kids eat! They’re hungry and they know that sometimes, this

is their only hot meal of the day.” Bob and volunteers from United, Catholic and Anglican churches, plus staff from

Xerox, are feeding the kids three days a week.Ada McNamara of St. John the Baptist (Mission) and St.

Clements Anglican, along with her friend, Shirley Miller of St. Pius Catholic, began volunteering three years ago.“This church and our church work well together,” said Ada. “We do a lot of things together.”“I just inherited it,” said Bonnie of the team at Portland Unit-ed. “It runs so well. I can just show up and interact with the kids.” It’s truly a mission of Christian unity and Christian gen-erosity, with funding for this particular program from Portland United and ICYM. All that’s required of parents is a signed permission slip.OTHER SCHOOLSHazen White/St. Francis School on Sandy Point Road serves the north-end neighbourhood of Cresent Valley. The ministry serves three meals a week at the school. When ICYM pays for the meals, they have 170 students; when the parents have to pay $2 a meal, they have 70 kids. It’s clear that money is tight in this neighbourhood.At St. John the Baptist/King Edward School in the lower south end, the Kindergarten to Grade 8 students are fed twice a week by Lunch Connection. About 205 of the student popu-lation of 235 participate.Local chef Holly Singh designs the menus, orders the food and does the cooking with a team of volunteers to help set up, serve and clean up.“Every other Tuesday a group of retired firemen comes to help,” said Bonnie.This is ICYM’s 25th year, which began out of the old St. James Anglican Church on Broad Street in the lower south end, where Safe Harbour youth shelter is now located.

When Bonnie arrived last sum-mer, Lunch Connection was the only program ICYM was run-ning.FORGING FRIENDSHIPSLunch Connection at Portland United Church is one of the few times Bonnie actually gets to interact with the kids, largely due to the methods of distribut-ing the meals, so she cherishes that time. “That’s what I want — to come alongside kids, be their friend, build a relationship,” she said.She’s doing that with a knitting club at Hazen White/St. Francis School and she hopes for more opportunities. This year, 25 kids will go to Camp Brookwood, near Florencev-ille-Bristol, as was the case last year. Bonnie will be there with them in June. It represents another opportunity to forge friendships with vulnerable kids and give them a week they’ll probably remember for many years.BACK TO N.B.Bonnie is no stranger to New Brunswick. Although she’s from Northern Ontario, she spent five years at St. Luke’s in the Parish of Portland, first on an internship from Church Army (now Threshold Ministries), which led to a job. Then she spent five years as Christian education director at Christ Church Parish Church in Fredericton.“It’s nice coming back to a community where I was known,” she said. “Having that in this job is really important.”She’s thankful for the co-operation she gets from the schools and other churches, the volunteers who help make the programs run seamlessly, and for the board of directors at ICYM, who, she says, have been fantastic.“We all want what’s best for the kids,” she said.The Anglican Diocese of Fredericton provides an annual operating grant to Inner City Youth Ministry.

Gisele McKnight is the editor of the New Brunswick An-glican and the communications officer for the Diocese of

Fredericton. Article reprinted with permission.

Threshold Ministries, founded in 1929 (as Church Army in Canada), is a predominantly Anglican Order of Evangelists. Our evangelists share the Christian faith through words and actions while equipping others to do the same, across Canada.

Board of Directors: Mr. Andrew Barker, Ms. Kathleen Bell, The Rt Revd T.O. Buckle, The Revd Tim Chesterton, Dr. John W. Irwin, The Revd Dr Norbert HaukenfrersHonorary Board Member: Dr. Frederick Ketchen National Director: Shawn C. Branch

Subscriptions to our newsletters and prayer diary are available for free upon request, with donations greatly appreciated. They are available in both print and online formats. If you have a story for The Candle, or suggestions on how we can improve this magazine, please contact communications@thresholdministries.ca.

Editor: Amy StewartProofreader: Linda FlemingPrinted by: Taylor Printing Group Inc.

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In 1975, a young German tourist told me of his visit to the Arc-tic. He painted such a description that I decided to check it out for myself. How was I to know that I would meet my wife in the Arctic and that God would later have me serve Him as the Bishop of the Arctic.As I writ this, I’m getting ready to fly from Yellowknife to com-munities on the western shores of Hudson Bay. I was to visit six but mechanical problems and then weather challenges cut the trip down to four. The plan to visit all the communities on Baffin Island, Hudson Bay and Nunavik, which is Northern Quebec began in October.The Arctic still values Christianity. We’re encouraged in every community as we meet people who have a living and vibrant faith in Jesus. Per capita, church attendance is higher in the North, yet we are in need of help; 31 of our 48 communities do not have clergy even though we are blessed to have faithful, dedicated lay leaders, who lead and care for their congrega-tions. We hope to soon have the Arthur Turner Training College back into operation to ensure that our children and communi-

Arctic Values

A Word From Our National DirectorDear friends,

Our lives as Christians are a reflection. We reflect how we view Christ and His call to love and bring hope into our communities. We invest in lives, feed the hungry, care for the lonely, we stand up for injustices – we are called to live lives modeled after Jesus’ teaching in what we famously remember as, “The Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 5).

I remember a couple of years ago, sitting on the hillside hear-ing the waves crash from the Sea of Galilee and listening to a teaching on “The Sermon on the Mount.” Sitting in the tall grass, the sun falling down on our faces, listening and imaging what it would have been like to be seated amongst the crowd. Jesus frequently used the phrase, “You have heard…But I say…” Challenge the regulations with grace and compassion. As Christians, we are called to reflect that same invitation to the world around us – reflecting grace and compassion against reg-ulations. We are invited to stand up for those who are broken; we

Shawn C. BranchNational Director

ties have Godly mentors to lead them into the future. The father of deception is always knocking on the door and we must be aware of his devious schemes and tactics.It is often said that we live in a post Christian Era. How did this falling away from Christi-anity happen? Some say that prayer and the bible should never have been taken out of schools. Could it be that prayer and the bible were taken out of the home long be-fore they were taken out of schools? As Christians, it is crucial to honour our baptismal vows by each growing in our own personal relationship with Jesus, in our understanding of God’s word, God’s covenants and in turn, share God’s principles and values, with our children, neighbours and friends.Please pray that our hand stays on the plough, that we never look back and that the LORD of the Harvest would send more laborers.

+David W. ParsonsYellowknife, NWT

From left to right: Baptism in Grise Fiord Nunavut, our cathedral in Iqaluit, NU, Grise Fiord Anglican - the most northern Anglican Church in the world.

are invited to feed those who are hungry…

There are many times when we will not realize or see the af-fect of our actions. Many of our evangelists would echo that statement. They journey with people and only ever see the beginning moments of transformation; others, because of the circumstances of their ministry, do not even see that. Still we trust that the Holy Spirit continues to nurture the seeds that have been sown, and we pray that new life will spring forth. I hope you are encouraged by these stories in our newslet-ter. No life is beyond redemption. I’d like to thank you again for your continued partnership. Together we are having a real gospel impact across our nation and I hope you are en-couraged to be a part of it. Wishing you every good blessing,

Shawn C. Branch

Beyond Street HopeThe ministry by the Street Hope folks in Victoria

goes beyond serving and visiting with our friends on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Over

time, some friendships go deeper and we make a particularly significant connection.

One volunteer is particularly outgoing and fearless. She exchanges phone numbers and email addresses

with people she gets close to in the motor home and is in touch with them during the week. This volunteer makes dates to meet individual street people for coffee, giving them time for an uninterrupted visit. The volunteer hears stories that are too painful and personal to be blurted out in the motor home. She is uninhibited about sharing her faith and praying in public. The ministry goes beyond talking. An individual may have special dietary needs and can’t afford the nutritious food required with just their monthly assistance. A bag of groceries for them is more than a bag of groceries. It says, “I know you. I hear your needs. I’ll share with you what I have.” One individual was robbed of his money meant for an annual bus pass. A volunteer shared this with the other Street Hope volunteers. Between us, and with the help of a local church, we were able to fill the void.Some of the relationships with the friends of Street Hope go back years. A particular friend who doesn’t come into the motor home always has something for us, to help with the ministry. Because of food safety requirements, we are circumspect about what we serve, but that doesn’t diminish the generosity these friends show toward us.Here is another story of Street Hope volunteers going beyond. One volunteer helps the Canadian Cancer Society by driving patients to and from their treatment appointments. The following journal entries are from this particular volunteer:Sunday, March 1st: Street Hope and the Cancer Society crossed paths a few weeks ago. I picked up a lady to take her to the clinic and realized I had met her in the

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Street Hope Victoria BC, led by Erick Hinton, builds

relationships with the homeless and helps guide them toward a fullness of

life and faith in Christ.

For more info on how you can help Street Hope visit www.streethope.ca

motorhome. She remembered me from Street Hope too. To make a long story short, I gave her a pre-paid debit card for one of our grocery chains. I’m driving her again tomorrow and I have another pre-paid card to give her. It feels so right - a person on social assistance can’t afford the fresh fruit and vegetables a sick person needs.Monday, March 2nd: As Cancer Society volunteers, we are not supposed to drive our clients around running errands on the way home. It has to do with our insurance, but sometimes a little kindness is just the right thing to do. A cancer patient asked to be dropped off at the Bay Centre because she had to return something. I found out that she still had the debit card I gave her two weeks ago because she hasn’t felt up to taking the bus to the grocery store. I waited in the car at the Bay Centre, and then we were off to get groceries. Her basket of food was all good stuff. A roasting chicken, tofu, milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, bananas and an assortment of fresh vegetables.When it was all rung through the cash register, it was over the value of the card I gave her two weeks ago, at which point I pulled out the card I had for her today. The bill was covered and she has about $20 left on the card for later. The cancer patient was smiling, appreciative, and near tears. It was a tender moment for me too, being able to reach into someone’s life and help them. I drove her home and helped carry the groceries to her apartment. So our ministry is much bigger than two evenings per week in the motor home. The blessing that is Street Hope touches the lives of our friends in many ways. It is all by the grace of God. Our contributors are an important part of this ministry; without your assistance, we would be unable to bring the light of Christ into some of the dark corners of Victoria.

Written by David Kilshaw, Street Hope volunteer.

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HOW YOU CAN HELP... Pray, Financial Gifts, Stocks & Shares, Estates, Spread the word, Share with Social Media

What’s your gift?

3 year view of Threshold’s Net Earnings2012 -$180,943 2013 -$31,630 2014 +$10,586

FINANCIALUPDATEDid you know... If you were to use your regular monthly donation to Threshold Ministries to purchase a life insurance policy with Threshold Ministries as the beneficiary, you will still receive a tax receipt for the charitable donation. Giving the same amount in this way, creates a greater ongoing inpact for the kingdom. If you have any questions or comments regarding this

or any other financial information, please contact Mike:(506)-642-2210 financial@thresholdministries.ca

An Update from

Threshold Ministries is grateful for the opportunity to work alongside Church Army across the globe. Updates from our Church Army partners are listed below. Please pray for God’s blessings and guidance for each Church Army chapter and that the Lord will reveal His plan for growth at the International Leaders Conference.

Australia’s new strategy is focused on building networks of evangelists around Australia and raising up new workers for the harvest. They will be holding a reunion rather than a training conference this year to focus on building relation-ships.

USA is developing new memberships with Anglican organi-zations in hopes of increasing exposure while at the same time establishing Centres of Ministry.

New Zealand has been busy planting churches throughout New Zealand and a full-time student has begun an appren-

ticeship with Phil. CA NZ has had the opportunity to extend their reach by training people from different church backgrounds throughout NZ. CA NZ has be-gun to connect with the Maui church, which is a great step forward as they were previously hard to connect with.

UK is working on three items of growth:1. multiple bishops are interested in paying for CA Centres of Mission in their Dioceses (6 new in 2015) 2. a new Dean of Community - they have imple-mented a new part time model for training, which is opening the door for more people to receive train-ing. 3. Mark Russell is sitting on the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Evangelism Task Force and overseas the discussions on evangelism to children and young people.

It has been decided that there needs to be discus-sions among the leaders to agree on a growth strate-gy to expand CA internationally. To begin these talks, an International Leaders Conference is currently being arranged for November 2015.

Photo from International Leaders Gathering in 2013

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Ruth Jarvis ColemanDean Of Formation

Carol-Anne FotyEvangelist-in-Training

The challenge we Christians face is to have our ears, eyes and hearts open to what God is doing in and around us. Eugene Petersen was quoted in Christianity Today as saying, “The assumption of spirituality is that “always” God is doing something before I know it. So the task is not to get God to do something I think needs to be done, but to become aware of what God is doing so that I can respond to it and participate and take delight in it.”

God is constantly creating, constantly at work, breaking through and drawing us into his enterprise with the world. Our work becomes more effective when we are in sync with the action of God in the world. The following story of God’s grace at work is a submission from our Evangelis- in-Training Carol-Anne Foty.

Getting to Know Families In 2010, Josephine lived in Dar es-Salem, Tanzania, with her husbandf, Richard and daughter, Lightness. They had a good life but tragedy struck and Josephine had to flee to Canada. She did not know at that time that she was preg-nant. When she arrived in Toronto she stayed at a wom-en’s shelter, but eventually got an apartment for her and her new baby, Noreen. Josephine had no possessions other than a crib and a stroller. She slept on the floor.

Sarah, Carol-Anne’s daughter, connected with Josephine through her next door neighbor, Dawn. They helped this little refugee family to get things for her apartment and for the baby. When Christmas arrived Sarah brought Jose-phine to Carol-Anne and John’s home to celebrate the holidays with her family. The Foty’s took this “new” family under their wing. They saw this action as God’s work and they willingly offered their love and support in practical ways to this family.

“When my husband John and I connected with Josephine and Noreen at Christmas, 2011, we saw that God had His hand in this, to enable Josephine to have family support and the practical help she needed to cope with the harsh realities facing convention refugees who are alone in a huge and cold Canadian city like Toronto.”

The Foty’s formed a strong emotional bond with this family from the start. Josephine and Noreen were like a daugh-ter and grandchild, while Sarah and her family became like Josephine’s sister and Noreen’s aunt, with the added bonus of an uncle and cousins to play with.

Spiritual support and growth came as Josephine and Noreen joined in the life of the church at Christ Church Saint James. In May 2012, Noreen was baptized and Josephine re-affirmed her baptismal vows. What a “joyful day of celebration that was,” only tempered by the fact that her husband, Richard, and other daughter, Light-ness Julieth, were still back in Dar es-Salem, waiting on paper work to process for family reunification. The process took four years and the only contact the family had with each other was by Skype and daily phone calls.

Noreen was happy in daycare. Josephine up-

graded her education, volunteered with Carol-Anne at the Stonegate Ministry Outreach Store and got acquainted with the Stonegate Community area.

After a 4 year separation, news finally came that Richard and Lightness could come to Canada. The family arrived in To-ronto on January 24. Everyone was grate-ful for God’s hand at work in this family. They have moved into a two bedroom apartment in the Stonegate Community, close to daycare, healthcare and especially Christ Church St. James, their church home.

It is an amazing story of how God is always at work through-out the world. This is a story of two families who God put together to further His kingdom. They both took the risk of opening their hearts to strangers. They are both blessed to participate in God’s action and it is clear they all delight in what He has done among them. May we all be moved and inspired by this kind of generosity. “God gives the desolate a home to live in; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity...” Psalm 68:6

Carol-Anne continues her work at Stonegate andGreat Finds as she continues her studies as a

Threshold Evangelist-in Training.

MAY 2014

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It was only a few decades ago that a robust Canadian Christian population exceed-ed our American church-go-ing neighbours to the south. Now, of course, Christianity

is only another minority group within Canada’s cultural and religious mosaic. The church in Canada continues to struggle and according to Impact Canada, no single city or province in Canada has a greater percentage of churched people than a decade ago. At best the church is stagnant. But we all know this. This is why Threshold exists but not only Threshold, it is why the Equipping Evangelists existed and why Forge Missional Training Network exists. All of these organizations are intent upon equipping the church to make known the Gospel. However, with a landmass the size of Canada combined with a shrinking or at best stagnant Christian population, the challenge of being an effective national movement is very difficult. In fact, siloed Christian ministries, creating a perception of competitive efforts which emphasizing dis-tinctives, not only confuses and exasperates supporters, it undermines cooperativeness within the Kingdom of God.It seems that survival, let alone success, for Christian ministries in the future will be spelled: P-A-R-T-N-E-R-S-H-I-P-S.So it was in this same spirit and conviction that Threshold Ministries, Forge and Equipping Evangelists held a meet-ing. Was there a way in which our efforts could be syner-gized? Were three distinct ministries needed? Could we focus upon our commonalities and choose to work around these, while deferring to each other’s distinctive expertise? Isn’t our ability to work together, to be united in the Gos-

Forge CanadaOn the Threshold of Forging a New Type of Partnership

pel, an evangelistic (or if you prefer missional) strategy which would complement our efforts (see John 17:20 – 21)?And so we have determined that if we are more intent upon advancing Christ’s Kingdom, rather than our own empires, we would need to find a way. As a ministry project of Forge, Equipping Evangelists have closed so that I could become the Ontario Regional Di-rector for Forge. Furthermore, in recognition of the desire to train, equip and resource individuals and congrega-tions to communicate the Gospel, Threshold and Forge have chosen the difficult (and sometimes vulnerable) path of choosing to work in partnership.What exactly this will look like is still uncertain. The details of how it will be accomplished are equally fuzzy, but consider-ing the Canadian context, the need and the challenges, not trying is simply not an option. Can two organizations with such varied and different roots work together? Can they learn to “speak each other’s lan-guage”? Can they set aside their own agendas in order to focus upon Christ’s? In Amos 3:3 the prophet asks a similar question, “Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?” Until there is agreement of cooperation nothing mutual will be accom-plished. Amos’s words are born out of a statement of judgement against Israel for failing to cooperate with God and heed His voice. If God has spoken than we must obey. What will a partnership between two orga-nizations with varied histories look like? The honest answer is we don’t know we are only on the threshold of forging a new type of partnership. Merv Budd

Burlington, ON

THRESHOLD MINISTRIESNational Ministry Centre105 Mountain View Drive, Saint John, NB E2J 5B5T: 506.642.2210 Toll Free: 888.316.8169hello@thresholdministries.ca

TIPS ANDRESOURCES

1 Community action: Mobilize your church for a day of community action. Identify needs in the community, for example elderly people who need help with their gardens or companionship, schools, community centres or onursing homes with decorating needs, public areas that need cleaning up. Then challenge your church to get involved to show God’s loving sacrifice and commitment to people. Include activities that the elderly and young can do. Repeat the event annually to show it is not just a one-off.

7 Pampering parties: Everyone loves to be pampered! Beauty therapists and hairdressers find people pouring out their hearts to them when they relax. Gather a few friends and give each other a facial and a manicure. Pray that God would guide the conversation and provide you with opportunities to share your faith.

13 Street party: How can you love your neighbours if you hardly know them? Why not organize a barbecue for your street. If possible, hold it in the open or with different hosts for each course. Chat through the idea with the people you know best, and knock on doors to invite people personally. If people ask what they can bring, ask them to help with something, or to bring a neighbour – get them involved in feeling that it is their event as much as yours.

16 Café culture: Use a café to host an outreach evening featuring a live band and someone sharing a short testimony. When speaking to the café, it may be helpful to pick a time when they would otherwise have few customers, that way they can sell more drinks than usual and you get a great venue for free. Also, make sure you print out some flyers detailing forthcoming events at your church, for example if your café event is in November, give them the details of your carol services.

Here are a few of our top 20 ideas for reaching your community with the gospel. We hope you feel inspired! For all 20 ideas and more tips on evangelism, please visit: www.thresholdministries.ca/sie

/thresholdministries@thresholdminwww.thresholdministries.ca

stepping into evangelism

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An exerpt from stepping into evangelism