Dear friends,

It’s encouraging to see Spirit momentum in church on the rise along with a gradual return to a more normative worship.  This week we should receive some clarity on guidelines from GNWT for singing in worshipping communities. 

We will kick off live worship at our outdoor Sunday worship and BBQ service at Fred Henne on Sunday 8 August.  Please continue to spread the word.

Summer in YK is a time when people travel, get outdoors, camp, hike and generally remind themselves that they are alive after the long cold winters. Coming off the back of various degrees of restriction and lockdown, this year the need to ‘get away’ and to be active is even more urgent than usual.  As much as it is great to see the church regaining attendance and vibrancy -it really is great thank you Jesus - please do look after your mental / spiritual / emotional well-being, by doing the things that you need to do in this short summertime.  If that means skipping a Sunday Worship Service to take a needed weekend away, please do that.  We are in this for the long haul together with Jesus and he is with us whether we are gathered or scattered as YKVC.

On Thursday evening we meet at 7.00pm at our place 4811a 54th Avenue to pray together as we’ve done twice previously.  Please come along and receive what God has for us collectively. For your prayer, consideration, contemplation, and intercession:

1.      Pray with and for all indigenous people in Canada as we receive news from various sources of more unmarked graves.  Pray for the Elders of all communities through Canada who have, as a rule been gracious, reconciliatory, and truly humble considering news received.  Pray for the protection of RC and Anglican churches and for peace amongst those whose emotions are overflowing into unhelpful and vindictive responses.  Pray that the church would be a beacon of light, hope and help in these times.  There are various ways in which communities, individuals and churches can help and I will forward some of those in a second blog later this week.

2.      Pray for the Nation of Ethiopia, the second most populous country in Africa after Nigeria with a population of 120 000million people.  I attach a headline and link for all who want to read more about this.  “Unless there is a political solution soon, Ethiopia is on the brink of descending into an ethnic meltdown similar to the disintegration of Yugoslavia, one that will redraw the map of the Horn of Africa and cause reverberations throughout the continent.” https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-07-04-fall-of-tigray-capital-ethiopia-on-the-brink-of-meltdown-without-genuine-negotiations  

Pray for the Eritrean family we as YKVC are assisting in coming from Ethiopia into Canada as refugees.

I will include something occasionally that draws our attention to a nation away from the Global North.  God is at work everywhere, crisis and calamity occurs everywhere, the Gospel of the Kingdom is advancing, everywhere. The past few years have seen believers so fixated on the political realm in the USA that it is a distraction and diversion away from our Scriptural mandate. Our missional mandate is clearly multi-national and multi-ethnic. Revelation 5:9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” We love on our USA neighbours to the South but recognize that they are no more important in God’s economy than Zimbabwe or Cambodia. Consider extending your boundaries of interest and prayer in agreement with Isaiah 54:2…

Grace & peace

Melt