Saturday Strolling and How You Can Support Crisis Pregnancy Centres

Yesterday morning, I took a break from studying Mandarin to attend the First Response Relay in support of Toronto's Pregnancy Care Centre. I was initially asked to help do set-up and hadn't planned on doing the walk, but when I saw a few friends there, I decided to join in.  We had a chilly start, but warmed up as we walked around 5km and recapping it now gives me a chance to share about this amazing organization.  It was a great way to get some exercise on a Saturday morning and meet people from all over the city who support the PCC.  I even met one of my favourite bloggers, and ended up introducing myself and looking like an awkward groupie. 

Enjoying some awesome music

I've been involved with the PCC for a few months now.  I started thinking about how much time and energy I had spent celebrating the pregnancies of friends and family, while there are so many people for whom becoming pregnant is more stressful than celebratory.  Many churches talk about being pro-life, but I wanted to be more about practical help than about politics.  Anyway, I signed up to attend a training day; this provided background information and practical help on how to respond when someone tells you about an unexpected pregnancy, although I found the tools and role playing transferable to other situations where someone is in crisis.  Since then, I've helped in a few small ways, like doing internet research and monitoring email. 

How can you support your local crisis pregnancy centre?  

• Assist with word-of-mouth, sharing with people you know, especially those who are more likely to come into conduct with someone in a crisis pregnancy, like teachers, guidance counselors, youth workers, etc.    
• Donate your time:  It doesn't mean you'll be counseling people; you could help moving furniture or other items that are donated to women in need, or like me, you could do internet research.
• You can donate used baby items or products that you don't need or like (e.g., diapers from a brand that doesn't fit right or in an outgrown size, formula if you're breastfeeding, wipes when you plan on using re-usable ones).  Many people pass on baby items to friends, but at least in my circle of friends, I don't know anyone who truly cannot afford that box of diapers. 

I ♥ Youth Ministry

I am super-super excited to announce that after nearly a year of floundering at church, I have finally stepped back into regular Christian service:  I just signed on to work with our youth group for the 2012-13 school year.... and I am sooooo excited about it!

For those of you who know you, this probably isn't much of a surprise.  I was involved with youth for quite a while back in Ottawa, but somehow, whenever the thought of doing the same in Toronto came up, I hesitated.  After we got married, there were so many transitions going on, that I needed to stop and really process it all.  Not only that, but I needed to almost distance myself from my old youth group that I loved so very much, to ensure that I wouldn't be that annoying girl who constantly says, "Well, in my OLD group, we did X like THIS..." [The previous comment would possibly be  accompanied by an obviously dissatisifed expression.]

This summer, however, I started working at the church and getting to know the various ministries, and I felt the pull back towards youth ministry.  Last week I finally got to talk to our new youth pastor, and he invited me to check out the group.  When I walked into the room, even though I didn't know the kids or most of the volunteers, I felt like I was coming home, back to a ministry I love, back to an age group I love.  There are lots of people who enjoy teaching Sunday school and working with little kids, but as for me, put me in a room full of awkward or surly teens, and my heart fills up. I ♥

teenagers!

Waiting, part III: Waiting to Serve

Most of this post came from a couple of sermons by my excellent pastor Charles Price, so I take no credit for it. I thought it was pretty relevant to my waiting series, as it looks at another aspect of what waiting is and why it can be positive. Please note, there was a lot more to the sermons than this; I'm just blogging about what was relevant to the “waiting” theme.

Our church has been going through Nehemiah. First we looked at Nehemiah 1 and how Nehemiah wept and mourned over the brokenness of his people. The second sermon focused on Nehemiah's actions in the first part of chapter 2. Pastor P. noted that the actions of chapters 1 and 2 took place about four months apart. That means that Nehemiah was mourning and praying for his people for several months before he was able to speak to the King. It seems like a really long time to go on with this burden on your heart. The pastor pointed out that when we feel an emotional reaction to something, especially if we perceive it as a call to act, sometimes the appropriate response is to... wait.

What? Shouldn't we just GO? Not so fast, said our Pastor. We should take time to pray to God for the burden to be deepened, or lifted, according to His will. We need to discern whether this is an emotional response to a need, or a true call. The truth is, there are so many needs around us that we cannot respond to them all, so we ought to put careful thought and prayer into our calling. The Pastor mentioned that out of every 100 people that step forward at conferences or otherwise express interest to missions in becoming missionaries, only about one person actually ends up on the mission field.** That's pretty sobering. Perhaps some of that is due to other factors such as life changes, but much of it surely is due to people making emotionally charged decisions without thinking through or praying about the next steps.

Of course (and I'm adding my own comments here), we can prepare as we pray. While Nehemiah was fasting, mourning, and praying, he was likely also thinking about how he would go forward, what he would need for the journey, etc. We too can pray with our minds open to HOW God may use use us to serve. We also may require training before we can go. Perhaps we need to finish school or to study a new language. This prayer time is not meant to be an excuse NOT to serve, but rather a time in which our hearts are prepared for the service.

Pastor P. also mentioned in a later sermon that we are called to serve where we are. He said this in reference to the men and women who helped build the wall around Jerusalem; many of them built sections of the wall that were close to their homes. Of course, we also are called to be servants of God at all times, so just because we are waiting on a calling does not mean that we should give up serving in the meantime!

I hope this is helpful. I found the message both encouraging and convicting. There is the encouragement that if you've felt a call to something, but not had the chance to act, it may just not be the right time yet. I also felt convicted as there have been many times when I felt a burden, but rather than prayerfully consider it, I got discouraged when the opportunity to act didn't open up in the short term.

**I don't know the source for this information.