While I consider myself a post- denominational guy, having done my advanced education and much of my chaplaincy ministry in non-pentecostal institutions, I am pumped about what I see happening across the country in and through paoc campus ministries. I want to provide a portal so that people can see what I see.
As I look around, it is exciting to see how the vision for campus ministry in our Fellowship has emerged from the ground up. Our emerging vision is not something that was formulated in an office somewhere.
Years ago, when we were breaking ground for the paoc in BC and seeing God move in amazing ways, I was really concerned at the time that we could provide some sort of working prototype for campus ministry that would be of use across the country. Not that I ever felt that it would be anything cookie cutter, but the combination of principles and experience would be valuable.
However, I had a lurking fear that someone in the national office would appoint someone to start a campus ministry program starting from the top down.. rather than find out what God is doing and coming alongside of it. That, brothers and sisters, is simply not what I am about.
What is my mandate? To come alongside. I like the sense of coordinating ( catalyzing ) if you get my drift. I want us to be either on the same page or know where the pages are.. I believe that there is huge potential for God when we are able to learn from each other and bless each other. The key word, which I will unpack at some later time is SYNERGY, which in short is the phenomenon of the total being greater than the sum of the parts. When the right ingredients are brought together, something powerful can happen.
I remember when we met for our first “Summit” in BC. The ministries at UBC, SFU, Kelowna, Kamloops and UVic converged at our place at UBC for a confab. Incidentally, it would have been sooo easy for all of us to have remained in our isolations and simply done our own thing. It took vision to realize that God wanted us to work together. So, we met. After worship and prayer, I had each group share two things:
- What is going well.?
- What isn’t?
Sort of a reworking of a key verse for me..
Romans 12:15Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.
You would not have believed the energy that came out of that meeting. Unbelievable! When you get people together who are not only visionaries but entrepreneurs and ground breakers you get not only energy but synergy. It was like capturing lightning in a bottle. You know what? I think we did.
I know in my knower that God wants that to happen across the country.
No comments:
Post a Comment