Mission Canada Retreat... Axis Cafe, Edmonton

At the tail end of this General Conference, I am in a Mission Canada retreat where George and Eileen are hosting our Mission Canada missionaries in a two day seminar on Fundraising. While the subject matter may not seem particularly sexy, it has been extremely valuable on a number of fronts. First, there was a considerable amount of time spent on working through biblical texts in developing a biblical theology of how money relates to the Kingdom of God and furthering His purposes. It helped us to understand that when we approach people to partner with us in our ministry we are including them in God’s redemptive purposes. It is not about us. It is about God, his purposes and how he intends us to work with Him in concrete ways with what He has given us.


 John Engels ( the BCCM director ) and his wife Nancy led and taught the seminar. They shared  real life examples that we all found instructive and inspiring. . We were challenged to be able to summarize and communicate what we are about and what it is that we do. Not only that... but why people should actually care. As you can imagine, this is a profoundly clarifying exercise.


While I do depend on the support and partnership of individuals and churches to make my role as national campus ministry coordinator possible, I found that working through the material was about much more than finances. It was about vision, faith, core motivations, communication, relationships and attention to details. Finances is simply one (albeit a necessary) part of a greater picture. I attest to the value of the exercises in that I feel compelled to both spend time in prayer and to attend to my ‘to do’ list.


It makes me deeply grateful to be where I am and doing what I am doing. It is not by right. It is by grace. ``