President Herbold | September 2024 Update | The Alliance Canada

Transcript:

Rev. Darren Herbold: 

Hi Alliance Canada, for so many pastors, September feels like a new beginning. Summer is over and some of us are wearing pink shirts because we’re in denial. School is back in session. People are beginning to close down their cabins and cottages, and momentum at church is rapidly picking up.

This month there are a few announcements. Actually a little bit more than a few. And an exciting story about what is happening in Atlantic Canada.

First up, The Alliance World Fellowship has put out a call for theological research papers addressing contemporary challenges facing the ministry of The Alliance worldwide. And so this is a chance to further the conversation around theological, missiological, or even sociological challenges the church faces. The two best articles will be awarded a scholarship to attend The AWF quadrennial meeting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Details are posted on our website and I will be keeping an eye out for who wins, as it would be great for a Canadian, for us, one of us to be together in the Congo.

We just came out of Assembly and talking about our commitment to NextGen and raising up young leaders. With that in mind, there’s still one week to register for Envision Greenhouse. Friends, there are over 400 Alliance churches across Canada. What would it look like if  each one of us asked one person to participate in greenhouse? What impact would happen if 100 of our potential next era, next gen leaders engaged in one on one mentoring with other Alliance leaders this year? Shared experiences like these are very important as we build into our next gen leaders, but also reinforce our shared DNA. Please take advantage and go to the website below.

Now October is almost here, and  October is also our annual mission focus. I know some churches do it other months, but we want to deliberately set aside some time somewhere to sacrifice for global missions. And so we’re again raising $500,000 this year to train and to equip local pastors and some of the most difficult contexts to share the Gospel. South Asia and new this year, the Arabian Peninsula. Now, for the last few years, we featured the work we’re doing in South Asia through one of our key partners and we’re still doing that. And from the funds that have been given since 2021, we’ve supported over 330 church planners to be trained, equipped and mobilized.

Our partner just recently told us that because of your generosity, almost 700 villages and towns have had a gospel witness that didn’t have one before. That organization has a goal to plan 100,000 churches by 2030, and they’re well on track to accomplish it. And our partnership with them is a small part of that very important story.

We’re also partnering with local believers in one of the most persecuted nations in the Arabian Peninsula. These two regions together, South Asia and the Arabian Peninsula, represent 2 billion unreached people. $2,500 to $3,000 supports a pastor for a year in these contexts. Would you join us in partnering to equip the global church so that Jesus can be made more famous?

We have a promo video that you can use in your Sunday services or your church newsletter online. Last year we saw some of the highest engagement of our churches across the country. Would you partner again? Perhaps for the first time, join with your sister churches across the country.

Now lastly, we announced Global Gathering at Assembly this last summer. It’s in March 2025. We’re gathering all of our international workers in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and we’re inviting you to join us for a missions conference that highlights both our global work and will provide learning about next gen ministry and next gen leader formation here in Canada. We’re excited to provide an opportunity for you and our churches to experience our global work, to be with all of our workers. This is the first time they will all gather in one place like this, and also learn about mission and reaching the next generation in Canada. That was a lot of announcements.  And now to a video story from Atlantic Canada that I’m very excited to share with you.

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Atlantic Canada Story

Just about two years ago, The Alliance Canada gathered for General Assembly. At that time, prophetic statements made their way to the floor for both eastern and Western Canada.

They were an incredible blessing, and I remember being in the room and my own heart being stirred as Eastern Canada came into focus. A declaration that God had plans for the Maritimes, that his Spirit would move again with transformative power as the Gospel was being proclaimed.

My family was planning a move to Nova Scotia, and as you can imagine, it stirred my heart and encouraged us that we were stepping into something so much bigger than ourselves. Just recently, Alliance workers and churches gathered here in Nova Scotia at Converge Atlantic. We met in Halifax with a focus on deeper life for mission.

It’s organized by one of our new venture families, and we spent the day with our eyes fixed on Jesus as he invited us to unapologetically declare the Gospel in the Maritimes. There’s a movement of the Spirit here in the Maritimes. I interestingly run into people who have recently arrived, and I ask the same question why did you move to Nova Scotia?And oddly enough, believers are saying to me that they’re not quite certain why they moved here, but they know that God was in that move.

So indeed, God is stirring and is up to something. Recently, one of our many independent churches here in the East began to seek denominational cover. Grace Church in Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia. It’s now our newest Alliance Church in Canada. And if you’re uncertain where Sydney Mines is, you get on the Trans-Canada highway, head east, and when you run out of road and find the ocean, you’re pretty much there.

In fact, you just back up a kilometer or two and you’ll be right there at the church. Grace church is currently looking for a pastor and this is something that Jesus is organizing for, and we live in anticipation of who that person is that will be called here. And Grace is not the only church that is drawn to our heart for Jesus, and a commitment to the mission that he’s entrusted us to.

The Spirit is drawing and is doing something. There’s also an invitation here in this video to ask Jesus if you have a role in these beautiful provinces. The coastline, the culture, the diversity of its people, a Celtic history that’s alive and well, greets those who grace our shores.

Where I live, some people still keep their time, by the turn of the tide. Others are out there carving a life out of rugged forests and wild seascapes. But there’s more here than the beauty of the province, more here than the spectacular images that you see. There is spiritual darkness, lethargy, addictions and suffering. All things that the Gospel champions. We need workers for a harvest. Our Eastern Canadian district would like to talk to you about new ventures,or helping our Atlantic Canada Development Fund.

I would like to invite you to come to Converge next year, to come and to lean into what the Lord might have for you. If you’re thinking about a shift in pastoral ministry, consider the Atlantic. I’m just going to say it one more time. God is up to something in Atlantic Canada, and as an Alliance, we want to be a part of that and facilitate it. God bless you.

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Rev. Darren Herbold

I like that phrase. God is up to something. I’ve mentioned it at Assembly and I’ll say it many more times, I’m sure. But paraphrasing Jehoshaphat’s prayer, we, you know, myself and us as The Alliance, we have no power to complete this mission and we don’t know what to do. But our eyes are on you, Lord. And I humbly acknowledge that we as The Alliance, are completely reliant on God and that we are fully and unreservedly committed to the name and fame of Jesus and to the father’s glory, so that all might hear that Jesus is alive, that Jesus saves, and that if you place your trust in him, he does and will change absolutely everything.

I love the stories of what’s happening in Atlantic Canada. People moving there, not quite sure what to do, but expectant that God is moving already. So please pray today for the Maritimes. Ask that God would pour out the Holy Spirit and his transformative power with the churches and the believers and those that do not yet know in that part of the country.

And now I pray for all of The Alliance family, that we would be sensitive to His Spirit and ask God, “What are you up to, Lord? And how can I join you on a mission today?”

I love our family and trust that in this fall, you would grow in your knowledge and understanding and experience of the Great I Am.