Recently, the Northern Lights editor did some on-the-spot interviews with several young adults.
I asked them: “So what do you like about your church?” They said…
- “I like the sense of community that it brings. I like the singing, and worshiping as a group … there’s something about when you come together … the affirmation of other people believing the same as you, being passionate about the same thing as you.”
- “I enjoy the community aspect of it, the communal worship … that we can worship God together and be united in praising Him.”
- “I like that you can come to church and be accepted by the people there. I didn’t grow up going to church but, when I started, it was the older people who would welcome me with a hug, and ask me how my week was.”
- “I would say the support. If I need prayer for something, or if I can pray for someone else, church is a really good way to have the ability to do that.”
- “I also like the sermon and the challenge it brings. It’s encouraging, but it’s also challenging at the same time. When I don’t go, I miss it.”
- “When I miss church I feel like I’m not ready to do the rest of the week, and I don’t get that recharge that I need from going to church.”
Then I asked these same young people a question that perhaps could catch many of us off-guard.
I asked them: “Can you imagine your community without a church?”
Here’s how they responded:
- “I feel like that would be a very hopeless place. I think it would be very dark and without hope.”
- “That would be really hard because every week I need that in my life.”
- “I feel like everything would be so difficult. You’d probably start questioning what you believe because no one else does.”
- “If there was no church, I don’t think I would be able to grow as much as I can.”
- “We need that support from each other. That’s how God designed it. We’re supposed to function as a body and not as individuals. You’re more healthy when you can be serving your church community.”
- “The church brings so much hope and joy and life to a community. It would be tough to imagine a city without a church.”
Yes, every person and every community needs and deserves a church. The reality, though, is that in Canada today there are still many Aboriginal communities without a Bible-based local church … places where there is no group of Christ followers together contributing and benefiting from Bible teaching … worship … fellowship … and outreach in their own vicinity and beyond.
Here at NCEM we believe that, until there is a strong church movement within each of the world’s people groups, the Great Commission is not finished. Our Mission seeks to establish strong indigenous multiplying churches among Canada’s First Peoples.
As you read through this Northern Lights edition with its Prayer Directory & Map (available in print … please Contact us), please pray for our missionaries’ efforts to see local churches firmly established, strong and growing.
Pray also for those who the Lord is calling to become part of a missionary team committed to planting an indigenous church in a First Nations or Inuit community.
A Bigger Picture
Once in a while we hear someone say, “Tribal Trails (TV) is my church.”
We’re glad that we are ministering to these folks through our TV program, but it has never been our intention that Tribal Trails be a substitute for the local church.
Sadly, we know that some of our viewers live in areas where there is no Bible-based local church.
That is why Tribal Trails is part of a “bigger picture” and supports NCEM’s vision to establish strong indigenous multiplying churches in places just like that.
This year’s Tribal Trails wall calendar includes short testimonies by First Nations guests regarding the local church, and how important it is to them.
Please call or write soon to request your free calendar while quantities last.
(from Issue #530). Note: some of the locations and involvements of our missionaries may have changed since the original publishing of this article.