Month: February 2017

Prayer Challenge Day 2: Low-stakes risk-taking

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As you think about your friend today, can you recall any times of them taking risks in their life to do something they thought was worth doing?

David took a risk to protect his sheep from a bear, and survived. It gave him confidence to do the same again, this time from a lion.  His confidence built up to challenge a giant warrior, and finally, to challenge the enemies of his country with fierceness and love for his people.

Before God leads us to the higher-stakes challenges of our lives, he prepares us at a lower level of risk.  Perhaps the risks we see our friends taking, or that we know about in their past, show us something of the greater challenges up ahead.  Did they ever risk all to form a relationship?  Did they ever stand up to some injustice as a kid?  Did they ever organize something small that could be beginnings of a broader calling to carry out larger visions?  Notice any patterns that might be emerging, and encourage your friend, blessing them for the risks they have taken that could grow and larger things in their life.

 

Prayer Challenge Day 1: Seeing the Oak in the Acorn

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Every tree begins from a small seed that bears little outward resemblance to the tree it will someday become. It’s usually difficult to tell much about a baby’s future from its personality at birth, as well.  But not long afterwards, both saplings and toddlers demonstrate some of their uniqueness.

Not long after I transplanted an oak tree into my yard, the nearby bonfire withered the leaves, and taking it for dead, I chopped it down.  I was surprised to see that, months afterwards, leaves were springing up from the tiny stump.  The oak tree is a very strong wood, and hardy.  I recognized the strength in the sapling that will one day make a strong and resilient tree in my back yard – and it is once again on its way to being a mighty oak. But the amazing qualities of a mature oak tree can be seen when it is still small.

Though even Jesse, David’s dad, was surprised to see David chosen to be future king, Samuel had the insight to see that God had found “a man after his own heart,” who was a young shepherd – but would one day become a shepherd king.

Now hold your friend up in prayer, and picture them. Pray for insight into them. If it’s true that God formed us even before birth, there must often be indications from our earliest years that he has established some unique things for each of us, to do and to be.  Do you know stories of the younger years of your friend’s life?  Are there any that seem to you to have prophetic significance of God’s calling on their life?  Think about what you know of their early years, and ask God for insight into them, blessing them, and giving thanks. Write down what you get, for later sharing in person, or a quick text to encourage their day.

 

Who Do You Say I Am? Prayer Challenge Intro

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For two weeks, those of us who want to take The Vineyard’s prayer challenge will find a friend to pray for everyday till February 26th. Have courage to ask people if you can pray for them! Be bold, and if no one asks you, don’t take it as a sign that no one cares about you! Our main way of doing this kind of thing is in Triads in the Outer Circle, so if you like doing this kind of thing, that is the way that anyone can find friends do this with. If these two weeks don’t work for you, consider joining the Outer Circle at our next Feast on March 18th.

Once you have found someone to do this with, find a time and a place once a day where you can be by yourself in an undistracted way. Hold your friend before God in a posture of intercession. Ask God to remind you of the stories of their life, interests and passions, and experiences of success and failure you know they have had. Ask God to give you insight into their life, always knowing that you will not see perfectly, and therefore have to present your insights with some humility and uncertainty. They are the experts before God on how much of what you tell them actually fits.

Some of these meditations require a fair bit of knowledge of your friend’s life.  If you don’t know something, perhaps God will show you things directly you don’t know naturally.  Be open to the working of God’s spirit in this way.  As well, some of these deep questions here might prompt you to actually just ask each other about them.

The people doing this will need to find their own way of sharing insights with each other. For some it might be a short encouraging text message, others will want to meet together for a coffee and sharing what they have written as they prayed for each other. If you aren’t sharing immediately after you pray for them, write down your insights. Also, keep track of what is being spoken to you. Please be warm and open with each other. This whole exercise is to serve and encourage each other not put each other in little constricting boxes.

On the Sunday of February 26th, there will be opportunity for people to share how God has spoken to them through this prayer challenge.

Have fun, and let God spirit encourage your friend through you!

Why are we doing this?:

  • To gain more clarity on our personal callings so that we can live them out more fully.
  • To apply what we’ve learned through our series on David.

Where can I get the daily meditations?:

  • The meditation for each day will be posted here on the website (and shared via email and Facebook).
  • Physical copies of all the meditations will also be available at the info table.

When is it?:

  • February 12 – 26th.
  • On Sunday, February 26 we’ll hear personal stories to encourage each other.

 Other Notes:

 

Who Do You Say I Am? – a Challenge

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Jesus once asked his disciples this pointed question: “Who do you say I am?” (Mark 8:29)  It was, of course, Peter who blurted out the answer: “You are the Christ!”  This question can be equally powerful when we ask God for his answer for ourselves and others.  He may not blurt out the answer like Peter did, but he will gently and surely lead us to the best answers for ourselves and our community.

We hope you’ve been stirred in this direction through our “Why On Earth: David, calling and the pursuit of God” series.  But we want you to be more than stirred!  Toward answering this question of calling and identity, we want to end with a practical challenge.  From February 12 – 26 we will shine a light on the question of calling with the purpose of gaining more clarity regarding our vocations.  It will be a two week prayer challenge during which time we’ll have daily meditations designed to help orient your prayers along the lines we’ve been exploring.  We encourage you to team up with one or two other people (others in your Triad, House Group, a mentor, or a friend) and commit to praying for each other along the lines of the daily meditations.  The end goal is for everyone involved to have more clarity in their calling so we can more fully live them out.

To help facilitate this we are going to devote most of our normal teaching times on February 12 and 19 to praying for each other.  There will be just one service on both these Sundays that will be curated in a way to help us hear from God for each other.

Why:

  • To gain more clarity on our personal callings so that we can live them out more fully.
  • To apply what we’ve learned through our series on David.

What:

  • Two-week Prayer Challenge – praying for clarity in your calling with one or two others.
  • Asking God the question “who do you say I am?” and listening for his answer in a variety of ways.

When:

  • We’ll kick it off on Sunday, February 12.  On Sunday, February 26 we’ll hear personal stories to encourage each other.

How Should You Prepare?:

  • Find one or two people and commit to praying for each other during the Prayer Challenge along the lines of the daily meditations.

 

Membership, OC & AGM

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We want to be a community in which nobody gets left out or left behind.  This means relationship – lots of relationship!  There are many organized venues for encouraging community (think Outer Circle, House Groups, Service opportunities, etc) and there are many organic opportunities (think lunch invitations, parties, farm days, etc).  Both are valuable, however what follows concerns the organized variety…

Every year we keep an active membership roster.  This is partly because we are required to by the government but it’s also a helpful way of keeping track of everyone who wants to be part of the Vineyard in this way.  Currently our formal membership is defined in two ways:

  1. Everyone who is in a Triad in the Outer Circle process.  This doesn’t mean you need to come to the gatherings – but it does mean you participate in the process as outlined here.
  2. Anyone else who is doing something similar to what is supposed to happen in Triads (House Groups are the best example of this).  People who are doing something similar to the Outer Circle will: 1) intentionally and regularly get together with a small group of people, 2) know and be known by those people, and 3) actively engage in spiritual growth as described in our Core Practices.

You can read more about membership in the Vineyard here.

If you haven’t already done so for 2017, please submit your name to the office if want to be a formal member for 2017 as defined above.  Count yourself in!

Our next Annual General Meeting will take place during our next Outer Circle gathering on March 18.  Everyone is welcome to come, but only formal members are able to vote on items that require ratification by the membership.  This year we’ll be presenting our budget for 2017 and our financial report for 2016, ratifying new Board of Director appointments and some constitutional amendments.  We’ll communicate more about each of these items prior to the AGM.