The Vineyard has a model for Prayer ministry that is called the “5-Step Prayer Model”
Month: February 2021
Ending Poverty Together Workshop
We are excited to be hosting an event that will help provide some good foundation for our Activation towards those who are poor. Several WCVers participated in this workshop during the Belong Symposium in November and were impressed by the content high quality interactive delivery.
We have a long history of engaging in issues of poverty, working alongside the marginalized, and actively pursing justice in our community. We’re praying that this workshop will help rekindle this Core Practice of WCV.
Workshop facilitators from Food for the Hungry Canada will be leading us in this engaging and highly interactive workshop.
About this Event:
Have you ever been in this situation? A commercial shows you an image of a starving child in Africa and petitions that only you can help. Or someone living in homelessness approaches you on the sidewalk and asks for money. Or you suspect your neighbour is going into debt because of job loss during this COVID-19 pandemic.
What do I do? Can I really make a difference?
We invite you to join with others to explore the big questions about poverty and discuss tangible solutions.
Join us for a 3.5 hour interactive online workshop on Saturday, March 13th, 2021. 12:30pm – 4pm.
This online workshop will be interactive through a zoom link. Materials will be emailed to you for most effective participation.
>>Register here!<<
Space will be limited.
Covid-19 Sunday Update
As you are likely aware, on Feb 12, 2021 some of the current Covid-19 restrictions are changing regarding church gatherings. The new orders will allow churches to gather to 10% capacity to a maximum of 50 people – while adhering to the normal protocols (hand-sanitizing, physical distancing, staying home of you’re sick, etc).
We are making a few changes that will begin Feb 21, 2021.
We will be opening up the building for a limited number of people to participate by joining the live-streaming service in-person on Sunday mornings. We will give priority to those who have no access to technology to watch the livestream from home. We will be in touch with those people to specifically invite them (since they most likely won’t be reading this post!). Additionally, those who are involved in the Mercy Boot Camp (either recipients or volunteers) will be able to join in the service in-person. We will keep a strict cap on the number of people in the building. Even though restrictions allow 50 people, we won’t be able to accommodate that many due to the updates with our live-streaming equipment. We are in the process of making changes to permanently install all our equipment, which will then allow more participants in our gatherings at 782 Main St and maintain the quality of our livestream.
Our general posture towards resuming in-person gatherings will be a gradual “ramp-up”. In the future we will have a registration process for those who want to gather in-person instead of participating online. This will be to ensure we always have enough space for the street community and others who don’t have livestream access.
These changes will begin Feb 21.
Lent: Mondays of Prayer + Fasting
This year we are inviting the whole community to set aside every Monday in Lent (starting Feb 22) for Prayer and Fasting.
“Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.”
Hosea 10:12
Fasting is a form of prayer. When we fast we voluntarily set aside something for a time in order to intensify our attention to and awareness of God – this attention and awareness is prayer. The things we are most reluctant to set aside are the very things that probably get in the way of our life with God. It is a practical discipline that helps us realize that God – not food, Facebook friends, (fill in the blank) – is the real source of all pleasure, goodness and life.
The invitation during this season of prayer and fasting is to prepare for the new growth that God has planted in us. This means creating a welcoming space for the work of God amongst us and in our own hearts. We cannot do the work ourselves – this is the task of God’s Spirit. However, we do have a part to play by readying ourselves and welcoming the growth God wants to bring.
At the beginning of each week, we will be emailing the reflection and invitation for that Monday. You can follow along as you are led. If you’d prefer to see it all at once you can download all the weekly reflections in the link below. Also, there is a booklet entitled “Fasting Basics” which offers a thorough overview of everything fasting related.
Resources:
Here is a sermon entitled “Why We Fast: an invitation to fasting & feasting” which provides more insight into the spiritual discipline of fasting.
NOTE: portions of this post were previously published on our website here.