Nepali Fast – Isaiah 58

Posted on April 3, 2014April 12, 2014 by Andy Wood

Isaiah 58 Fast

April 13 – 20

In the bible, fasting and prayer usually go together. Fasting isn’t simply about the lack of food, or the lack of anything else for that matter, but rather an intensified focus, or shift in perspective from something temporal to God. It’s about bringing our attention to the Lord in a specific way for a particular time by reducing our dependence on something physical. Our physical hunger reminds us that we are really hungry for God.

It makes sense, then, that fasting and prayer go together. However, it seems that if our lifestyles are not extending grace, mercy and justice in practical ways, our fasting is distasteful to God. Isaiah helps bring clarity to this issue in chapter 58 where he links “true fasting” with feeding the hungry, sharing with the poor, keeping the Sabbath and in general, living justly.

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: 

to loose the chains of injustice

and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free

and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry

and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter

– when you see the naked,

to clothe them,

and not to turn away

from your own flesh and blood?

Nepali Fast

This fast is an invitation to hold both fasting and care for the hungry together. To that end we invite you to participate in a very practical fast for one week – that is to eat at or below the level of the average Nepali person.

For just about all of us, this will mean eating less – less quantity as well as less variety.

The fast starts Sunday April 13 (with an evening of prayer and worship) and we’ll break the fast on Easter Sunday, April 20.

There are two objectives for this fast:

1) When we consume less, we can give more.

2) When we fast, we draw closer to God.

Consuming Less

Isaiah 58 makes it clear that we are to respond to the “hungry” in our world in practical ways.

God has linked WCV with the Himalayan Region Vineyards in a deep and profound way. Many of our brothers and sisters in this region live on minimal nutritional requirements. We are one body, and Paul admonishes us to “share each other’s burdens” (Gal 6). One way we can do this is to eat at their levels. This will allow us to consume less, while practicing solidarity with them.

Here are some facts and figures concerning the average Nepali that may help frame the conversation:

Canada’s average salary approx. $40,000 ($110 / day)

Nepal’s average salary approx. $1,200 ($3.30 / day)

25% of Nepal’s population live below poverty line of: $1.25 / day. (Nepal Bureau of Statistics)

Major concerns include little or no access to primary health care, education, clean drinking water and sanitation services. Food security and poor nutrition are major concerns, especially in rural areas. (IFAD)

Nepal has one of the highest early childhood mortality rates in the region. 2/3 of Nepali children are severely deprived and just under 40% live in absolute poverty. 50% of children under 5 are stunted and over 2/3 are underweight due to malnutrition. (Unicef)

By embracing their diet, we are in a way embracing our brothers and sisters in Nepal. Eating their food in a way places them in the centre of our tables every day.

Giving More

By spending a week eating at these levels, most of us will have saved money on our grocery bills. Keep track of what you save – or calculate it in whatever way makes sense to you. Then we encourage you to donate it to WCV (mark it for Nepal) and we we will send it to Nepal to be used to feed those who are poor.

If you do not normally spend money getting your food, but have participated in this fast, we encourage you to give what you can to the “First Fruits” basket and the food will be shared at Drop-in.

Drawing Near to God

This fast is not just a clever way to raise money for those in need. It can do something in us and to us. As we turn ourselves towards God in prayer and fasting, we can be transformed. Our prayer is that WCV will draw closer to God as we participate in this “fast that he has chosen”.

Throughout the week we will be having regular stories sent from the School of Justice, who will be in Nepal during this time. They will give us short meditations to help us both understand the plight of the people there as well as God’s heart for them and us!

Preparing

Checklist for preparing for this week:

Put it on your schedules.
We will start the week with an evening of worship & prayer on Sunday, April 13, 7pm.
Do your grocery shopping beforehand (check the ingredients in the recipe in this booklet).
Calculate your normal weekly grocery bill and get ready to donate the savings.

Recipe – Dal Baht

Plain Rice (Bhat)

2 cups rice (Basmati or Long grain preferred)

4 cups water.

Lentils (Dal)

1½ cups lentil (any kind), 4 to 5 cups of water, ½ tsp turmeric, 1 tsp minced garlic, 6 tbsp butter, 3/4 cup sliced onions, 2 chillies, salt to taste.
Wash lentils and soak lentil for 10 minutes – drain.
Add lentils to fresh water and bring to a boil.
Add all spices.
Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 20 – 30 mins (until lentils are soft).
Fry the onions, chilies and garlic in the butter & stir into the simmering lentils.

“On This Rock” Visual Art

Posted on April 1, 2014November 21, 2014 by Andy Wood

We’ve been exploring points along Peter’s discipleship journey for the past few months (and we’ll continue for the next number of months). The audio recordings are posted here. Along the way, we’ve commissioned various artists – both visual and performance – to share their interpretations of what they’re learning. It’s like looking at the subject through a different set of eyes. The artists among us can help us see a new way. It’s been really fantastic – thanks to all the artists who have participated in a variety of media – from writing songs and poems to performing raps and dances. Here are the visual representations at this point in the journey (click on any pic to view a full size):

: “A Fisher of Men” by Julia Denkdirwas (Matthew 4:19)

: “Don’t You Care?” by Natasha Boone (Mark 4:38)

: “I Am a Sinful Man” by Rachel Hogeveen (Luke 5:8)

: “Who Do You Say I Am?” by Sheri Lewis (Matthew 16:15)

: “You Are the Messiah” by Krista Heide (Matthew 16:16)

Key Take-Aways from Vision Night

Posted on March 12, 2014March 12, 2014 by Andy Wood

Introduction:

We had a great time on Monday, Feb 24 exploring some particular ways we’ve grown this past year as a community. We heard stories of some compelling fruit in a number of people’s lives. We also looked at the financial fruit we’ve tasted these past few years.

The apostle John said, it’s for the Father’s glory that we bear fruit (15:8). Good fruit comes from good trees planted in a healthy environment. In order to see more growth, we must tend the roots. To that end, we asked, “What are the environmental factors that produce good fruit?” What contributed to the fruit we experienced in WCV this past year?

Some of the answers to these questions are noted below. The first section looks at our financial situation. The second section documents the roots that were identified in the stories the 8 individuals who shared stories of fruit in their lives this past year.

Financial Commentary – 2013

1) We have a very generous church, with many people giving to WCV.

2) The growth in giving at WCV has been very significant over the last 4 years. In the last 4 years (since 2009) giving has risen from $335,000 to $428,000, an increase of 93,000 or 28%. This is a result of many things including increased attendance, growth in gifts from outside the church, as well as increased giving from some regular attenders of WCV.

3) Giving in 2013 was at a record level – giving of $428,000 in 2013 represented a $48,0000 increase over the $380,000 given in 2012. This is a one-year increase in giving of approximately 13%, which is very significant and positive.

4) The nature of the giving in WCV is that much of it comes in December. In 2013 $72,000 was received in December. While this is a normal occurrence, it does strain the monthly cash-flow of the church since expenses need to be paid throughout the year. The result of this back-end loaded income is that it can be very challenging to manage the monthly cash flow and expenses of the church.

Financial Commentary – Budget 2014

1) In 2013 gifts to the church from generous people outside our congregation totalled $50,0000. For 2014 we are budgeting this number to go down, since we have been made aware that $10,000 that was received last year will not be coming this year. We also know of some one-time gifts from regular attenders of WCV that will not reoccur this year. These facts have made us re-examine our budget for 2014 with the decision to decrease the budget slightly by 4%. So we are budgeting income and expenses for 2014 at $412,000.

It is important to note that a $412,000 budget is still a significant number and will actually require an increase in giving from the congregation to make up for the reduction of giving from outside individuals.

2) Reducing the budget in 2014 to $412,000 will require a reduction in spending by the church of $16,000 compared to 2013. This is difficult to accomplish because we have very little flexibility in our budget. The biggest items in the budget are the 30% fund (donations to Nepal, missionaries, the poor etc.) which totalled $120,000 in 2013, payroll which was approximately $200,000 in 2013 and utilities $50,000. All other line items in the budget are relatively small in comparison to these 3 large categories.

3) To achieve $16,000 in savings, we are reducing ministry/miscellaneous budgets by a total of $8,000 (this is made up of reductions to youth, breathe, sound, travel, miscellaneous expense), and payroll by $8,000 (representing a 5% decrease to pastoral staff). Cuts to the budget are not pleasant and if we had an easy or obvious place to cut that would not be felt we would do that, but the plain facts are that all expenses in the church represent important and worthy items, so any cuts to the budget will be painful. Our hope and prayer is that our income in 2014 will surpass the budget and that any cuts will be made up at year-end. If we do achieve a surplus in 2014 our first priority will be to repay the pastoral staff to make up for any lost income as a result of this budget cut.

4) The economic demographics of WCV are such that only a portion of the people carries the majority of the giving. We encourage everyone with the financial ability to participate fully in supporting the costs & ministry of the church.

5) Pre-authorized withdrawals for giving are very important for our cash-flow and management. We see a double benefit in doing this. First we can predict the cash income. Second it becomes a discipline that minimizes the risk of forgetfulness. We urge everyone to use this method of giving. You download a pre-authorized withdrawal form here, fill it out and place it in the offering bucket.

Financial Summary

It is important to keep the right perspective when we are thinking about the budget for 2014. This course of action (cutting the budget) is not the result of a lack of generosity within the church. The facts (numbers) speak for themselves – giving is at a record level in the church and increased by a record level in 2013. The main issue we are faced with is how to maintain a balanced budget when there are so many needs and corresponding expenses within the church. Right now we are feeling that we are not in a position to increase the budget this year, given that the budget has increased so much over the last few years, in particular this past year 2013 and in light of the fact that we are projecting gifts from the outside to go down. So this will be a bit of a different year, with a focus on belt tightening and expense management. But let’s not be discouraged – we don’t think anyone would be surprised if 2014 was our best financial year yet. You never know what is in store…..

Personal Stories of Fruit and Root:

We had 8 people share stories of growth in their lives this past year. Listed below are the roots that were identified as significant contributing factors in each of these stories. If you’re interested in hearing the actual stories, the audio is posted here.

Andrew Chan – The Upstairs Gathering. The time and attention artists give to their art gives back to the viewer. The team who ran the Upstairs Gathering in the Fall. Creativity. The ability to envision something different. Time and attention.

Krista Heide – Study, reading and online resources. Giving space for something to grow. Teamwork generates more energy towards creativity. The Outer Circle.

Elias Rieger – People at the Kathmandu Vineyard put a lot of work into the youth trip. The giving of WCV towards the youth – fundraiser & funds budget. Funds budget (the 30%). Practical service. Wrestled through what they saw – lots of processing. Money towards Youth leadership (Jodi now administers all 3 youth groups – grown from one group).

Stephanie Martens – People giving to her and her girls in a variety of creative ways. Sticking with each other, knowing each other, knowing each other’s history. There are gifts in the dessert. Practicing excruciating vulnerability.

Naila Janzen – Persevering through the hard times instead of running away. Faithfully adapting, learning and rolling with the ups and downs of life.

Angela Falk – The Outer Circle process and her triad. The fruit in other people’s lives fertilizes the roots of others. The rich and fertile soil of WCV’s relationships. House Group. Knowing we will never be forsaken. Circles of sharing. Community.

Gord Holmstrom – Community, care and Flatlanders. People taking time to be with, love and live with him. Perseverance in school and staying clean.

Andy Wood – The faithful giving of WCV towards helping the Kathmandu Vineyard pay off their building. Just paid it off – frees up finances to re-boot the Mobile Bible School in the Himalayan Region.

In Conclusion:

In summary we want to say thank-you to all of the faithful servants who give so much in every way to the church. This is a wonderful, vibrant growing community that is spreading the gospel and advancing the kingdom of God both locally and abroad. There are so many good things happening here…. way too many to list. Lets press on into 2014 with a sense of expectancy and with trust that the Lord will meet all of our needs, as he always has.

The Staff and Board of Directors

The audio of the evening is posted here.

Lent – a Season of Preparing for More

Posted on March 11, 2014March 11, 2014 by Andy Wood

On March 5, we entered the season of Lent. A season, 40 days leading up to Easter, that the church has historically observed as a time of preparation. A time to prepare hearts, bodies and lives for the life that’s made available through Jesus’ resurrection. Lent is only helpful if it points us towards resurrection. Giving up for Lent is only useful if it points us to all that God has for us. Dying to ourselves is only a good thing if the Holy Spirit can come afterwards and bring us to life. This short video is a great reminder that God is not about scarcity and that Lent is intended to help us prepare for more, not less.

You may want to check out these resources:

Pray As You Go – a daily contemplative podcast that leads the listener through a series of meditative prayers and scripture readings. Each episode is about 10 – 13 minutes long. You can listen right from their website or subscribe to it via iTunes podcasts.

Lent for Everyone – this is an online devotional created by N.T. Wright. It includes daily scripture and a well crafted and thoughtful devotion by one of the foremost New Testament scholars of our time. (You have to sign up to view it)

Living Lent Daily – features prayers, thoughts and more each day to inspire you throughout your Lenten journey. A new article will become available daily throughout Lent. These are quite short.

Have you used any of these resources? Let us know how they were helpful in the comment section below!

SOJ/IJM Film Screening

Posted on March 6, 2014March 31, 2014 by Suhail Stephen

Yesterday our Vineyard School of Justice – in collaboration with International Justice Mission Canada (IJM), Global Wonders, and Mennonite Central Committee – hosted a special evening on the subject of modern day slavery. We screened two short films (one of which was IJM’s latest documentary “At the End of Slavery“), had presentations by Angie Redecopp (Director of Development at IJM Canada) and a spokeswoman from Global Wonders (who sell jewelry made by woman rescued from sex trafficking in Nepal), and had display tables where attendees could purchase Global Wonders jewelry and obtain resources from all three organizations. It was a wonderful night with around 45 people in attendance. We’re looking forward to collaborating with other organizations who are doing justice and having other events like this in the future. Thank you to everyone who attended!

View more photos of the event on our SOJ Facebook page.

Himalayan Region Update

Posted on February 20, 2014February 20, 2014 by Andy Wood

As 2013 has come to a close and we are well into 2014, I reflect on the past year and how God has moved and shown up in the Himalayan Region Vineyard (HRV) churches (HRV churches are located throughout Nepal and in Nepali speaking areas of India). It’s been an exciting year and wanted to share with you what God has done, is doing and what we’re looking forward too.

The churches that are in India that are part of HRV are:

Siliguri Metaonia Vineyard, Pastor Ben and Rachana
Darjeeling Vineyard, Pastor Anil Sitlang
Pedong Vineyard, Pastor Ruben Gurung
Namchi Vineyard, Pastor Silas and Sarita Rai
Gitang Vineyard, Pastor Mikma and Angela Lepcha
Farek Singtam Vineyard, overseer Gadup and Furmit Lepcha
Mongmu Vineyard, Ong Tshering and dawa Lepcha
Dhary Gaon Vineyard, overseer Bijay Rai
Gayzing tikjuk Vineyard, overseer Phurba and NS Subba
Mukrung Vineyard, J B Rai and J B rai

Our HRV churches in Nepal are:

Kathmandu Vineyard with Pastor Noel Isaacs and Pastor Raju Rana
Kotgoan Vineyard with Pastor Madan
Chhampi Vineyard with Overseer Uddav thapa
Gatlang Vineyard with Overseer Pram BK
Nessing Vineyard with Overseer Kuni Prsad
Gorkha Vineyard with Pastor Paul

We’re really excited to share about our new church plants!:

Gangtok vineyard with pastor Silas and the Team.
Kalmpoong Vineyard, with overseer Maken and Siliguri Vineyard (Already a number of people have started gathering)
Possible Chruch plant next year at Pokhara, Nepal.

Overseers that are going to be Ordained as Pastors on this Aprill gathering are Uddav Thapa from Champi, Sukra Tamang and Suren Rai from Namchi, JB Rai from Ferek Vineyard and Pram BJ from Goatlang.

Ministry/Outreach

For those of you who have a part of our story or have been able to spend time with us in Nepal or India, you know that outreach and ministry is where our hearts are. Each ministry is run or headed up by either one of our partners or HRV churches.

“Ministry” can be a very vague term at times so to give you an idea of what we mean when we say “ministry” I’ve included some examples of the areas we work in.

Orphanages
Street Kids
Safe housing for girls at risk
Food Hamper at river bed areas
Mobile Bible School
Skill training schools for single moms
Ministry to the blind
Run a school for slum kids
Run an English school for children
Micro businesses
Medical outreach
Worship ministry
Short term housing for the needy
Rehab drop in (drug addicts)
Pension program for old old widows.

Looking back over the history of our church, it’s very clear to be that we are in a very strong and healthy place. In 2013 alone our churches have grown by 25% with new believers! There are leadership teams in place, house groups, baptisms, we have a political voice in our own communities, and we have a growing body of believers. The youth are passionate and seeking ways to grow closer with God such as staying up all night to pray for the country and other youth. There is more going on then just our normal weekly gatherings; there is a passion for more of God and a passion to see His Kingdom come.

What 2014 will bring:

With every new year, we eagerly await to see where the Lord is leading us. While we know that every day new and exciting things come up and remind us of His goodness, but here is a taste of what we’re looking forward too.

School of Justice (SOJ): The SOJ from Winnipeg, Canada is coming in April for one month. Our overseers and interns will join them to do a month long daily study and outreach to the poorest areas around Kathmandu and throughout Nepal. The students and all the HRV pastors will be traveling to Gorkha for the opening ceremony of the new church building.
There will be two Mobile Bible Schools, one in Kathmandu, one in India. We are excited to have Pastor Danny Mullins from Gilbert Arizona Vineyard and pastor Andy Wood from Winnipeg Vineyard here to teach on Immanuel prayer and o the book of Genesis. Also John Rademaker from Winnipeg will be visiting and mentoring our pastors on one-to-one basis.
All of our HRV churches are going to be doing a 40day fast and prayer. The focus of this time will be asking for the gift of healing. We long to see God move and heal those in our communities as well as those from other Vineyard churches who have asked for our prayers.
We are excited to be taking two medical teams; one in the summer and one in he fall, to the remote areas of Nepal. We are going to be providing free health check ups and medicine to over a 1000 people.
This past October there was the Asia Vineyard Summit in Bangalore, India. It was a time of fellowship, ministry and praise and we are excited to be apart of the planning meetings happening in Kathmandu for the conference coming in 2016.
Personally I’m looking forward to seeing all of your faces in Kathmandu!
Looking forward to Vineyard Himalayan women’s conference, which is happening by the end of the January 2015 in Pokhara.

Names of church’s where there is an incomplete church building project:

(All these churches have buildings however they are all still being worked on. I am sharing this as partnership means “ doing together what none of us can do alone” our budget functions like this. 3% goes to Central HRV fund. 30% goes to Compassion Fund. 30% goes to Pastoral Staff support fund and 37 % goes to Admin Fund. So your partnership is welcomes in these bigger needs of HRV)

Silguiri Vineyard, India
Namchi Vineyard, India
Gitang Vineyard, India
Darjeeling Vineyard, India
Champi Vineyard, Nepal

I would like to send out a special thanks to Pastor Todd and Lisa Brousseau for allowing their daughter Shauna to join us over the course of six months. She was able to help us in the church as a secretary and helping plan the upcoming SOJ trip. Thanks to BLT Vineyard Community for praying for her and our family while she is with us.

While this newsletter is a lot of facts and figures we must remember that there’s more at work then we know. God has been strengthening us from the inside out and that has been especially clear to us this past year. None of this would have been possible without you and your continued partnership. To me partnership is doing together what none of us can do alone, which is also humbly learning from one another. We have been blessed, encouraged and our passion reignited to see His Kingdom come, because of our friendship.

We are encouraged by you and how you actively join our story. If you feel as though you are able to walk along side us as we do ministry or finish our incomplete building projects, we would love to hear from you! If you or your community of believers have encouraging words to pass onto myself and my fellow pastors in HRV I will make sure they are passed along them. We pray for you regularly and are so blessed to have you in our lives.

Blessings, Noel Isaacs

Director/Senior Pastor – Himalayan Region Vineyard Churches.

Photos by Matthew Sawatsky