Stirred Up!

Unlike the lame man waiting for the angel to come and stir the waters so he could be healed (John 5:2ff), we don't have to wait for an angel per se, we just invite Sam Da Silva to town!

Sam's role at Promise Church is what I like to call "Christian psycho-therapist-in-residence." Even though he lives a thousand miles away in St. Catherines, Ontario, we benefit greatly from Sam's relationship with us as he visits, gives counsel, observes, and teaches. Using the tools of counseling and therapy, Sam then follows the prompting of the Spirit to see how those tools might be best applied with individuals and then with systems of individuals including couples, friends, and yes, even churches. For some not accustomed to the language of psychology and counseling it may feel a bit awkward at first. Indeed, some shun any talk of the mind, soul, or spirit that sounds too "fleshly" or "carnal," perhaps fearing that too much emphasis is being placed on chemical, biological, or psychological processes than on "spiritual" ones.

One of the major discoveries of my ministry several years ago was a simple one. People's spiritual well-being was often tied to their actual or perceived physical well-being. Depression, I found, was often linked to eating, exercise, and sleep patters. In turn, depression sinks one into the sense that they are not loved, that no one cares about them, and nothing they do really matters - which are all spiritual issues. Often, just getting off the couch and beginning some routine for exercise, eating, and sleep could pull people out of their depression enough to begin to do the deeper spiritual work if they were willing. Or, a better perception of themselves through a change in their body and brain chemistry gave them a much healthier outlook on everything else in their life and could actually open windows of being able to receive God's love and the Spirit's leading in their lives. I know people who would pray and pray and pray that God would change the way they feel about themselves with no "results." It was when they began to take care of their bodies that they began to see their prayer answered. Conclusion? Perhaps knowing and practicing a few helpful and health-full things about our bodies and minds can be an answer to prayer.

If we think about it, a lot of our everyday and even church language is peppered with phrases and terms from psychology. We talk about co-dependence or addiction - two words never found in scripture but nevertheless helpful to us in understanding what's going on in the pattern of someone's life. We recommend "Co-D" groups or "AA" knowing that even though these groups only refer to a "higher power" they nevertheless possess great power for healing if the steps they teach are followed.

And that's where the body of Christ can provide the "next step" to healing of the entire person. There are many addicted people who simply switch addictions - from alchohol to cigarettes or sex. What Jesus promises us is total liberation from the power of addiction. This is spiritual healing that will ultimately go deeper than the healing of a single relationship or addictive stronghold. Because in the kingdom, God desires for His people to walk in complete freedom and maturity (Luke 4:18; Rom 8:18-21; 2 Cor 3:17; Gal 5:1).

In seminary, I was required to take classes in psychology. And they are helpful to understanding how the human mind works and how it creates patterns for itself. I believe these are helpful things for a believer to understand and use in his/her ministry. But because of the ultimate vision of what where our healing leads us - we understand that ALL healing - like Sam taught this past weekend - will be a gift from God.

So here's a suggestion I would like to make for those who would like to know more about the mind, the brain, and our emotional life as human beings. Read and learn all that you can that science and medicine has to offer about how our bodies and minds work. Learn as much as you can from people like Sam who are not only trained in the science part - but also in the faith part. Use that information to create for yourself a healthier mind and body - whether it's beginning a new exercise routine, taking vitamins, planning an intentionally nutritious diet, or even understanding why it is that you might keep repeating patterns of behavior you long to leave behind. Remember also that many who write about psychology aren't believers and so they stop at the level of the mind without accepting or acknowledging a deeper spiritual dimension to human life. That's okay, we can still learn and discern from them about the field they do have expertise in. And finally acknowledge that this is just one step - an important one to be sure - in our experience of healing. As we surrender to the will of God we will discover that that surrender directs us to take care of our bodies and our minds as we as ask the Spirit of God to give redemptive life to our own spirit.

A New Thing!

Isa 43:19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland.

It’s been two and a half years since the launch of Promise Church at our location on Old Humboldt Road. It’s hard to believe it’s been that long. We’ve seen so much happen in that short period of time. God has pulled together many very capable leaders from a multitude of backgrounds who have chosen to minister out of what they share together – a vision of the resurrected Christ! (1 Cor 1:18)

It hasn’t always been easy. Imagine getting a large and diverse group of very strong willed, very biblically and spiritually literate people in the same room and say to them, “Now decide what essentials of the faith we’re going to agree on!” And out of that conversation emerges the mission of Promise Church as priorities are identified. The things that have been important to some people take a back seat to the things that become the overarching mission of the entire body. We learn to “submit in reverence for Christ” (Eph 5:21) and in so doing we find that God has given us yet another avenue of personal and community spiritual growth. Seasons of ministry emphases emerge as the church does it best to minister “on the spot” to people who want to know if it’s really possible to have new life in Jesus Christ. Relationships change. We change. And we trust in God that it’s all for the good and in fitting with His divine plan. (Rom 8:28)

I know I have changed. I’m not the same pastor I was three years ago or five years ago. The Lord has led me through a variety of seasons of leadership, having plenty, having little, possessing a servant’s heart, possessing a warrior’s heart, being bold, being meek, being assertive, being quiet, often ministering out of wholeness, often ministering out of woundedness. In each of these seasons I’ve taken away some lesson learned of how I personally have been called mirror in my life the life of Jesus. I say that only to speak to what I know others in our body have experienced as well as they too have been taken through their own seasons and together we have learned some awesome lessons of leadership.

And now the Lord is leading us together into a “new thing!” (Isaiah 43:19) Beginning November 1, we will be worshipping and ministering in a brand new location across from Rafferty's in the Galleria Shopping Center! Every time the Lord does this for His people, he also calls them to leave behind the old. We will be taking with us some very valuable experience of being the loving body of Christ. But what will stay behind at 935C Old Humboldt Road? What will remain – just like the experience of the wandering Israelites in the wilderness – behind in the desert? For the Israelites, God was forging them in the desert to become a people who could stand and be faithful in the Promised Land and not give in to the many temptations of the surrounding pagan cultures to become like them. (Deuteronomy 29:16-18)

And so they were being called to leave behind their doubt and fear about the future. They were being called to leave behind their reliance on the provision of Pharaoh and rely instead on the goodness of Yahweh. They were being called to leave behind patterns of behavior more appropriate to their pagan neighbors and adopt ways of living that reflected the holiness of the One they worshipped. They were being called to leave behind their identity as a fractured group of bickering tribes and step into a new identity as the bold people of God. They were to become Israel. And it’s interesting to read that the season of the Israelites greatest influence and power came under kings who united the tribes in faithful submission to the delivering Lord.

I can only imagine the feelings of those Israelites who were the first to step across the Jordan river and into the place that had been promised to them as their inheritance. Elation! Relief! Weeping with Joy! Reassurance! Boldness and Courage! Worshipfulness! What would have been your emotions do you think?

As we prepare to move into a new place and a new season, I feel like we are gathered on the eastern shore of the Jordan. But we see the promise of God just across the river. It’s a good place that God has brought us to. We’ve made it through our wilderness wanderings. The time has come for the crossing. There’s work to be done still, to be sure. The people in Canaan are giant and the walls of the city loom overhead. But the land is a land filled with milk and honey and daily reminds us that our God is good and steadfast. (Ps. 100:5)