Missional Living or Full-time Ministry...?

[I wrote this in my journal about 2 hours before my lung collapsed...]
14th Oct 2010 @ 1pm

I look back over my time here as I know things are about to get busy, this week I will be meeting with a colleague about our roles within YWAM Vancouver. I will also start to help with hosting a Mission Adventures team with my roommate Josh. This will really kick-start my work here. The transition into life with YWAM Vancouver has been harder than expected. I guess moving to a new country has that, and topped with all the uncertainty before leaving (was I going to be going..?) Being here is interesting because the differences are slight but noticeable, so it becomes a bit of a subtle adjustment you have to make, I'm not sure that I made it so little things began to annoy me and then I would compare it to England. I have to continue to be weary of this...

The question I used to title this entry is one I have been thinking about recently, I posted it on my Facebook to hear the response. Is there a difference between missional living and full-time ministry? If there is, what is it? If there isn't, why does does it feel like I've transitioned from one to the other? I feel that while I was at Holmsted Manor it was very much about full-time ministry, I woke up and I lived and breathed it. I was in a community where there was nothing else. I didn't have worry/think about housing, food, community, ministry. It was always there. I did not have to make the conscious effort to "do ministry", it just flowed (most of the time). Being in Vancouver is different, being with YWAM here is different. The first two weeks have been "living", I'll unpack: On arrival I needed to find a house, then furnish the house, then get a bank set up, sort out money and a budget, and the list goes on. Where I struggled is finding "ministry" in this. It has not been so readily available. If I want to do it, which I do, I have to set it up. Self-motivated, self-disciplined. This has to be done with/on top of the "living" (housing, money, food, etc...). Now there is a difference, a colleague described working with YWAM Vancouver as "living missionally".  Ok, so I understand this is what most people have to face, this is the life of an every day follower of Christ but was I ready for that change? Did I expect it?


I'm sure this is starting to sound like the wafflings of a crazy person so I'll draw it to a close. I am not suggesting that one is better than the other, you can do either and be living the "right way", in fact you have to do one/both to be a follower of Jesus. I am talking about the personal difference I have felt and the adjustments I am having to make. I am not sure that I was ready for it, but I have to be. I do miss the always readily available community of Holmsted but I love the city life in Vancouver. "Just love people" a friend said to me on this topic, and that is what I will do. If you're reading this then can I ask that you pray with me that I will find ministry to do where I am loving people, and also pray that I learn to adjust well to "missional living".

A Pain in the Chest

I am writing this after just coming back from spending about 24 hours in Vancouver General Hospital. I am doing ok, still very fragile and feeling slight heart burn type pains. I will go back on Tuesday morning for a check up and an x-ray.

So how did all this happen?
Well on Thursday morning (14th) I took a walk to an area locals call "The Drive" there are a lot of independent stores, cafés and grocers on this street. I sat in a familiar café and had a drink while writing a blog (this will follow). I spent a good two hours there writing and listening to a Pastor's speakers panel from a conference in America recently. Then I decided to move on, I started to feel hungry so I went to a vegetarian café and sat down with my food, almost immediately after sitting down my chest really started to hurt and it quickly spread to the right side, all over my right lung and shoulder. I knew this wasn't normal! I finished my food and did all that I knew what to do which was go home. This was about a 30 minute walk. During the walk the pain was agonising. I sent a text to Alexa and asked her to look up the symptoms of a collapsed lung. I finally made it home and sat down to rest. Very quickly the pain eased as I researched the symptoms. It did sound very much like a minor Pneumothorax, so I called up a BC health advise line and they told me to go to a walk-in clinic. I found the nearest one to be where I had just came from. So i walked the 30 minute walk back. The pain came back, but this time not as strong but still very noticeable. There I had to pay $120 before I could see a doctor. The doctor was worried about an irregular heartbeat and decided I should go to hospital. I was admitted into Accident & Emergency at about 8pm Thursday. There they did many tests; bloods, ECGs, vitals, x-rays and then even a CT scan to check for a blood clot. It came back that I did indeed have a Pneumothorax. The doctor said it was small but needed to be sorted so he inserted a tube into my side... not a pleasant experience... Then a couple more x-rays later and some time he said that the gas wasn't draining out as fast as he would like and I was to be admitted into a Lung specialist ward to be seen by consultants there. This was at 4am Friday morning.


Once in the ward I managed to get maybe 30mins to an hours sleep before being poked and prodded again. The consultant said that the x-rays looked better and that they were going to close the tube as see if my lung was leaking anymore gases. They did this and said wait 6 hours for another x-ray. Six hours later, about 3pm Friday, and I am having my final x-ray. The consultant came back and said that my lung was doing well and the gases had mostly gone so I was able to have the tube removed from my side and to go home, with a follow up on Tuesday 18th to see how I am doing.


So this was my eventful 24 hours in a Vancouver hospital. Please be praying for my health as I still don't feel right and also be praying that my travel insurance claim will go smoothly otherwise this could be a very expensive ordeal.


Many thanks for your prayers over the 24 hours, I really felt God's presence with me in that hospital.


Oh and if you see my mum, tell her I am ok!

October update

Vancouver

Sitting in a cafe, drinking some tea, I know that I am back. And it makes me smile. Looking back it wasn't an easy journey; over two hours at the airport immigration office, delays with visas, no house, many doubts... God has been so faithful to get me here, it can have only been God. Yesterday I signed the papers to a basement suite and today I opened up a Canadian bank account, I really have arrived!

Since being here I have been resting and seeking God, as well as getting involved with helping YWAM Vancouver move offices and houses. This season is a season for learning is what I have heard from the Lord. Gaining practical experience. I have been figuring out what it is I am to do and I am being drawn to working as part of a team that will focus on hosting teams that want to do an outreach in Vancouver. As part of this it will mean creating ministries around the city and also partnering with local churches and charities that already have established ministries. I am keen to do this as part of a team so I can learn from and with my co-workers while getting stuck into doing urban ministries.

Since being here I have attended a young church that’s main focus is church planting. I am very keen to get more involved with this church as this is something that interests me and I am keep to learn, watch and experience what church planting looks like, especially in an urban setting.

In closing

Friends, I really cannot express my thanks enough. It is because of you that I can work and do the things I love with the Father I love. Thank you for your prayers, your support, your encouragements. God has used each and every one of you in a big way in my life.

Keep in touch!

           Joel

All glory, honour and
praise to our God and
Saviour Jesus Christ.

Or view this update in its original printable form here

My Mission and Values

1. Walk humbly with God
2. Live simply by faith
3. Fight justly for truth

                     i.            I am to walk humbly with God, going with my hands open to the places He wants. I exist for nothing else than to bring Him glory. (Micah 6:8)

                   ii.            I am to live simply, seeking freedom from the seduction of riches and being committed to sacrificial generosity (1 Timothy 6:18)

                  iii.            I am to fight justly for care of God's creation and against the injustice of Human Trafficking as it affects the most vulnerable people.  For now is a time of war (Matt 10:34)

Values

God first

                “Seek first the Kingdom of God...” (Matt 6:33) this is why I am alive and the reason for all other values. I understand that it is by God’s grace I am alive and I exist to bring Him glory. I know that He is the only hope, so I will hear Him and respond.

Stewardship

                God called us all to look after this planet and everything in it (Gen 1:26-28; Gen 2:15). I understand that nothing is mine; everything has been entrusted to me by God. For this reason I will live a life that values that. This is why I choose not to eat meat for the environmental and human injustices it causes. I will endeavour to live a life that is “green”, “… since our care of the creation will reflect our love for the Creator” (John Stott – The Radical Disciple).

                I will also be transparent with what I “own” and what I spend my money on, as it is all God’s anyway, and we are all family under Him.

Simplicity

                “Live simply so that others may simply live.” This follows on from stewarding my money and possessions. I will own only what is necessary to limit building up “riches on earth”, which will encourage a life of generosity. I will prayerfully consider all that I buy and the way I live life. Relying on the body of Christ to keep me accountable.

Others

                It is always about others and putting others before myself. I will demonstrate this through loving on people and serving them to the best of my ability. I understand that I am not better than my master, and that true love is giving up of oneself. (John 13:16-17)

Together

                "...involuntary poverty is an offence against the goodness of God...the church must stand with God and the poor against injustice, suffer with them and call on rulers to fulfil their God-appointed role." (An Evangelical Commitment to Simple Life-style)
 I believe that the local church has been anointed to “bring good news [the Gospel] to the poor...” (Isaiah 61:1) I will make big efforts to work alongside churches and organisations to be a voice for the voiceless. Knowing that God has not called me to do this alone but together as one body we work stronger.