Overcoming Spiritual Roadblocks in Ministry – Devotion #2: Prayer Changes Things
When we step into the place of prayer, it is often to ask the Lord to change circumstances. We pray for healing for someone who is sick, comfort for someone who is grieving and for the Lord to change the heart of someone who is walking away from God’s kingdom. Prayer changes things, and the Lord is able to move in people’s lives and circumstances because we pray.
But prayer does not just change a situation…
Serving God’s Church and the Community as a Diaconal Coach
Len Bakelaar served as a Diaconal Coach in Classis Huron for over 18 years. When Len ‘hung up his hat’ and retired from being a Coach back in June of 2020, we asked him to share about his time with Diaconal Ministries.
Sowing Seeds of Community in a Pandemic
The city and region of East Preston, Nova Scotia is now considered a “food desert”. With the help of a Covid-19 grant from Diaconal Ministries and World Renew Canada, John Calvin CRC in Truro is working with the community of East Preston and sharing their community garden expertise.
Overcoming Roadblocks in Ministry – Devotion #1
STEPHEN – FULL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Acts 6 describes the establishment of the role of deacon within the community of believers. A dispute over meeting the needs of the Greek and Hebrew widows led to the leadership making the decision to find people who could meet the needs within the community.
The leaders looked for people who were described as being full of the Holy Spirit. They found Stephen who is described as being “a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 6:5)…
The fact that the apostles specifically looked for people who were full of the Holy Spirit suggests that some of the congregation were not! So were some only half full? Were others empty? Just exactly what did the apostles mean when they looked for people full of the Holy Spirit?
Overcoming Roadblocks in Ministry
Over the course of the next 10 months or so, we want to make deacons aware of the realities of spiritual roadblocks that can show up in ministry AND help them deal with these kinds of challenges. To do this, we are producing a brand new set of devotions, which will be rolled out once/month on our e-Quip Diaconal Blog in 2021. The focus of the devotions will be how the Holy Spirit equips and empowers deacons (and all believers) to do the work of ministry and advance the Kingdom of God. We will be building up a ‘spiritual’ toolbox of resources for deacons…