The early history of GM has been largely oral tradition, but we do know that we were established some time in the 1920s. I remember seeing some printed reference to 1929, but do you think I can find it now? Of course not. So, lest the decade run out without actually acknowledging the 80 (plus) years of serving Vancouver, let's say some quiet huzzahs for the oldest existing rescue mission in Vancouver (and possibly Western Canada - again, oral tradition).
In 2008, Gospel Mission started taking some steps towards bringing ministry in the Downtown East Side (you can insert the name of any other similarly afflicted urban area) to a different level. Of course, we didn't know it at the time (how could we, really?), but as we look at things a year later, we can see that God has some definite plans for His people in this area that require something more than what I've come to call "subsistence" ministry. As you read this, you may find yourself considering new ways that you, too, can help.
A couple of things happened recently at Gospel Mission / The Lord's Rain, which may seem unrelated, but in fact have a connection worth contemplating. Just before Christmas, two new friends came into the Mission bearing a welcome and timely financial contribution. As we were chatting, they asked, "what do you need?" I was a little stumped, believe it or not. What do we need?
We talked about supplies of food, and the way the Lord has made sure the Mission has not gone hungry over its 80-plus years. We talked about the need for things like building materials to finish the back wall of The Lord's Rain. We talked about the fact that many people have shown up, seemingly from nowhere, with ideas that we had never thought of ourselves, and that they've proven to be exactly what we needed - exactly when we needed them.
The other event, which (as I say) may seem unconnected at first, came at our monthly prayer meeting at Gospel Mission -- which happened to coincide with New Year's Eve. A young man I'd never seen before looked up timidly when Barry asked if anyone had any special prayer needs. I went over and asked what he'd like. "A job," he said, in a Spanish accent. He told me his name was Jose, so I beckoned to Teresa, whose native language is Spanish, and to Barry, to come over. Teresa prayed intently over Jose in Spanish, then told us that Jose had accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour. We prayed over him some more -- and I prayed that the Lord would provide Jose with exactly the people, direction and source of income to supply his needs. Jose sat down, with a look of hope on his face that he believed all would be well.
I know as well as anyone what can happen after the first flush of "accepting Jesus". When I did, at a convention in California 10 years ago this summer, I was convinced that answering the Call and saying The Sinner's Prayer would bring an instantaneous change, and I had nothing more to worry about. When it didn't and my old ways started re-emerging (within about two days, actually), I sank lower, feeling disillusioned and a failure. The main reason for the backsliding was that I had no one to assist with ministry, counsel and guidance in my new Walk. This was partly my fault: I was not connected to a church at the time, and while the people at the convention had someone talk with me and give me phone numbers of people to contact when I got back to the Vancouver area, I never did follow up.
Accepting the Lord is only the beginning of the walk with Christ: the whole thing is a process. Just as in a marriage, where passion and romance eventually give way to the necessity of dealing with the world and one another's faults within the context of the covenant you've made with your spouse, the newcomer to Christ still faces the cares of the world, and has to adapt their thinking and actions to the Covenant they've made with God.
[What Covenant have we made with God? Jesus says, "if you love Me, keep My commandments". Abraham, one of the first to have a Covenant with God, "believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness".]
For Jose, or anyone else on the DTES, once they come up off their knees and step back out onto Carrall and Hastings, they are immediately surrounded by constant reminders of their past mistakes and wrong choices. The demands of the natural world may drag them back. In Jose's case, his immigration status or lack of English language skills may prevent him from getting a job legally, and unless his faith is strong enough to keep looking to God as his Provider, he could well wind up obtaining money illegally, feeling he has "no choice". That strength of faith is developed over time ("Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God," the Apostle Paul wrote).
Considering that I know quite a few faith-filled, spirit-filled, Bible-believing Christians who themselves don't have that kind of faith, you couldn't expect that from a newcomer. The physical manifestation of spiritual change does not come as a cataclysmic, fairy-godmother transformation. God's promise requires patience: He delivers the goods as we can handle them, "by little and little ... lest the beasts of the field increase ...." (Deut. 7:22).
What's the solution for someone like Jose? "Discipleship" - the personal relationship between a person who has just received Christ and someone more mature in the faith, helping to guide the newcomer, keep them from falling back into their old life and encourage them in the steps forward they take, however small they may be. It wasn't until I had proper discipleship in my life that I started moving forward. I have been blessed to have had Ivor Lewis, Gerry and Marci Wall, Dan and Susan McLean and Cathy Koshman at critical points in my life; even now, Barry, Jon Boyd and Cal Weber are there. Now, others turn to me for discipleship. It's a walk we're not supposed to walk alone.
So if one asks, "what do we need?" ... We need disciples.
We need people who are willing to connect with street people on a more personal level. We need people who can Be There, seeking out people who need prayer and counsel, acting as a sounding board, not to validate their past behaviour, but to nudge them in the right direction; and most importantly, encourage them in their new walk and support them when they make the right decisions.
We come back to the foundational Scripture for The Lord's Rain -- and indeed, for Gospel Mission as a whole:
What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
-- James 2:14-17
"Daily food" can mean actual food; it can also mean the necessities of human life, such as providing a place where for people to get cleaned up. But we can also take it to mean the practical application of being "in peace ... warmed and filled". That is what discipleship provides: it helps show a person what the spiritual condition of being Saved actually looks like.
Maybe you haven't even thought that this might be something you're called to do. Maybe you don't think you're capable. Maybe you know of others who have been looking for a way to serve in new ways.
In any event, I encourage you to consider it: you may find gifts you didn't know you had. If people are going to make an effort to break themselves free from the drugs and poverty, they need a reason. Many of the people on the DTES cannot see a tangible reason to change; so we need to show them an intangible reason. Christ provides that reason. It's called Hope. It doesn't take a Biblical scholar to do it: just someone who Believes, and has a good ear and a heart to match; someone whose friendship and guidance can drown out the noise of the "cares of the world" that Jesus warns us will try to snatch away the joy of receiving the Word. It takes someone who can encourage people in their walk, without either judging or validating when they slip up -- which they inevitably will.
When you save someone at sea, you don't push them out of the boat again. When someone is Saved in Christ, other people need to be nearby to steady them as they find their legs in the boat. Otherwise, they not only fall overboard, this time they have a millstone of guilt, remorse and uselessness around their neck.
***
So what is this "next level"? "Subsistence ministry" -- or "maintenance ministry", to borrow the term from some forms of drug treatment -- has been much of the focus for the past century: feeding, clothing and sheltering people; sadly, that has also come to mean enabling them in their drug habits.
It's apparent, though, that we need to press deeper and actually get people's lives turned around so they move on, move up and move out -- if only to make room for the new arrivals who will inevitably come with the current world financial situation.
When Lee Grady, the editor of Charisma, spoke one of the prophecies that eventually led to The Lord's Rain, he used the image of axe blades. He prophesied that the axe blades I had been using were just bouncing off the tree trunks, but that God would start providing blades that were sharper and stronger and would start cutting through the bark. The Lord's Rain is one of those blades: it is definitely having an impact on the people in the DTES. Now, we need more of these sharper, stronger axe blades.
We also need more mainstream churches from other parts of the region to get involved, with a view towards salvation, discipleship and restoration. One of the reasons why this is important is because the mainstream churches have the expertise and the resources, human and otherwise, to take on some of the things I've outlined above.
If you drill deep enough into the collective psyche on the DTES, you'll find a key factor is a sense of abandonment. The people can't help but think they've been abandoned by society, their own families, and especially God. (Even "progressive" ideas like the "safe" injection site simply reinforce the lie that an addict is basically non-salvageable.) Is it not up to churches, as ambassadors of Christ, to rid them of that sense? As Christians, are we not called to "visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction" (James 1:27)?
The Lord's Rain is a clear sign of God's desire to move beyond "subsistence ministry": He ordained it, He brought all the necessary pieces together for it, and He has provided what it's needed, when it's needed it, all down the line. It also stands as an example to encourage others who get a similar vision or assignment from God, that, if He puts a project on their hearts, He will bring together the necessary resources.
In Exodus, the Lord gives Moses instructions for the building of the tabernacle. He is directed to use gold, silver and brass, fine linen of all manner of colours, and specific types of wood. Then the Bible tells us they made the things required out of the materials specified. I can't find any verse in which Moses says, "and exactly how we are supposed to get these things?" Even in the wilderness, the materials they needed were provided.
Put another way, when God tells you to do something, He doesn't tell you to afford it.
If He puts an idea on your heart -- as He did with us for The Lord's Rain -- you can be sure He will make it happen as soon as you say, "Yes, Lord".
What I've written here is grist for discussion and action as the Lord leads. The issue of poverty and crime in so many areas of our region and others around North America has been dumbed-down to "homelessness", but we need to consider that a typo. The real problem is "hopelessness", and hope is not always found in a shelter bed or a meal line or any number of social experiments. It's also not bought and sold for money, which means that anyone can contribute. Don't get me wrong: there is nothing wrong with providing meals and emergency shelters; but the message I'm hearing is that it's time to go further.
Please think on these things. Take them up with your pastors, home groups, friends, co-workers; see where you're led. Some people may be called to support projects financially, but others may be called to something different, and I'm suggesting it's time to find that "something different". It may not just be "something different" for the people receiving it: it will likely be something different for you, too.
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