When is a "charity" not a "charity"? Hmm ...

On Saturday, I posted a remark about an item in the Vancouver Sun, stating that non-profit groups and charities were feeling the pinch from the recession. Then I started ruminating on that phase, "non-profits and charities", and thought of something.



Let's see if can express this without seeming smug or self-righteous.



See, my comment on the item in the Sun is that Gospel Mission / The Lord's Rain was that no one interviewed us for the article, but if they had, they would have heard a different observation, namely, that the Lord will provide. And, indeed, He does. God does not experience recessions. So any kind of contribution -- from the big-ticket blessing from The W. Garfield Weston Foundation to an unexpected gift from the family of a gentleman who died recently and had been a supporter of ours in the past to an offering collected from the memorial for our dear sister Candy -- is a case of God at work.



But why us? For the true answer, look at us as an example that can apply to anyone else. To begin with, we declare that God is our source for provision and that so long as we are doing the work He has called us to do, we know we can rely on Him: not gaming revenue, not government whims, not companies that might tighten their belts in tough times.



Specifically, He has called us to bring the Light of Christ to people on the Downtown East Side, because from His Word comes the key to everything. Social justice, human rights, homelessness, poverty, crime, drug addiction: turn to the Word of God, and you'll find the solutions for all of that, and what more needful area can you think of than the Downtown East Side -- or any of the other "Samarias" all over the western world? (What do I mean by "Samaria"? Check out this blog entry.)

And He's sending the distinct message that those who answer that call won't have to worry about provision. Recession or no recession, He keeps coming through for us in ways that are so wondrous, they can only be God At Work, and we give Him the praise and the glory.

And what about the non-profits and charities that are feeling the pinch? The same provision God gives to us can go to them, too, if they take a moment and consider whether (a) they're doing what God has called them to do and (b) they're doing it His way.

***
An intriguing anniversary
Thursday, October 29, will mark the 80th anniversary of the Great Stock Market Crash, which many pinpoint as the start of the Great Depression. Whether that was the exact turning point is open for discussion, but the date is significant for Gospel Mission, because it occurred just after the founding of the Mission.

Huh?

Gospel Mission was planted by the Apostolic Church of Pentecost in 1929, which -- if my historical knowledge serves me right -- was a time of great prosperity up till the stock market crash. The Hastings-and-Abbott area, where GM was first established (we moved to 331 Carrall Street in the 40s), was a place of great prosperity in Vancouver. If you look at the City Directories for that time period - and up till the early 50s, in fact - you'll find that what is now Canada's Worst Postal Code was a happenin' part of town. There were law offices, consulates, restaurants, theatres (including the Avon -- originally the Pantages -- where my parents met) and the Carnegie Public Library (now the Carnegie Centre).

Why set up a rescue mission in the midst of that prosperity?

Because God knew what was coming -- not just with the depression but the aftermath of World War 2, when soldiers who'd been demobbed and maybe had debilitating medical/mental conditions would wind up in that area and then the gradual transition into what it is today -- and He knew He needed His people in the area to help catch those who fell.

Consider this: The Lord's Rain was conceived and built at a time of great worldwide prosperity. Things were bad enough on the DTES, but the Global Economic Downturn hit around the same time that The Lord's Rain opened and you can expect more people would fall victim to the effects of the downturn -- or at least of the fear of the downturn -- and wind up in the area. Again, God moved ahead of the curve to make sure His influence -- His Hope -- would be there for people to see.

So the anniversary of the Crash of '29 has an interesting connection with Gospel Mission -- something that none of the people who actually planted the church could have anticipated. As with so many other things that God wants -- including The Lord's Rain -- people respond out of obedience, without knowing even a tenth of the reason why they're supposed to.

****
Take neither purse nor scrip ...
The Lord's Rain got put to work in an unusual way this past weekend. I got a call from Peter Carlson, International Prayer Director with Grace Extended Ministries in Beaverton, Oregon. He'd heard about us through a mutual friend, Thor Tolo, the radio personality who interviewed me twice last year about my book, A Very Convenient Truth. Thor and I have become good friends since then, and he had no compunction about giving Peter my number when he found out Peter was leading a group of young missionaries up to Vancouver for a conference at Glad Tidings Church.

Funny thing is -- and you have to understand the way the minds of men and women of God work -- they piled into their vehicles and headed north without having a place to stay. 10 of them. And they called on Wednesday, with the conference starting on Saturday.

Well, we didn't have a place for them to crash, but we did have a place where they could shower-up, so on Saturday morning, five of them trooped over to The Lord's Rain to do just that. We also opened up for them early Sunday morning, which we don't normally do.

It was a great time to talk and compare notes about missionary work -- particularly work with urban poverty (a much better term than "the homeless", if only because you can have a roof over your head or a shelter bed and account for one less in the "homelessness register" ledger sheet and still not have a home) -- and pray together and encourage one another. It was also a wonderful blessing to be a part of the equivalent of Jesus' sending out the 70 disciples with the instruction not to take anything with them, but to rely on the hospitality of the people they met along the way.

("When I sent ye out, lacked ye anything?" He asked; "Nothing," they replied.)

And where did they crash? They stayed at "614", which is a ministry run by the Salvation Army's War College, about 2 blocks away. It just happened to be a ministry that they had wanted to connect with.

See what I mean about God providing in ways we can never imagine?