In January we started a new format at Convergence: services one week and praying the next. Here's a little insight as to what's going through our heads.

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In case you haven’t noticed…

THE BOOK: Acts

THE STORY: a church who is just starting, a clean slate, no preconceived ideas. Journeying together with a real, live, tangible faith.

THE TREND: always praying first.

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What does this mean to us?
With Acts as our guide, we hope that the characteristics of the early church start to rub off on us. One thing is for sure -- this isn't about #'s. While we want as many people experiencing life in Christ to the fullest, we have to do it His way...

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Check out this story from Chuck Colson's book, The Body.

This story is told by Brian, pastor of a small church in Southern California...
“We’ve kind of been through it. In fact, we’ve cut our membership a bit. To be precise, we’ve cut our congregation in half. We had 220 members, but nothing was happening. I mean, the place was dead, and no matter what I preached nothing changed. So one day the deacons and I prayed. We said, ‘Lord, bring only Your people here. We want those who are ready to repent and really give themselves wholly to You. Only bring those folks here.’ We even stood at the door of the church silently praying this as people filed in. An amazing thing happened. God answered the prayer. People began dropping out, one by one. We went from 220 to about 100. Then the place began to change. We almost went broke, but people got serious with God, they got involved -– and now membership is creeping back up. I think we may be going to have a revival.”

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Here are some of the characteristics that are evident as we walk through Acts, characteristics that we hope will begin to shape our community...

This is the story of a small group of people turning into an international movement…the people who pioneered what we’re living today. The church is stepping beyond the age, race, and gender bias that is so prevalent in their culture. The people are ordinary (think: just like you & me) who do extraordinary things (think: what we would like to do). How? Through faith and the power of the Holy Spirit. They aren’t talking about a religion…they’re telling a story. Even though this story is potentially offensive, thousands of people were coming to believe! The message wasn’t watered down at all.

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If this is something you want to get on board with, here it is...

THE INVITATION: come and join us! January 26th will be our second evening of 'Converging in Prayer' and we'd love to see you there.

Tonight is a prayer night at Convergence. We’re still meeting in the loft at 7:45.

Chad Langerud will be sharing next week. Chad is a youth pastor from Christian Life Community Center in Abbotsford.

In another news, we have recently received a…

***Special Announcement***

For those of you who didn’t get a chance to check out the comment section from the last post:

Chris Edwards said...

Hello to all my Convergence friends! Now listen, I know I`ve been a jerk and I haven`t written most of you (I am publicly apologizing for that now) but I have some news: I`m getting MARRIED!!!

I met an absolutely amazing, Godly, beautiful girl last May and over the last few months I`ve prayed about it and we`ve talked about it and now it`s happening. The date we`re looking at is September 23, 2006. If any of you are in the Greater Toronto Area at that time let me know and you`re so invited. I miss you all tremendously and I hope to see you again soon. Feel free to email me anytime: hotterthancj@hotmail.com.

Congratulations Chris!!! We're so happy for you!

For those of you who are newer to the group...Chris Edwards was part of Convergence for a year while he went to school at BCIT. He was fantastic on bass guitar and a great ultimate player, and is dearly missed by those who affectionately referred to him as ‘Wee Chris’.

(ironically: It was Grace Lee who called Chris that, but I'm not going to say anything more...)

Speaking of Grace Lee, she is another member of Convergence that is embarking on a new season in life. Today, Grace flew to New York City to fulfill a lifelong dream of visiting the Big Apple. At the end of January, she will be moving to L. A. to live with her mom for a few months. So, while we’re doing tributes, I’d like to take a minute to thank Grace for everything she has poured into Broadway during her time here.