Building the House of God
In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. John 14:2
The words of Jesus Christ sound so encouraging and exciting! He is preparing a place for us in Heaven! How would God feel when He hears that we are preparing a place for Him here on earth? A place where He is magnified and glorified in the language and culture that He gave us? In the style and way of worship he instilled in us?
Building Permits or Building relationships?
We praise God for working miraculously yet again! We finally got our last permit approval and we can now move ahead with our renovations. We could have waited for a very long time but God made it possible for us to get our permits within months. Those who are in the building business know and understand that permits are such a hassle – especially when we are trying to do each and everything by the book. Drawings, measurements, calculations, surveys and every minor detail are crucial – to the point where you are biting your nails and pulling teeth just to make sure everything has been checked off.
The going back and forth between architects, and the city hall – double checking everything and making adjustments is very tedious and requires much patience, which we have developed considerably this year. Above all, we are learning to trust God – and learning the benefits and the discipline of fasting and prayer.
At a time like this, we as a church have learned to come together and depend on each other more as a family. We are realizing that the need to put our differences aside is far more important – and focus on the project at hand. During this, we begin to feel a deeper appreciation of our brothers and sisters in Christ. We learn to accept and love one another on a different level because after all, we are building our Father’s house together. We share the same Father in heaven and so we need to work in agreement. Unity is a powerful and a very spiritual thing.
Not only are we building this church but we are building relationships while doing so.
Baptisms
We wanted to share a recent praise item which took place July 31, 2016. BDCC had the privilege of celebrating the baptisms of 13 individuals who are now officially brothers and sisters in Christ.
All were from either a Hindu or Sikh background and had recently found Jesus. God has made it possible for us to minister to these folks and we are so privileged to do so. Our ministry is mainly for reaching our Punjabi/Urdu communities here in the GTA.
Some have had to keep this a secret from their families because they were the only ones in their entire social circles who came to know Christ….others made the choice and took a bold step in faith. Knowing they would be facing criticism and mockery.
Nevertheless, we had many of our members come out to celebrate and support this life changing decision. We had our Punjabi and English worship happening as each one took their place in the water.
We had the honor of Ed Willms’ visit (our Executive Director) along with his wife Karin.
Please continue to keep BDCC in your prayers. We are continuing to disciple and serve our brothers and sisters to help prepare the way of the cross and the journey that lies ahead.