retreating to the city...

yesterday we held our first ever one-day winter conference in the place of our classic winter retreat and i am so glad we decided to make the change. the day was unbelievable on so many levels and i think really came in line with who we are as a community right now and where we are headed in our ministry.

we held our conference at the frwy cafe, a small cafe in downtown hamilton run by a salvation army church plant. the cafe itself is located in the beasley neighbourhood, which is one of canada's poorest nieghbourhoods (third to be exact after regent park in toronto and vancouver's downtown eastside). it was an awesome space for a morning of scripture study, where we dug into isaiah 58 (check it out for yourself) and opened our hearts to the fast God desired Israel to engage in. after our study, we headed out into groups for lunch in the nieghbourhood and had a couple questions to think about this neighbourhood. it was an eye opening experience. sometimes it really shocks me to think that this nieghbourhood is only a 15 minute bus ride away from the MAC campus because it feels like a whole different world. pernell, the pastor of frwy, helped us to debrief our afternoon out in the city and shared his own experience of living in this neighbourhood.

after dinner we sat around and discussed how we could apply this to our campus, specifically thinking of those students who are in first year, living in residence. the discussion was encouraging as people began to see the 'homelessness' of sorts that exists on our own campus and how we can begin sharing our lives with others who feel displaced or marginalized at the university.

we ended the day off with a coffeehouse and good old fashioned hang out time. it was great to have students so involved in all aspects of the day, participating in scripture study and discussions, interacting in the nieghbourhood, and sharing their talents and lives with one another. the day for me had such a redemptive element and promise to us as staff and the community.

we went out on a limb with a number of different changes to our structure this year (the conference being just one of them) without really knowing what would happen but each time God has continued to reveal Himself to us and it is just awe inspiring. we have had to be so dependent on Him through these changes and while it really never ends up looking the way i expect it to, Jesus NEVER fails us.