Notice the Gideon's bible placed on this chair at Fort Simpson. Obviously the word of God has made an impact.
This shell of a tepee on the Great Slave Lake in NWT symbolizes that more work is needed with discipleship in Indigenous communities.
Angeline Stelter practices for a gospel meeting in Fort Resolution's community center.
As I start this column I am on day number 12 of 16 of a mission trip to Fort Simpson and Hay River and Fort Resolution in the North West Territories. I came with a contact from Gideons International and my wife, Angeline. We didn't have enough resources to bring our kids, so we are missing them. Our children are dwelling at home with their big sister, and we are dwelling with the Indigenous people in what ever way we can.
We have put on services with singing and teaching from God's Word. We have distributed many Bibles and the Gospel of John, compliments of the Gideons. We have distributed large amounts of DVD's, compliments of Tribal Trails. We have distributed many newspapers, compliments of Indian Life Ministries. We have given away copies of my book and my wife's CD. I also gave away some tracts I had from the Canadian Bible Society, in a box at home I had forgotten about. And of course, we gave of our time, talent and money and other people's money, who supported us on this trip.
The Apostle Paul, wrote in Ephesians 3: 14-19, "1For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height- to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."
Let's focus on the part of the passage that talks about Christ dwelling in our hearts through faith. Our hearts can only be healed from our past hurts and disappointments through Christ dwelling on our hearts. Our hearts can only be healed from things that happen in our lives right now from Christ also dwelling in our hearts.
As we are involved in ministry, trying to help people heal their broken hearts, whether it's to our families, our local church, a First Nation community 30 minutes away, or some Indigenous community 15 hours away. The only way to go about it is through the whole idea of dwelling with people.
As we went on this trip up north, we did a combination of different things. We put on services with gospel singing and giving our testimony and Bible teaching. We visited and sang and prayed for elders, we did a children's time, we went house to house inviting people to the services, we handed out free literature, we went to local activities during the Aboriginal day season, we visited prisoners, we meet some chiefs and leaders of those communities and so much more.
Although not very many people attended the services we put on, that was not the main reason for the trip. The main reason for the trip was to go and dwell with people on various levels.
Jesus Christ came to dwell with humans for three years before dying on the cross. He did this in a variety of ways. Jesus is our model for any ministry. Yes, it's exciting when you put on a service or speak at a service somewhere and 50 people or 300 people attend, but as a Bible teacher, I've found ministry is much more than that. If I can't walk down the street in Hay River and talk with someone, then how can I teach the Bible? If I can't drive down the streets of Fort Resolution and look for opportunities to engage people, how can I be a Bible teacher? If I can't go to a traditional gathering in Fort Simpson and sit with the people at a BBQ, how can I be a Bible teacher?
It's all about dwelling with people, no matter what that looks like. The more ways, and the more consistent the dwelling is with other people, the bigger impact we will have. And if we are not dwelling with people; how can we give our testimony? How can we share? How can we give out a DVD? How can we give out a Christian newspaper? How can we connect with someone so that person can be encouraged to heal a broken heart through dwelling with Christ?
People who have been hurt reach out. People who have been saved share a message of being saved. People who have Christ dwelling in their hearts dwell with people, whether its daily, weekly, monthly, or seasonally.
Parry Stelter is a Bible teacher, author and speaker. He is founder of Word of Hope Ministries.
If you are interested in having Parry do a workshop on dealing with grief, loss and trauma, you can contact him at parry@ wordofhopeministries.ca.
