When we began to plant Liberty Grace Church, we knew that God would have to provide. We prayed that God would send people to care about Liberty Village, and to move in and serve him as part of our new church.
<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/img.jpg" alt="Photo compliments of Orvin Lao"><figcaption>Photo compliments of Orvin Lao</figcaption></figure>
God answered prayer. In late 2012, I met Nathan and Sarah Fullerton. A few months later, they moved into Liberty Village. In late 2013, Nathan began to work as a church planting apprentice with us. In the past two-and-a-half years, Nathan and Sarah have poured their lives into the planting of this new church.
In a few weeks, Nathan will be completing his ministry with us as he looks forward to the next steps in his ministry. Nathan writes:
At the beginning of December, Sarah and I went through the C2C Network Church Planting Assessment. After the assessment, the result was a strong affirmation of our gifting and calling to church planting but also a recommendation that we get some additional discipleship and training before we move on to leading a church plant. Together with Darryl Dash (the senior pastor at Liberty Grace Church) and Tom Haines (Director of Church Planting for FEB Central), a path ahead has been recommended to us.
We have been offered an opportunity to be involved at Morningstar Christian Fellowship under the leadership of Bob MacGregor and his team. This new context will allow us to build the skills that we need to move ahead with successful church planting, Lord willing, in the next couple years. We will be building these skills by participating in the Morningstar’s existing network of church plants in a variety of capacities.
We are grateful for Nathan and Sarah's ministry with us. Please join with me in praying for them as they take this next step. Please especially pray for some of their practical needs: finding a place to live in Scarborough, finding a job so that he can work bivocationally, and more.
At the same time, please pray for us. We will miss Nathan and Sarah. Pray that God will continue to provide workers who can help us. We especially need music leaders, and I'm also praying that we would have the privilege of investing in church planting interns who will one day plant churches.
We're grateful for Nathan and Sarah, and all they've done to help plant Liberty Grace Church.
In Other News
I've been blogging about the need in Toronto, and why we need people to pray for us, and even to consider moving here to serve. If you're interested, you can read the series (including interviews).
It's been a good couple of months at Liberty Grace. We continue to see new people come out. Please pray for us as Spring approaches. It's a key time to build new relationships in our community.
As you know, we faced a significant financial challenge last year. At the end of October, we faced a deficit of almost $42,000. Through your generosity, this number shrank by over $30,000 by year-end. Thank you, and praise God! (Also: Tax receipts are in the mail.)
Our internal giving continues to increase, but we still rely on external support as we grow. I'm required to raise an additional $3,600 a month in support. So far, we have $722 of this committed. Please pray for us as we raise the rest. (More information, including a video, here.)
I'm thankful for your prayers and encouragement.