Why Do We….?

Why do we have a jar of nasturtium seeds in the sanctuary?

On October 15, 2017, we started measuring the amount of ‘gospel conversations’ members from East Vancouver Community Church are having with people who need to know Jesus. The Bible says that each follower of Jesus is an “ambassador for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Corinthians 5:20). Each nasturtium seed represents a ‘gospel conversation’. Just as Joshua set up two markers, one in the middle of the Jordan River and one at Gilgal, we set up two markers. Each family took one marker home and we kept a marker here. These markers remind us of two things:
 
  1. What Jesus has done for us,
  2. Our responsibility to tell people about Jesus. Every time someone comes to church and remembers about a ‘gospel conversation’ they had during the week, they take a seed and put it in the jar.
 
Nasturtium seeds were chosen simply because they are big enough to pick up and they are a flower. At the end of each year, we will plant these seeds somewhere on the property. Just as these seeds will grow into beautiful flowers, our prayer is that God will use our ‘gospel conversations’ to grow His Kingdom.
 

Why do we have a free standing wooden wall with tags hanging on screws?

The Bible says, “The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry.” This wall is our prayer wall and just one way we communicate our prayer concerns. There are tags up front and in the pews for people to write their prayer concerns on. The intention is for people to pray for these concerns at prayer time during service and then take a tag home to pray for that concern during the week.
 

Have lists of “Who I am in Christ” statements in the sanctuary?

The Bible says to
“not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect”
(Romans 12:2).
 
Our minds are a precious gift from God and need to be constantly cared for. The only thing that can make our minds new is to dwell on the truths of God’s Word. These statements have been made available for people to think on them so that their thoughts can start to align with how God views them in Christ. A few things start to happen as we view ourselves the way God views us:
  1. We will have less anxiety,
  2. We will have more confidence, and
  3. We will live more for Jesus!