When I was relaying the story of the founding of the Church Army, now called Threshold Ministries (in Canada), I wrote about the determination that spiritual revival was the indispensable ingredient in any hope for recovery. As I wrap up this “Three Story” account of the vision for Threshold House I want to circle back to this vital element. As I address myself to the program and groups facet of the vision, the spiritual solution is paramount.
At the heart of Threshold House will be our chapel. Here we will have regular times of prayer and study. I will be transferring my time from the Men’s shelter to Threshold House, once we are operational. I also hope that other church leaders and teachers might occasionally lead these times. Prayers will be centred on the residents and their needs, the programs and needs of Threshold House, and prayer requests from the wider community. While we expect that residents will be the core for these times, Prayer and Study will be open to anyone (male or female). It is also our hope to host a monthly (perhaps more often than that) worship and fellowship time, with speakers coming from the wider community and a time for any to share about what God is doing in their lives.
The chapel is also important as a place set aside for quiet contemplation. All successful Christian living begins with an openness to God’s will and a willingness to submit. The challenge in the midst of the busyness of life, is to discern what God’s will might be in our individual lives, and to check with Him our motivations. Confession first to God and often to another human is essential and the chapel will provide a space for these sacred activities.
Besides the chapel we will have space for meeting, both for the residents and the wider community. Only ‘House Keeping’ meetings will be restricted to residents, all other meeting will be for the wider community. We plan to open the facilities to a variety of groups who broadly share our goals, at no cost. We hope to see the building used well and often, by like minded groups.
In addition, we hope to host interns for Threshold Ministries, and offer practical and spiritual training to them. We hope that others, either from our group of residents or from the wider community might like to take part in this equipping. Right now, the idea is to do an online discipleship course “Zume”, which would involve watching the videos doing some ‘homework’ and participating in group discussion. The beauty of this is that there is no set classroom time and we could even hold some discussion on a dedicated Facebook page if not all of us could get together. We might even be able to include people ‘at a distance’ in this training.
So, you see the multiple layers of our vision for Threshold House. It is a big vision, far beyond me. We believe God is in this and invite any who read this to ask God how you might be involved.
December 21st we will be hosting our first fund raising event, a Christmas Banquet. Tickets are $20. If you would like tickets let me know streethopesj@gmail.com or if you would like to donate so others of our Street Hope friends can attend, such a gift would be tax deductible.
Please keep us in prayer. <><
Hope & Reedemption 