Another brief ministry update

David and I are starting to progress from the early stages of ministry preparation into the middle stages.  A week ago last Thursday his request for a student ministerial license (the first level of licensing in the Wesleyan denomination) went before the Atlantic District General Conference.  This conference meets annually and if David is not approved then we would have another calendar year to wait.  We have no reason to believe he wasn’t approved, however, because no one has contacted him to say so, and so we’re cautiously optimistic.  We’ve been told that David will be forwarded a copy of the minutes (as will his local church board, which is our sponsor) this coming week.  At some point, soon we hope, he will also be given some sort of actually licensing card.  So we’re kind of in limbo right now but we have more information than we did.

David preached again today, and from all accounts his sermon was great and was very well received.  Samuel and I couldn’t make it, unfortunately, but I’ve heard good things.  The two or three suggestions for improvement that he had received in the past (mostly about projecting his voice more – he’s very soft-spoken) were apparently well taken care of because no one had any suggestions this time around.   His scripture wasn’t an easy one; the parable of the wheat and the weeds, but he practiced on me and I thought he handled it very well.  He preaches for the last time on Thursday at a local long-term and palliative care nursing home.

We did have a bit of discouraging news but we’re trying to get past it.  The Wesleyan church in Canada is split into two districts, the Atlantic and the Central.  A District Superintendent leads each district, rather like a bishop over a diocese.  As of a few weeks ago our DS announced that every position was filled in the Atlantic district, which is excellent news for the church, but not such excellent news for us!  Our other option is the Central Canada District, which encompasses five congregations in the province of Quebec, six congregations in the province of Alberta, and forty-five congregations in the province of Ontario.  Except that almost every position in those churches is filled as well.  Everything is full.  So, this presents us with a bit of an issue.  We need to decide whether to a) wait and see what happens in the next few months in regards to a position opening or b) try for a congregation in the States.

David and I had agreed in prayer to wait here until a position in a church opened up, and not move for any other reason, but we are starting to wonder if that’s the best decision for us or if we should try and ‘go where the jobs are’, and where that even is!

Please pray with us as we start this whole new section of our journey, and pray that we will exhibit patience as we wait on the Lord for the verification of David’s licensing.