CRC Members Travel Miles to Attend Regional Events

Many people traveled several hours across parts of Ontario and Manitoba earlier this fall to attend a “Day of Encouragement” that was combined with the Lake Superior Regional Prayer Summit.

About 100 people participated in the events held at Emo Christian Reformed Church in Emo, Ontario.

“We believe the day went very well. In the Prayer Summit sessions, the Holy Spirit was definitely working in people’s hearts. The Day of Encouragement sessions were also well received,” said Linda Parsons, who helped organize the prayer summit along with her husband, John.

When people arrived at the church in Emo, she said, they had the chance to view a banner that helped to focus on the overall theme of the day.

That theme was “Gifted by Holy Spirit” and was based on 1 Corinthians 12 as translated by The Message: “There are different kinds of gifts, different kinds of service, and different kinds of works, but it is all through the same Holy Spirit, who gives to each of us for the benefit of everyone.”

Created by Margaret Mol from Thunder Bay, Ontario,  the banner showed an old white church in the woods that is made up of the gifts of the Spirit.

“The gifts are written on the church wall in different script symbolizing different people possessing different gifts,” said Mol. 

“Placing the gifts in random order means they are not necessarily in order of importance. Space is available if more gifts shall be added.”

The morning guest speaker, Pastor Dave Huizenga from Savage, Minn., followed the theme of the day by talking about the importance of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and how everyone’s gifts were important to build up the church.

Linda Parsons said the idea to hold two events at the same time came after Emo CRC agreed to host a Day of Encouragement, a time for people to gather for worship, presentations and spiritual refreshment.

These annual events have been held in churches, schools and other locations across the CRC in Canada.

When the church in Emo, which is the Canadian geographic centre of the Lake Superior classis, agreed to host the Day of Encouragement,  “we saw this as the Lord opening a door for a Regional Prayer Summit, which would give us maximum participation from the churches,” said Parsons.

Linda and John Parsons, who are classis prayer mobilizers, also used this as an opportunity to gather classis prayer coordinators and pastors for a face-to-face sessions.

“These meetings are very important because they allow prayer coordinators to get to know one another on a personal level. The meetings also impact the pastors who attend,” said Linda Parsons.

“As we pray and seek the Lord during these meetings, the Holy Spirit touches everyone’s heart, encouraging and speaking personally to each one.”

As classis prayer mobilizers, the Parsons work with eight churches and three ministries spread over 1,000 kilometers. Three churches and one ministry are in Thunder Bay, three churches and two ministries are in Winnipeg, one in Brandon, Manitoba and there is the church in Emo.

Along with times of prayer and praise, different workshops were held as part the Day of Encouragement and the prayer summit.

For the Day of Encouragement, there were:

• Deacons: Equipping the Church to Act Justly and Love Mercy
• Developing and Implementing Safe Church Policies 
• World Renew – Disaster Response Services – Facing Disaster in a Hurting World
• Blanket Exercise

For the Regional Prayer Summit:

• Spirit-Led Worship
• God’s Tool Kit: The Gifts of the Holy Spirit
• Tuning In
• Spirit-Gifted Vessel

In the Spirit-Gifted Vessel workshop, participants were divided into groups of three with instructions to share concerns, then pray for one another over 45 minutes, said Linda Parsons, who led the workshop.

“One woman, who was a leader of a Coffee Break group, shared a significant personal issue. As the group prayed for her, she felt the acceptance and love of the people in the group, people whom she had only met for the first time that afternoon,” said Parsons.

“This made such an impact on her that she said, ‘I have to introduce this type of prayer to my Coffee Break group’.”

Through sharing personal experiences and expanding on the concepts in the material that was provided by Pastor Dave Huizenga, participants also received some new ideas on encouraging prayer meetings in the churches.

At least one prayer coordinator has taken this material back to her church and is coordinating a small group meeting to pray and discuss how to expand prayer.

“People were excited to learn more about the work of the Holy Spirit,” said John Parsons.

“In all, the weekend was edifying and refreshing. There was no doubt that the Holy Spirit had been working among us,” added Linda Parsons.