Alpha team returns from Labrador with good news!

From Elaine Young, Alpha Canada Regional Director for Atlantic Provinces:

Our team of 5 just returned from 3 days of Alpha training in Goose Bay, Labrador. It was a small but mighty crowd who attended, but even with our 15 participants, we had 6 churches, 5 denominations (Baptist, Roman Catholic, Salvation Army, Pentecostal and Moravian) and 3 people groups (Metis, Innu and white) represented. It was an amazing time.

Personally, the most important thing I learned was to be obedient to God's leading. Even when the prospect of going seemed so impossible and discouraging, I did distinctly hear Him saying: "Come anyway, despite what you see and hear on the surface, because I have a plan". When I met the two ladies from Hopedale who flew in at great expense from a little coastal community of Labrador and heard their hearts and desperate plea for their community, I knew God was saying: "See, I am showing you why you are here".

From Donna Squires, St. Thomas' Anglican, St. John's, NL:
From the beginning, I knew I was to be part of the GAT mission to Labrador; I was very excited in my spirit.  The team was united in that we all felt there was great spiritual significance to our time in Labrador; that the Lord has allowed us to be present as part of an important time in this great land; on the cusp of major resource developments... when there are many changes in the air.  It's a wondrous place of majestic beauty.  Our minds cannot grasp or contain the mighty expanse... the truly spectacular grandeur of this place echoes its stories.  God is here.  

As the spring buds begin to open and the land thaws, so the people of this big land open their hearts to God and his big plan.  We felt that the people who came to the training, were at first reserved.  The Holy Spirit moved amongst all of us, and by the end of our time together there was a new openness and trust for one another.  It really felt like 'history in the making' - God knows their names, their stories, their history - He hears their cries.  My heart is full of love for this place and its people.  It has been such an honour for me - to share in spreading the seeds of the gospel here through Alpha; to be a part of this kingdom work with such a co-operative team.  

From Kaaren Robinson, Victory Christian Centre, St. John's, NL:
Innuit, Labrador Metis, and white - their ancestors have melted into this land, but for the most part not into an acceptance of each other--there’s just been too much hard history, leaving a deep distrust. Yet today, 15 of them came together in spite of being from six different churches and five denominations.

Hope and healing for hardened hearts
Our participants were attentive always, but too many years of surviving lives harder than most of us will ever know, had left them guarded. To hold onto their faith, courage, and hope in spite of all they’ve experienced, had for many resulted in emotional and spiritual detachment from all but their closest companions.

For us, then, it was profoundly moving to witness throughout the day the reality of our groups’ invitation to “Come, Holy Spirit, come!” Even within our team it was hard to share at the end of the day our own feelings; some things are just too deep for words.

Jasmine, our Metis team member, embraced her roots at last, which unexpectedly also bridged the gap between youth and the “mature”, between our team and her people. Individuals risked to trust, offering up their broken dreams--personal, of families, of communities. Hearts expanded, revealing tenderness and compassion that belied those faces so difficult to read three days ago.

And yet, the stories were also tales of God’s grace and love, especially of shattered marriages that had been restored and addictions that had been overcome. A suicide in the community the night before brought home the reality of what we heard, the desperate need for the Lord, and the truth of His never-ending longing to bring us to healing and wholeness. To top off the sharing, the Holy Spirit brought surprising prophetic insights.

Running the race 
As our time together was ending, we gathered for open prayer and commissioning for those who want to plant Alpha in Labrador.  Encouraged to step out and pray for one another--to take up, as it were, the “baton” from us--the Labradorians committed themselves to one another across geographic, cultural and denominational divides. Tears of joy flowed unashamedly from men and women alike, them and us, as they joined hands...then arms, in unity and mutual adoption. Without even realizing it, our circle had melded together with women at the centre, the Labrador men encircling them almost as a cover, then our team surrounding them all. A circle of promise.

Our team’s earlier prayer images of spring were unfolding before our eyes. The breaking up of the fallow ground, the thaw of the frozen land, and most particularly an image from The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.  During that movie, even as the witch is chasing the children toward Aslan (God), her powers are fading and the spring blossoms opening.  It was as though we saw in the Spirit the enemy’s power fading and new life beginning. Spring -- God’s “spring” -- IS coming to this land.  God is establishing this small band of “nobody’s”--just like the disciples--to be history makers here. (To read Kaaren's expanded account of the third day of training, click here).