The anticipation and the countdown are in the past. We are launched as Street Hope Saint John! Our goal is to foster a community of people who are being transformed by the Good News of Jesus’ death, resurrection, ascension and soon coming, and are catalysts for transformation in the wider community.

Friday September 14th we officially launched with a service of celebration and commissioning at Stone Church. We were blessed to have two long-time friends, John and Cynthia Cudmore, as worship leaders. The congregation was a wonderful blend of people from different ages, backgrounds, and churchmanship. The task of leading worship for this diverse bunch was daunting but they navigated this brilliantly! We all sensed the presence of God in this time as this wonderful couple went to the throne room and we were swept up in their train. Those in attendance knew that something wonderful was in store.

One of our Street Hope team members nervously shared his testimony of God’s power evidenced in his life. The unpolished knee shaking delivery spoke volumes of the raw truth of his story! You could not help but believe that God wanted to replicate this story over and over in the lives of those touched by the Street Hope community.

Councilman Donnie Snook brought greetings from the Mayor and City Council and gave a very encouraging word about the vital need for hope in our community.

National Director, Shawn Branch, led a liturgy designed for just such an occasion and he was joined by, perhaps a dozen clergy who laid hands on and prayed for me in my new role and by extension for the whole community.

I had the opportunity to share my vision for Street Hope

Saint John, as a community growing in love for God and each other who are working as

agents of change in our city. This topic does not always lend itself to an easy 2 minute explanation,

and so I valued the chance to share, with the congregation gathered, for an extended period of time.

We retired to the hall for a reception catered by the Street Hope community with the help of my dear friend Diana who made a lovely cake celebrating the occasion.

The evening ended with some of my community friends pushing brooms and stacking chairs. As I looked on at this nascent community I smiled and I believe God did too!

We are Launched

Saint John

“In His great mercyHe has given us new birth into a living hope...

1 Peter 1:3

For more info visit: www.streethope.ca

Members of the local ministerial lay hands on Reed during the Launch Service

From my earliest days in ministry I loved St. Paul’s Good News to the Romans. He had not yet met these folks and so his letter is devoid of the corrections he must make to the practice of the church in Corinth or Galatia. Here in Romans he gets to share the great good news of the Gospel of Jesus as the hope for everyone in whatever condition.

In Romans chapter 5 we read:

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord

Jesus Christ through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God has poured out His love in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom

He has given us.

The hope we have is a hope that is all wrapped up in the glory of God. This is a glory that will be revealed in its fullness when God ultimately puts things right. It is a hope based on the fact that because we are justified and at peace with God we are moving towards that final revelation of His glory. We rejoice now because we believe that these days of mess and injustice are giving way to the day of the Lord’s glory, when every knee will bow and every tongue will confess the glory of Christ’s reign of justice and peace.

But in the mean time we know that God is making something beautiful out of this mess. At the beginning of the Bible we see Him making “good” things from chaos and dust! In our suffering and mess He is creating and recreating. We rejoice not that we suffer but because we know God can and does make beautiful things out of us in the midst of our muss. Because we believe that He is doing this amazing work of transformation in us we ‘hold on’ in the difficulties of life. This ‘holding on’ is what Paul calls perseverance. While the idea of holding on or persevering sounds hard, I suggest that the life of not holding on is much more difficult. When we consider the alternatives we choose to hold on by grace, and by holding on we place ourselves on the Potter’s Wheel, the place where God transforms us giving us more and more of the character of Christ.

When we begin to recognize these faint changes of character into that resembling Jesus,

our hope grows. “He is at work in my life!”, “He is redeeming my mess!”. As my hope grows the cycle

begins again and inexorably I am being changed and I look in hope to the time when He shall come and in a twinkling of an eye I shall be utterly changed!

This is a hope that does not disappoint. The commercial world offers all sorts of products designed to fill our hope deficit but only the Good News truly gives a hope that does not disappoint. Because of the firmly finished work of our Great High Priest, God pours out His love on us and empowers us with the Holy Spirit; doing in and through us what we cannot do for ourselves.

It is this hope that does not disappoint which is at the heart of our fledgling community of Street Hope Saint John.

A core value of our community of Street Hope Saint John is that of service. It is our deep desire to be useful to God in terms of ministry of love in word and action. Another value is that we do not wish to duplicate or even initiate programs ourselves. We had been anxiously praying and seeking God about this when we were approached by Catherine Bonham, the Community and Family Minister of Stone Church. She wondered if there were ways we could partner in service. As we continued to chat and pray in the days following we identified the need for a Drop In on a Saturday morning. We felt led to create a partnership between Street Hope and Stone Church to fill this need.

Saturday, October 6th, we held our first ‘Breakfast Drop In’. People from the Street Hope community cooked, served, did dishes, swept and prayed. We had approximately 50 guests who wolfed down about 200 pancakes. We showed a Rob Bell video “Lump” which visibly moved several folks. A friend, Anne, came and sang a few songs. I was free to engage each person that came, in conversation. We had a de-brief early the next week and we decided to add a prayer space with a prayer team.

To me, one of the greatest things was to see people who once thought of themselves as recipients of ministry, now pouring themselves out for others. B. was a great example of this. Police or parole staff from a few years ago would not recognize him! Those who see him pan-handling, for his livelihood, would have been surprised! B. made and cooked and flipped every pancake which was served and he had the hugest grin on his face the whole time.Maybe because I have worked in church circles for years I expected that I would not get home until mid-afternoon. I was planning to arrive home exhausted but we were cleaned up and out by noon! I was exhilarated. I had the privilege of seeing the power of God redeem and transform lives.

Our goal was that this ‘Drop In’ would be Christ centred and it surely was! We give thanks.

We have a group of 4 guys who share a town house unit together. They have been living together for over a year now. Each comes with his own gifts and needs. It has been wonderful to see these guys serving one another and helping each other through a whole variety of health and other difficulties.

We meet together each Tuesday night for a time of catching up, study and prayer. For several months we have been watching and then discussing Rob Bell videos, but recently we began to look at an introduction to the Gospel of Luke which has been done by Michael Card. John writes that if all that Jesus said and did was written down there are not books enough to contain them. This means that each writer includes and excludes events and sayings and so each writer has a distinct point of view. Luke’s is that of an outsider marvelling at the inclusive nature of the Gospel. He tells stories again and again of Jesus’ compassion and invitation to those on the margins. At Community 113 we now see Luke as the Gospel written

especially for us.

Both Chris and Donnie have significant health issues and we are longing for the day that they are resolved.

Last year we celebrated our 7th Anniversary as Up Town Church with a visit from Lieutenant Governor His Honour Graydon Nicholas:

This year we plan a much lower key event with a simple communion service and an opportunity to recall God’s goodness to us over the years. These occasions are wonderful opportunities to celebrate the transforming power of God.

The ministry of Saint John Community Chaplaincy is to assist ex-offenders and their families. It is one of reconciliation and restoration. Service to prisoners and those being released from prison is often not generally popular. This is particularly true in these ‘get tough on crime’ days. But as tough as we might be on crime and criminals ex-offenders continue to be released into our communities. Jesus calls us to this ministry of reconciliation because all people are valued by Him: the victims of crime, the ex-offender, and those who otherwise may be future victims.

I work part time as Saint John Community Chaplain and as such I try to be helpful to those coming out of prison in re-integrating in society. I do this through; one on one

Hope in the Midst of Mess

Street Hope in Service

Community 113

Up Town Anniversary

Saint John Community Chaplaincy

YOUR STORY? We’d love to hear how Street Hope has helped you grow with God. Send your story to communications@thresholdministries.ca

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Members of the Street Hope Saint Johnpraying and learning together

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FINANCIAL UPDATE

Reed FlemingStreet Hope Saint John Leader

Streethopesj@gmail.comT: 506.721.1788

• Our “Saturday Morning Breakfast Drop In” ministry• Monday night “Recovering Hope” study and support

meeting• Health for Chris and Donnie• Discernment about other programs and partnerships• Preaching and sharing opportunities• Finances for now and for the future

September 2012 revenue: $2397.48September 2012 expenses: $4828.18Ending Balance: -2430.70 2011/2012 revenue: $27,858.122011/2012 expenses: $42,761.51Ending Balance: -14,903.39

We have had to revise our modest goal; we are now seek-ing to raise $4,800/mon. With my position at Community Chaplaincy and regular donations, we are falling short of this, though a significant one time gift from St. Margaret’s Church in Edmonton has helped for the month of October. Even this goal does not account for future growth so we continue to seek the Lord and ask His people to financially partner with us so we can see an advance of hope on the streets of Saint John.

times, helping with practical things and counselling as well as in group meetings designed to assist in new ways of living.

During my relatively short time at this I have seen some very positive results in peoples’ lives. The number of people that I can personally see and influence are few but I hope, through God, that the impact will be lasting.

It is my hope to be training volunteers to multiply this ministry and to work with an organization COSA (Circles of Support and Accountability) to recruit circles of people to support and hold ex-offenders accountable to their plan for productive living. These circles help ensure there are no further victims!

Please join me in praying that the Lord of the Harvest would send workers (volunteers) into this particular field. Popular or not we recall the Jubilee Declaration “…freedom for the prisoner”(Luke 4:18,19)

PRAYER

PRAISE• Opportunities to share with Kairos Fellowship at

Trinity Church & Deanery ACW in Saint John• A great first “Saturday Morning Breakfast Drop In”• Financial and prayer support to date

This space could you be yours! Contact communications@thresholdministries.ca or call (506)642-2210 to support a local ministry and advertise at the same time!

STREET HOPE IS A PROJECT OF:

THRESHOLDMINISTRIES