Eaglesfield Update

Dear St. George’s Family,

I know that many of you have been in prayer this week. Some have come to our gatherings on Monday and Friday evenings, but so many more have prayed at home, in school and at work, in earnest. This is the type of prayer that honours our Lord. Coming before Him together to declare, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labour in vain,” and, “Apart from Him we can do nothing,” orients our hearts around the central truth that our Lord is our provision and He alone guides our path.

Truly Jesus has been glorified in St. George’s over the past week.

I am convinced that the Lord will be glorified in our present work toward a new church home. He will be glorified in both the final outcome and also in the process.

On Friday morning I went for a tour of the building at Eaglesfield and Dundas. Bishop Don, Gillian and a few others came too. I couldn’t help but feel a bit like Joshua and Caleb, sent out to spy on the Promised Land, bringing a report back to the congregation in Numbers 13 and 14 and seeing themselves as grasshoppers. You know the account, but here it is again. I have shortened it to focus on a few points:

Portions from Numbers 13 and 14:

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.” So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the people of Israel. …  Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up into the Negeb and go up into the hill country, and see what the land is, and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, and whether the land that they dwell in is good or bad, and whether the cities that they dwell in are camps or strongholds, and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes. So they went up and spied out the land … At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.” But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.” … And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey.”

There are a few things we can glean from Numbers 13 and 14

1) Moses sends out spies to examine the land. In this regard we are spending a great deal of effort and time considering the new building itself, a potential partnership with the Burlington Christian Academy and the nature of a responsible, God-honouring offer. We have been spying.

2) Joshua, Caleb and the other spies brought a report back to the entire congregation. We will have a congregational information meeting to report to everyone. This meeting will likely happen within the next week.

3) Like Joshua and Caleb, we must keep our eyes on the promises and good plans of the Lord, rather than the giants and potential obstacles. If this new building is the Lord’s delight for us, he will bring us into it and give it to us. If not, then we can rest assured that He has another, better plan and we have done our part in both diligence and in prayer.

I could say so much more, but for now I will simply ask you to keep praying. Between now and our congregational meeting, please direct any questions to Neil, Kelvin, Dan, Ed, Ron, Gillian or me; we have been your ‘spies’, so far.

Here are two pictures of the building.

Keep praying!

RD