One of the most pesky creatures found in the woods and wetlands of Nova Scotia is the beaver.  Certainly there are many positive contributions that the beaver makes to our local ecosystem but there is also a downside.  We all know that beavers are notorious for making elaborate dams.  They diligently work hard to construct a 1.5-2m high home using sticks and logs from the surrounding area.

As a result of these primitive log cabins, flooding can occur on adjacent farm lands resulting in the loss of thousands of dollars in local crops.  This is because the water flowing around or near these fields wasn’t meant to be pooled.  When the water that is meant to be piped along by the flowing stream or river gets backed up it can result in a tremendous amount of damage.

The beaver provides us with an apt analogy for how not to live the Christian life.  Followers of Jesus are not saved to pool God’s grace but to create a pipeline from which that grace flows. We see this clearly in Jesus’ final words to his disciples.  

In Matthew 28 we read…

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Jesus’ last words are lasting words and they push us to engage the mission urgently and intentionally in our homes, city, and around the world. That means we are willing to forsake comfort, control, and familiarity in order to chart into the unknown and take risks because Jesus is worth it.

Let’s take each of these concentric circles or spheres of influence in stride to look at how we think about engaging the mission at Port City Church.

1. In the home…

We believe the home or the immediate community we live in serves as a primary place for disciple-making.  There are a number of ways this can and does play out in the life of our church.  For example, in a home with children we help parents to understand their role as the primary disciple makers (see Deut. 6:7-8).  The home is one of the greatest - and often overlooked - mission fields afforded to the church.

But the home doesn’t simply apply to those with kids…it’s the single young professional living in an apartment complex surrounded by people from different countries and cultures.  It’s the newly married couple living across the street from the neighbourhood park where dozens of people congregate on a sunny day to enjoy the simple pleasures of life.  Each of these environments creates an incredible space and opportunity for us to take the gospel to each and every day of our lives.

2. In the city…

City centres are incredibly influential places where business flourishes, culture is created, and people converge.  Meredith Kline in his work Kingdom Prologue writes:

“The city is not to be regarded as an evil invention of ungodly fallen man... The ultimate goal set before humanity at the very beginning was that humanculture should take city-form... there should be an urban structuring of human historical existence... The cultural mandate given at creation was a mandate to build the city. Now, after the fall, the city is still a benefit, serving humankind as refuge from the howling wilderness condition into which the fallen human race, exiled from paradise, has been driven... The common grace city has remedial benefits even in a fallen world. It becomes the drawing together of resources, strength and talent no longer just for mutual complementation in the task of developing the resources of the created world, but now a pooling of power for defence against attack, and as an administrative community of welfare for the relief of those destitute by reason of the cursing of the ground.”

One of the reasons we planted Port City Church in Halifax is because of the influential nature that this city serves in the region of Atlantic Canada.  Halifax is a major importing and exporting centre and what better “good” to export and bring to bear on our city than the good news of the gospel.  As a church, we want to be integrally involved in new and existing ways that the gospel is being put on display in our city in order to engage the mission of God.

3. Around the world…

Finally, as he commissioned his disciples, Jesus clearly says that the gospel is not for a particular people but was to be carried to the ends of the earth.  In fact, we get a beautiful picture of how far reaching this gospel will go when John says this in Revelation: ​​”After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (7:9-10).

This picture is not a pipedream but a promise and one that we want to be fully in the middle of as a church.  It’s our prayer and desire to partner with others who are currently in contexts all around the world sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.  We long to participate in God’s redemptive work in places where there is little to no gospel access.  

Would you pray with us and join us as we seek to be a people who engage the mission of God?