Hope. That is the word that comes to mind when I reflected on my experience at the working retreat this past June. Hope.
I am hopeful for something new for God’s mission in Canada to be birthed. I gain hope because I saw every group at the retreat giving their best efforts at refining the various values and suggesting actionable steps. Whatever this new organization, fellowship, or association is going to be it has taken further steps into becoming a reality.
I am hopeful that there was little desire to remake another “denomination” so to speak. I am grateful for the openness of everyone there to allow for membership to this new association beyond simply local churches, to include other Christian ministries, possibly campus ministries, or educational institutions. Even individual membership is being explored. This alone implies that this is not simply “another denomination”. Therefore, I am hopeful we can imagine something different for God’s mission.
I am hopeful seeing how everyone, even if we were not all on the same point in our institutional journeys, genuinely wants to make room for each other while wrestling with how to be faithful to their own convictions. Yes, there were some disagreements that have not been solved. However, the wrestling with these issues themselves were rooted in love for God and love for others, rooted in compassion and patience for one another. The easy, less loving way would be to end the wrestling and “declare a winner”. But the fact that we wish to continue the conversations, striving to keep each other at the same table, that gives me hope.
I am hopeful that whatever this association becomes, it will still be marked by a spirit of grace and patience, of a willingness to wrestle with our differences within an inclusive vision rather than impatiently exclude by dismissing minority voices.
Shiao Chong
