Seven men came to a Saturday morning men’s Bible study for the first time and Trinity Church could not be more excited. For most churches, having seven new people attend a function might not seem like something that would make a congregation applaud, cheer and praise God. This, however, was not ordinary, was definitely worthy of excitement, and started a few months prior.

In July, Trinity Church (TC) and East Mountain (EM) began talking about ways we could both deepen our partnership. Some ways that were discussed were through EM’s normal pathways such as including TC’s leaders and potential leaders in our regular training workshops and certificate course. The first of these invitations were with our Conflict Resolution workshop in October where three of TC’s growing leaders were in attendance. We also discussed utilizing EM interns to assist with Trinity’s work. A third discussion point concerned Andrew’s (Trinity Church’s pastor) desire to include our team with neighbourhood evangelism outreach.

While straight evangelism is slightly out of East Mountain’s organisational vision, through further discussions we created a way for East Mountain to better support and equip Trinity in their efforts. Trinity started spending time identifying much-needed lay leaders within the church and have worked to raise them up. EM has assisted by helping to equip the leaders with the tools they need. The first step in the process has been to gently nudge these new
leaders into new areas, including the church’s evangelism outreach push.

The first set of these outreach events has been to offer a short Bible study that is shared while the residents wait in line for free coffee. It has been amazing to watch God at work through these coffee outreach efforts. Many people have not just listened to God’s word and responded to the initial questions, but have asked many of their own. A number of the men and women have signed up to join in on the the weekly Bible studies. People who had walked away from church are starting to talk with Trinity about returning, learning more about grace through this process. The developing leaders of Trinity Church have also been encouraged and surprised by the responses they have received. They have learned that sharing the Gospel is not quite as intimidating as it at first seems. Through this process, they have grown in their own faith and understanding of the Scriptures.

This returns us back to last weekend where at the starting time only two people were at the men’s Bible study Saturday morning. Right before beginning, the study leader decided to walk outside the church to look around. He found two men standing directly in front of the church. They mentioned the Thursday night coffee and Bible study and our offer to join them Saturday morning. These two men were warmly welcomed into the church. A few minutes after that five other men who had spoken with our Thursday night team also joined in on the Bible study. All told, twelve men participated in the Saturday morning Bible study with the newcomers actually outnumbering the Trinity members!
Please continue to pray for Trinity as it raises up leaders within the church. Please also pray for the members of the Beacon Valley community as they hear God speaking to them through this simple act of offering coffee and a Bible study and may many respond to the free gift of grace that is shared with them.