Prayer Calendar

In January, we put together a calendar for the year of important prayer points for The Door. If you pray, please consider downloading a PDF of it here.

Thank you for your continued prayer support. We couldn't get through a moment of this ministry without it.

In The News

We received some press this week from one of our local papers, The Enterprise Bulletin. You can read the full article here.

Taco Time!

As promised, I was going to let you know how the new after-school program went. We've now had two "Soul Food 2.0", and we couldn't be more pleased with the outcome! Last week, we were very happily surprised to have eight youth show up after school to hang out, and stay for dinner. This week, we had seven. We knew this might be an experiment as many of our youth aren't used to programs, especially in the traditional sense that we tend to think of it. So, we focused instead on maximizing our relational time with the youth, and building into the family at The Door. Last week, as we served tacos for dinner we had youth helping us set everything out and clean up, and it was an opportunity for all of us to work together.

It was so natural to move into our videos and discussion after, and the thing that we appreciated the most was that the youth that came out and participated in the whole evening were youth that wouldn't normally join us for those programs. The most exciting thing though, was that they all came back last night! We hope that this time together will be an important one to them, and that it will allow us to continue to work with this group of youth, building into their lives in a meaningful way. We hope it will grow as well, but we are so thankful for the way God has brought these youth into our lives and the youth centre!

Soul Food

The ministry of The Door is one that seeks to minister to many parts of a youth's life: physically, spiritually, mentally, and socially. Our programs are geared to reach at least one of these areas, though most will venture into a few. This week, we are excited to unveil a program that we hope will meet the needs of our youth in at least three of these areas.

For the past couple of years we have offered "Soul Food", a space that is aimed to spark meaningful dialogue about character and values, life, and faith. It's been amazing to hear the discussions that come as a result of thought-provoking questions, engaging videos, and even life circumstances. This week, this program will evolve, and we are very excited. Instead of running for an hour and a bit in the evening, we are opening our space after school. We hope to meet our social needs by allowing youth space to hang out with their friends, joining in activities and conversations with them. We want to offer space for homework if it's needed. Then, we will share in a meal together and continue our discussion on focused topics and questions that the youth have. The timing works much better for our youth, and many are drawn to the food for certain, but our goal in the end is to create another space that is consistently available to them, and can allow The Door to be a positive place for them to be.

I'll let you know in a couple of days how this goes.If you pray, please remember this time, we hope that it is one that opens opportunities that are not always there during drop-in. The kids are excited, we are excited, and we can't wait to see what happens next.

Drama

We have a saying around the centre that goes, "Save the drama for your mama". We use it sometimes when tensions are rising because tiredness and circumstances edge life's problems from speed bumps to impassable mountains. This week has been a very dramatic week.

These are the weeks that are emotionally exhausting, as youth after youth have called us with issues that they can't seem to face. Some just need someone to listen. This week, many needed a solution. We talk often about hope, and this is pretty much the polar opposite of hope. The weeks where we see and hear despair in the lives and voices of our teens are the weeks where "save the drama for your mama" just doesn't cut it. Instead, the drama requires a patience that is beyond what any of us have to step into the mud, and get a little bit messy. It's never black and white, always heavy to carry, and often doesn't work out in the clean way we feel it should.

Inevitably, somewhere in the course of our discourse and Facebook chats with our youth, we are again reminded about the drama in our own lives, and what little we can really do for our youth. We can give our best efforts, but our own brokenness often limits us in our attempt.

But I think it can be redeemed.

In our brokenness we join our youth on the trail. We join every other human on the trail, because we are all broken, and sometimes don't know what to do. In understanding our brokenness, we also come face to face with our need for God, Who (this still astounds me), meets us right there, dirty and smelly as we are. In one of my favorite books, Messy Spirituality, Mike Yaconelli writes,

"Spirituality is not a formula; it is not a test. It is a relationship. Spirituality is not about competency; it is about intimacy. Spirituality is not about perfection; it is about connection. The way of the spiritual life begins where we are now in the mess of our lives. Accepting the reality of our broken, flawed lives is the beginning of spirituality not because the spiritual life will remove our flaws but because we let go of seeking perfection and, instead, seek God, the one who is present in the tangledness of our lives. Spirituality is not about being fixed; it is about God’s being present in the mess of our unfixedness."

And there it is, that beautiful moment, where in the midst of chaos, and breakups, and fights, and missed classes, that moment where we may not have all of the answers but we sure wouldn't want to be anywhere else to deal with it. Sometimes it is uncomfortable to get here, but if it weren't for the moments of despair, real or imagined, I think it would be hard to appreciate the incredible grace of God. So we hope, that after a good night's sleep and some time to withdraw from the crisis that never seem to stop this week, that in allowing our youth to be broken and in the admission of our own brokenness, that we can demonstrate a love that never leaves. It is certainly a love that can only belong to God, because it is so far beyond what we are able to demonstrate. And we remember what a privilege it is to be allowed into these worlds, as confusing and messy as they are, I don't know we'd want to be anywhere else.