THE FORMISSION BLOG
Non-Anxious Living
It was a profoundly spiritual moment for me at MDSI Summit 2023, sitting at a table surrounded by other leaders and prayerfully shaping a mound of clay. The keynote speaker had asked us to form what we hoped God would mould us into this year. Though it might not have...
How to Love a Town
How to Love a Town One of the most beautiful, relatable, and surprising parts of scripture is that God loves towns. “And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their...
Stuck in a Moment
It is a strange moment in between Easter and Pentecost. The scriptures give us vague, curious, compelling, fascinating snippets of what it was like to be with the risen Christ before His ascension. Luke’s summary hooks me every time: “He appeared to them over a period...
Living Invitations
To this day I still don’t know how he got my number. On the other end of the phone in the Summer of 2001 was a voice I didn’t recognize, inviting me to apply for a program called Master’s Commission of Eastern Canada, a 9-month discipleship program in Bay Robert’s,...
Healthy Paradoxes of Thriving Churches
During my four years as Formission Director, I was given the mandate to notice and the gift of a broad perspective on how God is working in our province as I travelled to preach and plan with churches and leaders. I got to celebrate and promote some of those churches...
Pentecostal Practices Part 4: Tithing
What would a renewal of the Pentecostal practice of tithing look like? My Story This might sound crazy, but growing up, I couldn’t wait until I had an income so that I could begin to tithe. I remember distinctly, after I came to know Jesus at age 12, proudly...
Pentecostal Practices Part 3: Sabbath
What would it mean to take up the long-forgotten Pentecostal Practice of Sabbath? Every Friday night for the past year or so in the Nippard house, there is a celebration. The laundry is done, the dishes are washed, a lavish dessert is brought to the table, and we...
Stand in the Stage
Have you ever caught yourself saying ‘well that’s no longer my stage of life’? How often when we speak of young families, of making room in the church for children, even doing things differently for teenagers, are we quick to think that stage is behind us. Too often...
Pentecostal Practices Part 2: Being Led by the Spirit
I realize the title is very broad. Being led by the Spirit is essentially what it means to follow Jesus. Maybe a story will help to clarify and narrow the definition I’m using here: Led by the Spirit: A Short Story I had just graduated Bible College and was working at...
Pentecostal Practices Part 1: Daily Devotions
What are Pentecostal practices? Let me begin by painting a picture of the kind of life I suspect we want as Pentecostals. As you read these scriptural portraits, try to imagine yourself walking in them in your day-to-day life. Praying in the Spirit. (Romans 8:14-27)...