Vision Ministries Canada

Moving On!

I have so enjoyed being the VMC Storyteller for the last 6 years. It has been a chance to tell about 500 stories of God at work in our churches and communities. Thank you to the pastors and leaders who have talked with me and shared their stories. And thank you to those who have read this stories and joined us in giving thanks to God for what God is doing.

I will be moving on to a full time faculty position (Spiritual Formation) at Prairie College in Three Hills, Alberta this summer. It will be another front row seat to what God is doing among us and within us.

My thanks and gratitude to the VMC community! May God continue to guide and empower you to do the beautiful work that God has called you to do.

-Elizabeth Millar

40 years is a long time for any relationship or community.
It goes without saying that there’s been good times and bad times.
And by the grace of God, when you look back over the years, the faithfulness of God is evident.

Last summer, University Chapel (Vancouver, BC) celebrated 40 years together.
In 1985, the vision to be a missional presence to the UBC campus was born.
40 years later and God still seems to want this community of faith there.
Of course, it looks a little different than the original vision, with three language families – Korean, Mandarin, and English - worshipping at the same time under one roof.
In 2025, the church building needed some renovations for reconfiguration of some spaces and to accommodate for a growing number of children.
With a bit of wild faith, University Chapel began a capital campaign and God moved people’s hearts.
People gave above and beyond and the renovations were completed in time for their 40th anniversary in July.

As a special bonus, the final member of their pastoral team arrived from Singapore to join the celebration.
At the start of the school year the pastoral team was officially installed, and the new vision was affirmed by the church families that make up University Chapel.
It all felt a little like the faithfulness of God at work in the story of Ezra and Nehemiah.

This is a church that is committed to each other, their neighbourhood, and God, and that wants to humbly serve the world around them.
We thank God for the past 40 years and look forward with hope and prayer to the next 40 years.
University Chapel

Along with other VMC young church leaders, Alex from Citizens Church (Elmira, ON) recently attended a missional prayer conference in New York City.
The first night was all about asking God to move in the city, based on the premise that God comes where God is wanted.
Alex noted that sometimes we lower our expectation of God in order to avoid disappointment.
It’s a way to protect ourselves.
It also may reveal our prescribed or preferred ways of seeing God work, meaning that we expect God to only work in specific ways.
But lowered expectations can forget the bigness of God.

What does it mean to pray with expectation?

Alex realized that it requires surrender,
depends upon vulnerability,
and reveals a deep reliance of the Spirit.
We have to be willing to take risks.
We may look foolish.

Praying with expectation may mean actually believing that God can act.
More than just saying the right things, but believing, hoping - even though we can’t see a way forward.
It may mean contending with God - reminding God what God said and what God has promised.
We may have to wrestle with God, just like Jacob did.
We may look like fools for God.

Photo credit: Jacob Bentzinger (Unsplash)