Vision Night

The four loves: me for me, God for me, God for God, me for God

What is our heavenly Daddy saying? What does HE think of me? Do my thoughts agree with His thoughts?

Bethel Church is:

1) A Catch the Fire Partners Church that is part of a worldwide family of churches birthed in the Toronto Revival.

2) A local body that is focused on welcoming and responding to God’s Presence with us.

3) A community of believers who radically follow Jesus, allowing our lives to be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit

Our Statement of faith is important to us. Let’s review it:

Statement Of Faith

WE BELIEVE there is one God who lives forever in three persons; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit  (Matt 28:19)

WE BELIEVE that the Bible is God’s Word to the world, speaking to us with authority and without error. (2 Tim 3:16 - 17)

WE BELIEVE in the divinity of Jesus Christ the Son, His virgin birth, His sinless life, His miracles, His death for us on the cross, His bodily resurrection, His ascension to the Father, and His personal, physical return to rule the earth in power and love. (John 3:16,1 Thess 4:16-18)

WE BELIEVE  that the primary purpose for Jesus Christ’s life on earth was to fully reveal the love of God the Father for the people of this world through His ministry, life, death on the cross and resurrection ( Jn 3:16;  Jn 5:19-20 )

WE BELIEVE that all mankind is lost in sin and needs to turn from it and trust personally in the Savior, Jesus Christ; all need to be born anew by the Holy Spirit’s power into God’s family. ( Eph 2:1-10;  Jn 3:5-7 )

WE BELIEVE the Holy Spirit lives in us as believers and brings love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self-control into our lives.  He works in and through us with His charismatic gifts. (Gal 5:22-23; 1Cor 12:7-11)

WE BELIEVE in the resurrection of every person; to eternal life for the believer and eternal judgment for the unbeliever. (Matt 25:31-46; Rev 20: 10-15; Matt 7:21-23)

WE BELIEVE in unity for all believers in our Lord Jesus Christ and seek community together; we want to become more like Him in every way, who is the head of His body, the church.  We are called to love Him and one another and are enabled to do this only as His life flows in and through us. (1Cor 12:12-13; Matt 22:37-40)

WE BELIEVE that marriage is the basic human relationship between one man and one woman, and as such is intended to reflect the relationship between Jesus Christ the Bridegroom and His bride the church (Gen 2:18-25; Eph 5:25-32)

Our Core Values are:

F.I.R.E.

F. Father’s Love revealed through our Lord Jesus Christ.

I. Intimacy, Presence,and Hearing God’s Voice

R. Restoration of the Heart and the releasing of Life’s hurts

E. Extending the Kingdom through equipping the Saints, empowering them for the work of ministry by the Anointing of the Holy Spirit.

History

In 2008 Art and Flora Macdonald and a small group of intrepid friends planted a church with a calling to impact Halifax, Nova Scotia, the Maritimes, and beyond, as an Apostolic training centre, that would help believers grow into their full stature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (eph. 4:13)

We accomplish this purpose as a small but important part of the body of Christ in this region, in the larger body, and in the context of being a Catch the fire Partners Church.

The Toronto revival saw the Lord pour out His Holy Spirit in 1994 and the led to nightly revival meetings for 12 years.

The impact in Toronto was so-so but the impact around the world was immense. Bill Johnson was a fourth generation pastor leading a very respectable church, then he came to Toronto and saw what God was doing. He began to pray that God would touch his life as well. When the Father DID that, Bill Johnson’s ministry was never the same again.

Heidi Baker was a burnt out missionary with a PHD in theology and an orphanage with a handful of volunteers. She came to Toronto ready to quit missions and go work at K-mart. She spent 7 days drunk in the Holy Spirit, and the Father completely renewed her passion for the nation of Mozambique. There are countless stories of how the Revival at Catch the Fire Toronto, then known as Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship, has changed peoples’ lives, and now we get to be part of it.

For those people who loved the Toronto Blessing, they could sign their churches up into a network called Partners in Harvest. For 25 years Partners in Harvest was the vehicle for existing churches to join in and partner with Toronto. Art and Flora were at one time the leaders of the Partners in Harvest network for Atlantic Canada, and Bethel Church was an upstanding part of that network.

In 2007 Duncan Smith had been serving as the Senior Executive Director and also as the Youth Network Leader in Toronto. To streamline the flow of ministry in Toronto, and to free Duncan up to focus on reaching the world, he was released to pursue a vision to see the values and expression of church adopted in Toronto spread across the globe. It was in his heart to see 1,000 Catch the Fire churches all over the earth in his lifetime.

In 2008 a small team left Toronto for Raleigh NC and the second Catch the Fire church was planted. Carolyn and I went first, rolling up to the border with a Uhaul full of their stuff. We worked together and planted the second ever Catch The Fire Church, in Raleigh North Carolina, and we were going! Today a comparison could be made that Toronto is the Jerusalem of our global movement, while Raleigh is the Antioch.

Today there are approx 150 churches, in all 6 populated continents.

Bethel Church has had it’s roots in the Toronto Revival since its planting in 2008 as part of Partners in Harvest, but in 2019 Partners in Harvest was closed down, and every PIH church was offered a place in the Catch the Fire Family. Bethel joined the Catch the Fire Partners network immediately, and is now part of that 150 and growing family.

So What?

We interface with the bigger family in a few ways:

Jake and Carolyn attend 4 zoom meetings a year with the Catch The Fire World team to receive vision, impartation, testimonies and prayer, usually led by Duncan and Kate Smith, John and Carol Arnott, or Dan and Gwen Slade. We attend 8 zoom meetings a year with the North and South Americas sphere, led by Murray and Ash Smith, to learn about what God is up to in the western hemisphere. Then we attend 24 zoom meetings a year with the Atlantic Canada Cluster for colaborative thinking, prayer and testimonials, with teaching and impartation.

There is a retreat every year. On even years it’s a global retreat, and on odd years its a western hemisphere retreat. This year it’s in Southern Ontario in October. Next year it’s the world leaders retreat in Portugal.

In Atlantic Canada we are regionally part of the Atlantic Cluster of Churches, led by Dan and Sue Britton, of Catch the Fire Moncton.

Materially, Bethel supports the vision of Catch the Fire Partners by returning a tithe of the Church’s giving revenue to Catch the Fire. As an organization that relies on tithes and offerings, it seems consistent to also be an organization that takes part in tithing.

Catch the Fire World’s Mission statement is:

To see the nations filled with churches walking in God's love and giving it away until the whole world knows God's glory.

Our part is to live that out as one of those churches, and to support and resource the region.

So the GLOBAL vision of Catch the fire is 1,000 churches in the next roughly 35-40 years. For context, the Vineyard movement has grown to over 2,000 churches in about 50 years.

For Atlantic Canada our vision is to have a Catch the Fire church in every population center over 10,000, which currently numbers 25 centers. There will be other towns and areas where God will call people that may not have 10k people, but for now that’s what we have,

25 population centres are:

Halifax

Sydney

Truro

New Glasgow

Glace Bay

Kentville

Sydney Mines

Amherst

Bridgewater

Yarmouth

New Germany

Moncton

Fredericton

Saint John

Miramichi

Bathurst

Edmunston

Quispamsis

Campbelltown

Douglastown

Shediac

Saint Stephen

Charlottetown

Summerside

St. John’s

Imagine the impact on the region with a Catch the Fire church in each of these cities.

Currently we have Bethel Church, Catch the Fire Halifax, Catch the Fire Moncton, and a small group gathering looking to build into a full church in New Germany, St. Stephen, and St. John’s newfoundland.

So that’s the global vision is to see the nations filled with churches on fire for God, and the regional vision is 25 churches in Atlantic Canada, now how will Bethel take part in this?

Think Globally, act locally

We focus on home. We burn for God here. We love each other really well here.

We live out our local calling and our local mission really well.

There is no help to the region or the world that does not start with being healthy at home.

Practically we have steps we can take to grow as individual disciples, as a local church, and as a regional impacting force.

We can begin to plan sending out teams to plant other churches once we are a community of 300+ mature believers. Steve Long, part of Catch the Fire’s Church planting training school says that ideally a local church should not send out leaders to plant other churches until they can send 50 people into an area.

Bethel cannot do that right now. So how do we get there?

The last thing you want to do to grow the church is to try to grow the church. Bill Johnson teaches “Do not try to grow a big church, instead grow big people.”

We CAN grow big people as we focus on the 3 dimensional journey of loving God, loving others and loving ourseves. And through incorporating predictable and specific training and discipleship opportunities in the following 8 areas, some of which we are already doing very well.

Four Monthly Priorities Zoom calls available

Worship - Jake and Carolyn

Intercession and Prayer - Someone is looking into whether this is right for them, and also Lester is leading healing team training

Prophetic - Keith and Pauline Miners

Evangelism -

-Ignite Kids - Neil and Rebecca Trefry have succeeded the Koko’s

-Ignite Youth -

-Small Groups - Jake and Carolyn

-Communications - Jake and Carolyn