Saturday, August 28, 2010

Praying IN The Downtown East Side

From 24-7 Prayer:

Vancouver 614

"They will rebuild the ancient ruins, repairing the cities destroyed long ago. They will revive them, though they have been deserted for many generations." 

These words from Isaiah 61.4 have been the foundational scripture passage of our Salvation Army community, known as 614 Vancouver. It speaks about going back to places – cities in particular – that have been abandoned for generations, forgotten or ignored by the powers of this world. But it also speaks of great hope, and the possibility that those who have been oppressed, mourning, despairing and captive and now be those who rebuild, restore and renew. God made this promise to Israel originally, but we believe this same God wants to do the same things in our forgotten places, here and now.

We are a seven-year old Corps (church) plant of the Salvation Army. Even people within our denomination have a difficult time characterising us. We don't have meetings on Sunday, we don't play brass (well, maybe at Christmas) and we don't run a charity shop. All these things are fine, but we have chosen to focus our community around prayer, incarnational presence in our locality, joy and justice. READ MORE

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