The Jaffray Offering
Leadership training fund
Alliance online corporate prayer
Download the pastoral message only:
Not for Fear, but for Jesus
Pas par peur, mais pour Jésus
不是因為恐懼，而是為了耶穌
不是因为恐惧，而是为了耶稣
Transcript
Hi Alliance family, Our strategic framework for the next ten years is built on four growth drivers: Prayer, Leaders, Ministries (in Canada and around the world), and Stewardship and Effectiveness. We’re trusting God to see his more and abundance in these areas. In fact, we’re trusting God to raise up 3,000 new pastors over the next decade—leaders who will serve the church with courageous faith and deep dependence on Jesus.
One exciting step toward this goal is the launch of a leadership training fund. This year, our pilot hopes to fund 33 new leaders and 28 are already in process. One of the churches among a few churches in this pilot across the country is Coquitlam Alliance Church in British Columbia. 12 people are participating in a year-long program called Doxa. This program is designed to help people discern a call to vocational ministry, and we’re praying that it will create accessible pathways for many to serve The Alliance and Church in Canada. My dream is that we will see 100 students by this time next fall, and 200 a year later, Lord willing, all in on formation for his purposes and his church in Canada. If you know someone or your church wants to be engaged, more specifically in next gen and next era individuals pursuing vocational ministry, there’s a link just below this video with more information.
And I just came out of our online Alliance prayer meeting. I just need to say, it was amazing to be able to be praying together. These shared moments of corporate prayer matter, because God is stirring something in our hearts collectively. We had around 150 people register. I would love it if we could increase our Zoom account even further for our next prayer time in November. Pastors, consider inviting your church, your staff to join as we are in this together. And these are exciting days and we desperately need to continue to see Jesus together. And so I’m praying that these times would perhaps end up being 500 people, a thousand people. There are supposedly 140,000 people attending Alliance churches across the country. What if 10% of us would get together and pray corporately in a consistent rhythm? Lord, let it be so.
Now, as we look ahead to October, we’re again raising $500,000 through the Jaffray Offering to partner with pastors in South Asia and the Arabian Peninsula— two of the most persecuted regions in the world. And yet, despite the persecution, God is moving and the church is growing. There are going to be some resources and slides below that you can download and show and access for your church. Please consider showing this video in October at one of your services.
Globally, over 3.4 billion people have yet to hear the name of Jesus. And the pastors we’re partnering with live in two countries that represent 1.8 billion of that unreached population—half of the entire global unreached population. So simply, we’re doubling down by praying for and investing in new pastors, both in the Jaffray Offering and here at home, because that’s what Jesus did. He poured his life into a small group of disciples, and they in turn poured it into others. And this reproducible model grew and grew and changed the world. This is what Jesus does. He multiplies our efforts—30, 60, even 100 fold for the glory of his kingdom. The harvest is plentiful. Let’s raise up the workers.
How do you change the world? Jesus told a parable about yeast—just a small pinch transforms the entire loaf. One moment of faith, one encounter with Christ, and it multiplies. Jesus invested in twelve underdogs. They were the down-and-outs until he found them, developed them, and sent them out. They changed the world.
We’re still multiplying disciples everywhere—the same way Jesus did—by investing in local leaders. I grew up in a believing family. For years, I longed to study the Word, and now God has opened the door for me. I am committed to completing my training and serving Him wherever He leads. Our whole family came to faith when, through the prayers of believers, my mother was healed from a serious illness. Today, I am pursuing training so I can share God’s love with others, just as it was shared with us. I recently had the privilege of sitting with church leaders from five nations in North Africa and the Middle East. Going into the gathering, I carried with me all the headlines we so often read—conflict, corruption, poverty, and abuse of power. The complexity of this region can feel overwhelming and it’s easy to become cynical. But then I stepped into a room filled with the underground church leaders. I heard their voices lifted in worship. I joined them in prayer. And in that moment, I was reminded that God’s story is so much greater than the one we usually hear. Beneath the weight of hardship, a quiet miracle is unfolding. Churches are taking root. Communities are being transformed. Lives are being renewed by the Spirit’s power. What the world often portrays as a place of despair,
I witnessed as a place of hope. Jesus is building His Church— and even here, the gates of hell are not prevailing. Your partnership doesn’t just support individual leaders—it creates a multiplication effect that ripples across nations and generations. Every dollar invested. Every prayer offered. Every person equipped. It all multiplies like yeast in dough and causes the global Church to rise. When we invest in leaders, we don’t just change one life— we multiply disciples everywhere.
By the time you see this, it will have been well over a week since the multitude of tragic events that just unfolded over these past days. We’ve been reminded again how fragile our world is—through the memories and anniversary of 9/11, the heartbreak of yet more school shootings and suicide that we read about, an unprovoked and seemingly random subway murder.
My very own town has had more and more shootings and violence. It seems the wars in Gaza and Ukraine and elsewhere, where reports highlight not peace, only further escalation. And of course, the tragic murder of Charlie Kirk. These moments weigh heavily on us, on me. And yet, as followers of Jesus, our call is not to despair, but yes, to lament at the world in our own brokenness, to see Jesus, to pray as we just did corporately and to remain courageously faithful. Just a few days ago,
I read a post from one of our former students of ours in Thailand, where she reposted a quote from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. She’s quoting a conversation from Frodo and Gandalf, And of all the posts I read this past week, this one resonated with me. It resonated the most. And truthfully, it gave words to not just the past week, but almost every week, it seems. It felt like perhaps it captured something of our moment.
The quote says, “I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”
In Matthew, especially chapters 5–7, Jesus provides perspective to common sayings. He indeed says, “you have heard it said,” and he says a bunch of things. We have heard and read a lot of things that have been said these last days, haven’t we? And it is in this similar context that Jesus tells us what to do with the time given to us. Jesus says, “But I tell you. Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” in Matthew 5. And then Jesus says, “But I tell you, do not worry about your life, but seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. But I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you.”
In John, he tells us, “Take heart. In this world you will have trouble. But I have overcome the world.” This is why what we stand for is clear. We stand for Jesus. Not for outrage or emotional outburst, or for social media commentary that distracts, discourages, and divides. Not for political positions. And surely not for fear.
Friends, not for fear, but for Jesus Christ, who is our hope, our peace, our firm foundation, our all, and who is raised from the dead, alive today and changes absolutely everything for those who place their lives in his loving and forgiving hands. And the good news is this: “that the Lord says, see, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up he tells us, “I will build my church,” and he says, “the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” So, Alliance Canada, let’s be found faithful— not just in strategy and programs, but embodying the way of Jesus in a broken and hurting world.
This is our witness. This is our calling and this is our strength. And this is our Jesus. The great I am, who was and is and is to come, and the one who carries us forward together until he calls us home. So plentiful. Because of Jesus, there is hope and life everlasting. And we do this together. Together, we stand for the name and fame of Jesus. I trust that you are encouraged today. And would you experience his nearness and filling as you serve him faithfully?