A Decade of Dependence: 10 years of Mercy City Church

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mercy city church

There is a Chinese expression that roughly translates as, “In the blink of eye.” It is meant to describe how time flies when you least aware of it. By God’s grace, Mercy City Church (MCC) celebrated its 10 year anniversary recently. Hard to believe that over a decade ago, God began this new work in one of the inner city neighbourhoods in Toronto. It was a new project with a decidedly old school Biblical approach to church. A church that was not just in a community, but a part of it. Mercy had a vision to be a Gospel light and presence focused on reaching the marginalized, disadvantaged and unchurched. Through showing mercy people would come to know know and become disciples of Jesus. A decade after a rag tag group of 12 faithfully naive people launched the project, Mercy is still doing the work of the Gospel and sticking true to its vision. And if we are to sum up the reason why in one word it would be…DEPENDENCE.

A lot has changed in 10 years. We have learned so much and faced so much challenge. We have also been so blessed to see so much breakthrough and provision. Through all the ups and downs, one thing has been true – Dependence on Jesus is what it is all about.

“…apart from me you can do nothing.” “My grace is sufficient for you…” (John 15:5; 2 Corinthians 12:9)

Starting a new church is hard. Starting a new church like Mercy is really hard and foolish. It is only possible because of the power of Jesus. Surviving and thriving for a decade is all about depending on Jesus.

We Learned early on that we were never going to be a “normal” church. Ironically, if we were faithful to our mission, we would lose people, for a good reason. If we helped people change their lives, they would be able to get out of the neighbourhood. That is what we have seen. Seasons of growth, followed by seasons of restarting. It is a not typical but beautiful to see. We have also realized that our fight is on the two fronts of the physical and spiritual. It is impossible to ignore the obvious challenges of serving those that are marginalized and disadvantaged. With it comes the battle against poverty, social justice, drugs and addictions, violence, and physical and mental health. Yet, fighting for physical needs are reasonable easy when compared to the spiritual needs that lie under the surface of a community such as ours. The spiritual warfare and depravity of people are where the real battle is raged as a church. We are literally in the heart of brokenness and spiritual bondage. This is the fight we are truly called to and for which the Gospel is our hope. This is why people need Jesus. Mercy City is a beachhead in this fight. The only way to fight has been to depend on Jesus for everything from our fruit to our finances; courage to our compassion; triumphs to our tiredness; trust to our trials; and fears to our faithfulness. Mercy only works because we depend on Jesus.

So what does dependence look like at Mercy over the years?

Prayer

Prayer is dependence in action. Prayer covers everything we do. It has to! Prayer is what sustains and breaks though. We once were led by the Spirit to enter a season of continuous prayer. We had a prayer meeting 7 days a week for a year. We fought for our community on our knees. Prayer is not a ministry, it has to be the blood that flows through the church.

Showing Mercy

Living up to our namesake is not easy.  Showing the love of God through acts of mercy is how people first see Jesus. Loving people by being the hands and feet of Jesus is messy and inefficient, but it is what we are called to do. You have to depend on Jesus for strength and patience and compassion in order to choose mercy.

Gospel-centred everything

Apart from The Gospel, nothing can really change a person or a community. We hold that idea sacred so everything we do has to connect back to the Gospel. The gospel we try to live out is simple:  Love God, Love People.  Jesus loves everyone, everyone needs to love Jesus. Repeat.

 

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mercy city church
mercy city church
mercy city church
mercy city church
mercy city church
mercy city church
mercy city church

Audacious Hope: Hope is believing in the transformative work of Jesus and that He will provide all you need to accomplish that goal. Hope is trusting and depending on the power of Jesus to make a way, make things happen, and make us able to be obedience and loving to others even when it seems impossible. Hope can’t lie in our abilities or ingenuity. Dependent hope is audacious because it dares to believe Jesus can do all things, so there is no excuse not to do something.

As Mercy City Church celebrates a decade of dependence, realize that we are actually all in this together. The whole EFCC family shares in its victories and challenges because we are all one church. Every prayer, phone call, and donation through the years have made it possible. We are grateful for all the support and we ask for it to continue. We have come to depend on it! We will keep fighting the good fight as long as Jesus and you have our back.

chris yu-lead pastor MCC

 

Chris Yu
MCC Lead Pastor

Learn more about MCC

 

A Law of Love: The Witness of Supporting Government Leaders

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law of love

Christmas greetings Free Church friends!

Bill TaylorI trust that you are sensing the presence of our Saviour in your life – especially during these challenging days of COVID Lockdown. Please know that we are praying for the very real challenges that the pandemic and the lockdown will pose for all of you this Christmas.

My thoughts in this blog article are exactly that – my thoughts! This is not an “official” EFCC declaration on what you should think about how the federal or provincial governments have handled the COVID-19 pandemic or about how you should respond as individuals and churches. Every church in the EFCC is self-governing – and every individual has the right to think biblically about how they should follow our Saviour during these times. I do trust though, that what I will share in this short article is biblically informed. You may disagree with me – that is fine! But it is our responsibility as followers of Jesus to agree to disagree graciously. We also are to base our beliefs on a careful understanding of biblical passages, not simply our personal biases.

It is inevitable that we will not all agree because there are certainly a variety of biblical principles at play.

  • In I Peter 2-3, Peter reminds us to respect authorities and to make sure any criticisms of our witness are not founded on our evil doing.
  • The apostle Paul reminds us in Romans 13:1-4 and Titus 3:1 to obey even pagan rulers.
  • On the other side, in Acts 5:27-32, Peter and John declare that they must continue to declare the good news about Jesus, even though the religious rulers are forbidding it.
  • And of course, the author of Hebrews (10:24-25) reminds us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together.
  • Added to that we have the Great Commandment and numerous passages challenging us to love our neighbor, the poor and the vulnerable.

If I had more room, I would flesh out the context of each of these passages. The historical and grammatical context certainly impacts the principles we can draw on and how they should be applied to these days of pandemic. The context also helps us to decide which principles supersede the others in our response to our federal or provincial government’s restrictions on our individual and corporate freedoms.

However, as I wish to keep this brief (so that some of you will read it!) Let me simply highlight two things I think are critical for followers of Jesus to keep in mind.

1. THE LAW OF LOVE

 Jesus elevated that as the most important commandment for His followers. And in John 13 he seems to tie that in to a second concern:

2. OUR WITNESS

I don’t wear a mask to protect myself – I wear it to protect others (those who are vulnerable or are caring for the vulnerable) from me. And just as Peter and Paul were so concerned that the gospel witness not be hindered (see I Peter 2-3 or I Corinthians 9) by the selfish exercise of my freedom, so too I am concerned that the good news not be sullied by my words or actions that might appear uncaring or callous.

Do I think that governments are getting this 100% right? Or that they are being 100% consistent? No, but I think they are getting it mostly right. I have participated in calls with both Federal and Provincial leaders. I can testify that they are trying to be fair and balanced. They understand the human costs restrictions bring. Is it fair that Walmart will be open and our churches closed this Christmas? Maybe, maybe not. One of the things that governments don’t have the ability to do is explain the full rationale for every rule of lockdown.

I suspect that they feel the human cost of not allowing people to work, to buy presents, to get out of the house, is greater than forcing us to avoid congregating: whether that is congregating at the gym, in a movie theatre, or in a worship service. So yes, we can only worship and make disciples online and do pastoral care in creative ways for the next few months. Yes, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees us freedom of religion and expression – but even then, there are reasonable limits involved. Throughout history pandemics have been viewed by the church as a reasonable time to restrain our activities as the church gathered and to focus heavily on our role as Christ’s ambassadors as the church scattered.

Do I wish churches were considered an “essential service” and liquor stores were considered “non-essential”? For sure. After all, we are about the care of souls. But that maybe is the point. As long as we still have freedom to worship, declare the good news of Christmas to the world, to care for souls – even if Sunday morning looks different – I think we are ok. Our brothers and sisters in China and Iran and…well, those folks experience real persecution.

This Christmas my freedom is going to be temporarily limited – and I am ok with that, because my witness and the law of love move me to be a good neighbour. If the government ever seeks to permanently shut down the declaration of the good news – the assembling of the saints for worship – be assured that I will be one of the first to write to our leaders requesting they rethink those decisions. But at this point I don’t see that kind of conspiracy in the works. I might be wrong – but for now, let’s pray for our leaders who have the difficult task of balancing the physical, mental, social and economic and even spiritual costs of a pandemic that has impacted us all.

In the midst of what may be a lonely Christmas, let us connect with family, friends and neighbours and encourage each other with the good news of Emmanuel – God with us. And may 2021 give us an opportunity to once again enjoy connecting in person to worship, and encourage and equip one another for the mission!

Merry Christmas to each of you from Deb and me!

Bill Taylor

EFCC Executive Director