The following is from the August 27 edition of the American Anglican Council's weekly email update. Sign up for the weekly update here.
By The Rev. Canon Phil Ashey, J.D.
Chief Operating and Development Officer, American Anglican Council
What God can do from fragile beginnings...
Dear Friends in Christ,
Last weekend my wife Julie and I observed that ritual so many other parents have observed, and with the same mixture of joy and sadness. We drove our eldest daughter, Carol, up to her first year of college, moved her into her dormitory, blessed her and prayed for her... and made our way home.
She had a very rough start 20 years ago - born at 24 weeks, 5 days, weighing one pound and so tiny that she literally fit within the length and breadth of my hand. She spent four months in the Stanford Hospital neo-natal ICU at a time when the care of preemies was not nearly as advanced as it is today. That she is now a first year student at the college of her choice (and ours) is nothing short of a miracle.
The memories of those months in the Stanford NICU are still vivid. So are the remembrances of the ongoing challenges she has overcome by the grace and healing power of God. God has used her life to teach us some very important lessons about "fragile beginnings." We found these lessons exceptionally relevant when we faced the "fragile beginnings" of our first church plant in South Riding, Virginia: how to persevere on limited resources, how to overcome faith-choking fear, and how to trust God for the breakthrough, even when nothing seems to be going well.
Whether the "fragile beginnings" we face are the future of the Anglican Church in North America (our new Province), or a new ACNA diocese, a new church plant or a new ministry, God wants to grow our faith and lead us to trust in Him alone. May I suggest a few lessons we learned from our daughter's fragile beginnings:
1. PRAY WITH FAITH: Prayer is your most important and valuable resource
Somewhere in the first month at NICU, Carol faced a life-threatening respiratory infection. Day and night, Julie and I kept vigil at her isolette as we prayed for her healing. The nurses stayed by her every minute, not sure if she would make it through those terrible days and nights. One morning, the chief neonatologist came to bring us the good news that she had turned the corner and would survive. But, in typical clinical fashion, he then went on to describe the 100 other diseases that could still terminate her life.
Suddenly he paused and became quiet. He looked at me and said "But, Mr. Ashey, I know there's something going on here beyond what I can explain. So you keep on doing your part and we'll keep on doing ours."
Julie and I were not the only ones praying. Within hours of Carol's birth we had phoned friends and asked for prayer. Our friends phoned others, who in turn phoned others, until we had literally hundreds of people standing with us in prayer for Carol's healing. Our friends at church and beyond kept praying throughout those long months at NICU. When her eyesight was threatened by the oxygen she was receiving, the rector of our church asked everyone to take Holy Communion with a special intention for the restoration of Carol's eyesight. The church did this for three weeks in a row until her eyesight was completely restored.
Jesus said "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." (Luke 11:9) And then, in case we didn't hear him the first time, or still find ourselves mired in doubt or a sense of unworthiness, he repeats it in a slightly different way in the very next verse: "For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks the door will be opened." (Luke 11:10). In the Gospel of John he says it somewhat differently, but the point is the same: "Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete." (John 16:24)
Prayer through Christ and in his name unlocks the resources we need to overcome fragile beginnings. The Apostle James wrote to a young and fragile church facing persecution and trials: "You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives..." (James 4:2-3a)
Before we cast a vision and develop a strategic growth plan, before we go about fund raising, or hiring staff, or establishing our leadership teams and structures of governance, before we execute checklists and launch a new program, church plant or diocese, do we stop and make sure our motives are in alignment with God's will? Have we spent time in our prayer closets seeking God's vision, his priorities, and his direction? God's resources will flow into His vision supernaturally, beyond what we can even ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). But have we laid the most important and valuable foundation by first getting on our knees, and asking others to join us in prayer?
Our daughter has come of age and is moving into the next phase of God's calling on her life. Someday the same will be true of our Province, our new dioceses and our church plants. You can count on it! Because we serve a God whose love and faithfulness knows no limits - a God who is eager to pour out his love and faithfulness, if only we will ask in prayer!
Next week I'll share the second lesson we learned in facing fragile beginnings: Don't judge by mere appearance.
With love in Christ,
Phil+