Spiritual Practices: Guided Prayer For Forgiveness (working through relational strain) We want to go beyond information into revelation and experience. Information does not bring about transformation, but encountering God through scripture, spiritual practices and prayer do bring transformation. In this guided prayer we want to practice a way to work through difficult relationships, hurtful experiences and painful encounters with others.

Prologue PT 10: God’s Vision For Relationships—Kingdom Leadership, Headship and Authority In Genesis chapter 2, God creates woman from man, but what is really taking place in this story? Is Eve really made from just a little rib? In Genesis chapter 2, God is laying out his vision for relationships and the radical difference between his kingdom vision for relationships and vision of the world around us. God reframes what leadership, headship, And authority within our relationships should...

Prologue PT 9: The Tree of Life When Adam and Eve were in the garden there were two trees planted in the centre, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. The story focuses on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the restriction that God placed on it, but there is another tree present that Jesus wants to invite us to give greater attention to—the tree of life.

 Prologue PT : Eden As A Cosmic Temple And The Test At The Tree In this episode we unpack more of what the Garden of Eden actually was and what the tree of the knowledge of God and evil was. What was the was the writer of Genesis trying to communicate to us that has application for us in our own lives today.

Taking It Deeper - Conversation on being in the image of God In this conversation between Pastor Andrew and Pastor Brenda, we enter into dialogue together to unpack more of our last podcast episode and Andrew’s teaching on Genesis 2 and the image of God. We also take things deeper and move from information into a way to practice the presence of God in your own life.  

Prologue PT 7 - The Image in the Garden What was the Garden of Eden? Did it cover the whole earth? Was it a really beautiful orchard, or was there something greater going on? In this Episode we are talking more about the identity of humanity and the purpose of Eden as a divine throne room where heaven met earth. A place where the divine unseen realm met the natural realm, a place of deep connection to God.  

Prologue Pt 6: Genesis 1 And Our Identity In The Image And Likeness Of God Scripture opens with a stunning portrait of God; a window into what he is like. In a stunning turn, the writer of Genesis describes all of humanity as being made in the image and likeness of God, but what does that really mean and was the image of God broken when mankind sinned in the garden?  

Prologue Pt 5: Does God like me? This week Pastor Alex asks the question does God like me? We know that God loves us but we often wonder if he enjoys us. Does God just put up with me or does he desire to be with me? This week we speak about how much God loves us and look at the beginning of our relationship with God.  

Prologue Pt 4: Five practical ways to reorder our lives God’s way In Genesis 1-3 we see the story of God’s identity and our own identity as humans as created finite beings. The story of scripture is is one where humanity by nature is subject to certain limitations. Instead of seeing the wisdom of God in our limitations, we fight against them and often view those limitations as a liability or even a fault to overcome rather than a constructive gift. In this message we talk about our how our...

Prologue: Bonus Episode-God’s Heavenly Family and Jesus As The “only” begotten Son. In part three, we introduced the possibility that when God uses the plural, let us make man in our image in Genesis 1:27 he is not referring to the Trinity, but to what scripture calls, the heavenly host, the sons of God or God’s divine council. But how can we take this interpretation of Jesus is God’s “only” begotten son?  

Prologue PT 3: GOD’S IDENTITY: MORE THAN A CREATOR—THE STORY OF A FATHER The story of Genesis is the story of a God who has created and ordered the heavens and the earth. The story of a God who is not only powerful, but present and personal. The story of a God who is interested and attentive. This is the story of a God who has created a home: an ordered sacred space to live with us in. Genesis is not just the story of a powerful creator, it is the story of a father. A relational God who has...

Prologue PT 2: God’s Identity: The Story of a God of generosity who is filled with abundance and capacity. Stories have a powerful shaping influence on us. We are reintroducing ourselves to the story of Genesis 1-3 (the prologue of scripture) and the theological messages found in the first pages of scripture, asking “What does God want to reveal about who He is and what He is like? What does he want us to know about our identity? What does He want us to know about the shattering of his good...

Prologue PT 1: God’s Identity: The Story of a master builder creating a HOME We long for another world and connectedness to God, but many of us feel trapped in the brokenness of this world and disconnected and distant from God. We know information about God, we know what we are supposed to believe, but He isn’t real to us. Many of us live with an inner conflict from the disconnection between what we believe should be and what we experience. We long and ache for beauty, purpose, and order,...

GOD'S NOT DONE PT3 When we read the bible it can be easy to think that its characters don’t really struggle with the same things we do. It can be easy to read the highlights of their lives and come away thinking that they somehow had a different kind of spiritual life than we have access to today. But the scriptures are filled with men and women who struggled with sin, doubt, disappointment and failure just like we do. The message of scripture through their lives is that God is never done...

GOD'S NOT DONE PT2 When we read the bible it can be easy to think that its characters don’t really struggle with the same things we do. It can be easy to read the highlights of their lives and come away thinking that they somehow had a different kind of spiritual life than we have access to today. But the scriptures are filled with men and women who struggled with sin, doubt, disappointment and failure just like we do. The message of scripture through their lives is that God is never done...

GOD'S NOT DONE

IMPOSTER IDENTITY In the first century the Apostle Paul wrote to his protoge Timothy with the purpose of equipping and encouraging him to live out his spiritual calling and identity in really difficult circumstances. Timothy has been asked to follow after Paul in leading the church in Ephesus. Those are big shoes to follow. Paul is aware that leading in Ephesus is challenging and that Timothy will face opposition on all fronts. Paul knows that when we face great opposition it can be easy...

IMPOSTER IDENTITY In the first century the Apostle Paul wrote to his protoge Timothy with the purpose of equipping and encouraging him to live out his spiritual calling and identity in really difficult circumstances. Timothy has been asked to follow after Paul in leading the church in Ephesus. Those are big shoes to follow. Paul is aware that leading in Ephesus is challenging and that Timothy will face opposition on all fronts. Paul knows that when we face great opposition it can be easy...

IMPOSTER IDENTITY In the first century the Apostle Paul wrote to his protoge Timothy with the purpose of equipping and encouraging him to live out his spiritual calling and identity in really difficult circumstances. Timothy has been asked to follow after Paul in leading the church in Ephesus. Those are big shoes to follow. Paul is aware that leading in Ephesus is challenging and that Timothy will face opposition on all fronts. Paul knows that when we face great opposition it can be easy...

IMPOSTER IDENTITY In the first century the Apostle Paul wrote to his protoge Timothy with the purpose of equipping and encouraging him to live out his spiritual calling and identity in really difficult circumstances. Timothy has been asked to follow after Paul in leading the church in Ephesus. Those are big shoes to follow. Paul is aware that leading in Ephesus is challenging and that Timothy will face opposition on all fronts. Paul knows that when we face great opposition it can be easy...

A Consecrated Year: The prophetic word that God has given us for the life of the church in 2024 is consecrated. Pastor Brenda takes the first Sunday of 2024 to review what that word consecrated means and invite us to ask the Spirit what he might want to invite us to personally consecrate to him this year.

For Renewal PT 1 Our mission is to "live the way of Jesus for the renewal of Niagara" but what does the word "renewal" really mean? What do we mean when we say that word? The word renewal comes with a lot of excitement for some, a lot of fear for others and big shrug of the shoulders for a few. Many people have a preconceived idea of what they think renewal means, so we want to take a few weeks to clarify what we mean by that word and what we are calling you into this year.

Dawn —The Darkness Cannot Prevail How do you feel about the state of the world right now? It can be depressing to look around us because it seems as though things are just getting worse, getting darker. The story of the coming of Jesus is a story of the victory of God over the best efforts of the kingdom of darkness to overthrow the rule of God on the earth. The gospel of Matthew begins with a genealogy that may seem boring and irrelevant on the surface, but is pregnant with meaning about...

Consecrated PT 4-Take Off Your Sandals As Joshua is on the doorstep of conquest and victory he is confronted by the Commander of the armies of the Lord. In this interaction, Joshua might be expecting to get some battle strategies for the next mission, but instead, when he asks the angel what he is to do, he is told to take off his sandals because he was standing on holy ground. In taking off his sandals, Joshua was being invited to surrender his power, dignity and ownership, and God is still...