A searchable, downloadable PDF of the original article appears below. George Anderson is the minister of He Perrot Church, Pincourt, Quebec.

God is the God of Resurrection Life

I have been in Canada now for two and a half years working in a small church in Quebec in a town of 10,000 people of which 60% are French-speaking. The church we are in has had some severe ups and downs and was at the cross-roads three years ago having to decide whether or not to close down. With faith and prayer the faithful elders said “No” to death and “Yes” to life and decided that the church should have one more time of resuscitation. Here is the story which in some ways could be an analogy of what God can do with any church or any denomination. Here’s our story so far.

When a body of God’s people are in exile struggling for life and a vision we need to turn to God’s Word for hope. The vision of hope that God gave to Ezekiel in exile in Babylon is still used by the Spirit to teach and encourage us. As I began to minister in the very small struggling church we needed a vision and the motivating vision for me was that given to Ezekiel by the Lord — in chapter 37 — the valley of dry bones. I had heard a Scottish minister speak about church renewal at a conference and the question that the Lord put to Ezekiel, “Son of man, can these bones live?” kept ringing in my ears. Rev. Tom Smail had said one phrase at the conference that I kept remembering — “God specializes in graveyards.” In some ways this little church which had no Sunday School or Bible study groups and had about twenty adults attending seemed like a valley of dry bones. Humanly speaking the answer seemed to be “No” but the Spirit of Life, the Spirit of Jesus said “Yes.” So we began to do what the Lord had told Ezekiel to do: “Prophesy and say to the dry bones ‘Dry bones hear the Word of the Lord!”’ So I began from the beginning preaching and teaching the simple gospel that Peter preached on the day of Pentecost — Jesus Christ, died, risen, and ascended Lord who alone has the power on earth to forgive sins and give the Holy Spirit.

But Ezekiel had another thing to do. He had to call on the Holy Spirit to give the true life to the bodies that had come together. And so prayer became increasingly a focus in my morning devotions and in the church meetings. “Lord pour out your Spirit, Lord convict the people of the Lordship and reality of Jesus!” And the Lord is faithful. Gradually we experienced a strong renewal of worship, fellowship, personal faith and commitment to Jesus as Lord and Friend and a love for the Father of his family. One very special conversion to Christ out of New Age lostness was Pat, who now is an elder and Bible group leader.

He had no faith in Jesus at all and no desire for church fellowship and prayer. But his wife and friends were praying for him. One night reading in the Old Testament the Spirit of Resurrection revealed the truth of Messianic prophecy spoken by Nathan to David and he saw the light of Jesus and came into a personal knowledge of the Lord. His service and witness has been a wonderful encouragement to his family and all his children have since come to the Lord and are serving him actively.

We now have a small Sunday School of about 40 and numbers have slowly grown to about 80 adults attending our morning worship. The breath of God has breathed on us in many ways but the following are significant:

  • Many Presbyterians of long-standing in the church have experienced a renewal in faith and the inner working of the Spirit — now they can express their faith in the Lord through spontaneous prayer and witness relying on the Holy Spirit to give them the words. Some who did all the right Presbyterian things have now come to know the Father and the Son in a personal way.
  • Small groups in the mould of Acts 2:42 have sprung up. We have about 50 members meeting in the fellowship and prayer groups where they share their insights into the Bible and pray for each other.
  • There is a new working of the love of Christ in relationships — marriages have been rebuilt on his love as the foundation, parents and children have been reconciled and people who have been sexually abused have come to a growing healing.
  • One of the most exciting works of the Spirit has been the bursting forth of life among the teenagers. Gradually through careful Christ-centred programs to meet social, musical and spiritual needs we have seen more and more teens come to Christ and grow in confidence in their new life in him. Every Friday we have a youth meeting with about 30 teens having fun with one another, and the Lord. Many come to youth meetings now instead of going to the school dances. You should hear them standing on their chairs praising the Lord. We use much modem praise music at youth meetings and in services and one of the leaders has started a youth music tape library. Five of the recent converts are now forming a Christian band. Some of the teens are using their talents to serve the Lord in a Pioneer Club program. So on Friday nights we have 60-70 young people having a great time in God’s love and truth. Most of these children and young people have parents who never go to church. The difficulty we face now is that we have a generation of young people being resurrected ahead of their parents and struggling to apply the faith in the home where the parents are living a very secular life, and often undermining the teaching of the Word in their children’s lives.
    The young people are very involved in Youth for Christ drama ministry and fifteen go every week to YFC drama and musical training. Our group members have started a Christian club in the school and 90% of the group at the school are from our church.
  • Another added blessing from the Lord has been the renewal of the church finances. We have had a 45% increase in giving two years in a row — and are trusting for growth in the third year. Some of the leaders are tithing regularly and the Board tithes income (besides Presbyterian Sharing and Presbytery assessment). Each month we are able to give $500 or more to missions, etc.

We have many difficulties facing us but we have hope — the Lord of Resurrection Life is our leader and he tends to love to surprise us with a variety of grace gifts. We continue to need saturated prayer at our small and large meetings as we have found the evil one opposes the true work of Christ at every turn.

We are slowly rising above the madness of relativism and individualism which Reginald Bibby speaks about and are being renewed beyond the religious traditionalism that might have been suitable for a pre-war congregation. As the Word of God moulds our thinking and the Spirit of God breathes the very life of Jesus into the Body we can look forward to more new things from the Lord. There is a living God who is there — not just in a religious or conceptual sense but is there as Father, Son and Spirit. He is faithful to his promises and is still building a body for his Son.

A song that has become very meaningful to us expresses it well:

“For I’m building a people of power
And I’m making a people of praise
Who will move through this land by my Spirit
And will glorify my precious name.
Build your church Lord,
Make us strong Lord,
Join our hearts Lord, through your Son
Make us one Lord, in your body,
In the Kingdom of your Son.”

(Songs of the Kingdom, #57)