Lausanne World Pulse – Church/Parachurch Relations: The Body of Christ at Work
By John Pellowe
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Churches and parachurches are increasingly seeing the importance of working together. |
Helping the members of his congregation prepare to share their faith was a dream for Glenn Driedger, pastor of Carman Pentecostal Assembly in Carman, Manitoba, Canada. It is a dream that most pastors share. Yet after six years, Driedger found his dream was still just a dream. Most church members still did not know how to give their testimony in a way they were comfortable with.
“I dreamed I could help every person in my church become a little bit more like Christ,” Driedger said. “From Monday to Saturday I wanted them to be able to tell their story in a way that wouldn’t turn off the community. I wanted them to lead others to Christ.” Campus Crusade for Christ Canada, a ministry based in Langley, British Columbia, soon came and presented their Power to Change program to the local pastors. Driedger saw new hope for his dream and accepted help from the outside ministry.
Campus Crusade for Christ Canada supported Driedger’s dream by teaching his church members how to share their faith in three minutes. They then created events which both gave members opportunities to invite others and did not cost the church a lot of money. All the members had to do was invite people.
Leonard Buhler, president of Campus Crusade for Christ Canada, was involved at the time with the team that came to Carman. He states, “Glenn’s church just started growing immediately with new believers. His church was one of the most fruitful churches I’ve ever seen. I thought, ‘Wow, what a great thing for the church!’”
Carman Pentecostal Assembly was transformed when it saw they could change their town. Driedger was amazed. “We never dreamed in a month of Sundays that we could influence our community [like this],” he said. As a result of his experience, Driedger eventually went to work for Campus Crusade for Christ Canada, where he now serves as director of church relations. This story of a church and a non-denominational ministry organization working together to build the Kingdom of God is an example of a church-parachurch relation at its best.