Second Sunday of Advent
Scripture Reading for Today:
The Joys of Gospel Partnership
by Jared Siebert
It has been such a pleasure walking through the Advent season with you. This has become such an important resource for so many across North America. We continue to be surprised and delighted by all the folks who choose to take this annual advent journey with us. So thank you from the bottom of our leafy hearts for being a part of this.
Today’s passage came as quite a surprise to me. But when God is involved in the mix, is anything really that surprising? “Coincidences” tend to abound when you try to walk in step with the Spirit.
Today, if you aren’t already aware, is New Leaf’s 9th birthday. So reading Paul’s words of gratitude, for the Philippian church and their partnership with him in the gospel, the connection was impossible to ignore. Paul’s work depended on gospel partnerships. So does the work of New Leaf. We have made it this far because of your help. We are here for you and we are here because of you. We feel the same joy that Paul did whenever we pray for you, whenever we meet you, and whenever you share your stories with us. We feel connected to you.
As I settle into my new multivocational life as a Director at New Leaf, as a Church Planter, and as a videographer/live event tech I need the gospel partners I find around the New Leaf table more than ever. Here’s why.
I need to partner with Truth-tellers.
New Leaf has been a place for me to find conversation partners who tell the truth. For the last 9 years and for the years before New Leaf was even a thing I found welcomed conversation partners. Fearless truth-tellers. I found courageous people who have stepped out of the life-as-usual flow of ministry in the Canadian church and were bound and bent that they were going to do things differently. To them the status quo was confining and dangerous, not a siren song of comfort and security.
To them the Canadian church’s lack of connection to the lived lives of neighbours was not something “to get around to eventually after we’ve met the needs of the already churched” it was their sole and soul focus. They didn’t want to be pointlessly coddled with easy answers. They didn’t want reactionary cultural wars. They wanted to confront the way churches excuse harm. They didn’t settle “made in the USA” solutions as if the church and her context were universal and selfsame the world over. They wanted to be here, on this soil, with these people, in this cultural moment. They wanted other gospel partners because doing this alone sucks.
In our times together we had gritty conversations. I treasured every moment. I needed every moment. It was life to me. It kept me putting one foot in front of the other. Nothing has changed for me. If you have played a role in the New Leaf conversation you have shaped who I am today as a leader and I am thankful for you. You have brought me joy. You help me keep going.
I need to partner with people who see the world differently.
New Leaf has also been a gathering place of unlikely conversation partners. New Leaf draws from and gathers a diverse group of practitioners from inside and outside the church. I have personally benefitted from hearing what ministry life looks like from coast to coast. What it looks like in university towns, rural hamlets, second cities, and capital cities. I’ve heard what it is like to lead as a newcomer to Canada. I’ve have heard what it is like to lead as a woman, a queer person, an indigenous person, and an older white man who wants to flip the script.
My diverse gospel partners remind me that some of the most important things to my local church community don’t even register in some churches. Sometimes that is a welcome realization and a relief to know not everyone fights the same battles. It reminds me that the church in Canada is a beautiful and multifaceted living creation. A living temple that partners with God in a million different ways.
Sometimes our differences have been a giant alarm bell that reminds me how far the Canadian church needs to go to be a place to speak the heart languages of all people who call this land home. As our country sinks deeper and deeper into polarization, finding spaces to meet with diverse people will become all the more important.
I have noticed a pattern among some of my more conservative partners that they have begun to walk away from the table. Sadly, some conservatives these days are starting to circle the wagons. Defending the perimeter. They are being influenced by leaders who see being connected to and learning from people who don’t share their theological perspective as a danger, not a blessing. People to be avoided, not people to embrace. I hope this is temporary. I hope after a time of clarifying and re-aligning they will return to the conversation. My ministry in the gospel will suffer in their absence. But I remain committed to ensuring there will always be room around the table.
My gospel partnerships are a source of joy for me.
They have a direct impact on my work.
They keep me moving forward.
They keep me encouraged.
They challenge me to think more expansively.
They confront me with uncomfortable truths.
They are vital to who I am becoming.
If you haven’t spent much time around the New Leaf table I encourage you to pull up a chair in 2025. Let’s get to know one another. Let’s partner. Let’s pray. Let’s encourage each other to settle into the reality that God is in the business of finishing what God has started.
Thank you for reading the New Leaf Advent Reader, a collection of reflections from writers across Canada. If you are enjoying the reader, sign up to receive the readings in your inbox each day here: SIGN UP
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