The Wake-up Call
By: Bethany, Community Engagement Coordinator
July 12, 2019
I have only spent a week working with ETCBC and in short, I would say my experience has been a huge wake-up call. Since we are involved with community engagement under Pastor Sam, we completed intercultural training and the intercultural development inventory which assesses how you engage with cultural differences.This was my wake-up call because I was challenged to face my mindset and awareness (or lack thereof) towards cultural differences and commonalities.The most interesting part was recognizing the gap between what I think my cultural competency is in contrast to what my actual competency is. This experience required a whole lot of humility but has jump-started this process in working towards increasing my own cultural self- and other-understanding.
The second part of my wake-up call was being struck by the need in the community around ETCBC. On Thursdays, we help serve breakfast with the Scott Mission in the Parma Court area, just south of Victoria Village. We set up a tent in a small courtyard in the middle of a Toronto Community Housing complex, serving fruits, baked goods and coffee. During breakfast time, I found out that a few days before, there had been a shooting just steps away from where we set up. I was then faced with a hard realization that all of the friendly and welcoming people I’ve met at breakfast face hardships and struggles that I could not imagine facing. For me, this wake-up call highlighted the urgency of needing the presence of Christ in our community.
Just this past week, I have met many new faces who experience immense brokenness and I am reminded of what Pastor Fabian from Krystaal worship team talked about at ETCBC. Pastor Fabian challenged us to remember that the Bible is a book of refugees; it’s a book of a king who had 1000 wives, a book of people in slavery for 400 years. Through all adversity, God showed his glory, power, and compassion to reconcile them. We are reminded that the Bible is a story of people who are broken, so if you are that person, then your story belongs in there too. There is no greater story than all of us coming together from different corners of the world because of what Jesus has done.
My hope is that I can approach every interaction and conversation with this wake-up call in mind, knowing that all of our stories belong together in light of God’s bigger and better story.