Christ our Healer: Embracing Brokenness

Christ our Healer: Embracing Brokenness

5:23am. I woke up with paralyzing trepidation. An alarming sense of fear washed over my entire body. This was the third, consecutive night that a fatal tragedy struck my dad in one of my dreams. These dreams were so vivid that they seemed to stream into a weighted depiction of reality. Heavy sadness swept over me. Death is one of the most costly experiences for the living. The thought jarred me into reflection. Another impression entered my mind, “My heart aches. My heart is deep for my people.” I felt the ache viscerally, and knew that the genuine compassion I was experiencing was not solely my own.

This experience occurred the early morning before the launch of one of my thirteen-week programs, GriefShare. This program was developed by a collective of churches to support people in their journeys after the death of a loved one. When I felt my real tears emerge from the mere idea of my dad’s passing, I knew, in that moment, that I had emotionally reconnected with grief. I felt God leading me into a deep place of empathy for the people I would meet that very night.

In some of my most broken and vulnerable moments, I have encountered God’s presence as my Healer and Comforter. He has met me in ways that seemed previously unimaginable. In my work as a therapist and pastor, I consistently see how God has marked his people as his own. I have seen him move in tangible ways in my counselling office.  He has shifted broken paradigms into truth. He has spoken personally to people through visions and prayer imagery, reigniting hope. I have witnessed him bring reconciliation to deeply wounded families and relationships, and I have seen him bring his Shalom. This is Jesus. Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who Heals.

People are meeting Jesus through our Healing Ministries programs at Tenth. Genuine transformation is taking place. These are the voices of his people:

“I found God again through finding community with people who understood my pain. When I couldn’t receive love in any other way, he met me there, and I began to hear him again.”

“I didn’t know how much I needed this space in community to grieve, until I came here”. 

“I’ve found safety for the first time in a long time. I can finally be myself.  I am learning to hear him speak again. Before, I was so overwhelmed in my suffering that I couldn’t differentiate his voice from my own.”

“I haven’t attended church for a long time, but I came back when I couldn’t handle life anymore. I found Jesus again while beginning to process my pain.”

“I feel closer to Jesus now. My pain is still here, but I’m beginning to hope again.”

When the church begins to learn how to stay with people in their sadness, we give permission for brokenness and we acknowledge that healing is a journey. We connect in our humanness, and choose to value honesty over façade. Sometimes God heals quickly and miraculously. Other times, healing comes slowly through process and in the context of community with others.

At Tenth, a part of our vision is to be a place of healing for the broken. I believe that Jesus’ ministry is one of Holistic Healing. Not only does he come to heal us physically, but spiritually, emotionally, mentally and socially. He has come to bring deep healing to our humanity through the redemption of our sins, healing in our relationships by reconciling us back into community, and inner healing for our lives through the very power that raised him from the dead. When we encounter Jesus and experience his healing presence in our brokenness, we allow his spirit to transform us into a new creation.

God’s heart is present for those who mourn, he promises them comfort (Matt 5:4). My jolting, early-morning experience reminded me of the words in Revelation. “He will wipe away every tear from [our] eyes, and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the former things have passed away (Revelation 21:5). As we look to our grief, our losses, death, unfulfilled dreams, our failures and our traumas, we are promised that these former things will pass. “Behold, I am making all things new” declares the Lamb on the Throne.  This is our God.

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Carmen Kinniburgh

District Children’s Ministry Partner

Children’s ministry involves developing leaders, discipling children and families, exercising creativity, with an emphasis on fun and building relationships that help others to experience God’s love as they are loved by people who know God’s love. Carmen has served in children’s ministries as a volunteer, coordinator, curriculum writer, camp speaker, and pastor. Her desire in ministry and life is to help others (whether they be children, youth, or adults) to hear God’s voice and to experience the freedom and fullness of love found in knowing Jesus and living kingdom lives. Whether your children’s ministry is led by volunteers or a pastoral leader, Carmen would love to connect, build networks, support, resource, pray with, and provide care in whatever areas are needed.

Carmen lives in Vernon with her husband, Jeremy, and their two teenage kids. She loves playing soccer, hiking, camping, and theatre. She and Jeremy have founded two new ministries called Threshold Initiatives and Contributing Pastor.

Terry Ann Opperman

Official Worker

David has served at Lakewood Alliance Church since the fall of 2002, first as an associate, then as Lead Pastor starting in November 2005. David has been on various committees including DEXCOM, District Nominating Committee, a few General Assembly Committees, and the Rules Committee for District Conference. David has an interest in church governance and seeing healthy leaders serving on healthy boards in order to better equip and serve the church.

David and Tara are in the process of launching their three young adult sons and enjoy seeing the trajectories their lives are taking. David enjoys woodwork and getting out cross-country skiing in the winter.

Steve Schneider

Lay Person

Steve is a layperson and a member of Peace Portal Alliance Church in Surrey. He has been married to his wife Brenda since 1984. They have two adult daughters. He is an engineer by background and holds an MBA from Heriot-Watt University. He works in the paper industry and is also the President of SGS Consulting Ltd. He has recently become a licensed worker in the CPD.

Steve has served in varied ways over the years but has more recently been focussed on church board work. He served on his first church board 36 years ago. Since that time, he has served on four different church boards and the District Executive Committee of the CPD. Over the last 12 years Steve has actively been teaching and consulting with church and not-for-profit boards within and outside of The Alliance Canada to help them develop healthy governance practices.

Keith Cheung

English Lead Pastor at Burnaby Alliance Church

Keith was also an active member at Westside Calgary Chinese Alliance Church before moving to Vancouver to begin full-time pastoral ministry. After a brief stint pastoring in a church from another denomination, Keith began serving as the English Lead Pastor at Burnaby Alliance Church in 2017 where he continues to serve today.

Keith is married to Cecelia (20 years this year!) and they are raising 2 beautiful daughters (11 and 6) who they adopted from Taiwan and Korea respectively. He loves, in no particular order, cooking and eating and conversations, the Saskatchewan Roughriders, road cycling, family reunions, and good movies and music.

Carol Goh

District Chaplains Committee Chair

carol@mycac.ca

Carol Goh has chaired the District Chaplains Committee and served on the Association for Alliance Chaplains (AAC) National Committee since 2018. She completed her Masters degree in Chaplaincy in Spiritual Care from Trinity Western Seminary and is the Neighborhood Chaplain and Pastor for Seniors at Chilliwack Alliance. As a chaplain, Carol invests in the neighborhood (parish) around the church through connecting with those who live, work, and go to school there. She intentionally supports the local public elementary school and other local organizations so that together they can weave together the fabric of care for the inhabitants. The Goh household includes her husband Andrew, their three teenage sons, Andrew’s mother, and their golden doodle.

David Driedger

Board Leadership Training Partner

dave@lakewoodalliance.com

David has served at Lakewood Alliance Church since the fall of 2002, first as an associate, then as Lead Pastor starting in November 2005. David has been on various committees including DEXCOM, District Nominating Committee, a few General Assembly Committees, and the Rules Committee for District Conference. David has an interest in church governance and seeing healthy leaders serving on healthy boards in order to better equip and serve the church.

David and Tara are in the process of launching their three young adult sons and enjoy seeing the trajectories their lives are taking. David enjoys woodwork and getting out cross-country skiing in the winter.

Daren Wride

Transitional Pastors Network Coordinator

dwride@shaw.ca

Daren Wride has been serving in transitional roles since 2011. He has been on the ground as Transitional Pastor in multiple churches around the province and has engaged as a Transitional Coach with several other churches. Prior to his transitional work, Daren pastored three churches in Alberta and BC for a total of nearly 20 years. Daren has also spent time in the professional speaking and internet marketing worlds and usually has a related project on the go.

Geoff Stewart

District Youth Ministry Partner

geoffs@peaceportalalliance.com

Youth ministry is among the most demanding ministries in the church from a relational standpoint, serving young people who are defining the ever changing culture we live in. Leading in youth ministry is best not done alone, and Geoff desires to help our youth pastors serve and encourage one another through the sharing of resources, wisdom, experience, and perspective. In the ever-changing world of today’s high school student, it is vital for us as youth pastors to be changing with them to understand the world they are navigating and share with them the life changing truth of the Gospel.

Geoff has been a youth pastor for 6 years at Peace Portal Alliance Church and volunteered for 10 years before that in the same church. He is passionate about seeing young people transformed by Jesus and becoming leaders in their school and community. He and his wife Lavonne live in South Surrey with their cats Norman and Puff Daddy.

Andy Lambkin

Team Lead - Property Development & Nest Housing Society

andy.lambkin@gmail.com

Andy wears two hats in the Canadian Pacific District. He serves as our New Venture implementer, helping new communities of faith emerge across our province, and he also leads the Nest housing Society, a non-profit affordable housing society working with local churches to utilize their land for social good while fulfilling critical ministry priorities. If you have questions about either of these areas, please reach out.

Personally, Andy is married to Jolie and they have four kids. Residing in North Vancouver, they call simplechurches, a network of house churches, their church home.

Carmen Kinniburgh

District Children’s Ministry Partner

cekinniburgh@gmail.com

Children’s ministry involves developing leaders, discipling children and families, exercising creativity, with an emphasis on fun and building relationships that help others to experience God’s love as they are loved by people who know God’s love. Carmen has served in children’s ministries as a volunteer, coordinator, curriculum writer, camp speaker, and pastor. Her desire in ministry and life is to help others (whether they be children, youth, or adults) to hear God’s voice and to experience the freedom and fullness of love found in knowing Jesus and living kingdom lives. Whether your children’s ministry is led by volunteers or a pastoral leader, Carmen would love to connect, build networks, support, resource, pray with, and provide care in whatever areas are needed.

Carmen lives in Vernon with her husband, Jeremy, and their two teenage kids. She loves playing soccer, hiking, camping, and theatre. She and Jeremy have founded two new ministries called Threshold Initiatives and Contributing Pastor.