Yesterday I joined with some other church leaders from the Durham region at Calvary Baptist as we listened to a presentation by Dr. David Fowler from the Durham Church network. He gave an interesting synopsis of ministry challenges, comparing and contrasting the eastern “GTA region” with other parts of Canada and the U.S.A..

One comment in particular struck a chord with me. Why do Canadian church leaders feel so enamored by the U.S.A.? Why do so many leaders rush to U.S. conferences then come back and try to make their Canadian ministries a little more “American?” I have never understood this. Should we not be who God wants us to be and what God wants us to be where we are?

Certainly we can learn from others, be sharpened by them, but do we really have to become “clones” of each other? The New Testament churches were diverse due to location, gifting and local challenges. There was unity with Christ in common, but incredible diversity and unique challenges to each local setting.

Perhaps its time we started looking UP (to God in prayer) rather than SOUTH (to the U.S.A. ministries) to gain the desperately-needed wisdom and counsel for our task. Maybe we need to sing again, “Only to be what He wants me to be, every moment of every day. Yielding allegiance to Jesus alone every step of this pilgrim way. Just to be clay in the Potter’s hands. Ready to do what His word commands. Only to be what He wants me to be every moment of every day.” Perhaps we need God’s instructions to Jeremiah to go down to the Potter’s house and learn God’s absolute right to do what He chooses with us.