Sunday, August 24
Saturday, Day 15 of our mission trip, was “family reunion” day. Pastor Joseph has cousins from his father’s side living in Armenia and they invited us for what we thought was going to be a small picnic at their new house. It turned out to be a big, big family gathering, including almost all the siblings and grandchildren. About 35 people were there!
It was nice to see so much extended family together. Amidst the various toasts, Pastor Joseph was asked on two occasions to say a blessing. Despite the celebratory setting, it was an opportunity to have some meaningful conversations as well.
For Sunday morning worship we went to the Evangelical Baptist church, as planned. Although we know that God accepts all forms of sincere worship, it was a nice change to be in a church with a more traditional service structure, choir-led congregational singing, multiple instruments, and a multi-media recording which will eventually be posted in their church’s Facebook group. There is, of course, a lot more to what makes this a good church, such as the biblical teaching and their ministries to children and teens, but these other elements certainly contribute to inspiring collective worship.
Jonathan and Ann-Margret were invited to share their testimonies again, as was Emma, and then Pastor Joseph’s message touched on the importance of pure, Bible-based doctrine and the dangers of the trend he sees developing in Armenia toward incorrect teaching. This exhortation was met with a wholeheartedly favourable response. The greeting time after the service was very warm and, for the Pastor and Ann-Margret, it was again a happy reunion time with many familiar faces. We then returned to the hotel to rest up for the ordination service to be held in the evening.
A few hours later, we arrived at Pastor Stepan Vardanyan’s church, Huysi Dun (House of Hope) for the ordination service just before 6:00 p.m. and were pleased to find that many people had already arrived. The refreshments for after the service had even been laid out. During the service, we could tell it was an emotional experience for some of the members. We heard afterward of the challenges Pastor Stepan has faced in his ministry and leading up to his ordination, so it is a real blessing that Pastor Joseph was able to help make this event happen. We were moved to see that for the prayer of blessing and laying-on of hands, Pastor Stepan’s wife was included. This is a good idea since, ultimately, this important step will have an impact on her as well and they will need each other’s support.
Overall, it was a very nice Sunday and we feel blessed to have been able to participate in these worship activities today. We hope your Sunday worship went as well as ours and we look forward to being back in Montreal at our home church in about a week’s time.
Click here to view the weekend’s photo album and video of some of the worship time at the morning service.
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