Ever feel like you're in over your head?
Showing up the first Sunday morning at the Native ministry I had contacted, I was full of youthful exuberance. Armed with my fresh diploma in "Pastoral/Missions", I was ready for reaching the lost with the Gospel message of Jesus.  I had Bible verses memorized, I had experience in door to door and seniors' home visitation.  What more did I need to be a missionary?
Truly, God was kind to me.  I was received so graciously by the pastor and his wife.  There were about ten or fifteen people attending the worship service that morning.  I met a few adults and learned to greet by gentle handshake.  I saw several children running around but they had no time for a new white girl.  So began my introduction to urban cross-cultural ministry...
The second Sunday, I was nearly knocked over by two little girls about six years old.  They hugged me around my legs and I had to grab a wooden chair to steady myself!  I found out their names and I was suddenly their best friend. One girl was blonde and fair-skinned.  Her best friend had dark eyes, dark hair and brown skin.  They insisted on sitting beside me during the service.
I had come from bells ringing to signal the change of class or meal times.
I had attended church where Sunday School started at 10 am and rarely did the preacher go past noon.  This church was probably as opposite as I had ever experienced...the service started when most people had arrived.  Lots of enthusiastic singing and leisurely sharing and prayer plus preaching that took us past 12:30!  There was no Sunday School that Sunday.
Before long, I was in over my head!
I soon learned life lessons about earning trust, understanding the culture, learning the history of mission outreach to First Nations people, codependency,poverty, Attention Deficit and Fetal Alcohol Disorders, spiritual warfare...
Fast-forward to 1994, when my husband and I began our first Sunday in the Albert Scott Community Centre.  Armed with some experience in the inner city, running a youth ministry and attending the "Rising Above" conference, we launched a ministry that was to be a cross between an A.A. meeting and camp-style interactive worship!  God's favour was on us as we took the vision He laid on our hearts and stepped forward by faith.  Within a few weeks, our numbers were about ten to twelve, with a few children and we began to see the needs of our new flock become more clear.
Yup, I was in over my head!
Soon, I saw that this new ministry was not about me reaching the lost.  It was more about God reaching me in my lostness to bring healing.
As we faced our pasts, our pains, Jesus was healing us and those we were ministering to were watching us on our journeys. It was about living our lives transparently and inviting others who were hurting to begin their own healing journeys.  The more I had learned, the less I knew.
"My grace is sufficient for you...for my power is made perfect in your weakness..." the Apostle Paul
Being in over my head hasn't been a bad thing.
I think God let me dive in so that He could teach me my weaknesses.
Then He could get the glory for the ministry.