Tell us a bit about yourself
My name is Henar, I’m a second-year doing Astronomy & Astrophysics and Physics at UofT. I’m a very sociable person so naturally I got to meet and make a lot of friends during my first year which eventually lead me to joining Global Community! GC a student group that cares and serves international students in Toronto so it was the perfect opportunity for me to let my extrovert self thrive. I started attending the GC microchurch where I currently serve full time.
How has being a Christian impacted the way you made plans this summer?
Even though I was doing school this summer, I gave my full commitment to my ministry, serving international students and my community. My plans were basically centered around my ministry with GC, meeting up with people, sharing the good news with them, and most importantly working on my own spiritual growth. One of the main themes of my summer was discipleship. I got discipled by Matthew Chan, a very beloved member of Missions Hub and GC (SHOUT OUT TO MT). It was one of the things that God orchestrated perfectly at a time I needed to know what discipleship really was. It greatly affected my vision of the ways I could serve God and my mission.
Describe a moment from this summer, big or small, where you felt God affirm you in your journey pursuing His mission
God has been working with me the entire summer and I’ve seen that in the ways he placed the right people and right opportunities at the right timing. One of the biggest highlights of my summer was doing Greenhouse. Greenhouse is a summer program run by Zoe Toronto, the network which Global Community is a part of. As a group of believers, we gathered seeking a life resembling Jesus. In doing so we received training of how to be intentional, implementing disciplines to live out that calling. I’ve learned that with the fruit we bear we can transform our communities in miraculous ways. Through Greenhouse I discovered my desire for church planting and it reawakened my passion for long-term mission.
Did you have any frustrations in your missional journey this summer? How did you find hope in the midst of it?
I’ve had many seasons of stress, burn out and exhaustion this summer but every single time God reached out and comforted me. Telling me that he’s with me through it all. To lay all my worries and burdens on him and find rest in him. I’ve heard his voice through people and the word. God constantly kept proving that his word is alive. Even though it has been written thousands of years ago, it still speaks to us to this very day.
How have you seen God at work this summer in your life / community / this world?
For the past few years God has been taking me on a journey of wonders showing me glimpses of what it looks like to live for nothing but his glory. Seeing brave young people take the decision to submit their lives to the Lord and follow him was a wonder that I strongly felt He wanted me to see and admire and I witnessed that this summer.
I’ve been blessed to see God using me to evangelize and invite nonbelievers into my church. And even more doing so with fellow church members that are so faithful to the Lord. Global Community is one of the greatest works that God has done in my life.
Because of my faith I had to leave friends and loved ones but I always held onto the promise that God made me, that he will reward me a hundred times more of what I left in his name. And because of the Lord’s goodness and faithfulness he never breaks a promise. Through GC, Jesus has so generously put one of his daughters in my life and she eventually became one of the most important people in my life. In only three months she became my best friend, my soulmate, and my sister. The love that God has given us to one another was nothing less than a miracle. She was a fulfilment of God’s promise to me. The Lord has been good to me in many ways during this season.
