Go Where The Fish Are • Prayer Requests From Canada

Guest Post By Joshua Mills

“He Shall Have Dominion Also From Sea To Sea” (Psalm 72:8)

I want to begin this article with a brief overview of Canadian history. 

In 1867, Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley, a Christian and founding Father of Confederation, was inspired by his biblical convictions to call Canada a “dominion”, after Psalm 72:8. 

The name, “Dominion of Canada”, was used to recognize the rule and reign of Jesus Christ over this great land from sea to sea.  

However, now one-hundred and fifty years later, things have progressively changed to our disliking.  Changes in policies, laws, and new curriculums have been established by the government to support their liberal agenda and world view.  But this does not worry me!  We have a firm confidence as Christians for the future.  We know that God is the Sovereign One reigning on His throne! 

“He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings”, all for his Sovereign purposes (Daniel 2:21).

Therefore, for the remaining part of this article, I would like to highlight God’s work in Canada. 

For the past year or so I have had the privilege of establishing a local street outreach ministry birthed out of the local church.  

Growing up in Canada I have never received a tract in my hand from a stranger, nor have I ever heard the gospel proclaimed freely outside church walls. This is wrong! If unnumbered souls are dying and spending an eternity in Hell, then we must go where they are!  Case closed.  

We must go where the fish are! We must bring the Gospel to them. A Fishermen can only practice fishing in his own bath-tub for so long before he must go where the fish are.  

This parallels with the Christian!  We are commanded by Scripture to enter the Highways and byways, where the fish are, and compel people to come in (Luke 14:23).

Out of this burden to see the Gospel go forth in our Nation I entered the streets to find some fish. Soon enough, the Lord answered my prayers and connected me with a few brothers who had a weekly Saturday afternoon outreach downtown Toronto. 

For a few months, I regularly attended this outreach, but the commute was far. 

As time went on, I gained a greater burden for the souls in my City.  As far as I know, there has been zero gospel street ministry done in this city in the past. 

Therefore, it was time to get something started!  I found two young guys (fifteen and seventeen years of age) who were zealous to serve the Lord in evangelism.  We decided to try going downtown one night and see if we could spark up some conversations.  Providentially speaking, we bumped into two guys who have been handing out tracts downtown for about a year or so through their local church (one of them being an Elder at the church they attend). 

Thankfully the Lord brought us brothers who were faithful to the Word of God and shared the same Biblical convictions with us.  One of the brothers was trained in Biblical evangelism through The Cross Current ministries (they were trained through Ray Comfort and Paul Washer in Evangelism). Our American brothers and sisters have been a tremendous blessing to our ministry!

From this point on, the hearts of God’s people were stirred to see young men going out weekly to tell of Christ.  Each week we began to see a new people wanting to serve in this area. 

Currently, a year or so later, we now have on average 10-15 different people out with us weekly sharing the Glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ downtown Burlington. 

Through the ministry, The Cross Current, there has also been evangelism teams set up in Waterloo, London, and Ottawa, Ontario.  

These groups from local churches go out weekly and hand out tracts, converse, and preach the Word of God in the streets.  On average, we hand out about 200-300 tracts per week and have many Christ-Centred conversations. 

Though it is hard to see fruit in the ministry, since we most likely will not see these people again, we have had stories told of fruit produced by Gods grace through the Proclamation of His Word. 

Praise God!

It is a unique time to be a Canadian, and I am very excited for the future!  We have seen a huge geo-political shift in our country, but this movement was a movement done by the Sovereign hand of God! 

You may be asking, “what kind of people do we often come across when evangelizing?  

In many cases, we come across those who believe that they are “good enough” through their good works to go to Heaven.  Therefore, we must always preach the law to them and show them the Character of God, the depravity of man, and the hope of the Gospel. 

Additionally, most of these people are refugees from Islamic countries who are willing and eager to talk with us.  Numerous times we have talked for hours with Muslim friends, and they end up taking the Word of God (the Bible) home with them to read more. 

To conclude, on one hand, this nation seems like it is spinning down into destruction. But on the other hand, we have seen the hand of God stirring the souls of men. 

The church in Canada is being awakened to the urgent call of the Great Commission. The people of God are beginning to feel the urgency to go out to their neighbour and tell them of Christ, to go out onto the street and herald the gospel!  It is a unique time to be a Canadian. 

This is only a brief and insufficient highlight of what God is doing in Canada and globally for His glory!

Continue to pray for this work. 

Pray that God will be glorified primarily, and that souls will be won to Christ through evangelistic efforts across Canada and around the Globe! 

Pray specifically for more labourers in Canada for the Harvest field! 

It is my prayer and heart's desire to see a group of evangelists in every major city in Canada, heralding the Gospel on a weekly basis. 

We can not miss the opportunity ahead of us!

To God be the Glory,

Joshua