The Story of the Dale Ministries

by Elaine Poproski

We have arrived in Lent. It’s a season in the church calendar during which we intentionally focus on the cross. We are invited to think about God’s extraordinary sacrifice and the lengths He is willing to go to ensure that His Kingdom is realized on earth as it is in heaven. Lent reminds us that being loved as deeply as we are by God cost Him everything. It’s a time to sit quietly in the realities of suffering and loss while resting in the presence of God in the midst of it all. That’s what we’ll be thinking about and hopefully experiencing together each Sunday as we meet to worship God.

This Sunday we’ll meet Erinn Oxford. She is the Lead Pastor at The Dale Ministries (the Dale, for short) in the Parkdale neighbourhood here in Toronto. I asked Erinn to begin our Lent season because she has and continues to live the truth of God’s presence and grace in the midst of loss. Erinn is married to Dionne who was diagnosed with MS shortly after they were engaged. Very recently, Dionne’s MS has forced some incredibly difficult choices on their family. Not only has Erinn’s journey in her own life and that of her family been one of loss and experiencing God’s grace in the midst of it, but it’s also been the journey of The Dale. Not too many years ago, The Dale was Parkdale Community Church. They had a building and all the other things that we assume go with being a church. But then they had to give up their building. I know we know that kind of loss. But wait to hear how God showed up in the midst of that loss and how He continues to show up and shower the church and its neighbourhood with His grace and presence.

Loss and all the griefs that go with it are part of living in this world in which God’s Kingdom has not yet been fully realized. And yet, if we learn to find God and His grace in the midst of it, we might just be able to believe the truth that God’s Kingdom has come. And if we can believe that truth, then we can weather the loss and even discover how that loss can be turned to God’s glory and used to grow His Kingdom. As you prepare for this Sunday, I invite you to take some time to remember an experience of loss in your life and then to ask God to show you where He was in the midst of it. I promise you, whether you realized it at the time or not, God was there. God is there. He is not a God who leaves us or forsakes us ever, but especially not when things are really hard.