20 Now to him who can do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21
Amongst the pantheon of gods in Roman mythology, there is a god by the name of Janus. He is regarded as the god of all beginnings. It was a long-held belief that he was the first of any gods; thus, the beginning of the day, month, and year, both calendrical and agricultural, were sacred to him. No wonder the first month of the year, January, was taken from his name in our Gregorian calendar. Janus was portrayed with two faces—one facing the past and one facing the future.
As CPMI ushers into a new beginning, we can't help but have our face look back to the past and, at the same time, look towards the future. The past has given us the privilege of planting over 100 churches since our inception as a mission organization in 2000, and we are very thankful to God for that. Our future is to bring our current number of churches to a total of 400 churches by 2040. We are very excited to see how God will again work in many unexpected ways and use us in developing and bringing workers into His Vineyard.
In this new season, we are responding to the voice of God calling us to the most neglected areas for church planting, Rural Canada. Since the past twenty-two years of our ministries were primarily urban-focused, we are gearing ourselves up to help churches in rural areas plant churches.
Executive Director, Rev. Alex Pacis at Leamington International Fellowship for their Inauguration Day. (August 8, 2021)
This vision may come as very audacious to many, but as we remain faithful and committed to the direct commission given by Jesus to the church, which is "go and make disciples of all nations..." we will see this vision come to fruition.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." It reminds us about the need to embrace and instill this vision into our hearts; only then will we see our future being realized. The coming year will be our "Annus Mirabilis"!
