Chris and Matt travelled together to Kenya this past fall.
Chris Atkinson is VMC’s Liaison with our sister organization – Vision Ministries Kenya (also a VMC pastor at Pinewoods Chapel, Angus, ON)) and Matt Craig pastors at another VMC church – Don Valley Bible Chapel in Toronto, ON.
One of the best parts of the trip was the great way they worked together.
It seemed like such a gift that God had orchestrated these two men to work together and to use their complimentary gifts for the good of the kingdom of God.
Chris describes Matt as a strong Bible teacher with a pastoral gifting while he is more of a preacher. Matt has pastoral gifts which “calms the feathers” while Chris knows how to ask questions and encourage critical thinking – which sometimes “ruffles the feathers.” Matt is detailed while Chris is more of a big picture thinker.
Chris and Matt were clear on the purpose of their trip and their shared goal of assisting VMK – so they allowed each other to shine. They gave permission to each other to interrupt each other’s teachings. If someone was stuck, the other one would jump in and offer further explanation. Chris was great at thinking of useful illustrations while Matt was good at digging deep into biblical texts.
And the icing on top? They are both introverts. So at the end of the day, they were happy with silence. And both could understand the joy in that. 🙂
God was present in the joy of working well with a brother in Christ and the joy of shared purpose and complimentary gifting.
This is the goodness of God.
