Hey Team Punk Monk, Life has been feeling very busy, and my to-do list seems like it is starting to get a little long. Making sure this team of prayer partners are in the loop is one of the things on that list that I want to prioritize, so here is a quick update:

541 Prayer:

Back in September, a dozen people gathered with me to pray for the ministry of 541 Eatery & Exchange. One of the highlights of the evening was people walking around the room laying their hands on tables, chairs, doors, and windows while singing the words “The Lord bless you and keep you, The Lord make His face shine upon you… And give you peace forever.”

I’m leading another 541 Prayer Gathering this Monday (Nov 9th) at 7pm. My plan is to use some of the values of The Meeting Place Church as a lens for praying for 541. If you are interested in attending you can find out all the details here: gohop.ca/541prayer

• Please pray for discernment in knowing where these prayer gatherings are going next. Right now I’m trying to have one every other month, but watching and listening to see if they should become monthly or weekly sometime in the future.
• Pray for 541. They are doing a lot of work trying to engage with more customers and churches. They just did a soft launch of a new menu, and have been hosting a number of community suppers.
• Pray for me as I do prayer and outreach at 541 on Thursday mornings. There was a young man I had a lengthy conversation with a couple weeks ago who was very interested in coming to church at The Meeting Place. We haven’t seen him yet but I have been watching for him.

Embodied Prayer:

I’m not a very body aware person. I know my body is a gift from God but I often ignore it. I don’t get up enough when I’m on my computer. I don’t really notice feeling full so I am prone to eating too much. I’m trying to pay better attention to my body, so whenever I’m exposed to an embodied prayer practice I get excited.

Recently I learned a prayer from a Canadian Mennonite Article, that goes like this:

Christ be in my HEART, and in my loving

Christ be in my LIFE, and in my living

Christ be in my MOUTH, and in my speaking

Christ be in my EARS, and in my hearing

Christ be in my EYES, and in my seeing

Christ be in my MIND, and in my understanding

As you say these words, you place your hands (or fingers) over the body part you are praying for. The only one that isn’t obvious is for “life.” For life you touch the front of your neck, remembering that all the air, food and water you take in to live, goes through that part of your body. Alternatively you could check your pulse.

I made up a little handout to teach people this simple but meaningful prayer. I’ve used it at a number of different GOHOP prayer times now and it has been very well received. The way I practice this prayer in a group setting, is by having each person take a turn reading the prayer slowly out loud while the rest of people focus on the embodied actions. The repetition of the different voices reading the same thing over and over, helps for the prayer to soak in and stick with people longer.

I even tried this out with my church friends at The Meeting Place. As I was explaining the practice I was extra careful to give people permission to skip their turn reading (some of our folks have literacy challenges).  I started us off and read the prayer. I waited for the next person but there was just silence. I explained again about how we were going to take turns reading, and then the gentlemen to my right asked, “Could I read the prayer?” I responded “yes that would be great, thank you so much.” He read the prayer and again afterwards there was just silence. I was about to try and explain what we were doing yet again, when someone else spoke, “Could I read the prayer?” I said, “Yes please!” When the second person finished, a third person very timidly asked “Could I read the prayer as well?” At this third question I almost shed a tear. Not because I was frustrated but because I was now hearing the longing in these 3 men’s voices. “Could I read this prayer?” “Is this for me?” “There is something to this, I want to be part of it.”

After that, the prayer continued around the whole table with everyone taking a turn leading. It was really beautiful.

I could use your prayers:

I have found it to be harder than I anticipated to juggle the work of stepping into the role of pastor at The Meeting Place while maintaining all the good ministry and prayer rhythms at GOHOP. I still believe these ministries complement each other, but I’m in an intense season of building partnerships and fundraising on behalf of the church on top of all the regular things that need to happen at GOHOP, The Meeting Place, and in life in general.

I’m feeling stretched pretty thin, and finding it hard to keep up.

• Pray that I find a good rhythm in this season.
• Pray for my mental health. I have definitely experienced increased anxiety over the last few months. Unfortunately my therapist I used (and really liked) has now retired, so I’m starting over with a new person.
• Pray that I would know what tasks to prioritize.
• Pray that I would be part of strong teams.

25 Years of GOHOP!

It was great seeing so many people at GOHOP’s 25th Anniversary Celebration. I loved hearing people’s stories about the early days of Prayer for Pastors & Leaders and Barnabas Listing Prayer (both prayer times that I now get to lead). It is such a privilege to be part of this ministry that is still going strong.

If you would like to sign up for a monthly giving plan or make a donation to help support my work with GOHOP, there are 3 ways you can do that:

1. Donate Online with CanadaHelps: canadahelps.org/en/dn/53164
2. Donate by E-transfer:
   Send your e-transfer to donate@gohop.ca
   You must write “Donation for Randell Neudorf” in the message section.
   Please also include your mailing address to get a tax receipt next year.
3. Donate by Cheque: randellneudorf.com/gohop/donate

Thank you so much for partnering with me in this ministry.

Grace & Peace,

Randell  Neudorf
(Randy)

Hey Team Punk Monk,

As promised in my last newsletter, here is a photo of my family, looking very spiffy at my daughter and son in law’s wedding in April.

As you can see we all clean up very nice. You might be interested to know that Zoe is wearing her Mom’s wedding dress that was transformed by a local dressmaker. Here is what Susan’s dress looked like in 1999.

Yes, that is me at 23 with hair!  I’m told (often) by my family that I’m too nostalgic, so I better move on to updates about what is happening in the here and now.

Changes at The Meeting Place Church:

At the end of June, my pastor Sue Carr will be retiring from The Meeting Place. Sue has been pastoring this little community for the last 20 years as a volunteer. The church started as a chapel service at the Mission Services men’s shelter. It later moved to the 541 Eatery & Exchange coffee house when Sue was the Executive Director of 541. 

I’ve been part of The Meeting Place in a number of ways for the past 5 years. I’ve done discipleship training, led music, taught spiritual practices, and most recently I have been doing prayer & outreach hours at the coffee house on Thursday mornings. Thanks to a grant from Mennonite Church Eastern Canada, this was the first time someone was being paid by this scrappy little street church. 

When Sue first told me about her plan to retire, I knew I was going to have to take some time to discern what my role should be in the next season of this church. I took a couple months to pray, meet with a spiritual director, and discern with a few friends. 

During this discernment time, I knew pretty quickly that I wasn’t being called away from what I’m doing at GOHOP, but I also felt like there was something pulling me further into my church and ministry at 541. As my spiritual director pointed out, “It feels like it is alive when you talk about The Meeting Place and 541.” I also found it really helpful talking to Ian, my boss at GOHOP about how the church work I was doing fit so well within GOHOP’s values and mission. 

So to get to the point, I’m saying yes to being the next pastor of The Meeting Place, while still continuing my existing prayer ministry within GOHOP. I’m not able to volunteer my time in the same way Sue did, so I’ll be waiting to officially be installed as the pastor until after I’ve done some fundraising. 

I’m very thankful for the fundraising training the GOHOP staff team has been going through this year. It has been very helpful and timely. I kept thinking to myself, “I wish I had this practical step by step advice when I first started out at GOHOP.” With that in mind, I have decided that over the summer and fall, I’m going to implement all the fundraising lessons I’ve been learning towards this new opportunity within my church. My starting goal is to raise $1500 a month for The Meeting Place. That will allow me to do 10 hours a week for the church as the Pastor. That gets things started, and will help me start to build up a team and dream together about what is next for this little part of the kingdom. 

Sue Carr’s last service at The Meeting Place will be at 4pm on Sunday June 28th. You are welcome to join us in celebrating her 20 years of pastoring. As always we meet at 541 Barton St. E. Here is how you can be praying for myself and The Meeting Place Church:

• Pray for Sue, as she enters retirement. She is looking forward to attending church with her husband Tony and to support him in some of the volunteering he has been doing with refugees. 
• Leading as part of a team has become really important to me. Pray that I could find the right people to be part of this team.
• Pray for my focus. Even with a good plan, fundraising is a slog. Pray that I would do the step by step work that needs to happen (creating promotional materials, building a website, letter writing, meeting with people and reaching out to churches). 
• Pray for the people that attend The Meeting Place. There isn’t a lot of stability in the lives of people living on the margins. Pray that they would continue to feel connected even though change is always hard. 
• Pray for affordable and safe housing. Homelessness and precarious housing is a sad reality in our community. Being homeless greatly increases all your risk factors and decreases your life expectancy. We just had a funeral for a young man who had been homeless for a number of years. Many of our new friends who have been dropping by for church are also homeless. 

Prayer Truck:

For one week every year, GOHOP turns the back of a U-haul truck into a street level prayer room. We park this Prayer Truck behind an at risk youth centre called Living Rock Ministries (30 Wilson St. at the corner of Hughson St. N.).

The Prayer Truck is a beautiful chance to pray for the streets and people of downtown Hamilton. IIt is amazing what a couple of chairs, some cold water and a sign that reads “Need Prayer?” can accomplish. We build friendships and pray for:

• Youth from the Rock.
• Homeless people who frequent the core.
• Professionals who work downtown.
• Neighbours in apartment buildings.
• Visitors having fun at local restaurants and attractions.

Really it could be anyone who lives, works, or plays downtown. For some people that is a choice, for others it is just how they survive. 

If you live in Hamilton, consider dropping by the Prayer Truck between June 12 and June 19th. All the details of how you can participate are posted here: https://www.gohop.ca/prayertruck

If you want to drop by while I’ll be hosting the truck, here are my shifts:

• Sat. June 13th, 6pm-8pm
• Mon. June 15th, 4pm-8pm
• Tue. June 16th, 4pm-8pm (with a special Asah Art & Music night from 6-8)
• Wed. June 17th, 10am-4pm
• Fri. June 19th, Noon-2pm

Here is how you can be praying for the Prayer Truck:

• Pray for God to meet people in good and surprising ways. Pray for the hosts to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and strangers passing by to be curious about prayer. 
• Pray for the staff and volunteers of Living Rock Ministries. Pray that they would be encouraged by the prayer truck and that they would know that they don’t do their work alone.
• Pray for at-risk youth. The Rock recently sent us a prayer request and went something like this, “Pray that the youth would have the courage to take the very next step in front of them.”

Thank You For Being A Ministry Partner!

The only reason I have the privilege of doing the prayer ministry I do, is because you have said yes to being a partner with me in this ministry. It is the prayers, donations, and encouraging messages of people like you that allows crazy kingdom ideas like Prayer Trucks & Steet Churches to happen. Thank you for your partnership!

If you would like to sign up for a monthly giving plan or make a donation,  there are 3 ways you can do that:

1. Donate Online with CanadaHelps: canadahelps.org/en/dn/53164
2. Donate by E-transfer:
   Send your e-transfer to donate@gohop.ca
   You must write “Donation for Randell Neudorf” in the message section. 
   Please also include your mailing address to get a tax receipt next year.
3. Donate by Cheque: randellneudorf.com/gohop/donate

Asah: Creativity & Prayer

Lastly, I posted a short video reel on Instagram about our Asah: Creativing & Prayer workshop in May. We were illustrating a Taize worship song. You can watch that here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYj1T_EOz4t/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== 

I would love to hear what things you have been up to in your own creativity. Creativity isn’t just about the arts, it is about problem solving, trying new things, rearranging furniture, or just turning off the beaten path once in a while.

Grace & Peace,

Randell (Randy) Neudorf