Who's To Blame?

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The blame game. We all play it. Blame the traffic if we're late. Blame the weather if we get into an accident. Blame the hockey game if we didn't study for a test. Taking responsibility for our own actions is the first step in living a healthy spiritual life. Today Tom Eng examines another episode in the life of Elisha the prophet, in the ending of the siege of the city of Samaria.

Vision Focus Group Meetings

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As our church approaches its 100th year, we are giving each of you a chance to participate in seeking God's vision for our church. To that end, a series of focus group meetings will be held where you can be a part of shaping the future of our church.

To prepare for the meetings, and to find out where and when a focus group is happening, we are making available the discussion guidelines and schedule for download.

Download Link:
CPC Vision Focus Group discussion guide

If you are unable to attend the meetings, or if you would prefer to participate online, we will be starting a series of "Vision Posts" over the next few weeks, where you will be able to give your thoughts and participate in an online discussion.

Jesus Pushes The Limits

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Do you have a friend who is a source of trouble in your life? Not bad trouble, just the kind of person who gets you into predicaments that you never would have otherwise gotten yourself into? A person who gives your life some adventure? In today's message, Donna Dong uncovers the adventure in the Christian life, as she explains how Jesus pushes our limits.

Volunteer Sunday

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A few weeks ago we held a Volunteer Sunday event to focus on the many opportunities at CPC to serve God with the gifts and abilities that He gave us.

It was fun to see all the ministry leaders setting up their booths in the morning and comparing displays!

If you are interested in volunteering at CPC, here is a list of ministries that need your help. And we also have some immediate opportunities available. You can also just click on the Get Involved tab at the top of this site for more information.

Thanks for serving with us!

Discipline Yourself to Pray

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This Sunday, Rev. Wing Mak spoke on disciplining ourselves to pray. I found his message particularly insightful as I am currently reading through the book Prayer by Philip Yancey.

Rev. Mak focused on Luke 18:1-8 and said that prayer is the avenue that God uses to bless His people. We were encouraged to visit  the Brooklyn Tabernacle in NY as they are a church that puts prayer first. Every first week of the year they have nightly prayer meetings and throughout the year they have different prayer groups praying in their church 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The presence of God is very real there and His power is evident in the number of their conversions.

So do you discipline yourself to pray?

Jesus wants us to pray like the widow in Luke 18. He says that we should always pray and never give up. He also lays out ttwo principles of prayer:

  1. What we pray for should be a matter of personal concern - we should be sincere in our prayers and not mechanical. This will happen if we pray about things that we are personally concerned about and not just things that we think we should be praying for. Philip Yancey echoes this in his book as well.

  2. Don't give up praying - the judge in Luke 18 answerd the widow because she was so persistent. However, God doesn't answer His people's prayers right away. We give up praying because we don't get the answer in our timing.


Rev. Mak also gave us three reasons not to give up praying:

  1. God wants to test our faith when He doesn't answer our prayers right away. Do you believe that God alone is able to answer your prayer? This is a test of our faith.

  2. It's a test of our motives. What is our motive for presenting our requests to God? Is it pure? Or is it to satisfy our selfish ambitions?

  3. It's a test of our patience. When you pray, let God answer in His own way, in His own time. The discipline to pray is lacking today because we trust other things besides God.


The message concluded with this thought: when we pray, we honour God because ultimately He is the one responsible for our results and these are the results that will last.

And here's a quote from Philip Yancey's book on disciplining yourself to pray:
For years I resisted a regular routine of prayer, belieivng that communication with God should be spontaneous and free...Eventually I learned that spontaneity flows from disciline. Leonardo da Vinci spent ten years drawing ears, elbows, hands, and other parts of the body in many different aspects. Then one day he set aside the exercises and painted what he saw. Likewise, athletes and musicians never become great without regular practice. I found that I needed the discipline of regularity to make possible those exceptional times of free communication with God.

 I hope you will be encouraged to start (or continue) praying regularly!