Union Gospel Mission to hold spring supper in Steinbach

An evening of blessings will be held at the Mennonite Heritage Village on March 29 when Union Gospel Mission comes to Steinbach.

“The idea of this spring supper is to share with the Steinbach community and surrounding areas what Jesus Christ is doing in our seven ministries in downtown Winnipeg,” said Martin Chidwick, development manager with Union Gospel Mission (UGM).

The mission has men’s and women’s substance abuse recovery programs, a soup kitchen for the homeless, a children’s ministry, a school, summer camps, and emergency food hampers.

“Basically, what we’re trying to do is share the joy of working for Jesus full time with many of (our) supporting families in the area of Steinbach,” noted Chidwick.

On the streets of downtown Winnipeg, UGM is seeing more and more psychotic behaviour from drug addicts, according to Chidwick, but they are being delivered from that by programing at UGM.

“We had a woman get baptized as a believer in Jesus Christ a couple of weeks ago. She was in our caring center. I was just at another ministry where one of our guys has become a cook and he went through our program here, and now he’s serving Jesus in a way that’s very practical and that’s what he can do and he’s an awesome chef.

“Those kinds of stories are abounding. We’ve had people here who have been forgiven debt by drug lords because they’re cognizant of the fact that these men and women are giving their lives over to God and they don’t want to mess with him. It’s very interesting. We have a lot of stories to share.”

One story that will be shared is by keynote speaker Pastor Gil Plante who is known to reach out to people suffering from addiction and families to provide help.

“He’s walked through addictions recovery and devoted his life to serving God. I’m going to ask him to share a little bit of his story and the way God works in a number of instances,” said Chidwick.

Plante was an addict for 25 years starting with marijuana when he was 12 years old, which progressed to cocaine, heroin, and finally crystal meth as he got older. He’s been clean for 20 years.

“I started using marijuana and in the 70s and 80s. It progressed into magic mushrooms and LSD and all kinds of different things and then I had a cocaine habit and a crack cocaine habit. I was actually doing heroin for a while and then I ended up doing crystal meth and that’s the one where I lost all my sanity. It was absolutely ferocious. It’s an evil drug. That’s really where the Lord got a hold of my heart and the divine intervention began. And finally one day it was simply, today is the day you need to make that choice. And I got on my knees and surrendered everything to him and my life has never been the same,” said Plante.

In 2010, Plante came into contact with UGM and began preaching there before he applied and received employment as its family ministries manager.

“This is probably the most challenging job that I’ve ever had and the most rewarding at the same time. It truly is an incredible honour and privilege to be our Lord’s hands and feet in a very impoverished gang affiliated area of Winnipeg,” he said.

“The inner city here in the North End lives up to its reputation and where I serve on Pritchard Avenue, the Family Life Centre, it truly is a lighthouse. It’s a lighthouse in a very dark area. We are a small team here, but we are absolutely adamant and focused on letting our light shine before men, that they see our good works and that it glorifies our Father in Heaven. That is our goal to introduce our Saviour to a lost and dying world.”

The Family Life Centre sees about 85 people a week cross its threshold and sends 1,500 children to Bible camp every year.

Chidwick said the evening is free to those who would like to come. He noted donations are welcomed, but not expected.

“We just want to bless the area and bless whoever comes and shows up and let them join us in delighting in what Christ is doing,” he said.

UGM is in need of volunteers and prayers. Chidwick said if people aren’t available to come to the March 29 event, he would welcome prayers.

UGM’s spring supper will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tickets can be had by calling Rosanne at 204-943-9904 or emailing rosanne.mclellan@gospelmission.ca.