Although everything we receive from the Father is to bless and benefit and add to our own lives, the truth is that we receive so that we have something to give away. The quicker we find ways to give away what He gives us, at His direction, the more our Father pours in. It's the way of the Kingdom. Blessing in, blessing out.

It is our belief that everyone in Abbotsford who is a christian belongs to the same church, and therefore we and every other christian church are, in effect, 'home groups' of 'the Church of Abbotsford'. As in most churches which have home groups, there are 'good ones', that are a blessing and really add to the culture and vision of the larger church, and there are 'not-so-good ones' which detract from the culture and vision and require more than their share of maintenance. We as the River, would aspire to be a home group of the church of Abbotsford that is a blessing in real terms.

In seeking God for a way to express this practically, I believe He gave us a small first step of a strategy. This is what it looks like. We send out teams of visitors to various churches around town with a very specific agenda. Very simply we want to attend the churches regular weekend service and spend the time participating in this way: to ask the Father what He is doing in this group and pray for His blessing on that.

A most important point: it is not our job to identify what is 'wrong' with the group, or what aspects of their meeting we disagree with. Quite the opposite. We are to see through God's eyes, what about them we can pray blessing on.

If we can't hear anything specific, we are to pray for God's blessing to fall on that group in the way that we would pray for our own group, that is for more of His presence, for provision of everything they need to fulfill everything God has for them, for growth in maturity and in new Christians, for leadership to step up, just anything and everything of God to fill their house and characterize the life of their group. We would also carry a small gift from the River to sow a seed of support and unity into their lives. This would all be done without attempting to attract attention to ourselves in any way, as the Father sees our obedience and will bless it. Like any act of obedience, it will bear the fruit He intended when He asked us to do it whether we see it or not. If we are asked, we could tell them exactly what we are doing: we are visiting from the River for the purpose of praying blessing on them and to express our unity with them.