Sharing the Good News!

Hello there, thanks for popping in friend!

This page is intended primarily to share information with the members of my home church (and others I know personally on my journey of faith). I pray that this note finds you well and that you are finding many ways to grow stronger in faith and service to our community. I wanted to take the time to share about an exciting opportunity on our discipleship journey and invite you to join me on this pathway to peace as we are all called to be ministers of the gospel. Our transitional pastor Reg Toews at FGCC (along with staff) have asked me to be a point person this spring for our church as we lean into an evangelism and discipleship thrust in our city. As our current mission states, we are “To be a covenant community that loves God, disciples one another and reaches out from the river to the ends of the earth.” As we have been through a series of transitional conversations over the months, it is apparent that we can all grow in this call. Although I too am humbled by this process, I am happy to lend my time and voice to support the following initiative this spring.

I have been a member of FGCC since Easter Sunday 2000. Although I have known about Jesus all of my life, those seeds of faith took many years for my roots to go deep down into the soil of God’s word. Grateful for all the seeds of faith throughout my life then and now. I was first introduced to the ministries of FGCC as I was drawn into this community through the moms group in the early 90’s. That ministry and key individuals sharing Jesus with me, (along with the Billy Graham outreach initiative in 1995) all played an instrumental role in my life in more fully embracing the gospel. As such, I experienced salvation assurance, deliverance and started my path towards real life change- all as a result of a simple prayer in 1996.

If you know me, you know I am passionate about hearing the gospel message shared through teaching or testimony and when we as a body of believers are called to share it one on one or to the masses. I just want to “speak the name of Jesus!”

I have met tons of ministries, been introduced to numerous evangelism and discipleship resources in my 25+ years of walking more closely with Jesus. I’d like to introduce you to a few leaders in ministry and the organizations they represent in this post. One of them being Sean Cruickshank with E3 whose aim is to "Equip God's people to evangelize His world and establish healthy reproducing churches around the world.” One of the ways to help do just that is through training events. I went to a few leader events and have become familiar with their resources and came away very encouraged. One focusing on the simple yet profound parable Jesus taught his disciples in Mark chapter 4, the Parable of the Seed and Sower. We can look at this in the 4 stages described:

1. ENTRY: Jesus went into “open or empty fields”. What are our empty fields? I.e, those places in our communities where we are strategically placed in this city or our neighbourhoods, workplaces etc. We will look at how Jesus went into the fields who didn’t know him personally yet to reveal His character. Do we have the Greatest Commandment before us to love God and to love neighbour as ourselves? If we do, we’d recognize the open fields that are ready to share the love of Christ.

2. GOSPEL: Jesus references the farmer sowing the seeds on the ground in the field of the gospel. He describes the types of soil the seeds fall into, but that shouldn’t keep the sower from sowing the seeds. God loves all people and wants to share His love with all. We will unpack some key resources like how to share the story of God in 3 minutes (“The 3 Circles”), and sharing the gospel through a glimpse of our own story in 1 minute. Yes, it’s possible as I have done it. (a mini miracle for this wordy one!)

3. DISCIPLESHIP: As the seeds take root in good soil, the crops (or people of faith) start to grow in many ways holistically (spiritually, emotionally, relationally etc.) This is best described as making disciples of Jesus Christ. The great commission is all about making disciples of every nation. It’s incredible to note how our mission field is both across the globe and right here locally, at the “river”. The nations (or so many of them), are right here among us.

4. CHURCH: The parable takes about the harvest producing a crop and multiplying. The harvest analogy is seen throughout all the new testament and it is crucial to note that God is the God of the harvest? Will we be among those he will someday say “Good and faithful servant”? or not. It is written “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.” (Matthew 9:37-38).

5. LEADERS: We are called to look at scripture as to what God’s leaders are called to do, to equip the body God’s people to do His work, and to build up the church.( Ephesians 4:11-12) As they do, they are drawing people to the heart of God, through Jesus and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, in order to be sent out and continue to plant seeds of faith and repeat the supernatural process as described in the parable of the sower.

Living the Greatest Commandment & Commission!

I don’t know about you, but I know I could be sharing my faith more often, more boldly and fearing/ obeying God and desiring His name to be made known through my prayers, words and actions. The Bible clearly tells us it’s NOT about empty religion, but it is all about a vibrant, love filled relationship with God. It’s not about the latest trend in evangelism training, it’s about getting excited about the gospel of Jesus Christ and learning how to share your faith in a very natural way through your God given personality. As local churches continue to reframe vision and mission statements, we must never loose sight of the simplicity of God’s vision an mission- the Greatest Commandment (Matthew 22:34-40) and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20)!

I’d like to introduce you to Sean Cruickshank from E3 by way of this short 2 minute video as he shares about an exciting opportunity for us to grow in confidence in sharing the gospel and love of God with the world!

These last few years have been hard, no doubt. Grace is covering us all. As the Lord does his reconciling work among us, we can walk in unity knowing He will build His church. This church includes my home base of FGCC, but also the people of God that is meeting in multiple churches, living rooms or meeting spaces throughout this city, province, nation and world. It is an honour to walk by faith with you. Together we can continue the journey of transformation by knowing Jesus personally and then making his name known! (See details below.) Reach out if you have any questions- but I highly encourage you to register for one or both training dates coming up in April- you will be so glad you did. It truly is life changing when we discover or rediscover how simple yet powerful it is how God choses us to share His story through us. Hope to see you at one of the upcoming spring training dates. More follow up info to come!

Your sister in Christ,

Jodi Kozan 306-220-8176 contact@jodikozan.com

Training Dates/ Options

There are two options for training coming up-

• 1) a city wide initiative on April 22nd full day training date with Disciple a City from 9am-9pm or

• 2) a 3 hour training hosted at FGCC with E3 for our people and partnering churches on April 26th 6-9pm

April 22nd, 2023 9-9pm @ Ebenzer Baptist Saskatoon

Disciple a City is hosting a full day training event from 9am-9pm on Saturday April 22nd 2023. This event is aimed at equipping all Christ followers to share the gospel and learn ways in which to disciple new believers. This training day is hosted at Ebenezer baptist church in Saskatoon (107 McWillie Avenue in the Silversprings area). This full day training event involves teaching, training, prayer, mentorship, and opportunities to share with one another hands on experiences from that day. To Register for the April 22nd Training day with Disciple a City, click here!

April 26th, 6-9pm at Forest Grove Community Church Saskatoon

Forest Grove Community Church (My home church), is hosting a training time for our church community on Wednesday April 26th, 2023 from 6-9pm. As requested by our staff team, I am helping to organize this as we host Sean Cruickshank from E3 Ministry Canada www.e3ministry.ca www.iamsecond.com to come and personalize a focused training session on sharing the gospel and creative ways to disciple new believers. Sean has extensive experience training others with E3’s resources and are being shared with Disciple a City/ Every Disciple Sent ministries initiatives this spring. If you have any questions regarding this training night, feel free to reach out to me or our transitional lead Pastor Reg Toews at FGCC.

To contact FGCC at 502 Webster Street Saskatoon, https://www.forestgrovecommunitychurch.com/ 306-933-2266 To register, click the link!

PLUS- on Sunday, April 30th 2023, I will be involved with hosting a city wide prayer and worship night at 7pm at my home church. The focus is to give praise to God and bless the churches and all God’s people in our city and province to be the Church we are called to be. Information coming soon.

Additional Resources