“We need to be sensitive to if God is arranging something for us to do”

Craig Macartney
Spur Ottawa Writer

Terry Orchard knows that if you want to be in step with God, you have to be ready to change your plans and seize the opportunities He brings. So when someone called his church by accident, the Britannia Baptist Church pastor says he struck up a conversation.

The caller was a staff member from Larga Baffin, a boarding home for Inuit from Baffin Island who are in Ottawa for medical treatment.

“I just kept talking and asked them why they were calling,” Orchard states. “They said they were looking for different groups to come in and provide services in their chapel, so I said, ‘We would be interested.’ This was not of our plan. It was totally of God.”

They held their first Saturday-night service at the temporary residence in early January, 2017. Britannia Baptist is a small church and they didn’t want to take on more than they could manage, so they initially only committed to doing one service each month.

“We haven’t had a service yet where there hasn’t been at least one person break down in tears.”

“But even after the first meeting we were so touched and ministered to by the people there that we strongly felt God wanted us to minister more than once a month. We are now ministering the first and third Saturday evening of each month. We haven’t had a service yet where there hasn’t been at least one person break down in tears.”

Orchard says they never know how many people will come as the community population fluctuates. The facility has 80 beds, but with friends or family members accompanying relatives in crisis, the centre could hold up to 125. Some residents stay only for a few days while undergoing tests. Others stay several months as they recover from surgery.

“Many come from Christian backgrounds in Baffin Island. Some are facing major tragedies in their families. We look at this [primarily] as ministry to brothers and sisters in Christ who are far away from home. They need that encouragement through music and the Word that their spirits may be lifted up.”

Lallaine Newall leads worship for Britannia Baptist’s Larga Baffin services. She says from the first day they saw how much music impacted the guests, especially when they sang hymns.

“We basically minister to the spiritual needs and loneliness of the people from Baffin Island,” she says. “Even though a lot of them do not speak English, you can tell in their faces they understand the music. When they know the hymn they sing it in their own language, while we are singing in English.”

“I was in tears, singing at the front, while everybody was going around giving each other hugs.”

As they sang together, Newall says many “cried and brought out their heavy burdens through those tears.”

During a service in April, they offered hugs to anyone who wanted one. Newall says she could tell the guests were longing for the sense of love and comfort a hug can bring.

“I saw the old and young and people in the wheel chairs in tears being hugged. I, myself, was in tears, singing at the front, while everybody was going around giving each other hugs.”

The next service they had, in early May, Orchard says they had another encouraging sign that God is at work.

“A woman from Baffin Island came to faith in Christ at our service.”

He says they feel so privileged to be able to minister to the Larga Baffin guests, encouraging fellow believers and giving hope to those who don’t know Christ.

Speaking of the initial wrong phone call, Orchard says, “We need to be sensitive to if God is arranging something for us to do. If I had cut off the conversation or hadn’t kept talking, things may not have progressed to where they are now.”