God at Work: a Testimony of Prophecy, Provision and People Amid Poverty

It looks like a dangerous place, with smelly streets and dark, foreboding alleys. It is filled with crime and sketchy-looking people, with “issues” that seem beyond the abilities of ordinary people to address.

And it’s exactly the place Jesus Christ would go to.

“It” is Skid Row: the 21st-Century Samaria. In Vancouver, it’s the Downtown East Side, and other cities have similar areas. And the fact is, it is a mission field, like any faraway place that’s usually associated with mission work. While politicians and activists generally talk about the issues in terms of amounts of money being spent or physical services to be provided, the key to improving the lives of the people lies in providing hope – the hope that only Jesus Christ can bring.

This book is here to encourage you to look beyond the media reports and the public “face” of Skid Row areas like the Downtown East Side and get involved in ministering that hope, and it begins by introducing you to the people in the area: people the author met during ten years as a pastor at “rescue” missions. These people are, truly, God At Work.
And if you wanted proof of the love God has for the people there, the second part of the book describes how He brought together a project that seemingly ran against the odds: a facility to provide showers to people in the area. The organization that launched the project had nothing but an empty space, an idea, and maybe $200 in the bank. But they turned the project over to God, and He, often in miraculous ways, made it happen.

God At Work, indeed.

“Drew Snider tells a moving story of what God has been doing in the Downtown East Side of Vancouver. An inexhaustible capacity for disappointment is a requirement for ministry, but so is the ability to see nuggets of gold along the way. This story is full of unpredictable twists and turns, but gold is mined, and lives are changed by encountering the Spirit of Jesus Christ.”
(Charles Price, pastor-at-large, The People’s Church, Toronto)