Stories From the Homes of Chilliwack by Scott Street

Our network of house churches – Chilliwack House Churches – has been operating for just over 2 years. One of the main focuses of our network is building relationships with those currently reserved Canadians are. We continue to work hard at taking the actions we believe will result in people coming to understand who Jesus is and dying to themselves to follow him. We are glad to be able to share a few highlights with you from our journey.

One of our participants has been coaching his thirteen year old son’s baseball for the past couple of years. For him and his son they view this as our youth ministry. They have run into many young men from broken homes, specifically homes without a male presence. They have intentionally worked to be Jesus through this opportunity and have invested heavily into their teams. This has included giving lots of rides to games and practices, taking one boy on vacation with them for a week, and having their entire family participate in including them in their family. A couple of months ago one of the boys, when asked by his single mother what he wanted to do for his birthday, said that he wanted to have his coach and their family over for a celebratory meal. I really think this speaks to the depth of relationship they have been able to build through intentional living that a teenage boy chose to have his coach over for his birthday meal over any of his friends.

Another couple in our network has been intentionally building a relationship with two couples. Recently they started to study a parenting book with these other couples. Often the conversation trends towards their deep desire community.

One of the house churches has been working hard to develop relationships within the townhouse complex of the facilitators. They recently hosted a brunch inviting some of these neighbours over. They are seeing people who are open to building relationships and taking about spiritual matters.

All of these stories, and many more, give us hope as we move forward. Our belief is that if we continue to build strong relationships and invest in those who do not follow Jesus that we will be used by the Holy Spirit to expand the Kingdom. We ask that you pray with us and for us as we work to be missionaries in our neighbourhoods and that we would be sensitive to the Holy Spirit on our journeys.

Children’s Pastors Retreat – Kawkawa Camp, Hope, BC

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Children’s Pastors Retreat – Kawkawa Camp, Hope, BC
May 8, 2012 – May 10, 2012

The Children’s Pastor Retreat is held annually and is an opportunity for those that work in the area of Children’s Ministry to meet together.

“The Retreat is a great time to connect with colleagues who share a passion and understanding of the unique parameters of ministering to children and families.” Karen Quan, Richmond Chinese Alliance Church

This year it will be held at Kawkawa Camp in Hope BC on May 8-10, 2012. Registration information has been sent out to each of our churches, but for assistance please contact Larry Eide at the District Office – larrye@pacificdistrict.ca

Don’t miss out on the chance to gather with other children’s workers and share some stories – with some of the funny things that are overheard from the mouths of children at the top of that list! What’s the funniest thing you’ve heard a child say in Sunday School?

Ride 2012

You’ve probably heard murmurings about The Ride 2012 as it begins to ramp up across Canada. Ride 2012 is a practical way for you, your church, and The Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada to stand up for the marginalized and neglected in this country’s inner cities. We are raising funds for three projects in the inner cities of Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. Ride 2012 is a way for people to make a difference, either by riding or sponsoring a rider.

Ride 2012 will start in Winnipeg at the end of General Assembly. Teams of riders – bicycles and motorcycles will head east and west, making their way to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, sponsored by people that want to give back. Many of our churches and workers are jumping on board with this exciting venture – either by training up and sponsoring teams of riders, or hosting celebration sites during the Ride itself.

I had the opportunity to connect with one of the riders from our own district. Pastor Jay Ewing at Mountainview Alliance Church in Langley, BC has committed to ride from Calgary to Kelowna! I got to ask Jay a few questions about his journey to Ride 2012

Q: Why are you riding?
A: I have been a cyclist for a few years now, and when I heard about this opportunity to help support three worthy projects in Canada by doing something that I already love to do, it was a no brainer. I am particularly interested in seeing The River Community Church on the Downtown Eastside succeed. We need more churches investing in that area. I am really excited that it is a joint venture between the Foursquare Church and the Alliance; it seems like a very A.B. Simpson type of thing… to partner with others in spreading the good news, especially to those most hurting and on the fringes of society.

Q: What excites you most about the opportunity to ride?
A: A lot excites me about this Ride…cycling through some of my favourite mountain ranges of our beautiful country, doing the ride with others who desire to be involved in justice and compassion projects, and also the opportunities that our cycling training has afforded us in our local community – we are making good friendships with other cyclists who don’t necessarily know Christ.

Q: You’re training with a team of people…how many and how often do you train?
A: We have been blessed to have the Fort Langley Cyclery come alongside our riders in support of this cause. They are giving shop discounts, warm cups of espresso after long cold rides, and have even been willing to switch up their weekly group rides to accommodate some new cyclists just learning. They have been really great! So far, I am personally riding 2-3 times per week, one of those with the Fort Langley Cyclery club, but I know my mileage will have to increase as we get closer to summer (I have to get these chicken legs in shape!)

Q: What has surprised you as you’ve been preparing?
A: I have been surprised by how many people think this is a good thing, and how many people want to be involved in some way! God is good!

Q: How do you stay motivated?
A: I don’t… very easily anyway. Rainy days are tough to get on the bike, but once you get outside, it is kind of nice…no shower required! I try to think while riding about who the money that I am able to raise will go to, and what God may do with it for His kingdom, that makes it easier. It also is made easier by training with others, kilometers tick by much more quickly when you are with your friends, I am thankful for them!

Q: Has training and planning for this endeavour and fundraiser, taught you any spiritual lessons?
A: I think that it has taught me that suffering is not always a bad thing. They say the sport of road cycling is 10% skill and 90% of your ability to suffer. Some days, that definitely rings true. What little I might suffer (and I can hardly even use that term considering the context), is nothing in comparison to the true suffering experienced by so many people across our country. Christ is the answer… and if I can have any little part in bringing Christ’s love to those most broken, I am all in!

What an inspiration! Jay also put together a video as part of his fundraising campaign at the church. Take a look and see how one church is making Ride 2012 a big part of their spring! What are you doing to get ready?

Pacific District Productions Presents // Kim Olynyk

Extreme Home Improvement Project

Showing the kindness of Jesus is not an option for believers. We have been blessed to be a blessing (Genesis 12) and when we live out our calling amazing results emerge. I was thrilled to receive this testimony from Darcy Reimer from our church in Squamish. He writes;

“As a church we have adopted a single mom and her three boys. This intensified when her contractor overcharged her for the botched instalment of her bamboo flooring. Not surprising that he didn’t take responsibility for his faulty install. So we as a church heard her story, that she is working 6 jobs in order to make ends meet, and has no time to take this person to small claims court, let alone maintain her home. So we invaded her home this last Saturday with 10 people ready to work. We ended up tearing out her old floor, putting proper underlay down and new floor, all new trim, fixed her fence, re-hung broken gates, re-enforced the dilapidated shed, added new siding, fixed a leaking shed roof, added a bike rack, and hanging hooks, pressure washed the house and walk-ways – not to mention clean-up and a couple of dump runs. 13 hours later her home looked like brand new! What a joy to be able to play Holmes on Homes and walk her through all we did. And witness the tears of joy! It was like I could literally see some of the heavy burden she had been carrying around her home just lift off. Just think of the Kingdom Impact! Neighbours were coming around checking out all the activity, and when they heard the story and that this little church called the River was doing this, they were blown away. I think this is all about helping change people’s poor perception of God and the Church, one little step at a time. Please pray for Tiffany and her three boys! “

It never ceases to amaze me how acts of kindness in Jesus’ name move mountains in terms of resistance to the Gospel. May our eyes be open in new ways to see how the seeds of transformation can begin with a caring look, a pleasant smile, a helping hand or a kind word.

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Church Planting Update: New Hope

An update on New Hope Alliance Church in Surrey BC
by Pastor Jeremy Rios

Every week at New Hope Alliance Church we pray that God would send us deeper – deeper to know Him more, to experience Him more, to be more like Him. This isn’t idle prayer. We need to know God, we need to crave and depend on Him. Above all, we need His help if we are going to fulfill the mission He has called us to fulfill. This prayer recognizes that depth precedes breadth; that having a firm and rooted knowledge of God is essential if we are going to make sharing that knowledge of God with others a priority in our lives. We recognize that, as a Church, in some ways the gospel is our ‘product’ – one that is made manifest in the lives, character, and work of our people. If we don’t have a good product, we won’t sell it well, and what we do sell will be flawed.

That said, New Hope is a unique ‘church plant’. The scare quotes are appropriate because it is only recently that our members are beginning to realize the magnitude and responsibility of our call – that there is a certain and definite cost to being the Church for each other and the world. Compositionally, we are made up of some three ‘crops’ of English speaking Vietnamese Youth groups that have grown up in our midst, combined with a smattering of other ethnicities that have joined in for the ride along the way. This diverse mixture, and the natural closeness they have with one another, is one of the greatest assets that New Hope has. Still, when I first became their pastor, many of our members didn’t know the gospel. For some there was a language barrier between generations; for others, they attended for the fellowship and didn’t understand the deep, central message of the Gospel.

Because of that, New Hope’s members had no developed sense of what it meant to be Church. They were (and still are) sincere, but at that time we were still, before anything else, a church plant within the Church – in other words, we were a plant that was bringing the gospel to a new generation within the Church first. Our mission was to our own members.

We’ve seen great things happen in the past years. Many people who attended but didn’t have faith have committed their lives to Christ. We’ve had several new believers come to faith in our midst. Though small, our members have tithed faithfully. Now, three years in, New Hope’s members are beginning to get a sense – however shadowy – of the greater mission of God to which they are called. We are now beginning to learn that we have a deeper call to be a Church plant for our friends, and family, and city as well. The journey ahead will be difficult – but if we prevail it will be unimaginably rewarding.

And yet we still will pray – will always pray while I am their pastor – for depth. We want to be in Christ so that we can be for Christ. We want the gospel message, the person of Christ, to so invade our hearts and minds that we can do nothing other than be evangelists. We want our sails in the air, attentive and patient, for the wind of the Spirit to blow us where He wills. We want our eyes and ears open to observe the mission that God has laid at our feet.

So please pray for New Hope. Pray for our depth in Christ. Pray for the burden of God’s call to fall on us. Pray for a sense of urgency about the gospel message. And pray as well for a spirit of sacrifice and dedication to the work of truly becoming a Church that makes a difference in the Kingdom of God.

Pacific District Productions Presents // Karen Hardy

Pacific District Productions Presents // Larry Eide

Words From Our Founder // A.B Simpson

“The battle does us good. The conflict educates us, strengthens us, establishes us. It is necessary that we be grounded and settled and finally approved and rewarded. One of the best results of temptation is that it shows us what is in our hearts. Until temptation comes, we feel strong and self-confident; but when the keen edge of the adversary’s weapons have, pierced our souls, we have more sympathy with others and less confidence in our own self sufficiency.”-A.B Simpson

Pacific District Productions Presents //Nicki Lundrigan