Things Happening in July!

-SERVE is happening July 3-9^th in Nelson, BC! Please keep our young people in mind as they engage in service projects and take time to focus on the Lord.

– Kurios students! Make sure you apply by July 15 to secure your bursary! Click HERE for more info.

-Registration for Banff Pastor’s Conference opened July 1^st! Earlybird deadline is September 8^th. Click HERE for more info.

Celebrating Milestones with our CBWC Family Members!

Calvary Baptist Church, Chemainus, BC turns 125!

Saturday, June 25^th, 2022 was a day of great celebration for Calvary Baptist Church at 3318 River Road in Chemainus, BC. The warm sun was a welcome invite to our party! What a privilege to be in the community of Chemainus for one hundred and twenty-five years! During those years, 1897-2022, the congregation met in three different church buildings, with our current one built by the congregants themselves in the mid-80s.

We celebrated our anniversary making great use of our spacious 14.25-acre property. As people were welcomed in, they could peruse tables of historical details, read stories, look at photos, and even see a framed cradle roll from the 50s! Current ministries were also highlighted to ensure that folks who might be new to our church would get a sense of who we are. BBQ’d hotdogs and snacks were followed up with celebratory cupcakes, and jumbo freezies were passed out to anyone needing a cool down! Opportunities to visit and reminisce were endless. Under tents over in the field, we enjoyed live music, while the kids jumped in a bouncy castle, played organized sports or made a craft. The day ended with highlighting those folks who have been part of this church the longest. Two of the honorees were a couple that have been attending since 1967. The longest serving pastor at Calvary Baptist was Rev. A.E. Cook, 1910-1940. The second longest serving is our current pastor, Rev. Edgar Unrau, has served from 2010-present. We were blessed to have approximately 170 folks on our property to commemorate this milestone event. The Lord has been faithful to us through all the joys and adversities over the span of 125 years. We are grateful to be in this community serving our Saviour!

Gull Lake Centre’s 100th (and 2nd!) Celebration!

In 1920 Dr. C.C. McLaurin and 13 other pastors met at Dr. McLaurin’s cottage on Gull Lake and decided to create a space set aside as “a place to play and pray.’ 100 (and 2!) years later, we (finally!) got to celebrate a milestone anniversary of this ministry, the decades of God’s faithfulness, and the countless lives changed here at camp. It was a special day of celebration with over 400 old and new Gull Lakers in attendance. There was food, balloons, games, and a warm sense of joy and homecoming.

Spotlight: CBM | Responding in Times of Need

According to the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR), more than 6.2 million people have fled Ukraine; the vast majority of these are women, children and the elderly. There are more than 3.3 million refugees in Poland alone, along with more than 924,000 in Romania, more than 610,000 in Hungary and more than 464,000 in Moldova. Inside Ukraine, roughly 7.7 million people are internally displaced as a result of the conflict, which is equivalent to 17.5 % of the entire population.

The Ukrainian Baptist Union Coordination Centre continues to distribute aid across Ukraine. As of May 20^th, they have sent out at least 320 vehicles filled with humanitarian supplies from their warehouse. Churches inside Ukraine continue delivering food, medicine and other necessities to those in need, some of whom are still sheltering in basements.

The Donetsk and Luhansk regions continue to experience heavy shelling. Local churches continue to provide aid and are helping to evacuate those wishing to leave. About 60,000 people remain in the free Luhansk region and are in need of humanitarian goods. A team of volunteers from a local church have been serving those by helping refugees leave, bringing medicine and food, and visiting basements and bomb shelters. Because of the heavy shelling, the city of Lysychansk has no electricity or water supply.

On Easter Day, church services were held across Ukraine, with many non-Christians attending. In the Chernihiv region alone, 25 people gave their life to Jesus during the Easter celebrations. 

In Irpin, a local church is housing a team of up to 70 volunteers. The team repairs damaged homes, delivers hot food to the armed forces, and welcomes people into the church to wash their clothes, charge their phones and receive food and clothing. Pastors and deacons are on hand to provide pastoral care.

As well as responding to the needs created by the conflict, congregations such as the Church of the Resurrection in the Odessa region continue to provide practical support to blind people and run rehabilitation centres for people struggling with drug addiction.

The Baptist Union in Moldova is operating four refugee shelters with space for over 700 people per day. Two of those centres are being run at camps, housing 400 people per day with the support of 75 volunteers. Refugees are also volunteering in the centres, including a refugee who is a trained chef and is helping to prepare meals.

Immediately after the conflict broke out in Ukraine, 50% of churches in the Polish Baptist Union cancelled all their meetings and opened their doors as shelters for Ukrainian refugees. The shelters in churches and seminaries are providing hot drinks and meals, personal hygiene supplies and beds to approximately 1,600 people per day. The union is also helping to transport some goods across the border into Ukraine to support those internally displaced by the conflict. 

In Romania, our partner, All4Aid, continues to respond to the refugee crisis in a multitude of ways. In April, All4Aid completed the setup of their third and largest housing unit in Bucharest: The House of Hope. Following their principle of working with refugees, and not only for refugees, they have invited the Ukrainians staying at the other All4Aid houses to come and help. They gladly assembled beds, fixed curtains and did many other jobs to help make House of Hope a beautiful and comfortable place for the new Ukrainian refugees who are now living there.

With several rooms spread over more than 250 square metres of living space, the House of Hope is able to comfortably accommodate 40 refugees, the vast majority of whom are women and children. The house offers bedrooms with proper beds and bedding, a good number of bathrooms, a fully equipped kitchen, a dining room, as well as a common area/living room. In the area outside there is even a playground for the children.

In addition to housing refugees, the team makes trips from Romania across the border into Ukraine with food and hygiene supplies. All the food and supplies are handed over to partners on the ground where help is most needed. They are primarily two local churches which are acting as distribution centres for the community around them.

Visit cbmin.org for updates, prayer requests and the opportunity to give. 

(or use qr code attached)

Celebrating Rob Ogilvie’s Renewed Contract

In April, the CBWC Board was pleased to offer Rob Ogilvie an opportunity to sign on for another 5-year term as Executive Minister of the CBWC, which he agreed to. His new term began June 1, 2022. We are grateful for his ongoing desire to follow Christ and to live out this calling for this season. – CBWC President, Loralyn Lind

JustCatering – A Heart for Helping

Eighteen years ago, Grandview Calvary Baptist Church in Vancouver had a vision of helping the growing number of people in the Grandview-Woodlands neighbourhood who were struggling to find work. Through this desire, JustWork Economic Initiative was incorporated as a charity in 2006, and operates three social enterprises; JustPotters, JustCatering and JustRenos.

Like many businesses, JustCatering had to get creative during the pandemic. Their usual services of catering corporate lunch functions and dinner banquet events were suddenly put on hold. To counter this, they developed a delivery or pick up meal subscription service. Customers can now sign up for a minimum of 4 weeks and have a delicious homemade meal ready to go once a week. 

Nozomi Imanishi, manager at JustCatering, sat down with us to answer a few questions and share a delicious summer recipe!  

1. How long have you been a Manager at JustCatering?

I’ve been the manager at JustCatering for the past 2 and a half years. I began in the October before the pandemic began!

2. What led you to this position?

A friend actually asked me if I’d be interested in the position. I was working at the time in Food Rescue and Food Security at a local community centre.  

3. Can you share a little bit about the value of good food?

Sure, I think we’re all learning more about the value of good, accessible food, as we live through the current pandemic and as we see food prices continue to increase in the past few months. Good food, and access to it, allows folks to have a bit more peace of mind that they can feed themselves and the community around them.  

4. In a nutshell what is does JustCatering do and what is your mission?

JustCatering’s main mission is to provide dignified work for folks who face barriers in traditional workplaces. 

5. What kind of barriers would that be?

We have folks working with us who are in addiction recovery. We also work with folks who have a variety of mental health issues and physical disabilities.  

6. How many people do you employ?

Right now, we have 8 people on our staff. 

7. The Take and Bake meal service, when did that start up? Is that a new initiative that came out of Covid?

Yes! The Take and Bake meals were absolutely born out of the need for alternative work during the pandemic. Overnight, we had both our ongoing contracts and all special event catering canceled, and we had to figure out a new way to keep going!

Sammy Khalife – Community Baptist, Swift Current

By Jenna Hanger

Sammy Khalife has lost much over the past four years; his health, his physical heart, and his family. But what he has gained has been immeasurable—a new, bigger, loving Christian family and a faith in the Lord that has been unshakeable and life-giving in the most crucial time of his life…continue reading here.

Originally posted in Humans of CBWC facebook album on June 28, 2022. 

Jesus Gave His Church a Job…Part 3

“God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20, The Message). 

In this series (read part 1 here and 2 here), we’ve been examining the crisis of non-discipleship that the Church is finding itself in.   

The emphasis on “making disciples” from Matthew 28 is not to make good church people—those who attend and serve within a church including participation in its internal programs. While there is much good that is within this part of our life as a community of followers of Jesus, it has developed us into churchgoers but not so much as disciples. Continue reading on the church planting blog…