The Vancouver Island Churches sponsored a festival of Missions and Outreach over this last weekend, hosted by Emmanuel Baptist Church in Victoria. Luella Hillmer and many others who helped her organized an offering and profile of the work of CBM, CB West and the extraordinary initiatives that are part of the Vancouver Island churches at this time. Luella and her organizing committee should be incredibly encouraged that they reintroduced several essential narratives into the life of our churches in Vancouver Island and across Western Canada. Let me profile just a bit the kinds of things that some island churches are doing. The list is not extensive, will not include everyone, but will give you a flavor and the contact information of half a dozen examples.
Emmanuel Baptist Church (hosts a dinner for university students, which has sometimes numbered over 400. They are also gifted in the area of the Arts and intergenerational worship.
2121 Cedar Hill X Rd
Victoria, BC
V8P 2R6
Tel: 250.592.2418
Fax: 250.592.4646
Email: office@ebcvictoria.ca
Web: http://www.ebcvictoria.ca/
Elk Lake Baptist Church had a wonderful DVD on the Arts, well worth asking to see and to learn from. We are hoping to be able to offer it soon through our resource library.
5349 Pat Bay Hwy
Victoria, BC
V8Y 1S9
Tel: 250.658.8111
Fax: 250.658.8431
Email: elklakebaptist@shaw.ca
Web: http://www.elklakebaptist.ca/
New Life Community Baptist in Duncan has some incredible things to teach us around First Nations work (they are the people who are an inspiration to many people including myself, in this area). They also have some very gifted and unusual ideas serving single parent families in preparation for the new school year.
1839 Tzouhalem RD, RR #5
Duncan, BC
V9L 4T6
Tel: 250.748.6521
Fax: 250.748.6528
Email: office@newlifechurch.bc.ca
Web: http://www.newlifechurch.bc.ca
The Mustard Seed Street Church in Victoria over the last year has opened up a farm north of Duncan and would love to tell you their story.
625 Queens Ave
Victoria, BC
V8T 1L9
Tel: 250.953.1575
Fax: 250.385.0430
Email: mail@mustardseed.ca
Web: http://www.mustardseed.ca/
Crosswinds Community Church in Sidney is an example of a welcoming portal into the Christian Faith that invites people to discover Christ and then to find a permanent church home. (see their videoclip of June 6 2007 at buwc.ca) This is some of the most creative stuff any of us have experienced.
11186 Hedgerow Drive
Sidney, B.C.
V8L 5S3
Tel: 250.655.1594
Fax: 630.982.3253
Email: nka@canada.com
Web:
Gateway Baptist Church is another kind of model and point of renewal for the Christian church as it is the amalgamation of Royal Oak and New Hope. They model some very encouraging possibilities for how diverse congregations can come together and minister.
898 Royal Oak Ave
Victoria, BC
V8X 3T2
Tel: 250.658.5121
Fax: 250.658.3844
Email: gatewaybaptistchurch@shaw.ca
Web: http://www.gatewaybaptistchurch.ca/
One of the key catalysts for the whole weekend was the participation of our dear friends from CBM (including Gary Nelson, Gordon King, and Terry Smith) and our much loved Dennis Shierman, who is the CBM representative in Western Canada.
I’d like to thank Lisa Shierman, Claudia Wakeman and Shelby Gregg for their work and participation and I would like to encourage Luella and her friends to continue this in the weeks ahead as we grow and build form these most unusual models.
Warmly,
In Christ
Jeremy Bell