Around Town: Summer events, PLBC, Telecare, Riverside Christian Academy

This will be my last weekly update until September. I’m taking the summer off, and will be away for much of it, visiting family in Toronto and later attending a big family reunion in South Dakota. 

But events will carry on, if at a slower pace.

Here are several that look particularly interesting to me, as written by the presenters. (A full list of events throughout the summer can be found right at the end of this column.):

• Rev. Dr. Yohanna Katanacho: Israel & Palestine Q&A (July 3)

Palestinian Israeli Evangelical scholar Dr. Yohanna Katanacho will join us at Regent College for a Q&A session on the topic of Israel and Palestine. Join us at noon in Room 100, and feel free to bring your lunch.

Yohanna Katanacho serves as the Academic Dean at Nazareth Evangelical College. He is a Palestinian Israeli Evangelical who has taught at colleges and seminaries the world over and contributed to dozens of books in Arabic and English. This summer, Dr. Katanacho is teaching Reading the Gospel of John through Palestinian Christian Eyes.

Wednesday Lunchtime Conversations will be offered onsite at Regent College. These events are open to the public, and no registration is required.

While these lunchtime events will not be available online, many of the faculty participants are also delivering Evening Public Lectures that will be livestreamed and available for a limited time on Regent’s YouTube channel. Visit rgnt.net/live to learn more.

• A Conference with Alisa Childers (July 5 – 6)

Join us at Westside Church for a conference with podcaster, author, apologist and speaker Alisa Childers.

Alisa’s ministry primarily focuses on equipping Christians to identify the core beliefs of historic Christianity, discern its counterfeits and proclaim the gospel with clarity, kindness and truth.

We are experiencing a beautiful move of God’s Spirit and people all over greater Vancouver are searching for and finding truth, hope and healing. Jesus’ church is alive, thriving, and His Spirit is leading!

At the same time, however, many are walking away from genuine faith in Jesus as the values of our culture take precedence over the authority of God’s word. 

One of the challenges in this time of increasing polarization is the confusion and anxiety of those caught in the middle. Ordinary Christians often feel unequipped and insecure about their ability to understand scripture and how to defend their faith when loved ones dismantle Christian beliefs and deconvert. Our hope is for you to be filled with confidence as you  “contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3).

Alisa Childers is the author of Another Gospel? A book in which she describes the years-long journey she took as she wrestled with questions that struck at the core of the Christian faith and found the truth. Her new book – Live Your Truth and Other Lies: Exposing Popular Deceptions That Make Us Anxious, Exhausted and Self Obsessed – examines modern lies that are disguised as truth in today’s culture. 

• Jehu Hanciles: Global Migrations & Christian Witness (July 8)

Join Vancouver School of Theology’s Visiting Distinguished Scholar Dr. Jehu Hanciles for a fascinating look at the spread of Christianity as it became a global religion.

Drawing on his extensive scholarship on the history of Christianity, Dr. Hanciles offers a fresh take on the roles of formal mission and natural human patterns of movement in global exposure to the Christian faith.

After surveying church history from its humble beginnings through 1500 CE, Dr. Hanciles proposes that contrary to popular belief, natural human migration and the sharing of ideas and beliefs that accompanies those movements, more so than institutional missions, is most responsible for Christianity’s blossoming into a global religion.

Jehu J. Hanciles is the D.W. and Ruth Brooks Professor of World Christianity and the Director of the World Christianity Program at the Candler School of Theology. He has lived and worked in Sierra Leone, Scotland, Zimbabwe and the United States and been a visiting professor around the world. Prior to Candler, Hanciles was associate professor of the history of Christianity and globalization and director of the Center for Missiological Research at Fuller Theological Seminary.

• Allen Des Noyers in Concert (July 13)

Join us for a wonderful evening of story and song with Allen des Noyers. A remarkably talented individual, Allen is a musician, composer, actor and playwright, co-founder of Pacific Theatre, as well as the founder of the Rosebud Theatre and founder and director of Canadiana Musical Theatre.

Allen is currently in the midst of recording an album of songs from his very first musical back in 1984, which marked the start of the Rosebud Theatre.

He will be heading to Rosebud, Alberta this summer to perform a concert on the 40th anniversary of the theatre he launched there. It will be the first time he’s been on the Rosebud Opera House stage since he created the space for his first show. This concert is an opportunity for a sneak preview of the music on his forthcoming album.

This is a free event for the whole community and donations will be collected at the door to support the release of the new album.

• David Ley: Postmodern Urban Spaces – a City Tour (July 20)

Dr. David Ley, Professor Emeritus of Urban Geography at UBC, will take us through Vancouver’s downtown and inner city districts, highlighting the changing social values of postmodern culture as they are expressed and reproduced in the urban landscape.

Using the built environment of Vancouver as a model, he’ll illustrate various views and challenges of the postmodern city.

Join us for this city tour to gain a deeper understanding of how to we can read cities by their urban landscape. Dr. Ley’s teaching on the development of urban spaces gives concrete form to the concepts of postmodernity and pluralism, offering insight into the city as a mission field.

The charter bus will begin at Regent College departing at 9:30 am (arrive by 9 am) and will travel through Westside neighbourhoods to Downtown, through Gastown, the Downtown Eastside, Chinatown, Granville Island, Fairview Slopes, Shaughnessy, and Oakridge. We will return to Regent at 1 pm.

• Certificate in Missional Leadership (5 Saturday mornings, September 28, 2024 – April 26, 2025)

And finally, a valuable program to look forward to in the fall. The Centre for Missional Leadership is offering a year-long five-session program developed to educate, empower and equip church leaders and congregations – the Certificate in Missional Leadership:

An increasing number of churches are smaller in size and without full-time, or even part-time clergy. Congregations may find themselves longing for a return to the time when their buildings were full(er) and they had a full pastoral staff.

Are these churches inevitably on a path to dissolution? Perhaps there is a different way of being the church. One that can redirect energy toward participating in the movement of the Spirit.

At the Centre for Missional Leadership, we believe that a renewed imagination is emerging in the Canadian church landscape. There are new and creative ways of being the church that can lead to a more invigorating and sustainable future; not only for smaller churches but for larger churches in need of change. The goal of the Certificate Program is to equip leadership teams from congregations to explore alternative pathways.

Sign up before June 30 and groups will receive a copy of a book by one of the CML authors:

• Christianity: An Asian Religion in Vancouver, by Albert Chu
• Forming Christian Communities in a Secular Age, by Tim Dickau
• Better than Brunch: Missional Churches in Cascadia, by Ross Lockhart

Email [email protected] for more information or to register.

PLBC returning to base

Matthew DelBlanc, President of Pacific Life Bible College (PLBC) announced recently that the school will be “consolidating back to one campus” as of this fall.

Three years ago, Pacific Life Bible College embarked on an experiment, moving the bulk of its classroom instruction and some of its offices to a ‘city campus’ on the fourth floor of City Centre 2 in downtown Surrey.

The music program, dorms and the cafeteria carried on at the ‘south campus,’ from which the school had operated for decades.

Consolidation will take place at the more southerly campus, which is on 66A Avenue, just west of 152nd Street. The area used to have a somewhat rural ambience – and still retains considerable open space – but is now surrounded by suburban housing.

DelBlanc said during an online ‘Town Hall Meeting’ June 24 that there was “resounding feedback” from alumni, current students and staff that they should go back to one campus.

He said there are several advantages to moving back to one campus, but noted:

The biggest reason that we are doing it, the why of the whole rigamarole, is community. We recognize that the two-campus model really was a huge detriment, let’s be honest, to the community experience of our students – the connecting after class and staying together and being in an atmosphere where that was natural. . . .

Community is one of our stated values, and so we want to express our values in our actions.

The PLBC announcement also referred to two other initiatives: “Our core is upgrading” and “Our programs are being realigned.” Go here for the PLBC statement and a one-hour video of the Town Hall Meeting.

Pacific Life Bible College actually began classes in 1972 as a ministry of Open Bible Chapel in Vancouver before moving out to Surrey and affiliating with Bible Chapel in 1978. Go here for the timeline.

I wrote about my one and only visit to the city centre campus, last spring.

Telecare needs volunteers

Bill Strom, Executive Director of Telecare Crisis & Caring Line sent out this invitation June 19:

Dear church leaders in Vancouver,

As a Christian ministry serving people in BC and throughout Canada, we rely on volunteers to join us and serve on the phone line.

Would you be willing to provide this opportunity to your people? You may do so by posting this poster, or by distributing it via email. Or you may cut-and-paste the following announcement in your digital footprint.

Telecare Crisis & Caring Line seeks people with big hearts and great listening skills to join our volunteer team of call responders. We attempt to be the heart and compassion of Jesus to people struggling with diverse mental, relational, and spiritual issues.  

Telecare began in Australia in the 1950s and has began locally as Central Fraser Valley Telecare in 1989. Now known as the Telecare Crisis & Caring Line, their service is available province wide through a toll free number.

Contact the office: 604-852-4058 or [email protected]

Riverside Christian Academy

A small school in Langley has received provincial approval to operate. Riverside Calvary Chapel recently posted this notice:

We are pleased to announce that the Riverside Education Society has received approval from the Ministry of Education and Child Care to open and operate Riverside Christian Academy.

In September of 2024 we will begin operating as an Interim Group 3 Certified (K-Gr.3) school at Riverside Calvary Chapel in Langley, B.C. 

As a Group 3 Independent School, we trust the Lord to provide the finances at RCA, both for RCC and for individual families that choose to register. 

The school will be fully inspected in the fall and expects, upon resolution of any compliance issues identified during the inspection, to be issued full certification by the B.C. Ministry of Education and Child Care shortly thereafter.  

There are two options at this stage: Level 1 Learners: Kindergarten Academy (5 years) and Level 2 Learners: (6 – 8 years). Go here for more information.

Jun 2024

The Artists Project: Look! This is My Faith – June 25, 2024 - June 27, 2024 at All Day
Aiden Kirkegaard: Tracing Memory – June 27, 2024 - August 9, 2024 at All Day
MHM Books & Borscht: Janet E. Boldt – June 27, 2024 at 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Prayer & Fasting Gathering: Loving Muslims Together Network – June 28, 2024 at All Day
Day of the Christian Martyr – June 29, 2024 at 12:00 am
Worship Invasion Loves Langley – June 29, 2024 at 7:30 pm - 10:30 pm
Jazz Vespers featuring Wild Blue Herons – June 30, 2024 at 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Jul 2024

Israel & Palestine: Q&A with Yohanna Katanacho – July 3, 2024 at 12:00 pm - 12:45 pm
Han-luen Kantzer Komline: Innovation in Early Christianity – Creativity, History & the Christian Calling – July 3, 2024 at 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm
BC Christian Ashram – July 5, 2024 - July 6, 2024 at All Day
Canadian Christian Meditation Community: National Conference Retreat – July 5, 2024 - July 7, 2024 at All Day
A Conference with Alisa Childers – July 5, 2024 - July 6, 2024 at 7:00 pm - 4:00 pm
A Night of Music & Worship featuring Cade Thompson & Alvin Slaughter – July 5, 2024 at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Documentary film screening: Philadelphia Eleven – July 6, 2024 at 3:30 pm - 6:00 pm
Jehu Hanciles: Global Migrations and Christian Witness – July 8, 2024 at 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Will Willimon: Jesus: The Most Interesting Person in the World – July 9, 2024 at 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Missional Communities: Q&A with Minho Song – July 10, 2024 at 12:00 pm - 12:45 pm
Aiden Kirkegaard: Tracing Memory – Reception – July 10, 2024 at 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Andy Crouch: The Idolatry of Impact & the Quest for Deep Change – July 10, 2024 at 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Allen des Noyers in Concert – July 13, 2024 at 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
FLO Soccer Summer Camp – July 15, 2024 - July 19, 2024 at 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm
MHM Books & Borscht: Elma Schemenauer – July 18, 2024 at 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
David Ley: Postmodern Urban Spaces – a City Tour – July 20, 2024 at 9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Fraser Lands Community Day – July 20, 2024 at 11:00 am - 3:00 pm
MHM Books & Borscht: Loretta Willems – July 25, 2024 at 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm

Aug 2024

Resilience for Ministry in Changing Times: Crisis as Formation – August 16, 2024 at All Day