This weekly editorial gives opportunity for people to speak about issues they believe are vital for the church to respond to. One of the goals of this weekly article is to spark dialogue – and action. We invite you to…
Karen Giesbrecht and partners from different churches and supportive organizations have carried out ‘food asset and need scans’ for three neighbourhoods. Last week she wrote an overview. This week she focuses on the West Side of Vancouver and will follow…
Pre-pandemic, an estimated one in eight Canadians were food insecure, meaning they did not have the income to purchase enough food to stave off hunger, let alone support their health, make special food for a celebration or host friends for…
For the current issue of InCommon, Jonathan Bird, church relations specialist for Union Gospel Mission, interviewed Dave Harder. Jonathan Bird: Dave, before moving to Ottawa and founding Parish Properties, you were co-pastoring a congregation here in Vancouver. Did that experience…
The Church Relations team at Union Gospel Mission will post a new edition of InCommon (including this comment) this week; go to the end to sign up for InCommon. We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering…
John Stackhouse plays some music, if I remember correctly, when he’s not teaching or writing books, and he recently wrote a blog post about Carolyn Arends’ new recording. Recognition is her first full-length feature in six years. The 12 new…
Has COVID-19 been a challenge or an opportunity? Our church has been challenged on many levels – but we have been reminded of our original call, to pursue the things God had sent us into our neighbourhood to do. Southside,…
My next weekly update will be early next year. Many of us have sung Brian Doerksen worship songs in our churches over the years. We sang one just last week as our church gathered online. So I have no doubt…
Last spring, we wrote about how Vancouver churches are responding to the physical and spiritual hunger that COVID-19 is highlighting through community food programs, and through growing food. As the infection rate increases, we continue to feverishly figure out how…
Four years ago, I was laying on the street in the Downtown Eastside, about to try heroin for the first time. But then, I turned over and saw the UGM sign. If it weren’t for that, I believe I’d be…