Around Town: Light Magazine, Prayer for Christian Unity, Anabaptism at 500

Steve Almond founded Light Magazine and will continue it online.

Steve Almond has been producing print publications for decades, so he is sorry to announce that the current issue of Light Magazine will be the last.

But he is quick to add that its days are far from over. In a recent letter to churches that have been receiving the printed Light Magazine, he wrote:

Rising costs for print publications

Our costs to put out a print edition of Light Magazine have continued to rise in the last few years, while our revenues continue to decline from pre-pandemic levels, as much as 70 – 80 percent. This has caused some major challenges.

In addition, it is also becoming more challenging to continue to deliver the print issue to locations around the Lower Mainland. In the Surrey/Langley area we have had four different drivers in the last year.

The publication will continue online:

Strong web presence

Meanwhile our website, lightmagazine.ca, has continued to grow. No doubt this is a sign of the times, as more and more people are turning to the web for their reading environment.

Although the web has a much broader geographical readership than the print, we will be highlighting regional material so that readers can still see stuff that is local.

Prayer

We have been praying since the pandemic as to next steps for Light Magazine, and recent events have pointed to this change. I am excited to see what God will do next!

Light Magazine has been delivered to many local churches for over a decade ****.

Steve, who continues as publisher and editor of Light Magazine, added:

I am sure that many will miss the printed edition of Light Magazine. We do send out Light Magazine website updates a few times a month.

He says on the site:

Light Magazine is a Christian community/lifestyle magazine for Canada:

- Engaging readers with everyday life issues such as health, stress, marriage, family, managing finances, being single, growing older, faith & culture and more.
- Connecting Christians to local & global communities featuring stories and testimonies presenting the gospel at work. Highlighting arts, news and events.
- Encouraging readers in their personal Christian faith and encouraging participation in the life and mission of the local church.

He pointed in the letter to three sections which he plans to grow:

Events: We feature local events on our website and preface each event with the location where it is occurring or indicate if it is an online event only.
Directory: We have an extensive online directory of ministries, schools, camps and Christians in business. We are continuously growing the directory and invite submissions. There is no charge to be listed in the directory.
Job Market: We also have a job market; there is no charge for job listings.

Steve and I worked together in the past. He was publisher at BC Christian News before I was and we have remained in quite close contact since the paper closed in early 2011. We have remained friends and have continued to work cooperatively as he printed the first issue of Light Magazine in 2011 and I started Church for Vancouver in 2013.

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Around the world, Christians from all backgrounds will be gathering together for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, January 18 – 25.

The World Council of Churches states:

At least once a year, Christians are reminded of Jesus’ prayer for his disciples that “they may be one so that the world may believe” (see John 17.21). Hearts are touched and Christians come together to pray for their unity.

Congregations and parishes all over the world exchange preachers or arrange special ecumenical celebrations and prayer services. The event that touches off this special experience is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. . . .

In order to prepare for the annual celebration, ecumenical partners in a particular region are invited to produce a basic liturgical text on a biblical theme. Then an international editorial team of WCC and Roman Catholic representatives refines this text to ensure that it can be prayed throughout the world, and to link it with the search for the visible unity of the church.

The theme this year:

For this year, 2025, the prayers and reflections for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity were prepared by the brothers and sisters of the monastic community of Bose in northern Italy. This year marks the 1,700th anniversary of the first Christian Ecumenical Council, held in Nicaea, near Constantinople in 325 AD.

This commemoration provides a unique opportunity to reflect on and celebrate the common faith of Christians, as expressed in the Creed formulated during this Council; a faith that remains alive and fruitful in our days. The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2025 offers an invitation to draw on this shared heritage and to enter more deeply into the faith that unites all Christians.

In Canada, the Canadian Council of Churches takes the lead, though services are arranged locally.

Ecumenical prayer services:

Eight local churches will host services during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity:

January 20, 6:30 pm: St. Anthony’s Catholic Church, West Vancouver
January 21, 12 pm: St. Ann’s Catholic Church, Abbotsford
January 21, 7 pm: St. Peter’s Catholic Church, New Westminster
January 22, 3:30 pm: John Paul II Pastoral Centre, Vancouver
January 22, 5:30 pm: St. Mark’s Catholic Church, UBC, Vancouver
January 23, 7 pm: St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church, Richmond
January 31, 6:30 pm: Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Delta
February 1, 12 pm: All Saints Catholic Church, Coquitlam

This year all host churches are Catholic, while in previous years Anglican, Lutheran and United churches have also been involved. However, all Christians are welcome at all services.

Another article I’m posting this week – Ecumenism, spirituality and mutual learning: A Catholic approach – looks at an increasingly open ecumenical attitude on the part of the Roman Catholic Church.

Anabaptism at 500

To shift gears rather dramatically, we’ll go from the affirmation of unity to the celebration of a strand of Christianity which grew out of the most divisive period in Christian history over the past millennium.

Anabaptists around the world are celebrating the 500th anniversary of the birth of their movement – which grew out of the early Reformation.

The Anabaptism at 500 site (run by MennoMedia, an agency of Mennonite Church Canada and Mennonite Church USA) states on its main page:

On January 21, 1525, a small group of Christians secretly gathered in Zurich for a worship service. There they renounced their baptism as infants and experienced voluntary baptism as adults, now in the full understanding that this decision implied a transformation of life in the way of Jesus.

For many, this decision led to imprisonment, torture and even death. But this gathering also marked the beginning of the Anabaptist movement that continues today in the form of the Amish, Hutterites, Mennonites, Church of the Brethren and many other related groups.

Another Anabaptism@500 site (run by Mennonite World Conference) explains the name on its History page:

At first, the group resisted the term Anabaptist [re-baptizer] since in their minds they were not rebaptizing but rather baptizing correctly for the first time. Over time, however, the name persisted.

Today, Anabaptist is an accepted English term for all Reformation groups who practiced believer’s (rather than infant) baptism, and the denominations descended from them such as the Amish, Mennonites and Hutterites.

Anabaptists are by no means the largest group in Christianity, being dwarfed by the Roman Catholic Church, mainline Protestants, Evangelicals, Pentecostals, Anglicans and others.

But they are found all over the world – something over two million baptized believers in 86 nations, according to Mennonite World Conference – and often overlap with other groups.

Those of us in the Fraser Valley and Metro Vancouver are fortunate to have been influenced by a strong cohort of Anabaptists, particularly in the Mennonite form.

Not only are there many local congregations belonging to Mennonite Church BC and BC Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches (the latter, including large congregations such as Westside in Vancouver, Willingdon in Burnaby and Northview in Abbotsford, defining themselves as “evangelical Anabaptists”), but many of their people have joined and in other ways been an important influence on other church groups (as detailed in Bob Burkinshaw’s Pilgrim’s in Lotus Land: Conservative Protestantism in British Columbia, 1917 – 1981).

Among the more significant institutions birthed in the Mennonite world locally are Mennonite Central Committee BC (part of a larger world movement), Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford, More Than A Roof, Communitas Supportive Care Society and Mennonite Benevolent Society.

There will be a number of celebrations of the 500th anniversary in several local churches. Here are the first ones I’m aware of.

Gareth Brandt, a retired academic whose book Radical Roots offers a collection of paintings, stories and poems celebrating the 500^th anniversary of Anabaptist origins, will speak at all of the events:

Peace Mennonite Church, Richmond, January 19, 10 am: Anabaptism at 500 Vancouver Worship Service @ Peace Mennonite Richmond with Sherbrooke, Point Grey, Peace Church on 52nd,Chinatown Peace and other Vancouver Mennonite Churches. Gareth Brandt Preaching: ‘Why the Radical Reformation still matters today.’

Emmanuel Mennonite Church, Abbotsford, January 21, 7 pm: You are invited to the ‘500th Anniversary Celebration of Anabaptism.’ Gareth Brandt will respond to the questions: What happened 500 years ago today? Why was it such a big deal then? Does it still matter today?” There will also be art, songs, poetry, fellowship and cake!

Sherbrooke Church, Vancouver, January 23, 7 pm: Join us for an engaging workshop exploring the lasting impact of events from 500 years ago with Gareth Brandt. Attend in person at Sherbrooke Church in Vancouver or via Zoom

Jan 2024

2024 World Watch List: Release – January 16, 2024 at 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Healing Journey: Art of Patricia June Vickers – January 18, 2024 - January 24, 2024 at All Day
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2024 – January 18, 2024 - January 25, 2024 at All Day
Dwelling: The Practice of Being With – January 18, 2024 at 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
2024 Education Career Fair – January 19, 2024 at 10:00 am - 3:00 pm
The Living Word of God: Exploring the Intersection of Scripture and Catholic Worship In the Liturgy and Life Study Bible – January 19, 2024 at 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
How to Develop Financial Wisdom: 7 Biblical Principles for Today’s Challenges – January 19, 2024 at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
UCM Emerge Conference 2024 – January 19, 2024 - January 21, 2024 at 7:30 pm - 12:00 pm
BC Christian Academy: Open House – January 20, 2024 at 9:30 am - 11:00 am
Legacy Education Summit – January 20, 2024 at 10:00 am - 5:00 pm
Prabo Mihindukulasuriya: The Aborigines’ Protection Society: Indigenous Rights Advocacy as Christian Mission in the British Empire – January 22, 2024 at 12:30 pm - 1:45 pm
Finding Our Way: Truth, Reconciliation & Right Relations – a Conversation with Jody (Puglaas) Wilson-Raybould – January 22, 2024 at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Dispossessed but Defiant – January 23, 2024 - January 31, 2024 at 9:00 am - 1:00 pm
Surrey Christian School: Kindergarten Open House at Fleetwood Campus (two one-hour sessions) – January 23, 2024 at 10:00 am - 7:00 pm
Workers On Our Knees: Day of Prayer – January 24, 2024 at All Day
January Series 2024 – January 25, 2024 - January 28, 2024 at All Day
Deb Judas: Cultivating Shalom – January 25, 2024 at 9:00 am - 10:00 am
B.C.’s Human Rights Code Educational Sessions – January 25, 2024 at 2:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Bioethics and Environmental Ethics – January 25, 2024 at 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Parent Discipleship Sessions (three events) – January 25, 2024 at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
The Craft of Spirit: BC Liturgical Textiles: Opening – January 25, 2024 at 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Prayer & Fasting Gathering: Loving Muslims Together Network – January 26, 2024 at All Day
Paul Dirks: Author Spotlight for 'Deep Discipleship for Dark Days' – January 26, 2024 at 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Firestarter Conference – January 26, 2024 - January 27, 2024 at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Jazz Vespers with Linda Szentes and Jazzlinks – January 28, 2024 at 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
More Than a Song: Worship Night – January 28, 2024 at 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm
Hayden Wiseman Violin Concert – January 28, 2024 at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Vancouver Bandits and Langley Schools Host 2nd Annual Langley Schools Play Day – January 29, 2024 at All Day
Surrey Christian School: Open House at Fleetwood Campus (three events) – January 30, 2024 at 11:30 am - 7:00 pm
Pastors' Prayer Breakfast – January 31, 2024 at 9:30 am - 10:30 am
A Counter to the Culture of Death: Joseph Ratzinger's Theology of Creation – January 31, 2024 at 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Celebrating Thomas Merton's Birthday – January 31, 2024 at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Night of Worship & Praise with Natasha Zimbaro – January 31, 2024 at 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Jazz Evensong @ Brentwood: Noah Franche-Nolan & Feven Kadane – January 31, 2024 at 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Feb 2024

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Around Town: Light Magazine, Prayer for Christian Unity, Anabaptism at 500

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