Church for Vancouver will encourage the Church of Vancouver to be more united as it works for the good of Metro Vancouver.
The Church of Vancouver is made up of all the churches, ministries and individuals who seek to follow Jesus Christ as their Lord.
Metro Vancouver extends well up the Fraser Valley. We will focus particularly on the City of Vancouver and its immediate neighbours, but will also take note of significant movements, events and people in the whole region.
I will do my best to nurture this site as it grows to maturity, in trust for the Church of Vancouver. Born and bred in Vancouver, I live here again with my family, after stints in Burnaby and Port Coquitlam.
The bulk of my working life was spent with Christian Info Society, which produced BC Christian News, Options Magazine, canadianchri
Blessings,
Flyn Ritchie
Contact: flynritchie@gmail.com
A couple of days ago was the first time I sat down to fully explore the Church for Vancouver website and I was amazed at the quantity, quality and variety of reading material I found there. Good in-depth writing on interesting, important topics.
Thank you Flyn for all the work you do on this. I’m sure it must be very time-consuming. It’s good to see that you’re not afraid to address controversial subjects, as some Christian media seem to be.
Thank you Marja. Local Christians are up to all kinds of interesting and important initiatives – not least as they they work for the good of the broader community.
Hi Flyn: Glad I discovered your website. Please give my regards to Margaret. We were colleagues in Burnaby schools and you and I have met on several occasions during your time with Christian Info News. After I retired from Burnaby in 2003, I taught for six years in the School of Education at Trinity Western University. I was ordained in the Anglican Church in 1996 and have served on the pastoral teams of four Anglican churches and am now deacon at St. Bart’s in Gibsons. Happy to have subscribed! Blessings!
Hi Steve: Good to hear from you. Margaret and I are well, living in East Van. Margaret is retired, but still subbing, and I spend most of my time on this website – though we try to spend some time with our seven grandchildren as well! Blessings.
I am sure you have a great church and congregation from what I see, but I am sorry to see you seem to be ashamed to reflect your theology by revealing what denomination or religious sect you belong to. Are you ashamed to take a theological stand?
Good to hear from you Arthur. My wife and I have belonged to New Life Community Church in Burnaby for about 37 years. We raised our five kids there and still think highly of the community, which is part of the Canadian Synod of the Reformed Church in America.
My theology is broadly evangelical and ecumenical. I think you’ll find that I take a fairly strong stand on certain issues if you keep reading.
Yes! A unifying resource for the church in Vancouver. I will be watching to see what develops in terms of programs to build a collective Christian presence here, but I would like to know if there are plans to make available other information that may make us challenge even our own faiths and assumptions about what’s really happening in the world?
Where does the “Church in Vancouver” stand on such things as (so-called) global warming, pipelines, Site C, defense spending, government debt, etc, and are there avenues of getting ACCURATE information out to people when what is fed them by the mainstream media is usually and categorically false? Would we in fact be open to it even if it made us INDIVIDUALLY squirm a little?
Thanks!
Thanks David. You make some good points. I try to deal with some of those issues, occasionally, but to address them fully is beyond the scope of what I can manage. All I can suggest is to read widely; there is a lot of good material out there alongside the dross.
I love this website. It lets me know about the Christianly happenings around me. I’m amazed of how up to date you keep this site. Bless you abundantly! 🙂
Hi Flyn,
Your website is great, and YOU are a real blessing to the body of Christ in Vancouver! Just saying . . .
Great site! Unity in the Body of Christ is what we need to see more of. Bless you!
Hi Flyn:
Great web site, such a great collection of stories and events that gives me the reader a chance to poke around what is going on in and around our local world from a Christian perspective.
Cheers,
Brent Unrau
Thank you for the hospitality you extended to me on my first visit to your church the day the sermon text from Romans was on hospitality. Thank you for sharing this blog site with me when our after church discussion showed your remarkable insights into the broad Vancouver Christian community. What a wonderful resource! In person and print you reflect well what Paul encouraged of Christians.
Thanks for you kind words Bill. Great to meet you today; I look forward to seeing you again before too long.
What a super encouraging site! Yes, Christians must unite. Your work is so inspiring . . . I’d like to see something similar here in Florida.
Your website is great. You need to keep up the good work
Thanks a lot for this interesting site.
Just seeing your site for the first time. Lloyd Mackey happened to mention it to me this evening. Great site.
Thanks Neil. Good to hear from you.
Dear Mr Ritchie
Hello Flyn
Thank you for producing your website, it is something for a city I have not seen before. . . . Blessings to you and in everything the Lord is doing through you. Tom
Hi Flyn, you’re doing a great job!
Hi Flyn, great content as always! Thank you for bringing the voices of the church to us!
Congratulations Flyn. This is an exciting concept.
Thanks Mark; I’m enjoying it.
Thanks for your kind words Sharon. I’m enjoying trying to keep up with all the good things God is doing through people all over Vancouver, in all kinds of pursuits. Please get in touch any time with things we might be missing. I sometimes feel I’m living under a rock too, when I find out what’s being going on without me knowing about it.
Dear Flyn –
Congratulations on this new communication! I must have been living under a rock this past 6 months to have missed seeing this!!! So thank you for “finding me” and including me on your recipient list.
You – and so many of the writers in your team – have served this community with thoughtful journalism and timely themes. Thank you for the years, and the new endeavours!
May the Lord bless you all in this new addition to Kingdom work here in Metro Vancouver!
Sharon
Mr. Ritchie! Awesome. Keep me on your mailout list and I’ll keep my ears open for people who want to support this. Let me know how that works and how I can help.
Your website is a wonderful gift to the churches of Vancouver! Beautifully done.
Blessings
Ward
Flyn, This Church for Vancouver website seems to have you in your sweet spot. I encourage you to keep moving ahead in your major life contribution, shaped by your passion for John 17 unity.
In Christ,
Ed Hird+
http://edhird.wordpress.com
Great site Flyn! Something that the City needs to bring people together and to create better community.
City In Focus
Thanks Louise (and David, belatedly). There’s so much going on, it’s hard for most people to keep track of the opportunities. But there are lots of good signs of life out there.
I was particulary thrilled, last week, to see the many ways in which individual Christians and churches participated in the Week of Reconciliation – and there are many other ways ahead of us to work together for the good of the city.
You’re off to a good start. Nice looking website – simple and uncluttered. Also a good variety of content. I will be watching your progress with interest.