Around Town: A new Oakridge Lutheran; preacher featured; Multiply; dance . . .

An open house February 23 allowed neighbours to see plans for the Oakridge Lutheran property.

A recent open house allowed neighbours to see plans for the property owned by Oakridge Lutheran Church, including this rendering of the proposed building.

Oakridge Lutheran Church held an open house Tuesday evening (February 23), welcoming neighbours to learn more about plans to redevelop its property. The church, which is located just west of Cambie Street, across 41st Avenue from Oakridge Centre, has partnered with the non-profit Catalyst Community Developments Society to propose a six-storey mixed-use building.

In a February 22 Vancouver Courier story, Pat Johnson described the partnership between Oakridge Lutheran and Catalyst in this way:

Together, they developed a vision for the project, and Catalyst is now shepherding it through the city’s approval process. The plan is to build six levels, with retail space at street level. The second level, with its own entrance off Ash Street, would be the church’s sanctuary and multipurpose community space. Atop this would be four more stories accommodating 46 units of housing intended to be offered at below market rates.

Pastor Dororhy Chu is glad to be able to help the community with more affordable housing.

The ownership structure is what makes the whole undertaking financially ideal for everyone involved. The church will fully own its fresh new space with no cash outlay. The church and Catalyst divvy up the rental units, generating income in perpetuity. The retail space would be owned mutually with the income divided between them. The church gets a brand new space, constant and presumably not insignificant income, the community gets 46 units of below-market housing and a central space available for events and programs.

Catalyst president Robert Brown took part in a Churches and the Housing Crisis event at Regent College January 27. He sees the likelihood of more churches taking on projects similar to Oakridge Lutheran’s:

I think, when we started Catalyst, we thought we might be limited by the opportunities but in fact that’s just not the case. There’s just so much potential and as churches become more aware of what their options are, then . . . the idea of being able to get a new facility, retain ownership in something more than just a church and being able to generate a revenue stream, I think there’s going to be just more and more interest in it.

For the full Courier article go here.

St. James Community Square

The United Church has taken another approach to land use, over on the west side of town. Earlier this month, Trinity United Church closed a deal to sell its property at 3214 West 10th Avenue (at Trutch) to St. James Community Square, which has already been operating and maintaining the space as a community hub for the past 21 years. Go here for details.

Ken Shigematsu: Christian Century

Christian Century magazine featured Ken Shigematsu, senior pastor of Tenth Church, on its Preachers on Preaching podcast February 8. Christian Century describes itself as “a progressive, ecumenical magazine based in Chicago . . . The magazine remains a voice of generous orthodoxy, both loyal to the church and open to the world.” Earlier interviewees include Jim Wallis (Sojourners magazine), Christian Wiman (poet/editor) and Will Willimon (theologian/bishop).

This is the introduction:

In this first interview of our second ‘season,’ [host Matt Fitzgerald] and Ken discuss the differences between Canadian evangelicalism and its cousins in the US, as well as how the Protestant mainline differs from each. Ken shares stories about his transformation from wayward adolescent to Sunday morning preacher; he also talks about his unique method of sermon preparation, which includes meditation, swimming and writing while walking.

The discussion was fairly wide-ranging; here is a portion that actually focused on preaching:

Matt Fitzgerald: I want to ask you a little bit about your persona in the pulpit Ken. Just talking to you now and having listened to a few of your sermons, there doesn’t seem to be a massive difference between who you are conversationally and who you are homiletically in terms of style. You have, from listening, a very kind of comforting, pleasant, open style in the pulpit. Is that something that you worked toward, or is it just you open yourself up and that’s what’s there?

Ken Shigematsu: A couple of things. My brother is an actor and a playwright, and I once asked him about Jack Nicholson. I said Jack Nicholson seems to play the same role in every movie, you know, kind of a slightly arrogant womanizer, and I sense he’s that way in real life; I don’t know Jack myself. And my brother said it’s actually not easy to play yourself in a movie, to just be natural.

I think that when I first started out preaching, I was more wooden and more self-conscious, but with time I think that I started feeling more comfortable in my own skin. I can learn a ton from other preachers, but I tend to draw my inspiration from people that are dead, like St. Benedict of the 5th century or Ignatius of Loyola, St. John of the Cross . . . and so I think that I’m less tempted to mimic other preachers.

People often say when they hear me preach, I just sound like a normal human being, that it’s very conversational and I think in a place like Vancouver that values authenticity that seems to work well.

Go here for the full 36 minute podcast.

Multiply 2016

Francis Chan will be a keynote speaker at Multiply 2016.

I have already written about Multiply 2016 here, but there’s still time to sign up for what could be a very significant event in the life of the church, and the city of Vancouver. The event will take place at Westside Church, across from the Central Library, March 2 – 3.

Here’s the challenge:

What might happen if every existing church from coast to coast were to re-capture the vision for mission, for multiplication, for radical generosity and intentional discipleship that Jesus envisioned?

MULTIPLY has been designed with the established church leader in mind in order to fan into flame a God-given dream for kingdom expansion in Canada!

Join us as we worship together and hear stories of what God is up to in our day, across Canada, and around the world. Return home with renewed vision and hope of what Jesus will do in your community.

I have heard Francis Chan, Jeff Vanderstelt and Larry Osborne speak at earlier C2C Network events and a Hope Vancouver gathering; each one is worth listening to. Together, and with a large crowd in attendance, their impact could be catalytic.

Caught Up in the Keeping

Three fourth-year graduate students of the Mirror Dance program will perform Caught Up in the Keeping March 5 at the Scotiabank Dance Centre in downtown Vancouver.

The contemporary dance production created by Joanna Anderson, Kendra Antosh and JoLeah Nicholas is described in this way:

This work explores the internal processes and various stages of ‘letting go.’ A push and pull tension threads throughout the entirety of the work. From three different vantage points, the pieces converge to express the variety of emotional complexities that lie in this human experience.

Mirror Dance offers “intensive dance training . . . based on a Christian worldview and is geared towards young adults who want to develop in their dance skill towards a professional level and who want to integrate their dance training with personal and spiritual formation.”

Nina Simone Tribute

Northwood United Church in Surrey regularly hosts Jazz Vespers events, but their Nina Simone Tribute in celebration of Black History Month this Sunday (February 28) looks particularly interesting. Candus Churchill and The Henry Young Quartet will lead the way.

Feb 2016

Soulcare at Work: Cultivating Good Ground For Spiritual Health – February 25, 2016 at 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Peacemeal Preview – February 25, 2016 at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Angela Konrad: Confessions of a Drama Queen – How Theatre Can Change the World – February 25, 2016 at 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
A.J. Swoboda: Green Jesus – Creation Care, Sabbath and the First Earth Day – February 26, 2016 at 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
The Tourist Company – February 26, 2016 at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Wholehearted Men – February 27, 2016 at 8:30 am - 4:30 pm
Good Noise: The Best of Hallelujah Praise, with Crystal Hicks – February 27, 2016 at 9:30 am - 4:00 pm
Death, Dying & Dessert – February 27, 2016 at 3:00 pm - 5:30 pm
Tak Maeda’s 60th Birthday Bash Concert – February 27, 2016 at 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Good Noise: Featuring the 150 voice Hallelujah Praise Mass Gospel Choir – February 28, 2016 at 3:30 pm - 5:30 pm
Jazz Vespers: Candus Churchill & Friends – Nina Simone Tribute – February 28, 2016 at 4:00 pm - 6:15 pm
Gospel Music Concert: One Heart, Fraser Valley Quartet, The Royal Heirs – February 28, 2016 at 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Development and Peace Celebrates 50th Anniversary – February 29, 2016 at 5:10 pm - 6:10 pm
Broken Links in the Food Chain: Rethinking our Relationship to Land – February 29, 2016 at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Mar 2016

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Around Town: A new Oakridge Lutheran; preacher featured; Multiply; dance . . .

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