Around Town: Media reports, Gospel-Loving Kids, Logos Hope, Marva Dawn ...

Vancouver churches are receiving more attention than usual in the media these days, for a number of reasons. Here are a couple of recent examples:

Steeples for sale

The Economist has taken note of Vancouver’s hot property market, in particular its effect on church sales. Most of the content is not new, with recent features about David Ley, Churchrealtors.com, etc in the Sun and on CBC (and Church for Vancouver), but it’s always nice to be noticed abroad.

Steeples for sale notes, for example:

Sales of church property happen in many places, but business is especially brisk in Canada’s western metropolis. There are two main reasons: a surge in property prices, which exceeds that in almost every other Canadian city, and an influx of Asian immigrants, who bring their own religious traditions.

West-coast hedonism may be a third factor, suggests David Ley, a geographer at the University of British Columbia. Pews in churches with European roots are emptying faster than those in other parts of Canada. They are the principal sellers. All this makes Vancouver’s sacred-property market “unique”, says Leonardo Di Francesco of Churchrealtors.com, which has sold more than 100 houses of worship over the past two decades.

For some of my recent articles go here, here and here.

Christ Church renovation

Vancouver Magazine featured Downtown Vancouver’s oldest surviving stone structure in The resurrection of Vancouver’s Christ Church Cathedral, pointing out:

When the colossal labyrinth of scaffolding comes down at Christ Church Cathedral later this year, a 20-year, $20-million-plus renovation will finally be complete. Projects have included everything from landscaping to a new pipe organ, but the most visible upgrade of all came last: the new roof. . . .

In addition to the new roof, this latest round of renovations includes a new kitchen and bell tower, which should be up by fall. The cost for all three comes in at $9 million, with $6.6 million of that having been raised as of December. The province pitched in $1 million.

St. Paul’s move

The new site for St. Paul’s Hospital.

On a completely different front, a recent press release noted that:

Providence Health Care (PHC) has selected Perkins+Will, in association with Sterling Planning Alliance (Sterling) and Farrow, as the team to undertake a key step in the development of a business plan for the new St. Paul’s Hospital and integrated health campus on Station Street in Vancouver.

Providence Health Care, which runs 17 healthcare facilities in Greater Vancouver, including St. Paul’s, St Joseph’s and St. Vincent’s, points out that its “history stretches back more than a century.” Here’s the first paragraph in a brief version of that history:

In the 1890s the Sisters of Providence opened St. Paul’s Hospital, a 25-bed “cottage” on the path to English Bay.The Sisters had arrived several years before, having been told the stories of suffering in this burgeoning coastal city. When they arrived, they listened to the community and made a plan to meet the needs expressed. . . .

Gospel-Loving Kids

The Transform Conference has staked out its territory clearly: ‘Raising Up Gospel-Loving Kids in a Gospel-Hating Culture.’

Here’s their approach:

Canada is a post-Christian country. Certain cultural elements are in direct opposition to the Gospel, making it increasingly more uncomfortable to be a Christian in our culture. What are the forces arrayed against the Gospel in our society? Chris [Price, lead pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Coquitlam] will help us understand how we can help kids follow Jesus in the midst of these cultural challenges.

Some will think the language is a little strong, but to the extent it focuses on Price’s three keynote themes – The Lure of Culture, Moving Beyond Moralism and Raising Counter Culture Kids – the event should be very helpful.

Price is joined by a number of workshop leaders during the Friday evening, all day Saturday (April 15 – 16) event at Southridge Church in Langley.

Among the topics to be covered are Discipleship (Theology at Home, Godly Discipline, Discipleship on the Homefront); Children and Church (What Children Need from the Church, Children’s Ministry as Family Ministry, Mobilizing Children into Ministry); Cultural Engagement (Talking to Your Kids About LGBTQ Individuals, Preparing Your Kids for the Social Media Roller Coaster, Dealing with the Screen: Talking About Kids and Games); Family Conversations (Smart Money Smart Kids, ‘Telling’ Stories Transforming Families, The Heart of Modesty).

The conference is organized and sponsored by Northwest Baptist Seminary and MinistryLift (a capacity-building ministry of Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary).

Meet Logos Hope crew members

Members of the Operation Mobilization (OM) Logos Hope crew are in the Vancouver area from April 8 to May 2, “to recount their ship experiences: the discipleship program on board the ship, their ship job/role, and the many ‘seeing-God-at-work’ experiences in the world’s port cities.”

This is the purpose of the OM Ships Ministry:

The Ships Ministry began in 1970 as part of the global Christian training and outreach movement, OM International. Since then OM’s ships have visited over 500 different ports in 151 countries and territories and welcomed over 44 million visitors on board.

Our goal is to bring knowledge, help and hope to the people of the world. We do this by supplying vital literature resources, encouraging cross-cultural understanding, training young people for more effective life and service, providing needed relief, and sharing a message of hope in God wherever there is opportunity.

I can vouch for the value of OM’s work first-hand, having put in a brief (two week) stint with the original Logos ship between Dar Es Salaam and Mombasa on the east coast of Africa way back in 1977. What I remember most were the hordes of people wanting to buy books and Christian literature. After Logos ran aground in Tierra del Fuego in 1988, it was replaced by Logos II, Doulos and, in 2009, Logos Hope.

The crew is hoping to share their experiences with churches, schools, ministries, etc. Contact local OM representative Siang Chiang at 604.726.2010 or [email protected] for more information or to schedule a presentation.

On April 29, 7 pm, Logos Hope crew members will be at Willingdon Church to tell stories of how God is working through OM’s Ship Ministry.

Marva Dawn: Worship at Carey

Dr. Marva Dawn will lead the third in a series of seminars on Growing in Faith Through Worship, April 23 at Carey Centre. Her presentation will focus on:

the development of worship as inter-generational communities of faith through difficult times. Our day-to-day lives are filled with worries and pressures that can weigh upon us, even in our Sunday worship. In this seminar, Dr. Marva Dawn will explore the faith journey, rooted in family and community, in the face of opposition.

An internationally renowned theologian, author and educator, Marva Dawn recently retired as teaching fellow in spiritual theology at Regent College.

Dawn offers Morning by Morning devotional texts on her website. Her text for Friday, April 15 is Isaiah 40:16: “Lebanon would not provide fuel enough, nor are its animals enough for a burnt offering.”

Following is a portion of what she wrote, which offers one good way to approach her April 23 topic:

This is such a tangible picture of the insufficiency of any sacrifices. Consider the ancient country of Lebanon. . . . all the wood of that entire nation in antiquity . . . would not suffice for fuel for the offering God deserves. . . . Furthermore, all the living creatures inhabiting those vast forests are utterly paltry as a burnt offering, altogether unfit to honour YHWH. . . .

What is the true worship of God? Does God ask us to make sacrifices? Certainly we know that our feeble oblations cannot earn his favour – yet how often do we deceive ourselves, subconsciously assuming that we gain God’s grace with our pious efforts| . . .

How hard it is for us to truly receive God’s grace as freely as it is given! It hurts our egos to admit that all we are and all we do is made possible by God’s action within us and that we can never do anything out of our own abilities to please him. . . .

How and when will we learn this truth that instead of burnt offerings God looks for contrite and diligent hearts? . . . .

Apr 2016

May 2016

Welcoming Light: Forum – May 1, 2016 at 12:15 pm - 1:30 pm
Laura-Lynn and Friends: Live Show Taping – May 1, 2016 at 2:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Jazz Vespers: Gabriel Hasselbach – May 1, 2016 at 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Greater Vancouver Festival of Hope Involvement Seminar – May 2, 2016 at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Greater Vancouver Festival of Hope Involvement Seminar – May 3, 2016 at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola in Daily Life (Tuesday evenings) – May 3, 2016 at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Paul Stevens: Loving Later Life – Why Aging Matters for Life and Spirituality – May 3, 2016 at 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Pastors and Leaders Conference 2016: Beyond the Monday Blues - Equipping People for Vocations in the Workplace – May 4, 2016 - May 6, 2016 at All Day
Vancouver Pastors Prayer Fellowship – May 4, 2016 at 10:30 am - 12:30 pm
Business By the Book: Alphil Guilaran – May 4, 2016 at 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
Greater Vancouver Festival of Hope Involvement Seminar – May 4, 2016 at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Greater Vancouver Festival of Hope Involvement Seminar – May 4, 2016 at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Jazz Evensong: Ben Henriques – May 4, 2016 at 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm
Greater Vancouver Festival of Hope Involvement Seminars – May 5, 2016 - May 10, 2016 at All Day
Maria Gaudin: Life Among the Deadwood – May 5, 2016 - May 6, 2016 at All Day
OM Ships Partner Dinner – May 5, 2016 at 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Euthanasia & Assisted Suicide Bill C-14: What Do I Need to Know? – May 5, 2016 at 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Greater Vancouver Festival of Hope Involvement Seminar – May 5, 2016 at 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

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