Around Town: Mission Fest: today!, The Witness Blanket, Henry Blackaby . . .

Mission Fest 2024 is upon us this week – from Thursday evening (February 15, 5 pm) until Saturday (February 17, 10 pm).

The gathering carries on in downtown Vancouver, but in a new location. Rather than being held at the Vancouver Convention Centre, as it had been for decades, Mission Fest will be held at The Centre (home to Westside Church) right across from the main branch of the Vancouver Public Library.

We nearly missed out on the 40th anniversary of Mission Fest. The team felt that the end had come last year, but due to a rather miraculous turn-around, the Mission Fest has gained new life.

A couple of key things to remember as you head down to The Centre. Entrance to Mission Fest is free, but organizers are asking everyone to register online before going.

Key elements this year are:

• Exhibitors: more than 50 mission agencies, with both local and international focus
• Speakers: Mission Central Lead James Bonney said: “This year, we were led to invite keynote speakers who are our friends. They all have an affection for one another and carry the conviction that Jesus is a person who, when we give Him space to move, can do more than we could imagine, here and around the world.
• Seminars: Four choices at two time-slots Friday and Saturday. Each topic begins with “Jesus is looking for friends who will . . .”
• Youth Encounter Friday, hosted and led by Jonathan Mitchell and the 604 Network.

Go here for the schedule.

James Bonney and Steve Schroeder are leading Mission Fest.

James Bonney and fellow leader Steve Schroeder are keen on ‘co-mission.’ They wrote:

In Mark’s Gospel, we read, “And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen,” Mark 16:20.

Our desire this year is that you would be inspired by the reality of how close Jesus is. When that happens, the Great Commission becomes about being on a co-mission, a co-partnership with a real person.

It sounds simple, but often missions and ministry can quickly be focused on our strategies and plans rather than yielding to a person, waiting on a person and going with a person who is working with us.

We hear amazing stories of missionaries who encounter Jesus and feel inspired, but inwardly, we are left tired. We believe all of that can be transformed through one encounter with Him.

This year’s theme isn’t just a ‘conference theme’ to hear great sermons. It’s our conviction that we are to model and practice together at the conference the reality that we follow a person; He doesn’t follow us. We can meet Jesus in the messages preached, in the prayer times, while browsing through the exhibit areas – and Jesus Himself will touch us, call us, renew us and save us.

Our prayer for all those who come is that they would go home and be able to say as the early disciples did in Acts 15:4, “And when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders; and they reported all things that God had done with them.”

Go here for more information on Mission Fest.

The Witness Blanket

West Vancouver Memorial Library is hosting The Witness Blanket, created by Carey Newman.

This is the description of the exhibit:

Inspired by a universal symbol of protection – a woven blanket – the Witness Blanket comprises items collected from residential schools, Survivors, churches, governments and other cultural sites across Canada. 

Each of the 889 objects collected for the Witness Blanket tells a personal and harrowing story of loss, strength, resilience and pride from Survivors. These items include braids of hair, a Métis sash, a weather-beaten shoe, the door to the infirmary of St. Michael’s Residential School in Alert Bay and objects from across BC, including photographs of young girls in front of St. Paul’s School in North Vancouver. 

The effects of the residential schools live on. They can be seen in Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, relationships, attitudes and behaviours. By bearing witness to these stories, you carry their truth forward into a future that takes responsibility for the injustices of the past.

Newman, whose traditional name is Hayalthkin’geme, is a multi-disciplinary Indigenous artist, master carver, filmmaker, author and public speaker. Through his father he is Kwakwak’awakw from the Kukwekum, Giiksam and WaWalaby’ie clans of northern Vancouver Island, and Coast Salish from Cheam of the Sto:lo Nation along the upper Fraser Valley. Through his mother his ancestors are Settlers of English, Irish and Scottish heritage.

Newman’s father was taken from his family in Alert Bay and moved to a residential school in Sechelt, then to St. Mary’s Residential School in Mission.

• February 17: Movie Matinee: Picking Up the Pieces: The Making of the Witness Blanket
• February 23: An Evening with Helen Knott and Katłįà hosted by Michelle Cyca
• February 27: Music Talks: Indigenous Music with Brian Wright-McLeod

At least three other takes on Catholic / residential schools have also come to my attention recently:

1. Seeking punitive damages: ‘John Doe’ – his real name is protected by a publication ban – claims he was abused by a physical education teacher and a priest during his time at Holy Trinity Elementary School In North Vancouver and is seeking punitive damages in a case being heard at the B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster. The CBC News article states the Catholic Church “has admitted that the abuse happened and accepted vicarious liability. . . . But the church denies that it was negligent.” The trial is expected to last about a month. Go here for the article. [Note: A February 16 article in The B.C. Catholic reported that John Doe and the Archdiocese have reached a settlement.]

2. A book about St. Mary’s Residential School has been featured in The B.C. Catholic. A January 11 article begins:

In the story of residential schools, “Catholics are victims too,” says author Terry Glavin.“The people who suffered in residential schools were Catholics.”

Glavin spoke those words during an interview about the republishing of his 2002 book St. Mary’s: The Legacy of an Indian Residential School, which recounts the history of the former St. Mary’s Residential School in Mission. . . .

Glavin thinks people will be surprised by the counter-cultural narrative about the Oblates of Mary Immaculate presented in the book.

Go here for the full article.

3. St. Mark’s College will host ‘Papal Visit 2022: The Catholic Church and the Four Steps of Reconciliation,’ February 29:

Pope Francis’ historic visit in July of 2022 to apologize for the church’s role in residential schools and answer the Truth and Reconciliation calls to action was rich in symbols, stories and steps. Every night of the visit, Dr. Niigaan Sinclair was a voice on national and international media documenting the visit and the four steps the Pope modeled to evoke reconciliation in the Catholic church in Canada.

Go here to register for the free event.

Henry Blackaby 1935 – 2024

Henry Blackaby was born in BC, attended UBC and

Local Baptists are joining Christians around the world in mourning the passing of Henry Blackaby, the pastor/author best known for his book Experiencing God, which sold some eight million copies worldwide.

An article on the Christianity Today site said:

Considered a spiritual statesman by many, the quiet pastor from Canada had a ministry that reached from pastors, missionaries and lay people, to CEOs, US presidents and world leaders.

CNBC WestCoast (WestCoast Baptist Association in partnership with the Canadian National Baptist Convention) posted this on their Facebook page February 10, the day he died.

Today, we join in prayer for the Blackaby family and give thanks to God for a legacy through a man born in British Columbia, served in our family of churches now called CNBC WestCoast, and eventually impacted the world.

They quoted from Lifeway’s memorial:

Blackaby’s famous summary of how to know and do the will of God – “watch to see where God is working and join Him” – has guided numerous people, churches and ministries to join God’s work. Blackaby’s teaching and influence crossed denominational lines as well as cultural and geographic boundaries.

Lifeway Christian Resources is part of the Southern Baptist Convention, which is where the Canadian National Baptist Convention has its roots.

The denomination has grown quickly in BC, beginning with five churches in the mid-1950s. Blackaby said of his time here during the mid-1980s:

After serving 22 years as a pastor [initially in California, then for 12 years in Saskatoon], I became the director of missions for an association of 11 churches and mission churches in the greater Vancouver area of Brit­ish Columbia, Canada.

Guiding a church to walk with Christ as the Head of His body is one matter. Guiding an association of 11 congregations to walk together with God with one heart and one mind is quite different. I came to this new assignment with the conviction that “the God we serve is able . . . and he will” (Daniel 3:17).

There are now 80 CNBC churches in the province, many of them strongly multicultural. And the denomination is active across the nation – Send Canada Network (“Churches planting churches across Canada, in partnership with Canadian National Baptist Convention & North American Mission Board”) tweeted shortly before Blackaby died: “Celebrating 10 new church plants across Canada in the first 24 days of 2024!”

Blackaby influenced millions of people as a speaker in some 115 nations and through his books. In particular, Experiencing God had tremendous significance, not least on one very high profile woman leader.

Richard Blackaby, his son, and now leaders of Blackaby Ministries International, wrote:

The response to the book exceeded the publisher’s wildest expectations. Countless readers claimed they had attended church all their life, but, for the first time, they were experiencing God personally. The publisher could not print the workbooks fast enough. At its peak, it was selling more than 500,000 copies a year. It has now sold more than eight million copies and been translated into dozens of languages.

Blackaby has received hundreds of letters thanking him for the life-changing material. One woman told Henry that  Experiencing God transformed her life. She wondered if he ever thought about writing a workbook focused on women, as women desperately needed one. Henry replied that he did not feel God’s leading personally, but perhaps God wanted her to write one. Her name was Beth Moore. Countless ministries, churches and books have been inspired by Experiencing God.

The Blackaby family is still represented in this area. Peter Blackaby is part of the CNBC WestCoast team as a Vancouver-focused missionary, and Henry’s oldest grandson, Mike Blackaby, is now lead pastor at Canvas Church in Oak Bay on Vancouver Island.

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