Around Town: Surrey book launch, Kinbrace at 20, Sisters of St. Ann . . .

Surrey-Cloverdale MLA Marvin Hunt (left) with John Redekop, initiator of ‘The Church in Surrey & White Rock’ project. Photo: Judi Vankevitch.

The role of churches and other faith-based ministries in the social, economic, governance and health of Surrey and White Rock is the focus of a now-launched book co-authored by several long-time observers of life in the two cities.

The Church in Surrey & White Rock: The Untold Story includes historical and descriptive chapters on the Surrey and White Rock faith life.

At 212 pages, the book touches on the communities’ hundreds of Christian churches and other ministry clusters. As well, there is a comprehensive directory of such churches and ministries, complete with addresses, phone numbers and internet linkages.

The book launch took place last Saturday (June 16) at Regent Christian Academy. It attracted several leaders, including two senior provincial politicians who represent Surrey ridings.

The two were Bruce Ralston, labour minister in the current BC NDP government and Marvin Hunt, who served in the previous BC Liberal government as parliamentary secretary for community and sports development. In the spirit of relatively friendly non-partisanship portrayed in the book, the two men maintained a friendly and congenial demeanor in front of the almost 100 launch attenders.

Other faiths have not been left out of the book’s contents. While it is the story of various streams of the Christian community in Surrey and White Rock, it includes information about other faith groups, to ensure context for its coverage.

The book is somewhat patterned after one of a similar title published further up the Fraser Valley in 2013 and entitled Being the Church in Abbotsford.

John Redekop, who comes originally from the Valley but spent much of his career as chair of the Wilfrid Laurier University political science department in Waterloo, Ontario, is a major spearhead behind the project.

From left: co-editor Lloyd Mackey, project donor Dewey Devries, MLA and chapter author Marvin Hunt, seniors ministry volunteer Kathy Burry, aspiring federal politician Laurie Guerra and co-editors Neil Bramble and John Redekop.

Redekop recruited an impressive stable of writers for the various chapters – all of whom have had significant connections with faith-life activities in Surrey and White Rock. They include such as:

• Frank Bucholtz, recently-retired Surrey/Langley based editor and columnist.
• Trinity Western University social sciences prof Joanne Pepper.
• Teacher/editor Neil Bramble whose previous service has included .
• Long-time artist, performer and entrepreneur in the Surrey/White Rock arts scene Barbara (Barbie) Warwick
• NightShift Ministries director MaryAnne Connor.
• Long-time community, faith-based and political journalist Lloyd Mackey.
• Novelist, pastor and refugee/immigrant services administrator Jack Taylor.
• Chaplain and pastor whose ministry has often focused on seniors, Ross Johnston.
• Pastor-cum-political leader Marvin Hunt.
• Beverley Johnston and Perrie Peverall, both of whom have long experience, respectively, in Christian education and health care fields.

Redekop, Bramble and Mackey are the by-lined editors for the project.

The back cover of the book carries a generously-worded endorsement of both the project and several sectors in the Christian faith community, from Dianne Watts, who was Surrey’s mayor and community development catalyst for nine years in the early 2000s.

The book begins with an assessment by Joanne Pepper of the biblical view of cities and the role in which people of faith in the Bible played in the life of their cities.

Bucholtz and Mackey co-authored two chapters that highlighted historical events and developments involving churches and Christian ministries dating back to the 1800s. One of those chapters includes a synthesis of a recently report by leaders in the communities’ 15 largest churches about church involvement in community and social service, produced for current Surrey mayor, Linda Hepner.

MaryAnne Connor, director of NightShift, a ministry in the “strip,” a homeless tent city in the historic community of Whalley, writes a chapter about Christian ministries “helping the needy.”

Ross Johnston has a chapter on seniors’ ministries, while Jack Taylor focuses on faith-based services to refugees and immigrants. Health care from a Christian perspective is covered by Perrie Peverall and John Redekop, followed by an assessment of several different Christian and other faith-based school systems, by Beverley Johnston.

“Pursuing a higher standard” is the sub-title of a chapter on several significant Surrey and White Rock businesses whose leaders try to keep Christian ethics and best practices in mind in their operations.

Barbara Warwick writes about Christian influence in visual, literary and performing arts, including drama and music.

John Redekop tells of a variety of Surrey / White Rock political figures who have been shaped by their Christian faith. Then, he has a “wrap up” that tries to address the question “Why do churches do what they do?”

The book includes a comprehensive and, hopefully, almost totally accurate list of churches and Christian ministries in Surrey and White Rock, containing names, addresses, phone numbers, website links and emails.

It is the editors’ hope that the list will soon be available online, with regular updates to maintain accuracy and relevance. They also hope the book might be a template for future similar projects in other Canadian cities. Further information is available by writing [email protected].

Kinbrace celebrated 20 years of welcoming refugees June 16. Photo credit: Mark Janousek.

Kinbrace Community Society held a celebration last Saturday (June 16). Launched in 1998 as BC’s first dedicated housing and support provider for refugee claimants, Kinbrace has been welcoming refugees to its home (now two homes, side by side) in the Commercial Drive area for 20 years.

Summer Food Markets take place on Granville Island every Tuesday throughout the summer.

Food for Kinbrace’s party was supplied by Flavours of Hope, a non-profit social enterprise formed this spring which has already become well known for its pop-up dinners. It helps immigrant and refugee women “to earn a living wage and build social connections in communities through cooking and sharing culinary traditions.”

Savour this: traditional cultural food, stories, and the strength of refugee women. Be part of Vancouver’s first summer food market that celebrates diverse food prepared for you by newcomer women earning a living wage. Donate to launch the market and build connections in our community through food!

Your gift toward the $10,000 needed for this summer market pilot gives newcomer refugee women a living wage, work experience and a growing relational network. It’s an inspiring way for all of us to say, “You’re welcome!” Help increase social connections, provide employment opportunity, and empower women to share their stories of migration through selling their diverse traditional culinary cuisine at this summer newcomer food market.

Blessed Marie Anne Blondin founded the Sisters of St. Ann in Vaudreuil, Quebec, in 1850. In her words, the purpose of the congregation was “the education of poor country children, both girls and boys in the same schools.”

They were 44 sisters strong when Bishop Modeste Demers of Vancouver Island came to visit in 1857 and asked if some sisters could travel west and open schools in his diocese.

Four sisters made the two-months-long journey back with him, arriving in Victoria June 5, 1858, four years before the city was incorporated. They opened the doors of a simple one-room school with dirt floors a few days later, and from the first day, welcomed everyone from the children of the governor to Metis orphans.

By their 60th anniversary, they had opened 21 schools, educated 17,000 students, founded four hospitals and cared for 450 orphans.

By their 160th anniversary, the Sisters of St. Ann have opened or operated schools in BC, the Yukon, Washington and Alaska. Some have since closed, while others, such as Little Flower Academy, established in Vancouver in 1927, are still running.

Go here for the full article.