Community pastor Simon Gau is asking what could happen if church members chose to intentionally engage their neighbours during Halloween. In a short video on the Broadway Church website, he said: The last standing holiday in our culture today where…
October 31 is best known as Halloween, but it is also Reformation Day. Thus it is not surprising, in this 500th year since Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to a church door in Wittenberg, that there are several excellent opportunities…
Snauq was the name of the Squamish village at Kits Point, before the Kitsilano Indian Reserve was created in 1876. By 1913 the Native population had been pressured to move from the area. That history has been largely overlooked – I certainly…
Ann Voskamp will be on the west coast this week, Saturday (October 21) as a keynote speaker for Gather Rise at Peace Portal Alliance Church in south Surrey and Sunday (October 22) to preach at Tenth Church in Vancouver. Many, many…
Peter Biggs of The Light Magazine is researching one Metro Vancouver / Fraser Valley municipality each month, and producing a four page feature. The October issue features South Surrey / White Rock. In the 1950s, White Rock residents began to feel isolated from the then–District of Surrey,…
Jenny Hawkinson has been working as an artist for a decade, mostly in the Downtown Eastside. For several years she worked with Mission Possible; now she is a DTES street pastor / artist with 24-7 Prayer. Over the summer, she and…
Forming any sort of abiding face to face community is becoming rarer in our culture. Robert Putnam’s classic study Bowling Alone charts the accelerating demise of participation in community groups and associations from the years 1960 – 2000.[1] There are multiple factors…
This is Mental Illness Awareness Week, but it looks as though related themes are being explored throughout the month. Two key events to look for are Understanding People, Mental Health & Trauma, hosted by Outreach Canada and sponsored by several groups…
Many church members around the city will be inviting international students and new citizens home for Thanksgiving dinner, but I have been particularly taken with the uniquely welcoming atmosphere at First Christian Reformed Church of Vancouver, at 11th and Victoria.…
A mixed congregation of Catholics and Lutherans met at St. Clare’s Catholic Church in Coquitlam last Sunday afternoon (October 1). The atmosphere was joyful and collegial throughout the Ecumenical Prayer Service for Unity and the following reception. The spacious interior…