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.…
Last week the Vancouver Foundation released a much-anticipated update to its landmark 2012 Connections and Engagement report on loneliness and community life in Metro Vancouver. This update, like the original report, provides hard evidence for trends most of us know…
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…
About 15 years ago, our fellowship at Marineview Chapel realized that our neighbours in Dunbar were simply not open to invitations to church outreach events. Their lives were already over-resourced and over-committed. So when we approached them with invitations to join us…
ReImagine Vancouver (December 2 – 3) is “designed for leaders and practitioners who are starting something new, revitalizing the local church through new expressions and deepening their church’s faithful presence in their neighbourhood.” Leading the way at St. Andrew’s Hall…
Karen Giesbrecht coordinates several community meals at churches around Vancouver. Some of the participants struggle with addictions, and she is concerned with the implications of easier access to marijuana promised by all levels of government. On a recent Monday evening,I…
Last Tuesday evening (March 7), the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver (JCC) was targeted. After an emailed bomb threat, the building was evacuated. A few hundred adults attending a concert and a few dozen teens playing sports were inconvenienced.…
The area around Brentwood Mall and the new SkyTrain station is undergoing a dramatic makeover. Life has been disrupted, but there is at least one oasis of calm in the midst of all the upheaval. Connections Coffee House has been quietly…
Brad Brisco will be in town next Thursday (October 13) to lead Missional Essentials: A Guide for Experiencing God’s Mission. The afternoon and evening sessions will take place at Southside Community Church in Surrey. Following is a comment from his…
Half a dozen local pastors and ministry leaders got a glimpse into a unique urban ministry in Manchester, England last week. We spent almost a week with Andy Hawthorne and members of The Message, which works with young people in…