Ron and Wendy Gaudet and their team have provided well over $600,000 worth of free dental work in Surrey / White Rock since 2017. Working from a clinic in a 38-foot specially designed RV trailer, their City Care Dental program…
Union Gospel Mission has again published a Lent Devotional, “featuring reflections on gratitude from UGM’s staff and community.” It is widely available in print (check the back shelf in your local church) and online. UGM’s Church Relations Team coordinated the…
Review of Broken City: Land Speculation, Inequality and Urban Crisis by Patrick M. Condon (UBC Press, 2024) What happens when urban land costs escalate so rapidly that the majority of the next generation is shut out from home ownership and…
On a February Saturday morning this past year, more than 85 people gathered to explore how their churches could provide more housing for refugee claimants. In March, over 160 people gathered to share ideas for how they could develop their…
Three months ago, First Call and Youth Advocacy Society came out with their annual BC Child Poverty Report, declaring that 126,000 children in BC (more than 14 percent) were living below the poverty line. Financial pressures faced by parents lead…
How should we use our church properties? The opportunity to consider that issue drew 150 people together March 12 – 13 at First Christian Reformed Church of Vancouver. A rich combination of story-telling, expert advice and round-table discussions meant that…
Next week church representatives from around Metro Vancouver – and some from across the nation – will discuss and evaluate stories about creative use and development of church lands. Reimagining Church Land & Community will take place the evening of…
Over 20 years ago at an annual meeting, Grandview Church began exploring how they might develop their parking lot as well as the lot next door (which had become a community garden). Already then, in 2002, building affordable housing was…
Two years ago, I had a rousing two-hour conversation with the then interim principal of St. Mark’s College on the UBC campus, Michael Higgins. He is the leading biographer of such figures as Henri Nouwen and Thomas Merton and has…
I can’t remember when I have felt as optimistic about ecumenical activities among local Christians as I have this fall. Three new (or renewed) initiatives stand out in particular: Mission Fest confirmed for early next year; Taste & Receive will…