Posts by Erin Knight
Serving a God of Change: Part 2 – Top 7 Reasons Change can be a Good Thing
In Part 1 of ‘Serving a God of Change’, we looked at why change can be so hard for us humans and why we tend to avoid it at all costs. But if we’re being honest, I think we can agree that sometimes we DO want change; new things can bring excitement and refreshment. Like…
Read MoreThe Top 5 Things Gateway Church Discovered Running an Extreme Weather Shelter
This is the second article in a 3-part story on the Extreme Weather Shelter opened up by Gateway Church in Abbotsford, British Columbia. You can read the first article here. When Gateway CRC decided to host an Extreme Weather Shelter in their building three years ago, the staff and volunteers knew there would be a…
Read MoreServing a God of Change – Part 1: Why Change is Hard
Happy New Year!!! Can I still say that?! How long are we supposed to say this to each other anyway? Can I say it to someone I am seeing for the first time in the new year? If so, this could go onto until June. Is this greeting only welcome the first couple weeks into…
Read More“How could we say ‘no?’” Gateway CRC responds to need for homeless shelter
(Pictured Above: Larry, one of the shelter’s guests who has also started to regularly attend Gateway, sitting in the church gym.) This month, guest blogger Monica deRegt will be writing a 3-part story on the Extreme Weather Shelter opened up by Gateway Church in Abbotsford, British Columbia. Our theme for December has been “Helping Without Harming”…
Read MoreWebinar Addresses Helping that Helps at Christmas (and beyond!)
Christmas is almost here! I’m sure you didn’t need that reminder (at all!). Costco shelves and dollar store aisles have had their Christmas supplies out since October, if not sooner. Churches and charities have been busy planning and promoting their Christmas programs and ministries for a while now. Social media has been buzzing about who…
Read MoreMany People Float on the Periphery
Following our theme of “Loneliness” this month, Anita Hogeveen shared this blog post with us, which was originally published on December 18, 2017, on her blog. Anita is one of our fabulous Diaconal Ministry Developers from Eastern Canada and she writes with grace and compassion and authenticity. The church community did not let her be…
Read MoreAre You Lonesome Tonight?
I stumbled upon this quote the other day while I was doing some research on loneliness. “It is strange to be known so universally and yet to be so lonely.” ~Albert Einstein While at first this may seem utterly impossible, and perhaps even absurd, I wondered how many people would agree with this statement. This quote…
Read MoreWhy Praying With Others Works
In September, we spent some time learning about prayer and devotions as part of your “regular” Agenda at a Deacons’ Meeting. In our post “A Diaconate that Prays Together, Stays Together,” we laid out why prayer is a vital part of the ministry deacons do and how praying together can actually make a diaconate more…
Read MoreInternational Day for the Eradication of Poverty – October 17, 2018
|Photo Credit: CPJ Facebook page, Sept. 2014, ChewOnThis! event photo One day before the annual International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, Citizens for Public Justice released its Poverty Trends 2018, an annual report on poverty in Canada. In this report, we read that an astounding 5.8 million people in Canada (or 16.8%) live in poverty(!!)…
Read MoreYouth Justice Initiative Coming in 2019
|By Erin Knight, Communications Coordinator for Diaconal Ministries Canada I recently watched the movie Black Panther with my two sons, aged 11 and 13. While I wasn’t exactly filled with enthusiasm to be watching yet another Avenger movie with my kids on a Friday night, some of the buzz I had heard surrounding this movie…
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