Posts Tagged ‘Community Ministry’
Learning to Pivot
The word “pivot” has come up many times over the last two months due to the current Covid-19 pandemic. How has your church ‘pivoted’ during these last few weeks in order to love and serve your community in these challenging times? This post is in response to our “Top 10 Ways Deacons Can Help During…
Read MoreA Church on Mission
With a desire for spiritual renewal, Maple Ridge CRC initiated a Community Opportunity Scan in order to listen to their community, their church, and the Holy Spirit. Photo by Lina Kivaka from Pexels By Cindy Verbeek, Board Member of Diaconal Ministries Canada and Erin Knight Maple Ridge Christian Reformed Church is what you might call…
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 MoreENGAGING WITH YOUR COMMUNITY – Part 2; Make Love Your Goal!
Now while Frankie Goes to Hollywood may get credit for our title above, it actually goes back to a verse in 1 Corinthians 14 (RSV): “Make love your aim…” and the ever-popular verses from the previous chapter as well: “If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to…
Read MoreListening to Our Communities
As mentioned in our previous blog post, New Month… Same Theme!, we’ll continue looking at listening this month, and in particular, listening to our COMMUNITIES. But perhaps we need to first name what we envision when we hear those words. What does listening to our community LOOK like? Sitting in the mall food court and…
Read MoreGrowing a Stronger Missional Heart
“Over the last 10-15 years, Bethel CRC transformed from the church ‘out on the highway’ to the church that loves the community.” This is how Diane Leferink describes what God has been doing in Bethel CRC in Acton, Ontario. Many things have undoubtedly contributed to this transformation, but in 2007, the church started a Community Opportunity…
Read MoreDeacons Challenge Congregation to Participate in Reverse Offerings
When Rachel Vroege (Regional Ministries Developer -West) from Diaconal Ministries Canada visited the Deacons of Bethel CRC in Saskatoon last year, one idea she presented to us was that of a Reverse Offering. We were immediately taken with the idea, and went about trying to make it work for our local Rosthern Food Bank. We explained…
Read MoreBeyond a Bed: tools for deacons who want to walk alongside
A deacon is in the waiting room of a community walk-in clinic. There is a woman beside her, slumped in her seat. She is dozing lightly; she looks exhausted. After a number of minutes, the woman seems to abandon hope of a nap. She stretches, sighs and sits up. The deacon beside her begins a…
Read MoreFollowing Jesus in the Community: A COS Journey
From left: Pastor Dean Kurpjuweit (NEXT Christian Community), Pastor John Luth (Christian Reformed Church of St. Albert), Pastor James Ravenscroft (St. Albert United) In the spring and summer of 2012, Christian Reformed Church of St. Albert (AB) members began a project to discern how Jesus might be leading us in our community. The thought of even conducting a…
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