Small Town Church with Big Heart for their Community

Bethany Christian Reformed Church in Fenwick, Ontario is learning a new way of reaching out through a Community Opportunity Scan. Bethany Christian Reformed Church is a small church among the greenhouses, farms and orchards of Fenwick, Ont. Like many churches in the small towns of Ontario, Bethany has a congregation that faithfully attends each Sunday.…

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A 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…

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From “Identity Crisis” to Identity in Christ

Providence CRC’s Community Opportunity Scan Opens New Doors into the Community The congregation members and leadership team might not have said it outright, but Providence Christian Reformed Church was experiencing an identity crisis. The congregation had a 30-year foothold in their Beamsville, ON, community, one of the sleepier spots along the QEW corridor. But, while…

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DMC and World Renew Collaborate on “Helping Without Hurting” Workshops

Diaconal Ministries Canada and World Renew have collaborated a number of times to lead an interactive “Helping without Hurting” workshop, most recently in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. At that event, DMC’s Diaconal Ministry Developer (DMD) in that region, Jean deBeer felt that participants “left the workshop enriched and challenged to ask themselves if [the ministry] they were…

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Following 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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