New Comox pastor

Bill Hall became the new senior pastor, November 1, at Comox Community Baptist Church, a congregation affiliated with the Baptist Union of Western Canada.

Hall and his wife, Sandy, a school teacher, come to the Comox Valley from 21 years of pastoral experience in Leduc and Grand Prairie, Alberta and, before that, six years in Moose Jaw and Ormiston, Saskatchewan.

CCBC has been led by two interim pastors over the past two years, first Norm Sowden, then Peter Hudson. The interim period provided opportunity for the church to review its core values and revise its mission statement. That occurred mostly during 2006.

The Halls have three married daughters and five grandchildren. Before entering the ministry, Hall was an Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship staffer. He came to faith through InterVarsity.

Choir at Courtenay

The African Children's Choir is coming to the Island.

According to ACC’s press release, the concerts help in supporting the building of schools throughout Africa in Uganda, Rwanda, Sudan, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and South Africa as well as providing ongoing food and hygiene supplies, clothing, water containers, wheelbarrows, medical care, nutritional advice, trauma counseling and music therapy.

Tickets can be purchased at: www.sidwilliamstheatre.com   or 1.866.898.8499.

Our Place / Open Door / Upper Room

After a long and closely-watched construction run on the south side of Pandora Avenue, between Cook and Vancouver Streets, Our Place has opened its doors for the serving of meals and the accommodating of residents. Our Place is a Christian-based social agency assisted with several levels of government funding and private donations.

The agency was formed in 2006 by the merger of Open Door and The Upper Room, and provides transitional housing, meals, support, advocacy, hygiene facilities and training – what its information materials call ‘a hand up, not just a hand out.’ Some 110,000 meals will be served out of the facility in 2008, and 45 residential units will be available. A dedication is expected later in the spring, after the existing Upper Room facility, next door, is deconstructed and the property is turned into a courtyard.

Congregation goes home

Chemainus Congregational has now completed one year of its transition to a community of home churches. Affiliated with the Congregational Churches of Canada, one of the nation’s oldest denominations, CC was established in 1959.

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The home church model was developed after the church met in a series of temporary locations, including one that they lost when it was torn down by the owner. Presently there are five home-church locations.

In addition, CC has developed several interest groups including hiking/outdoors, arts, quilting/needlework and missions.

Info: www.chemainuscongregational.wordpress.com.

Ukraine stint

Pastor Colin Liske of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Nanaimo has just returned from involvement in two mission trips.

This past summer he was in Ukraine for a month, teaching in a seminary and preaching in churches in and around Odessa.

During November, he spent another two weeks in Thailand. He has released a report describing the Ukraine trip: stpaulslutheran.tripod.com.

To contact Colin Liske call 250.754.9082.

Spiritual care

People with a heart for shut-ins can learn practical skills to make a difference. The Capital Region Interfaith Pastoral/Spiritual Care Visitor Training Committee is offering a course to train church and hospital volunteers to provide special care to residents in long-term care facilities – including residents with Alzheimer’s Disease.

The course will be held on seven consecutive Friday mornings, 9:30 to 11:30 am, at the Salvation Army Citadel, 4030 Douglas Street, Victoria starting February 1.

The course is intended both for current volunteers and for those who are considering becoming volunteers. Course fee is $15. For more information or to obtain a registration form, contact Arthur Menu, chaplain, Glengarry Hospital at 250.370.5733; or go to viha.ca/pastoral_care/jdf.

Jesus was a Jew!

Bethel Baptist Church in Duncan is seeking to help people understand the early life of Christ in connection with the culture he was born into.

‘The Life of the Messiah (from a Jewish perspective)’ will be taught by Francois Blouin. Beginning with the introductory chapters of Luke and John, the study will include a careful examination of topics such as: the genealogy of the King, his birth, infancy and boyhood.

This is a first for the church. They hope the subject will be of interest to people in the wider community. The course runs on Wednesday evenings, January 16 – April 30,  7 – 8:45 pm; it is offered free of charge. For more information, contact 250.746.7432  or www.bethelbaptistduncan.ca.

Christmas in January

Dreaming of a late Christmas?

As an extension of its Extreme Christmas program, the Extreme Outreach Society would like your help to prepare a meal to be served January 12, 1 pm, at Esquimalt Legion For details, contact: 250-384-2064; info@extremeoutreach.com; or extremeoutreach.com.

– Lloyd Mackey

January 2008