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Serving opportunities galore
Among the possibilities for activity in many Vancouver Island churches are ‘serving opportunities.’
New church home
Presbyterians from across Canada are being given the opportunity of assisting a
Western Communities congregation, as it moves from crowded rental quarters into
a church home of its own.
Mentions of West Shore Presbyterian Church and its aspirations were included in
many church bulletins in January, as part of an awareness-raising effort by the
Presbyterian Church in Canada – to let established congregations know about innovative church-planting efforts
within the denomination.
West Shore’s website is westshorepresbyterian.ca.
Pump for Africa
Meanwhile, at West Shore itself, children in the congregation recently raised
$400 to help in the purchase of a water pump for an African village.
That project is being coordinated by the denomination’s World Service and Development arm. Many Canadian Presbyterian service or
donating opportunities are featured online at presbyterian.ca.
Help for Seattle
Each March, Capernwray Harbour Bible Centre on Thetis Island has a two-week
spring break – and along with that, several opportunities for its students to provide service
away from the campus.
One such is a cooperative arrangement with Union Gospel Mission in Seattle,
where 10 to 20 students – plus several staffers – will travel to Seattle to work with men, women and children.
Tasks will include serving meals, leading Bible studies, child-sitting or
painting rooms.
The arrangement, not so coincidentally, provides students the opportunity to see
close up the way in which urban poverty impacts people in North America’s large cities.
More Capernwray opportunities for service can be found online at capernwray.ca.
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Thrift shop
Like many Vancouver Island churches, Bethel Baptist in Duncan has a Thrift Shop,
with its attendant opportunities for people to donate goods – for others to acquire, at prices they can afford.
Bethel’s shop is open every Friday, 10 am – 2 pm, on the lower floor of the church.
People wanting more information can talk to pastor Rob Westlake; church
secretary Sally Lennox; or parish nurse Anita McDonald.
The phone number is 250.746.7432, and the church website is
bethelbaptistduncan.ca.
Survival food
Among the service opportunities at Garden Fellowship Church in Harewood, a
suburb of Nanaimo, are the providing of free clothing, hot meals, survival food
bags, hygiene care packs – and, as they put it, “God’s unconditional love.”
GFC got its start in Parksville in 2003, as a “vision birthed [by] Pastors Shane and Michele Gummow.”
In 2005, the church sensed that God was drawing them to Nanaimo. More info is at
gardenfellowship.net.
Tech team
Gateway Baptist Church, in the Royal Oak area of Victoria, has several serving
opportunities listed on its website, which is found at gatewaybaptistchurch.ca.
One option is the tech team. Training is provided for helping with PowerPoint
presentations, and for working on the sound board. In Kidzchurch, there is a
need for small group leaders who will “listen and laugh with kids [and] help them to see that God loves them.” – Lloyd Mackey
February 2010
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