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This is the second part of ‘Snapshots of the
Church in Burnaby.’ Last month we focused on three specific locations
in Burnaby: Willingdon Church, SFU and Rock Garden. (It can be read on
www.canadianchristianity.com/bc/bccn/0208/18burnaby.html).
Pastors’ fellowship
Burnaby is home to over 100 churches, and has a monthly
pastors’ gathering, with about 30 churches connected.
“It’s a diverse group with most
denominations represented, and it helps us keep in touch with one
another,” Paul Mahon pastor of Cariboo Road Christian Fellowship and host to the group,
told BCCN.
Community building
 | | This Edmonds street party is facilitated by Southgate. |
Southside Community Church has five congregations, the
first of which began in Edmonds Town Centre in south Burnaby in 1992. From
the very beginning, Southside wanted to explore a multi-congregational
model.
The church launched its second congregation in 1997 in
Whalley (Surrey). In 2000, two more congregations were launched in Walnut
Grove/Willoughby (Langley) and Forest Grove (Burnaby). A fifth congregation
in Fleetwood (Surrey) is currently being initiated.
For 16 years the Burnaby congregation has facilitated a
remarkable outdoor party. Each September, streets in the Edmonds area are
blocked off and over 3,000 people come out. Restaurants have booths and
there are live music bands.
Southside leader Dan
Bennett told BCCN, “We gain huge favour in the neighborhood,
connecting people to each other. We want to be a friend to neighbours and
social agencies, and have forged a great relationship with the the leaders
at the local Eastburn Community Centre, and through them the larger
city.”
New Canadians
 | | Deer Lake music festival |
Dave Carson pastor of
Centre Church Metrotown, which meets at the Best Western on Kingsway, has
been a local pastor since the 80s. Reflecting on 10 years of ministry in
Burnaby, he said, “We focus on the Metrotown area – a
remarkable community with a high percentage of new Canadians from Asian
countries.”Out of significant relationships he has formed with new
Chinese immigrants, he has recently visited China to explore links
and support.
Another issue Carson raised is Burnaby City
Council’s view of the number of churches in relation to population.
“I have been told they feel it is adequate and
they are reluctant to consider any zoning application for new churches.
This presents real challenges in terms of population growth and growing
churches needs,” he said.
Transient feel
Cariboo Road Christian Fellowship has a large number of
Italians in its over 200 members. Senior pastor Paul Mahon, with a missionary
background in Uganda, sees Burnaby as a mission field.
“Burnaby has a transient feel – it
doesn’t have a strong identity, likely because of its fractured
nature with its four centres – Brentwood, Metrotown, Edmonds and
Lougheed – it can feel sandwiched between Vancouver, Coquitlam and
New Westminster. Furthermore, it feels divided by roads, the east-west
arteries – the Number One Highway and to a lesser extent Kingsway,
Canada Way and Hastings.”
Real and relational
 | | Pastor Bob Booth of Central Christian Assembley (left) at Kingsway and Imperial. |
Brian Booth is the new
pastor at Central Christian Assembly, a prominent building at Kingsway and
Imperial.
 His first impressions of Burnaby express something of
the challenges churches face. “Burnaby feels very multicultural; it
is hard to get a sense of its identity. When I get out in the community I
find language barriers and frankly it’s frightening to try and get a
grasp of this mission field and be relevant to a dizzying range of
cultures. We simply have to be authentic lest we lose our own identity, and
the key to being effective, I believe, is being relational.”
Centre Church’s Carson echoes this, in his
enthusiasm for relevance of the Alpha Course amongst Burnaby’s many new immigrants. “I have
found that new Canadians love to be able to talk English; Asians also love
to meet over food.”
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– BURNABY background –
Burnaby is the third most populated urban centre in
B.C. (after Vancouver and Surrey). The city features high-density
residential areas often clustered around the SkyTrain lines which cross
Burnaby in the south, along the 1986 Expo Line and the 2002 Millennium
Line.
Burnaby is home to technology firms Electronic Arts,
Creo (now part of Eastman Kodak), Ballard Power Systems and Telus –
along with major post-secondary institutions such as Simon Fraser
University (SFU) and British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT).
A major focal point of Burnaby is Metrotown, with its
extensive mall and nearby tall towers. Burnaby’s ratio of parkland to
residents is reputedly one of the highest in North America. Parks such as
Burnaby Lake and Deer Lake Park retain a unique rural feel. Politically,
Burnaby has maintained a centre-left city council.
According to the 2006 Census, 54 percent of the 205,261
residents have a mother tongue that is neither English nor French.
Adjacent to SFU is UniverCity – a development to house up to 10,000
residents atop Burnaby Mountain. –
PB
• Chinese Christian Mission Canada
 | | Chinese Christian Mission Canada associatiate director Benjamin Li. |
Chinese Christian Mission Canada (CCMC) was started in
Canada in 1979 and is an outgrowth of the global CCM that has centres in 12
countries.
It is a Chinese ministry that complements the local
church from strategic ‘Gospel Centres.’
CCMC has a remarkable 13,000 square foot centre right
in Metrotown’s busy and largely Chinese Crystal Mall and employs 10
staff and over 150 volunteers.
BCCN spoke to Associate
director Benjamin Li.
He is adamant that CCM is not church but a
“missionary organization with an approach to overseas Chinese
people,” specifically new immigrants.
“We seek to bring the church to people, then we
bring the people back to the church,” he said.
 | | Metrotown |
“We chose Burnaby for its central location in
the Lower Mainland.”
CCMC is supported by and refers people to, a range of
churches.
The Burnaby Centre has been in its present location
for eight years. They offer a comprehensive range of supports, including
counselling, a book room and an art gallery, along with programs for ESL,
seniors, women, children and youth (Boy Scouts). Gospel movies also are
shown in the centre twice a week.
A new immigrant service helps more than 50 people
every week, working closely with the city in community programs for new
Chinese immigrants.
Li described the openness of the new, largely
‘mainland,’ Chinese immigrants. “They want to learn
English and have been told that church people will help them,” he
said.
March 2008
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