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Gearing up for Gear Up
Gear Up, set up for May 8 – 9 at Pacific
Christian School and nearby Victoria Christian Reformed Church, is a youth
conference that leaders describe as a place “where young people can
engage, build and get excited about stepping out in faith in their
communities – and taking it to the next level in their relationships
with God.”
Primarily student-run, the conference will take as its
theme a simple exhortation: ‘Lead.’ It involves workshops, and
worship services featuring Friday’s Cry and Mayflower. Speakers are
coming from as far away as Winnipeg.
They’ve got Grumption
Central Baptist Church, in downtown Victoria, is
augmenting its on-site Christian education program with an interesting
video and online program known as Mission Central.
The video takes children on a spaceship adventure.
There are lessons to be learned from a visit to a planet called Grumption.
For the more studious young pilgrims, there is an
exploration of the role of wheat and weeds in a person’s spiritual
development. Worksheets can be downloaded to help the online student in his
or her spiritual quest.
Central’s website is at centralbaptistchurch.ca.
The online studies can be found by clicking on ‘Children’s
news.’
Respecting their elders
Another downtown Victoria church recently published a
book intended to help its people learn stories from ‘elders’
– people in the congregation whose ages range from 75 to 100.
Entitled Stories United:
Harvesting Elders’ Wisdom, the book is a
project of First Metropolitan United Church.
It was written through the efforts of 12 lay volunteers
at the church who were trained as spiritual companions to help the elders
reflect on their life experience.
The volunteer companions are described in the
book’s promotional material as “hearts with ears and a
pen.” The publishing was made possible through the Watkins Fund of
the United Church of Canada.
More information about the book is available from
www.firstmetvictoria.com.
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Rain slickers
Just one question for Paul Wicki, the pastor of Gateway
Community Church in Port Alberni: Why are all the photos of you and your
family showing you decked out in rain slickers? Does it, by any chance,
have something to do with the climate? The answer is not readily apparent
on Gateway’s website, www.gatewaychurchpa.ca.
The site does, however, have some pretty interesting
information and resources. And Wicki also has an entertaining blog, writing
about things like “wearing a tux in a gas station.”
Wicki reveals that he “loves . . . laughing with
my wife and children, going on hikes with friends and family [and] trying
to catch the ‘Big’ one on the Inlet.”
Singles 50 plus
A Get Acquainted Potluck for Singles 50 and over is
scheduled for April 16, 6 pm, at Parksville Fellowship Baptist Church. In
putting the evening together, facilitators Fred and Carol Dowe refer to
their own story.
Both widowed by cancer, they met through a couple who
knew them from the church attended by one. They have now been married just
over a year and want to give other singles an opportunity for what they
describe as “fun, fellowship, friendship and support.”
They hope to include such things as live theatre,
sports, boating, hiking, picnics, scrabble, dining and movies among future
activities. They would also like to have a mission outreach project, as
well as providing teaching tapes and workshops for the widowed, for divorce
healing and relationship building. More info at 250.751.8511.
April 2009
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