By Peter Biggs

White Rock is often termed a ‘jewel’ for its small town atmosphere, its large pier and railway and its beachfront boulevard.

South Surrey is often confused with White Rock, but it covers a much larger area. South Surrey is one of the six regions that make up the enormous municipality of Surrey, and is itself made up of diverse neighbourhoods: Crescent Beach, Crescent Heights, Elgin, Hazelmere, Grandview Heights,  Johnson Heights, Morgan Creek, Semiahmoo, Ocean Park and Sunnyside.

The area has major thoroughfares running through it. Highway 99 links the White Rock area with Interstate-5 across the U.S. border and Vancouver to the north. The King George Highway (99A) links the Douglas border crossing with Surrey and New Westminster.                – PB

Two cities – one community

The geography of this southern pocket of Metro Vancouver links the tiny municipality of White Rock with the surrounding population of South Surrey; both are largely separated from North Surrey by agricultural land.

Thus pastors gather in their own South Surrey/White Rock Ministerial; 6 – 10 meet weekly at Life Church White Rock to pray for the community and each other.

Young adult ministers cooperate

BCCN spoke to Andrew Turnbull, White Rock Baptist pastor for families, young adults and youth.

“There is a very tight young adults ministerial,” he said. “Over the last six months we’ve really grown in cooperation.”

This grouping of pastors began with a few from South Surrey/White Rock and now includes others from Delta, Burnaby and Langley. A joint young adults retreat is planned this month at Rock Ridge Canyon, near Princeton.

Turnbull expects up to 200 young adults to attend from the participating churches.

Ministerial renewal

Peter Klenner, formerly rector at St. Mark’s Anglican Church in Ocean Park, and now senior priest at All Saints Community Church, is on the leadership of the South Surrey/White Rock Ministerial.

Klenner, who has been in the area some 10 years, said that although 20 churches are connected to the ministerial, weekly and monthly prayer times are not well attended, and this is causing a sense of reflection and prayer.

“We have been reflecting on the purpose of the ministerial,”he said.

“Three years ago, six or so pastors became very good friends. We called ourselves ‘the Band of Brothers’ and wanted to engender friendship in others; this may not be exactly what is now needed.”

The ministerial’s [four-person] task force has been asking ‘what do we want to achieve?’ ‘How do we best serve the pastors in our community?’

Although the community is best known for its high seniors population, Klenner has seen a real shift.

“Our demographic is changing. Seniors are passing away and being replaced by double income professional young families. In recent years I have seen a doubling of young children playing,” he said.

New leaders

A few churches exceed 500 attendees per Sunday, including White Rock Baptist, Peace Portal Alliance and Gracepoint. The latter two have new lead pastors.

Paul Wartman, (right) has served Peace Portal Alliance as  pastor of transitional ministries for the past year.

Prior to his work with the church he was president of Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford.

He assumed the role of lead pastor at Peace Portal April 1, and his official installation is May 4.  

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Scotsman Bill Hogg (left)  became lead pastor of Gracepoint Community Church late last year, after founding pastor Peter Nikkel retired.

Gracepoint, a 2005 amalgamation of two churches, has some 1,200 attendees.  

Hogg was involved in innovative outreach ministry with Youth For Christ in Seattle, something he hopes to replicate here (see below).

Commenting on his new appointment, he said: “When I reflect on the blessings of God over all this time, his hand is evident on the ministry of Gracepoint.

“We are, and will continue to be, a place where people  not only find a welcoming community of believers – but also the person of Jesus Christ, through worship, preaching and relationships. We want to be a place where church-damaged people can heal, find Jesus and then move forward to reach others.”

Catholic & mainline

South Surrey/White Rock has a significant Catholic population. “Over 2,500 attend three Catholic churches  in our area,” said Klenner, noting that Father Stanley Galvon of the Church of the Good Shepherd is an active member of the ministerial.

St. John’s Presbyterian Church in White Rock is one of many mainline churches in the area.

Sheila Jakus, an elder at St. John’s, told BCCN: “Last year at St. John’s, a church of around 200 people, we saw 25 new families join us – mostly seniors, and mostly newcomers to the community.”  

Each week the church’s ‘Lunch Hut’ serves 100 meals, mainly to welfare recipients; food is supplied by local businesses – including Safeway, Cobs Bakery and others.

The Kindlings

Gracepoint’s Bill Hogg is planning monthly recorded discussion panels, to be held at a local pub – based on a Seattle outreach he was involved in, called The Kindlings.

The concept was inspired by The Inklings, a group of writers including C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams and Dorothy Sayers. They met in an Oxford pub each week, for lively conversation and friendly disputation.

Topics of discussion are chosen for their relevance to everyday life. A panel of ‘experts’ – including, but not restricted to, Christians – discuss the subject, and field questions.

Gracepoint children’s pastor Beth McGill accompanied Hogg to The Kindlings recently in Seattle. The subject – ‘Diminishing Vacations’ – was addressed in a room in a central city pub, she said, with around 30 people. Some were church-goers, some were not.

“Tables all have sheets of paper, to enable questions to be submitted. The leader helps a lively discussion take place between the panel members, later extending it to people at the tables,” she said. “The leader does weave a Christian perspective into the discussion.”

Discussions are recorded, edited – and then podcast through theKindlings.com website. The site is described as “an online forum where thoughtful creatives can explore ideas that matter in contemporary life – as sparked through our personal journeys, and through our shared cultural experience in art, movies, books, music and events.”

Hogg is negotiating with local pubs, and hopes to get a Canadian Kindlings website built. “We are looking at a possible launch in June, or the fall; we want to position ourselves to lower the cross-cultural barrier,” he said.

White rock stats
Population: 18,250 (source: 2001 Census)
(Growth: 2001 – 2006: 2.8% / source: 2006 Census)
Religious profile (source: 2001 Census)
• 7,415 Protestant • 5,555 No religious affiliation
• 2,795 Roman Catholic •    895 Christian
(including Born Again, Evangelical, Apostolic)
• 270 Christian Orthodox
• All other religions – Buddhist, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu,
Sikh, Eastern – less than 100 each.

S. Surrey facts
(source: 2001 Census)  South Surrey Surrey
Population: 53,123 347,825
Older than 65       10,535  36,290
Visible minorities 5,535 127,015
Household income $82,585 $63,197

May 2008