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 Ladner/Tsawwassen Ministerial
The Ladner/Tsawwassen Ministerial gathers leaders of
about 10 churches on the fourth Tuesday each month. Paul Woehrle, rector at
St. David’s Anglican church in Tsawwassen described the importance of
this group to its members.
“Some churches are recovering from the trauma of
people leaving their ranks,“he said. As a conservative Anglican
parish, his own church has lost 175 people in recent years, over the issue
of same-sex blessing. Other churches have also experienced some internal
strife.
“It really has thrown us together,”
Woehrle said of the ministerial. “The leaders place a high value on
our monthly gatherings and there is a heartfelt desire to reach across
barriers.”
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The Alex Fraser Bridge |
The group includes three Roman Catholic priests along
with a range of other denominations.
“We also have a couple of people that represent
the ministerial who pray every week in the council chambers.”
Asked about the churches’ relationship to the
First Nations community in Tsawwassen he responded, “There are a
number of very vital believers there; we have a desire to strengthen
relationships.”
North Delta gathering
Chris Arney, lead pastor at New Hope MB Church gathers
at least monthly with several other North Delta pastors; some also meet
with the Surrey Pastors’ Network.
Describing North Delta, Arney said, “There is a
strange mix of upstairs people and downstairs people – homeowners and
people who live in mortgage helpers.”
He described North Delta as retaining more of a small
community feel than North Surrey, although over half of his congregation
come from Surrey.
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Burns Bog fire of 2005 |
“Drive down Scott Road, and the Surrey side is
far more developed” he said.
“I really love this neighbourhood, with its
amazing diversity of people, backgrounds, race, styles of life and
restaurants and the local pub that, like everything else, has a sense of
‘community’ about it.”
Ladner
“Ladner really does feel like a small town. you
run into people you know at community events or at the farm market,”
said Mike Mawhorter, senior pastor of Ladner Baptist.
“There is not as much development as other [Metro
Vancouver] areas as we’re landlocked by water and the ALR
[Agricultural Land Reserve]. Ladner does have a lot of young families, but
it is also an aging population,” he commented.
Tsawwassen
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Paul Johnson - the new lead
pastor at South Delta Baptist
Church in Tsawwassen. |
One of the largest churches is South Delta Baptist
Church, prominently situated near the intersection of Highway 17 and 56th
Street. The church is excited to welcome Paul Johnson as their new lead
pastor, formerly teaching pastor at a large church in Tucson, Arizona.
Speaking to BCCN, Johnson said, “One of my goals is to be a
reconciler and someone who can spearhead partnership between local
churches.”
Youth pastors and friends
Twice each month, about 10 Tsawwassen and Ladner youth
pastors meet. “We look at the South Delta area as a team
effort,” said Grant Fredricksen of South Delta Baptist Church, who
also referred to a ‘pre-teen ministerial’ made up of four or
five youth workers.
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Captain's Cove Marina, Ladner |
“Our youth are a bit more isolated by geography,
and although it looks like our areas are relatively prosperous, we find in
youth ministry that a lot of families struggle to make it month to
month.”
Another member of the youth leaders group, Katheryn
Praski from St. David’s Anglican in Tsawwassen, said: “We meet
for mutual encouragement, we share struggles, stories and occasionally do
events together, such as a recent response to Halloween at the Alliance
church with around 70 grade 8 – 12 youth.”
Fredricksen laughs, “We’re pretty much
hopeless as individuals but as a group we have a chance!”
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B.C. Ferry terminal at Tsawwassen, as seen from a float
plane. Photo by photo-tips.ca |
DELTA - Three communities
The municipality of Delta’s population is grouped
into three distinct communities: Ladner, Tsawwassen (South Delta) and North
Delta.
North Delta, a largely
middle class bedroom community with five high schools, is the largest of
the three, and is bordered on the east side by Scott Road (120th Street),
and on the north by 96th Avenue.
Although part of the Corporation of Delta, people of
North Delta feel a closer identification with Surrey than with the more
distant communities of Ladner and Tsawwassen.
Ladner retains a
small town feel; it began as a fishing village. A section of the town
(Ladner Village), has a heritage feel, with wide boulevarded sidewalks,
open-air cafes and local shops.
Ladner is the location of the Delta Municipal Hall, as
well as the police station and the Delta Hospital.
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Ladner Ferry Dock |
Tsawwassen is a
suburban, mostly residential community surrounded by wide open views. South
of Tsawwassen is the tiny U.S. peninsular enclave of Point Roberts,
complete with its own border crossing.
The Tsawwassen First Nation Reserve, with Coast Salish
ancestry, have recently signed the landmark Tsawwassen First Nation treaty
that will give the 300-member band compensation that includes $40 million,
and 372 hectares of Crown land.
Major roads intersect Delta, with crossings to the
north being the beautiful Alex Fraser Bridge and the Massey Tunnel. Highway
17 leads south to Tsawwassen’s busy B.C. Ferry terminal.
Environmentally, Delta is unique. Largely unseen from
the road is Burns Bog, a large raised ecosystem covering 40 square
kilometres, and thought to be the largest undeveloped urban land mass in
North America.
Delta’s south coast of Boundary Bay and Mud Bay
also offers sanctuary to birds and wildlife, with the entire area
surrounded by spacious mountain or coastal views.
– Community STATS –
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Ladner town centre |
Population: 96,723 ((Source: 2006 Census. Pop. growth: 2001 – 2006:
– 0.2 %)
Religious Profile (source:
2001 Census)
• 32,655 Protestant
• 28,440 No religious affiliation
• 17,105 Roman Catholic
• 8,255 Sikh
• 3,865 Born Again, Evangelical Christian
• 1,820 Hindu
• 1,495 Buddhist
• 1,330 Muslim
• 765 Orthodox Christian
• 305 Jewish
Photos by www.tylergarnham.com, and Dean Tjepkema.
December 2007
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