The following is a final reflection from Flyn Ritchie, outgoing president and editorial director of Christian Info Society.

OUR 23 year old daughter Elise was a babe in arms when my wife Margaret and I started working with Christian Info Society (CIS).

The ministry needed an accounts manager and Margaret fit the bill. I tagged along as a ‘resource coordinator,’ and we shared a full-time position.

Margaret long ago had the good sense to move on to teaching, in a public high school, but I stayed on – as writer, editor and finally president of Christian Info Society (CIS).

Because my formal training was in law, I was unprepared for a career in media.

So I learned on the job. On the editorial side, from Debra Fieguth and Lloyd Mackey. On the business side – and CIS is a business as well as a ministry – from a series of publishers (Phil Hood, Bill Kent, Alan Stanchi and Steve Almond). Thank you all.

Board members such as Ken Smith, Peter Dueck, Dolphe Hoffman and Bernice Gerard offered wise guidance, and often raised, or gave, financial support, especially in the earlier years.

Mel Newth chaired the board very ably for about 20 years and mentored both my wife and me. Jeffrey Lowe, the current chair, has been tireless in his efforts to improve the quality of the publications.

Nosy by nature, I have had the privilege, through the paper, of prying into many a person’s business. Or having others do it on my behalf.

My explanation, when needed, has been that the newspaper – and later our website as well – is an ideal place to inform the various parts of the local church what others are up to. BC Christian News links the Christian community in a unique way.

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It’s been a long run, and a very good one. I’ve met and talked with so many interesting people – from every part of the church – and have been impressed with the quiet, selfless way so many people carry on with good works. Most of their stories never made the paper.

While at law school, as a volunteer, I helped deliver the first issue of Christian Info.

I had a clear vision of the churches of Vancouver jointly sharing responsibility for the city, with each church being willing to serve a block, or several blocks, depending on the church’s size.

Naïve, no doubt – I was a very young Christian. But the image has not left me, and I often think it takes a certain amount of applied naïvete to achieve anything for God’s kingdom.

Our publications allow local believers to find out about each other, and notify them about upcoming events and causes they can participate in.

However, print media is essentially passive, and there are perhaps better ways to encourage the church to more active collaboration.

I believe my vision of the church caring for the city – for the lives of its people, for the ways in which justice is practiced – was God-given.

In coming days I hope to take more direct steps towards helping to unify the body of Christ in the Metro Vancouver area.

I wish the staff and board of CIS – each one of whom is a great pleasure to work with – every blessing in the future.

And I look forward to meeting and working with many of you, our readers and members of the Christian community, as well.

Blessings,

Flyn

December 2010