Community News
News from our community! Contact us if you would like to share your news with our church.
August 21: Financial Peace University
Stop Worrying About Money! More than one million families have attended Financial Peace University with amazing results. On average, these families paid off $5,300 in debt and saved $2,700 in just the first 90 days! Stop worrying about money, and start your journey to Financial Peace today. Financial Peace University classes are taking place at Zion CRC and they start on September 13th at 7:00pm. For more information please visit Zion's website or e-mail office@zioncrc.ca.
August 21: Road2Hope
MAKE A DIFFERENCE! Registration is now open for Road2Hope 2011 – a walk/run of hope for EduDeo Ministries (formerly Worldwide Christian Schools-Canada). Register before September 1st to qualify for the early bird discount! For more details and to register, go to www.edudeo.com/r2h.
February 6: Immanuel Christian School Kindergarten
Open House Week!
You only get to raise your child once! Choose an education for your child that prepares them to live as Christians in this world. Nurture your child by partnering with a caring teacher that will help your child understand what it means to love God, love their neighbour and use their abilities to put their love into practice. January 31 - February 4, 2011 is Kindergarten Registration Open House Week at Immanuel Christian School. Call 728-9071 to make an appointment or drop by to pick up an information package. Check us out on the web at www.immanuelschool.ca "Where Faith and Learning are Connected".
February 6: Knox Christian School and Preschool:
Have you ever thought of inquiring about Knox Christian School (grades JK - 8) and Bowmanville Christian Pre-School (ages 2 ½ - 5) in a non-intimidating atmosphere? Come and find out why teaching our children about this creation from a Christian perspective is so important. If you would like to schedule an appointment to enquire about the elementary grades at Knox (principal@knoxchristian.com) or the preschool at Knox (preschool@knoxchristian.com), feel free to e-mail us or call us at 905-623-5871.
February 6: Ministry to Seafareres Montreal Christmas Parcel Drive
Again more than 1,500 sailors were in the harbours of Montreal during the months of November and December. The board of the Seaway ministry is extremely grateful that each person could be provided with a parcel and a message of hope and salvation. We would like to thank each and everyone for their thoughtfulness for providing for people who have little opportunity to celebrate the birth of Christ, the gift of salvation, with their family. Your continued prayers for the work of our chaplains would be greatly appreciated.
December 26: Bibles for Missions
The Bibles for Missions store in Bowmanville, would like to thank the congregation for their generous donations, the many volunteers who do such a great job, and the prayer support. This past year, BFM, Bowmanville alone, submitted $110,000.00 directly to the Bible League of Canada. Across Canada, with 39 stores involved, the total contributed to the Bible League was $5,855,354.00! These results would not be possible without the many hours of faithful volunteer service. Thank you once again!
December 26: Ontario Christian Music Assembly
A BIG THANK YOU AND GREETINGS FROM THE ONTARIO CHRISTIAN MUSIC ASSEMBLY. We are so grateful for your wonderful love and support. Our Annual Christian Festival Concert in Roy Thomson Hall was again such a blessing to so many! We wish you all a very blessed Christmas and New Years with your loved ones! The new CD’s are now available as well as the new “Short Stories From Years Gone By” book. Phone:416-636-9779 or email: landmkooy@rogers.com. God bless you all!
October 17: CRWRC in Newfoundland
A CRWRC Rapid Response team arrived in Catalina, NL, this week to assist with clean up and repair among 80 to 90 damaged homes after the remains of Hurricane Igor swept over the province on September 21st. The vicious tropical storm brought powerful winds and torrential rain through the scenic coastal area, flooding homes, washing out roads and bridges, and stranding thousands of residents in dozens of communities. The Bonavista Peninsula and the town of Catalina were in the hardest hit areas, with some locations getting 240mm of rain in less than 24 hours. Debris, fallen trees, and erosion are widespread. CRWRC is collaborating in assessment and response to damage from tropical storm Igor with Samaritan’s Purse, Mennonite Disaster Service, and the Salvation Army. The Canadian Red Cross is delivering water and supplies to those who are marooned.
October 3: All Nations Heritage Week
For many years, the Christian Reformed Church has designated the week preceding the first Sunday in October as All Nations Heritage Week, focusing on celebrating the unity of faith and diversity of race among the body of Christ. The week culminates on All Nations Heritage Sunday with a special emphasis on race relations.
The Christian Reformed family is becoming an All-Nations family. As a denomination, we are beginning to catch the vision of people from all tribes and languages and nations standing before the throne of God.
Each year during All Nations Heritage Week we celebrate our growing fulfillment of the vision.
John’s vision in Revelation 7 is enough to take our breath away: “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb” (vs. 9).
John seems to describe a world different from our own. Our world is painfully divided, often along these very lines of nation, tribe, people, and language. Violence and war often are waged along lines of ethnicity and race. John’s heavenly vision seems remote.
But there is another reality: Christ’s church already spans all these lines of division. People already bow the knee to Christ from virtually every nation, tribe, people, and language in the world. The worldwide church of Jesus Christ is powerful testimony to the healing, reconciling power of the gospel!
The Christian Reformed Church is one small part of that worldwide church. Our church family includes 14 ethnic groups that identify themselves as Christian Reformed. Our denomination’s ministries reach around the world and across the world’s greatest ethnic and ideological divisions.
On All Nations Heritage Sunday, your gifts and prayers enable Race Relations to offer student scholarships to continue building leadership for an increasingly diverse denomination in an increasingly diverse world.
Thank You!
The Ministry of Race Relations has been mandated by synod of the Christian Reformed Church to eradicate racism, develop multiethnic leaders, and promote reconciliation.
September 19: Food Study Tour
Have you ever wondered how your donations to CRWRC overseas relief projects are utilized in participation with the CANADIAN FOODGRAINS BANK? How does that all work? How is food actually purchased and distributed? Who are the local people working tirelessly to end hunger in their communities? FIND OUT FOR YOURSELF as CFGB invites you to participate on a Food Study Tour in Ethiopia from Jan. 26 - Feb.12, or a Youth Discovery Tour to Guatemala, Jan. 17 - 29. Contact ServiceLink or CFGB if interested and for further information. See www.crcna.org/servicelink
September 19: Global Missions Webinars
Several Christian Reformed Church (CRC) agencies and offices have teamed up to provide a fall series of six webinars related to missions. They begin Sept 22 and run every other week. To see the full lineup of topics and speakers, visit www.crcna.org/MissionWebinars.
September 19: Institute for Christian Studies
To find our about the latest happenings at ICS, check out their newsletter here.
Posted August 22: Canadian Aboriginal Ministry Committee
Did You Know…that the Christian Reformed Church continues to embrace ministry for Aboriginal people and to advocate for this ministry? Through the ministry centres in Winnipeg, Regina, and Edmonton, programs are offered for old and young where people feel valued and affirmed in their identity. Summer programs for youth make this a busy and exciting time for these ministries. Pray for guidance for the leaders and for the hearts of the young to be turned to learn God’s ways for life.
Posted August 22: Geneva Fellowship
JOIN THE FELLOWSHIP! Are you headed to Queen’s University this fall? If you are, Geneva Fellowship, the Christian Reformed campus ministry at Queen's University invites you to join our campus community. For more information, check out our website http://geneva.queensu.ca, contact our campus Pastor Steve Kooy (kooys@queensu.ca), or stop by our ministry booth at the annual Queen’s Sidewalk Sale on Friday, September 10. We would love to connect with you this year.
Posted August 22: Coming to Waterloo in the Fall?
If you are a new or returning university or college student coming to the Waterloo area, please join us on September 12 for our special “welcome to the students” Sunday. You and your parents and friends are welcome to join us for lunch after the service. Get to know the people in our church, our pastor, Vicki Cok, and Chaplain Brian Bork. The service will be held at Waterloo CRC on 209 Bearinger Ave in Waterloo at 10:30 am. We hope to see you there!
Posted July 11: The Ministry to Seafarers
May 2010 Newsletter
Posted July 6: July Banner Online
The July special issue of The Banner is now online at www.thebanner.org. “It Was a Quiet Week in Palos Heights”—but a good one for young people in the CRC. Read why in our news from Synod 2010. We also report on another gathering, in which the CRC joined with more than 80 million Christians worldwide. If your kids are already telling you they’re bored, check out “Wacky Water,” featuring crazy games for hot summer days.
See also:
- Candidates for Ministry 2010 (including Hope Fellowship's Lisa Guillaume-Koene)
- “How to Be Catholic” by Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary. In this article on ecumenism, Mouw helps Calvinists recover from the notion that we’re “the one true church.”
- “I Was in Prison and You Visited Me . . .”
- “Don’t Know Much About the Catechism”
- “Swept Up by Swoopo”
- “Communities of Care” – the CRC’s lesser known ministries that help hurting people in a broken world.
Posted Jun 27: Thank you from the Gate
Dear Friends of the Gate:
I wish to thank you for your wonderful donation to us. It was so very kind of the members of your Boys Club to donate cleaning products for us. We are so very grateful to your for your thoughtfulness. Your generosity will touch the lives of the many we serve. Thank you ever so much for your support of our organization. We have been blessed by your love. Thank you for caring. Thank you for sharing. God bless.
Marten Van Harmelen Board of Directors Gate 3:16
Posted Jun 27: Durham Regional Police Survey
Public Opinion Survey: The Durham Regional Police Service is interested in your opinion about the service it provides as well as the safety within our neighbourhoods. To complete the survey, check out www.drps.ca. A paper copy can be picked up at and returned to any DRPS police station or the Information Desk at Regional Headquarters on 605 Rossland Rd. E, Whitby.
Posted Jun 27: Canadian Aboriginal Ministry Committee
Did You Know...that 2 years have passed Prime Minister Harper offered an apology to the native peoples of Canada on behalf of all Canadians? He emphasized that Canadians accept responsibility for the loss of family structure and pride in identity of our aboriginal neighbours and that we are committed to working toward restoring relationships and solving long term problems. Did you know that to this date very little progress has been made? As people of peace, let us work toward knowing our neighbours and caring for them. June 21 is National Aboriginal Day.
Posted Jun 13: Prayer Requests for Discovery Church (CRC Church Plant in Bowmanville)
- Pray for wisdom and guidance as we continue the development of a missional mindset towards our community
- Pray for the transition in leadership for ACID youth ministry, discovery children’s programs, hiring of two additional staff and the new leaders that are being trained and mentored
- Pray for the ongoing attempts at developing a relationship with the neighbourhood around where we worship
- Pray for all the permits to be obtained for renovations without delays.
- Pray specifically for grace to flow through the individuals approving the permits
- Pray for our wonderfully creative Stewardship Team as the find ways to fund needed things outside of the budget like replacing our Yamaha key board, which died recently on a Sunday morning. You can contact wayne@discoverychurch.ca if the Lord gives you an idea about how this can be accomplished.
If you would like to read the entire newsletter from Discovery Church, click here.
Posted May 2: Pregnancy Help Centre
THE PREGNANCY HELP CENTRE continues to minister to many families in the Durham region. We have seen a 36% increase in our first time clients and 20% increase in the overall number of visits at the Ajax site since being in the not so new place anymore. In general, we have 258 clients between the two sites with an increase for clients aged 20-24. (For more details, check out the PHC’s latest newsletter.)
Posted May 2: Faith and Hope Ministries
THANK YOU for your prayers and support of our conference “Caring for One Another” held on March 27, 2010 at the Best Western in Cobourg. The conference was awesome! We had 200 people in attendance. Dr. Grant Mullen was an excellent key note speaker who held our attention through interaction and humour. We had 7 break out workshops including a family panel. For more details on the conference and on Faith and Hope Ministries please check out our website at www.faithandhopeministries.net Thank you, Winnie Visser and June Zwier
Posted April 18: Canadian Aboriginal Ministries Committee
Did You Know… that April is the 150th anniversary of the Riel Rebellion? In this uprising, the native peoples of the prairies sought to have an active voice in their future and a way to work in harmony with settlers and the government. Today, native people in Canada are still waiting to have a voice in their future. We must continue to speak out for our brothers and sisters so that justice and harmony may be found in our country. To learn more about the CRC’s ministry with Aboriginals in Canada, visit www.crcna.org/aboriginal.
Posted April 18: Calvin College
Registration continues for the June 15-17, Calvin College pre-conference, "Reformed Mission in an Age of World Christianity". This event occurs just prior to the merger assembly of the Reformed Ecumenical Council and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches on the campus of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich. This is an opportunity to deepen Reformed Christian ideas and partnerships among global delegates and with other Reformed Christian ministry and higher education leaders. To learn more, visit: www.calvin.edu/go/rcc. Note: After May 15, registration is on a space-available basis.
Posted April 18: The Refuge Annual Dinner
This year (2010) The Refuge will be focusing on Heroes....not the type that wear capes and blue and red suits but rather the heroes that can be found in the youth themselves for overcoming various challenges and obstacles in their lives, the heroes that can be found in the staff and volunteers of The Refuge as well as the heroes that can be found through the supporters of The Refuge. Heroes will also be our theme for this year's Annual Dinner that will take place on Thursday, April 29th at Octavien's Banquet Hall located in the Oshawa Best Western. Tickets this year will be $40 p.p. and will include a $30 tax receipt. There will also be great items that will be put up for auction. To reserve your ticket please call The Refuge at 905-404-2420 or e-mail us at lhooper@refugeoutreach.com.
April 18: Gate 3:16
Click here for the latest issue of The Gate's Spring 2010 Newsletter
April 4: The Power of the Gospel
Praise God! He is changing lives with the power of the Gospel in your community and around the world.
This year Christian Reformed Home Missions and Christian Reformed World Missions have joined efforts to shine a spotlight on how God has used your partnership with us to bring the message of salvation to people in North America and around the world.
From Easter to Pentecost, Home and World Missions will be focusing on our shared theme from Romans 1:16: Reaching Your Community and the World with the Power of the Gospel. Home and World Missions church planters and missionaries have come together to provide a devotional for all of the Sundays from Easter Sunday (April 4) through Pentecost Sunday (May 23). Also included are daily prayer requests from various ministries in North America and around the world.
The devotional and prayer guide are available online here. Paper copies are available at the Info Centre.
April 4: Canadian Aboriginal Ministries Committee
Did You Know…that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission set up to work towards reconciliation with indigenous people in Canada has been reactivated? Murray Sinclair, one of the members of the panel, is a friend of the Indian Family Centre in Winnipeg. Keep informed of the work of the Commission at www.trc-cvr.ca and go to listen to hearings in your area. To learn more about the CRC’s ministry with Aboriginals in Canada, visit www.crcna.org/pages/cm_aborig_index.cfm.
Feb 21: The Refuge
Dear Friends, Thank you so much for your partnership in 2009. The past year was a very busy year. During 2009, The Refuge interacted with 486 different homeless and street youth 7,587 times. The represents an increase of 28% over 2008 but the real increase came during the second half of the year when we interacted with youth 1,286 more times than during the same time in 2008.
However, more than just numbers, your financial gifts provided a 'home' for these youth...a home where they could be loved, nurtured, encouraged, feel safe and have a place to belong...a home where they could begin to heal from the hurt and pain in their lives; the reason they found themselves on the streets in the first place. Without your help, we would have to close our doors. We are grateful for your partnership and look forward to what God has planned for these youth at The Refuge in 2010
