The “new” New
Westminster EFC
– our LPD Church of the Week
– thanks to Anna Crumback (Ben) of Sointula Community Church for producing the Church of the Week.
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In 2018, New Westminster EFC recognized that their future was in jeopardy. Their church, birthed in 1941, had a long history of faithful ministry. It was instrumental in the birth of Town+Field Church in Langley, but now it was questioning its own viability and future.
They contacted our district for assistance, and we agreed to partner with them. We would honour their mission, vision, core values and history, but everything else was to be held loosely.
One of their core values was a “Commitment to our diversity in welcoming people from all nations.”
Unknown to them, and to us, (but not to God), God was preparing a young couple, Jorge and Emily Lin, to become church planters. We conducted a church planter assessment, and affirmed them in their calling to plant, “a church of all nations.” At this point, we began to wonder if God was up to something here 🙂 (BTW – Jorge and Emily are of Taiwanese descent, and Jorge is an Argentine-born, Taiwanese-Canadian).
Transitional Pastor, Ralph (Karen) Hardy, and church planting missionary, Steve (Gillian) Sharpe guided the church through a time of transition, and in this time, invited Jorge and Emily to join New West as interns in church planting.
As of January, 2020, Jorge and Emily began serving as “Church Planting Pastor” of the “new” New Westminster EFC,” as missionaries of the LPD. We are trusting God to bring the “old” congregation and those new to the church together into a new body, united in Christ and mission.
Please pray for Jorge and Emily in this venture/adventure – there is no manual for this hybrid plant, and we are figuring this out together. I am so thankful for the Advisory Team that we have to guide and support Jorge and Emily in this new work. Our team consists of Jonathon Mercer and Ben Yohannes, elders at New West EFC, Jorge Lin, Steve Sharpe (LPD Missionary of Church Planting Development), Phil Yung (LPD Director of Church Planting and Development) and myself. It is a joy to work together to one purpose!
Please pray for us all on this venture, and especially remember Jorge and Emily!
Please see below for how you can help!
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Imagine – planting the “perfect church!” Have y0u ever caught yourself saying, “If only our church would ….;” or perhaps, “If I were leading a church, I would…”
There can be “good” and “not-so good” reasons to plant a church. Good reasons usually include something about reaching people not being reached and discipled by existing churches.
Church planting can be described as an adventure. It has been likened to “building airplanes in the sky,” and one planting can experience the emotions of joy, fear, excitement, discouragement, energy and exhaustion – and almost simultaneously.
One of the challenges perhaps not often spoken about is loneliness. As a pastor, there is a church family to care. As a church planter, especially in a new city, there often is no church family to support a planter in prayer and friendship – one can give, but not receive friendship and service.
In our LPD, I like to speak of the symbiotic nature of church planting. As in creation, there are various symbiotic relationships (my favourite is the Clark’s Nutcracker (bird) and the Whitebark Pine tree. Through there symbiotic relationship of mutual dependence and benefit, the Clark’s Nutcracker is fed and the Whitebark Pine is propagated.
Just so in church planting. Church plants provide the “field testing” for new ministries, structures and works of God, and churches provide the support team for church plants and their planters. Every LPD church can be engaged in church planting as a “sending” or “supporting church.” A sending church seeks to birth a new church as an extension of their church ministry. A supporting church supports a church plant and its planters financially, in prayer and by sharing resources.
I am thankful for the church planters and church plants in our district, and also for the support that local churches are providing for them – I pray for an ever-growing symbiotic relationship together. Whether we be planting new churches, re-planting struggling churches or faithful servant-leaders in existing churches – we are all seeking to make and grow disciples of Jesus Christ. We trust that our upcoming LPD Conference on the theme, “The Heart of Discipleship,” will be used to this end.
Here is a recent article on how we can minister to those planting churches around us.
overlooked-needs-of-church-planters
We look forward to sharing stories of church planters, re-planters and servants at our upcoming LPD Conference.
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LPD Conference
– Just two weeks away!
Registration deadline is Friday, February 28
at
Grace Hanin Community Church
March 6,7
with Dr. Randy Wollf of ACTS Seminaries.
“The Heart of Discipleship”
We are so glad to welcome our presenter, Dr. Randy Wollf, Assistant Professor of Practical Theology and Leadership Studies; Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary at ACTS. Randy (Lore) Wollf became our first LPD Missionaries in 2005, as they planted “The Journey.” Randy is a practitioner when it comes to church, and believes that there are several practical essentials for effective discipleship in our local churches that transcends our methods and effort.
Here is a note from conference speaker, Randy Wollf:
As I’ve been preparing for the LPD Conference, I’ve been struck again with God’s heart for discipleship. God wants our churches to be loving, Christ-centred communities on a mission to be and make growing disciples of Jesus. We’ve gotten pretty good at developing solid disciple-making methods and that’s a good thing. The methods we use to make disciples are kind of like a trellis or support that a vine needs to support its growth. Yet, the trellis does not cause the growth. It’s the sunshine, the rain and the nutrients in the soil that cause the growth.
During our time together on March 6, we will explore the disciple-making nutrients that must be in the soil of our churches, at the very core of our church cultures, for our disciple-making efforts to flourish. Even though we will look at some “how-to’s,” the sessions will focus more on heart matters like prayerfulness, responding to God’s voice, loving others, and living missionally. As we partner with the Holy Spirit in growing these core elements of a vibrant church culture, the methods we employ will be much more effective. Please pray earnestly for our time together – that God would take us and our churches deeper in understanding and living out His heart for discipleship.
With great anticipation of what God will do,
Randy
Please plan to join us for this important time of sharing together, learning together and providing direction to the ministry of our Lower Pacific District. We will also be presented with a proposal for changes to the structure of our EFCC. This is intended to strengthen the governing and ministry relationships between national office, districts and local churches.
All are welcome to join us for the workshop with Randy on Friday, to the informal dinners with ministry colleagues on Friday evening, and the Saturday morning time for teaching, ministry reporting and decisions. We will end off with lunch together, including an informal fellowship lunch and prayer time for ladies in ministry and ministry wives with Karen Stewart. Also, we anticipate one or more churches joining our LPD Family at conference.
All Pastors are expected to attend, and all others are welcome to join us!
Register online at: https://www.lpd-efcc.ca/event/lpd-annual-conference-2020/
Here is a conference poster and info. on the luncheon for pastor’s wives and women in ministry:
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Please pray for:
