Grace Community Church
our LPD Church of the Week
In 1995, Fort Langley EFC had a passion to plant a church across the Fraser River in Pitt Meadows. There were several contacts there, and as this community was just a short ride on the Albion Ferry from Fort Langley, it was accessible and seen as “doable.”
The church began to meet in a rented room at the Ramada Inn, and soon became Grace Community Church. When it was time to call a church planter to build the work, the Lord provided Colin and Beth Peters and their three children, and they have served faithfully ever since.
Colin is a bi-vocational pastor. He is just as home with a hammer in his hand doing construction and renovations as he is in the pulpit (or today, preaching via ZOOM). With Colin being bi-vocational, ministry is shared between a team of volunteers, and God has brought people with necessary gifts for each season in the life of Grace Community Church.
The church outgrew the Ramada Inn, and moved to a rented facility – a former bank that was situated in a mall that was slated for redevelopment. They renovated the bank structure. The stage was constructed where the ATMs had once been, and the bank vault became the library. It served them well!
As the mall was about to be demolished, it was time to move on, and the Lord provided an office building, just up the street from where they had been meeting. In a step of faith, they purchased the building with a loan from the LPD, and with their in-house crew of carpenters, creatively remade the building into a functional church facility, complete with a multi-use auditorium/fellowship area/dinner area, a kitchen and Sunday school classes. They hosted our LPD Conference in 2018.
Grace Community Church is well-named. They have shared and showed God’s grace to many people over the years, and have a compassion for others in the Name of Christ. Their mission is, “Loving God, and loving People into a Growing relationship with Jesus Christ.”
All are welcome. They have reached out to their neighbours through both programs and friendships. They have been generous in using a sharing their facility – they even host a church plant of another denomination. It is not “competition,” it is working together in the work of the Kingdom.
Please pray for Grace Community Church, as they navigate through this season of ZOOM, and begin to meet together again. Fellowship and connecting with people is in their “DNA,” and they long to be together to share life, faith and food!
Pray for Pastor Colin, Beth and family, as they faithfully serve our Lord in their vocations of pastoral ministry, carpentry and Beth also serving as elementary principal at BC Christian Academy.
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“Taking the Christ out of Christian”
Stepping back from the emotion, rhetoric, hyperbole and politics of the past two weeks, we are all impacted by the revelation of the discovery of the buried remains of some 215 First Nation individuals at the site of the residential school in Kamloops.
No matter how we frame it, and whatever positive stories one can cite, there is no way to paint a good picture of what has happened in our country through residential schools. This has shaken us and how we want to think of Canada. There has been a “dehumanizing” of our First Nation People by government leaders, some religious leaders and our population through the years. We all bear some responsibility in that these leaders reflected the prevailing thinking of the day – and sadly, perhaps of many today.
Responses have led to expressions of grief in various communities, to conveys of trucks and motorcycles to Kamloops, to the removal of statues of Egerton Ryerson, Sir John A. Macdonald, for their association with the founding and function of residential schools. Calls are being being made to “cancel” Canada Day celebrations this year. There has also been some honest and balanced reflection on our story, as evidenced in his article in the National Post: the-many-canadians-who-thought-residential-schools-were-a-good-idea
While Sir John A. Macdonald was quoted saying that we need to, “Take the Indian out of the child,” talk radio host, commenting on the actions of the Catholic Church in residential schools suggested that, “it seems that the priests took the Christ out of Christian.” That is the thinking of a person who calls himself “secular” as he views the actions of the Catholic Church relating to residential schools.
I was moved by the sermon delivered by a Catholic Priest, Father Paul Bringleson, in Flin Flon Manitoba. He, having heard the radio program and comments of Charles Adler, delivered a sermon in which he apologizes for the actions of the Catholic Church, and urges its leadership to pause, to be quiet and to listen, rather than seek to speak to the situation. He believes that the Catholic Church has lost its moral authority to speak. He challenges the bishops and his fellow priests:
My dear bishops, my dear priests. We no longer have authority, moral authority, over our people. Stop kidding yourself like you do. You don’t. Take off your robes, your shoes, and your rings and your crosses. Sit yourself in a chair. And listen. Listen. Listen until it hurts. And keep listening. Only then, only then will we ever have a shot at healing.
Perhaps even more challenging, he states in strong language:
And so we have lost our credibility. Bishops still write these beautiful, long letters that are all in the head. Bishop, no one reads them anymore. No one reads them anymore. You’re reminding us about our moral lives every day of the bloody week. You’re reminding us how evil abortion is and how I can’t love a man or a woman can’t love a woman. How gay men and women can’t be married and how they can’t have children. You’re telling us that we’re missing mass on Sunday to spend time with our families is a sin. And all the while you sit there in your offices knowing that you embody a legacy that we are discovering every year is filled with racism and hatred.
He concludes with this challenge to parishioners, for them to challenge those who lead them in the church:
…ask them not to write another letter. Ask them to leave their office and get out onto the street and sit amongst the people whose hearts we have broken, whose dignity we have robbed and whose lives we have betrayed. Only then, only then, will healing truly have a chance of being the reconciliation that the gospel of Jesus Christ demands of us.
Here is a link to a manuscript of the entire sermon. https://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/one-priests-message-to-the-church-shut-your-mouth-and-just-listen/
Please take time to read through this manuscript, as printed in Maclean’s Magazine. Bringleson speaks to the Catholic Church. My purpose is not to criticize this church, but to simply share the words of a priest who has the humility, courage and integrity to question what he observes and represents. Whether you agree totally or not, he presents an honest and personal perspective, and speaks of his own personal struggle with alcoholism and how hard it was to reach out for help. He writes:
And all I ever wanted to do was to make God real in people’s lives, to show people what I discovered. But part of being able to do that requires us to be very rigorously honest about who it is we really are as people in the church, that we are as sinful and as flawed as the people we consistently call out and condemn. That’s been a steep learning curve.
Sometimes, we in ministry may feel that we need to have all the answers and to somehow have all the right words to say in the form of a sermon or counsel. Perhaps a more effective approach is to simply have the discipline and humility to begin by listening.
Last week, I shared an article that spoke of people being glad to talk about faith, but not seeing the church as either relevant or as attractive. Perhaps, as Adler suggests, many have come to see that some who represent the church as having taken the “Christ out of Christian.”
Let’s remember that there is nothing special about us. We are just as broken as anyone else. We have nothing to brag about or to take pride in, and we have not earned our salvation or God’s favour. We are simply recipients of God’s grace through Christ, and He dwells in us by His Spirit. From our brokenness, we point people to Christ; invite them to come to share our hope, and to become a new creation with a new identity in Him.
As some of you know, my favourite picture of us, as Christ’s Church:
Don’t you realize that this is not the way to live? Unjust people who don’t care about God will not be joining in his kingdom. Those who use and abuse each other, use and abuse sex, use and abuse the earth and everything in it, don’t qualify as citizens in God’s kingdom. A number of you know from experience what I’m talking about, for not so long ago you were on that list. Since then, you’ve been cleaned up and given a fresh start by Jesus, our Master, our Messiah, and by our God present in us, the Spirit. (1 Cor. 6:9-11 – The Message).
Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Cor. 6:9-11 – NIV).
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Gal 2:20 – NIV).
Here is an article that shares the story of a First-Nations Catholic lay-person who loves his church and the Lord and seeks healing and reconciliation: with-anger-and-prayer-first-nation-catholics-have-distinct-take-on-residential-schools
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BC COVID-19 Policy Updates:
Here are the current regulations for gathering indoors for worship:
– the next update/announcement will come next week – and we will update you 🙂
Highlights of the variance for indoor worship:
Here is an excellent summary of regulations for worship and other church ministries from our friends at the Christian and Missionary Alliance Denomination: Church-Gathering-Restriction-Guidance-May-27-2021.pdf
Here is a link to the current government regulations: bccdc.ca/health-info/diseases-conditions/covid-19/community-settings/faith-based-spiritual-and-worship-practices
This is step one of a four step plan, and with this, there is hope of things opening up in the weeks ahead.
Here is a link to how this in anticipated to unfold in the weeks ahead. BC Restart Plan: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/covid-19/info/restart
While there is hope, there remains a lack of clarity as to what the regulations will be at each phase. “Indoor organized” gatherings are restricted to:
Phase I: “Indoor or outdoor religious worship services of up to 50 people that follow COVID-19 safety rules.”
Phase II: “Indoor seated organized gatherings up to 50 people with a COVID-19 Safety Plan. – Consultation with the sector begins for next steps on indoor and outdoor organized gatherings.” (June 15 or later).
Phase III: “Increased capacity at both indoor and outdoor organized gatherings with a COVID-19 Safety Plan in place.” (July 1 or later).
Phase IV: “Increased capacity at large organized gatherings, like a concert.” (Sept. 7 or later).
So, one needs to weigh the benefits of meeting physically at this point. There is comfort in gathering – just to be physically together. I encourage churches to gather as they are permitted, and then to plan to go for walks, etc, with several from the group.
Outdoor Services remain permitted: Dr. Bonnie Henry stated that churches can gather outdoors with groups of up to 50 people meeting outdoors, masked (when not seated), social distancing and not singing or interacting: office-of-the-provincial-health-officer/covid-19/covid-19-variance-outdoor-worship.pdf
With changes to the BC Employment Standards, employers are now required to provide all employees with three hours paid time for the purposes of vaccination, retroactive to April 19. Here is a link to the legislation: gov.bc.ca/releases
Summer Camp/Overnight Camp Directives: office-of-the-provincial-health-officer/covid-19/covid-19-pho-order-overnight-camps.pdf
