– our LPD Church Plant of the Week
On April 1, 2000, Dan and Sharon Williams, after a “virtual farewell,” from their ministry as the English Ministries at Vancouver Chinese EFC , headed to Osoyoos to begin planting a church. After months of prayerful preparation and planning for a church plant in “normal” circumstances, they had to refocus and retool to plant a church during COVID. God was not taken by surprise, and has opened doors of ministry opportunity for them.
Our district, is collaborating with the Canadian Pacific District (in which Osoyoos is located), in the Osoyoos Project. Our district provides the service of receiving and receipting funds for Dan and Sharon as “employees” of our district. Steve Sharpe is providing coaching. The CPD is providing oversight and fellowship, and God is honoured in such collaboration.
I have known Dan and Sharon since the 1980’s. Dan and I served together with Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, and since then, we have both served in pastoral ministry. Dan and Sharon have served in a variety of church ministries, including house church and church planting contexts, as well as Vancouver Chinese EFC.
Please pray for Dan and Sharon, as they have stepped out in faith, and please check out their project and giving opportunities through our LPD Website at: https://www.lpd-efcc.ca/donations/osoyoos-project/
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The Church: a Discredited Organization or a Living Organism?
Like many of you, I have been troubled and ashamed by the reports of the discovery of the remains of some 215 First Nations children, who died while students at a government sponsored residential school in Kamloops. News of this came just as one of my sons and I were unloading his U-Haul truck in Kamloops, where he and his family are moving at the end of this month.
As someone born and raised in BC, I grew up knowing of these schools, and I used to see the one on Kuper Island (now renamed “Penelakut Island” after the Penelekut First Nation People). While I never landed on the island, we would see the school building from the small ferry we would ride to neighbouring Thetis Island and summer camp. Though closed, it remained a prominent structure and had been badly vandalized.
While aware of these schools, and that students were required to live in residence, I was not aware until much later that children were forcibly taken from their families, that they were often abused and that they were so dehumanized – so much so, that parents were not informed of their children’s death and that our federal government did not feel that it was worth the money to send the bodies of children home to their parents for burial.
Perhaps I should have been more aware of the racism and dehumanization. I could have made more effort to know. Perhaps I wished to believe that reported incidents of abuse were the exception, rather than the norm. I wanted to believe that people, though misguided, for the most part had good intentions, especially those who served in these schools in the Name of Christ. In researching the history of the residential school on Kuper Island, I quickly found that records indicate that 121 students died at the school (1890-1975). I had no idea!
It is now clear that the whole system of residential schools was racist, dehumanizing, destructive and designed to break down the family fabric and culture of our Indigenous people. We have all heard stories coming from the “Truth and Reconciliation Hearings.” See Jody Wilson Raybould’s article in the Globe and Mail: opinion/article-kamloops-residential-schools-unmarked-graves-a-painful-reminder-of-why/
It is disturbing to acknowledge that “the church” participated in the residential school system, providing caregivers, teachers and staff. Not only did they often operate the schools – some of these people actively engaged in the abuse and degradation of students. This is shameful, and has fostered distrust, contempt and anger to the Church Organization, our Lord and our message.
Rather than the churches of the day speaking against these wrong and sinful actions, several denominations willingly joined in. Rather than challenging the racism and inhumane conditions, they merely reflected the values and laws of the day. This has brought discredit to the Organization of the Church and has maligned the Name of Christ.
As I write, calls for the Pope to apologize on behalf of the Catholic continue to go unheeded. This has added to the cynicism, and some accuse the church of being more influenced by lawyers and greed than by the Truth and honouring God. The Church as an Organization has become a hindrance to the Gospel.
Caucasians like me have provided reason for a lot of mistrust from our First Nation neighbours. Though I have had many positive interactions with Indigenous people, and look forward to these, our Asian brothers and sisters receive a warm reception that is not tainted by “colonial” history. Several of our Chinese and Korean churches have active ministries to our First Nation population.
Christ has declared that the world will know that we are Christ’s disciples by our love for one another (John 13:35) and we are called to “back up” our message with our actions, “In everything, show yourself to be an example by doing good works. In your teaching show integrity, dignity, and wholesome speech that is above reproach, so that anyone who opposes us will be ashamed to have nothing bad to say about us.” (Titus 2:7,8). While the Organization of the church may seem to be unattractive, there can be something very attractive about the Organism – the Body of Christ.
It is no surprise that a recent study, (though from the American context), has found that the unchurched are much more open to talking about faith with friends and others than to attend church to have their questions answered.
unchurched-will-talk-about-faith-not-interested-in-going-to-church
COVID has brought us opportunity for both change and renewal in the local church. While the “institution” has been rocked, the organism is more relevant than ever.
What reputation has your local church earned in your community? Are we seen to be an irrelevant or discredited organization? Are we known to be a loving and authentic community that loves others generously in the Name of Christ?
In one of the papers submitted by a pastor for EFCC Ministry Credential and reviewed by our Ministerial Standing Committee, we were struck by his testimony of a candidate. Raised in an unchurched family, he was drawn to the faith by the lives and examples of friends, and summarized this with the line,“I didn’t grow up in the church, the church came to me.”
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BC COVID-19 Policy Updates:
Here are the current regulations for gathering indoors for worship:
Highlights of the variance for indoor worship:
Here is a link to the current regulations: covid-19/covid-19-variance-indoor-worship.pdf
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, social distancing and not singing or interacting 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
