Month: December 2015

A Good Word for a New Year

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Dear WCV,

We wish you all God’s best this holiday season.  May you be filled with peace and joy as we enter 2016 and may you be rooted in his nourishing love in every circumstance.  We are so privileged to serve this amazing community.  God has done so much in and through WCV over the years and we are honoured and humbled for what has gone before us and excited for what’s in store!

Here’s a blessing we pray for us all now – you can pray it too!:

“May God make your year a happy one!  Not by shielding you from all sorrows and pain, but by strengthening you to bear it, as it comes; not by making your path easy, but by making you sturdy to travel any path; not by taking hardships from you, but by taking fear from your heart; not by granting you unbroken sunshine, but by keeping your face bright, even in the shadows; not by making your life always pleasant, but by showing you when people and their causes need you most, and by making you anxious to be there to help. God’s love, peace, hope and joy to you for the year ahead.”

With love and gratitude – the Pastoral Elders.

Pastoral Elders 2015

John, Violet, Nathan, Jodi & Andy (and Chewy – the hairy one)

 

 

 

Why You Should Join the Outer Circle Too!

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Here are a few short stories from people in the Outer Circle process.  They each share about the significance of the Outer Circle in their particular journeys.  If you’re inspired to join go here to find out more about the Outer Circle for 2016!

Here’s Chloe Bishop:

Here’s Melody Schellenberg:

Here’s Jodi Labun:

Here’s Suhail Stephen:

Here’s Jessica Williams:

Here’s Cliff Heide:

>>More Outer Circle info here.

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Christmas Eve Service

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Every Christmas Eve, as other families across the world gather around a Christmas tree, we, as a church body, gather together to celebrate Christ’s birth. We remember and celebrate The One who Came by singing Christmas carols and lighting the last advent candle. This service is a candle lit service, where every family is welcome, and everyone will get their own individual candle.

We encourage you to come and celebrate with us as one body. But if you can’t make it, take a step back from the busyness of Christmas and remember the One, Jesus Christ, who came down as an infant child to dwell with us.

The service will be on Thursday, December 24th, 2015, 6:00 – 7 p.m.

Vineyard Prayer & Worship Summit 2016

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The Prayer & Worship Summit is a four-day event IN EDMONTON, that provides an opportunity for you to experience the presence of God in a way that will change your life! It’s a time of abandonment, devotion and consecration as we come together in His presence.

This event is open to everyone, including families with children of all ages. The Edmonton Vineyard churches are also welcoming the country-wide church body, as they see the church as an inter-denominational creative expression of God’s love.

It is on Feb 26th – 27th.

Pre-summit symposiums are February 24th – 25th.

There are three options for symposiums:

  1. Prophetic Symposium ~ Gary Best, former National Director of Vineyard Canada, will share his insight and wisdom for practical training for every believer to operate in the prophetic.
  2. Confluence of the Arts Symposium ~ Dr. Rik Berry, professional artist and lead pastor of Valley Gate Vineyard, will share his excitement and creativity in a worship experience of Confluence of the Arts.
  3. Worship Symposium ~ Vineyard Worship Canada (VWC) and Marc Pusch, managing director for VWC seek to encourage, envision, and equip the worship communities.

For more details and updates, visit the Vineyard Summit website. Registration details can also be found with the link provided.

Location: Harvest Vineyard, Lawton Junior High School, 11602-40 Street, Edmonton AB.

The Outer Circle – an invitation

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Our world is pretty messed up.  There’s a lot to like about our world, but there’s also much that’s just plain wrong – sickness, death, terror, fear, destruction.  A quick scan of the headlines confirms that evil is present – it hasn’t always been so, and won’t always be the case.

Immediately after Adam and Eve sinned, God had a plan of for redemption and restoration of what was lost through sin (you can read Gen 3:15 for the first glimpse of a plan).  He wouldn’t allow sin to have the final say in his creation.  Jesus, is God’s response to sin.  Our journey as followers and imitators of Jesus, is towards Christ-likeness.  It’s really a journey back to the beginning.  We were created in God’s very image, sin distorted that image, and Christ came to make a way for us to live into that again.  To walk and talk once again with God our loving creator.

Outer Circle TriadsIn a big sense, this is what the Outer Circle is all about.  It is about th
e gift of salvation and how we participate in “working it out”.  It’s our attempt to create just enough structure to help us on our journey towards being like Jesus.  It’s the work of discipleship.  It’s the joy and the task of submitting our wills, habits, desires, our very lives to God, who takes them and forms us into the likeness of his son.


If you are interested in joining the Outer Circle process, you are welcome to!  Now is the time.  The only requirement is that you have to commit to the process.  Read more about it here or pick up a copy of the Outer Circle manual at the info table.

If you are currently in a Triad, now is the time to make your plan for the coming year.

The first Outer Circle gathering of the new year is Saturday, January 16 at 5:30pm.

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If you need help finding a Triad, we can help.  Please submit your name to the office.  Also, at the first Outer Circle Gathering this year, we will have a table for newcomers who do not yet have a Triad.  Our hope is that we can share together and perhaps some Triads will form naturally there.

Here are a few stories of people talking about the significance of the Outer Circle in their lives.

 

On the Mountain of the LORD – a call to Pray

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There’s something powerful and unsettling about recognizing our own inadequacy. Abraham must have felt something of his own inability to provide, as he was witness to the miraculous conception and birth of his son Isaac. Abraham’s firstborn was God’s living, breathing promise – a skin and bone sign that God would honour his vow to make Abraham a father of many descendants. Imagine, then, what must have been going through Abraham’s head as he trudged obediently and perhaps reluctantly, up the mountain for three days to sacrifice Isaac. Was God going to turn back from his promise? Did God really ask this of him? Did he hear God correctly? What was going to happen when they got the top?

Screen Shot 2015-12-10 at 4.01.49 PMIn the end, God walks with Abraham into his greatest fear and delivers him from it. Instead of sacrificing his son, like other nations around him, God provides. Jehovah Jireh is the name Abraham uses for the LORD when he sees God’s provision in the form of a Ram for the sacrifice.

“On the mountain of the Lord, it was provided for” is what they still say of that event. “On the mountain of the Lord it was seen.” The connection between God providing and God seeing a need is deep. Jehovah Jireh can be translated equally, “God who provides” and “God who sees”. Abraham knew when God sees, he also provides. Whatever was going on in his heart that day, his actions declared, “the Lord will see to it”. This same idea caused the Hebrew people to cry out, “Remember us, O LORD” (Jer. 14:21) and “Hear us, O, LORD!” (1 Kings 8:30). As soon as God remembers, it is provided. As soon as he hears, it is provided. As soon as he sees, it is provided.

In this season, we are joining with Abraham and the ancient Hebrew nation in calling out for our financial provision. We are joining together to ask God to remember us, to hear us, to see us and, ultimately, to provide. We may not feel the same kind of desperation Abraham might have felt as he ascended the mountain, but we are confident we will see provision – that God knows our situation and will hear our prayers. He walks with us into our own inadequacy and meets us there. On the mountain of the Lord it was provided for – it was seen (Gen 22:14). Let it be so in our situation as well!

Please consider joining the Pastoral and Lay Elders as we fast and pray every Tuesday in December.