Month: November 2020

Advent & Christmas

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Wait a minute… We’re talking about Advent and Christmas already?! Wasn’t it just yesterday we were walking around in sandals? In this year of incredible disruptions, we now find ourselves at the front end of the season of Advent. Of all the things we don’t know, one thing we know for sure is that this season won’t be like any of the other Christmases we’ve experienced. Yet, the core reason we celebrate remains unchanged. The challenge is to find ways to root ourselves in the beauty of the CHRISTmas season while living in the times we do.

What does it mean for us to wait for the Messiah in this season with many of our regular traditions stripped back? There will be no huge parties, no group celebrations or traditional fanfare and, most likely, no large extended family gatherings. That’s a lot of “no”s! What does it look like for us to say “yes” to Jesus and still prepare to celebrate his coming in a time like this? This year our guiding idea for Advent is “Getting Ready to Celebrate”.

Each Sunday there will be a theme leading us in progression to Christmas Eve – all aimed at helping us get ready to celebrate Jesus’ coming and presence among us: Invitation > Preparation > Waiting > Arrival. Along with each Sunday’s theme there will be an “engagement activity”. These will be fun and simple opportunities to explore the topic in a practical and creative way. Advent packages explaining these activities will be delivered before advent to every household with a child or youth – but this does’t preclude others from participating. As everyone does participate in the activity, we’re encouraging us all to take pictures and post to our Facebook or Instagram using the hashtag: #WCVadvent2020. Instructions will be given online every Sunday morning.

A Ham for everyone: Sadly, we’re not going to be able to gather together as we have in years past to enjoy each other’s company at our annual feast. However… we have purchased a whole hog-load of hams (say that fast 10 times!) and we’d like everyone in WCV to get one. The idea is simple: to bless everyone in the community and provide opportunities for connection. We are going to package up the hams along with some extra supplies for our Christmas Eve service this year. You can watch for these deliveries mid December.

Speaking of Christmas Eve, we’re working on plans and will update you as they are firmed up.

Lastly, if find yourself struggling this season, please don’t do so alone… reach out to your Home Group leader, a member of the Leadership Team, Andy at the office, or a trusted friend. If you know of someone who could use some extra groceries, please contact the office and we can make arrangements to share some food (we will give you an extra ham and you can add to it to make a meal). We are here to help.

Cover Photo by Cristian Escobar on Unsplash

Advent Package Deliveries

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Good Thursday WCV,

In the next two days (Nov 27-28) someone will be delivering an Advent Engagement Package to your door! So glad that deliveries are A-okay during Covid! We hope that this will be a fun way for our whole community to engage in Advent activities as we prepare together, while we’re apart.

The theme for this year is ‘Getting Ready for a Party’. We want to engage in all the activities that you normally do as you anticipate gathering together, except that our focus is preparing for Jesus’ arrival. You can expect to engage in some party planning activities throughout the season. 

We hope that you’ll enter into the spirit of the season and enjoy the activities that we’ve put together for you. Please post your pictures on FB or Insta with the hashtag #WCVadvent2020

– Lani (Kids & Youth Ministries Director)

Cover Photo by Kira auf der Heide on Unsplash

Prospective Leadership Team members

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At our upcoming AGM (Nov 30 at 7pm) we will be recommending the following people for the Leadership Team as either Lay Elders or members of the Board. We asked each of them to share (in 3-4 mins) a little about themselves, what they love about WCV and why they’re excited to serve in this position.

Cornelius & Tania Martens – Lay Elders
Christy Chan – Lay Elder
Lois & Lindsay Ward – Lay Elders
Sara Epp – BOD

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Kids & Youth Ministries Director

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We are excited to announce that we have hired a new Kids and Youth Ministries Director. After receiving quite a number of applications and conducting interviews with a few very strong candidates, the hiring team felt a strong sense that Lani Wiens was the right choice for us. She brings with her a wealth of experience in both kids and youth ministry, is creative and is ready to go! We are excited to welcome her to the team, and to the community. You’ll be hearing more from her in the coming weeks but in the meantime below is a little bio.

Welcome Lani!

Lani Weins

Hi, I’m Lani Wiens. Kelly and I left our organic farm in Saskatchewan and moved to Winnipeg on my birthday, Aug 24 of this year (we still own the farm but that’s another story). We’re following God’s invitation to start a new ministry called Firerunner under the supervision and in partnership with Multiply through the Trek program, so we’ve been ‘upstairs’ every day for the last two months. The building feels very much like home. One of our fellow Trek participants posted your ad in our group chat and I felt like it might just be for me. I’ve been involved with children and youth ministry for close to 30 years in one way or another.

Kelly and I have six kids (4 boys and 2 girls), our oldest is married and presented us with our first grandbaby earlier this year. The two youngest (and our dog) are with us and the other three are in Saskatoon, Montreal and Hepburn. We are looking forward to getting to know you and serve you. We like swimming in the creative stream through music, writing, storytelling, fabric, paint, renovating things, decorating things and general mayhem. We’re always up for a good board game, too.

Image Credit: Photo by SHOT on Unsplash

In-Person Gathering Protocols -Updated

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Updated Nov 3, 2020

We would like to address and clarify what the latest C19 regulations means for our Sunday gatherings and Home Groups.

Sunday gatherings will continue as scheduled. These in-person gatherings have been vital in connecting us to our neighborhood community and we wish to continue these meaningful relationships to the extent possible. With the reduced allowable gathering size to 15% of capacity, we encourage those who have the means for online participation to enjoy our services from home.

Home Groups may be affected by the latest health orders. Per Manitoba Health, the reading of the orders indicate that for small ‘Bible study’ groups, the private gathering rules would apply. 

Current private gathering guidelines are to be respected even when using 782 Main as the venue.   

For WCV Home Groups, this means :

  • No gatherings of more than 5 persons for Home Groups will be permitted at 782 Main, effective immediately until further notice.

We will still be allowing the use of our building to those groups whom find it a challenge to comply with current distancing guidelines when hosting HG at home even with the reduced gathering size. 

With any gathering at WCV, the following additional policies must be adhered to:

  1. Masks must be worn at all times;
  2. Sanitize your hands upon entry;
  3. Check in using contract tracing record in the foyer;
  4. Seat yourself/your household a minimum of 2 meters from another person/household.

Please do not attend any in-person meeting if: You are sick, have been exposed to Covid-19, have a family member who displays symptoms, or have travelled recently.

  • If you are unsure about your symptoms, please refer to the province’s screening tool.
  • Each gathering is also being simultaneously livestreamed via our Facebook page.