Sing It! The Songs of Advent in Luke’s Gospel

This season we will examine the Advent songs in Luke’s gospel which speaks of God’s faithfulness.

Dec 1: Mary’s Song – Jesus came to fulfill a promise. Luke 1:46-56.  Mary’s song praises God for His mercy & faithfulness. We will take a look at her story, and see how the words of her worshipful song reveal the glory of what God accomplished through Jesus.

Dec 8: Zechariah’s Song – Jesus came to save humanity. Luke 1:67-80.  Zechariah’s song praises God for keeping His promises. Let’s find out who Zechariah was, and examine the truths that are revealed through his words about God’s Messiah.

Dec 15: The Angels’ Song – Jesus came to bring peace. Luke 2:14.  The angels sing of glory to God & praise Him for bringing peace on earth. We’ll look at the story of the Shepherds and focus on the significance of why the angels sang proclamations of glory and peace.

Dec 22: Simeon’s Song – Jesus came to reveal God’s truth to everyone. Luke 2:29-32.  Simeon’s words aren’t technically referred to as a “song.” We’re talking a little poetic license here. His words were an outburst of praise to God upon seeing the baby Jesus. (That qualifies as a song.)  Simeon praised God for fulfilling His covenant with Abraham to bless all people through Israel. Tell the story of Simeon and Anna, and focus on the significance of Simeon’s words of praise.

Dec 24:  Christmas Eve in Candlelight

Dec 29: Always Levelling Up : God’s Work In Us Never Ends.  2 Corinthians 3:7-18.  This stand-alone lesson on 2 Corinthians 3:18, focuses on the idea of “Ever increasing glory.” God’s transformational work in our lives is constant and never-ending. We never arrive, but continually grow closer to God. As we do so, we continually experience newer and greater levels of spiritual growth and faith in Jesus.

Fall Sermon Series: Life In The Kingdom Part III – Kingdom Devotion

This Fall we’ll continue our exploration of the Sermon on the Mount – the foundational bedrock of Jesus’ teaching. We will be picking up in chapter 6, Part 3 of our outline which we’ve called “Kingdom Devotion”.

Jesus shifts gears in this portion of the Sermon. He begins to focus more on application – putting into practice what he’s just taught in previous sections. In this section he covers three key areas in the lives of his followers: giving, prayer and fasting. He expects his followers to be tending to their relationships with others (giving), their relationship with God (prayer), and the state of their inner lives (fasting). Jesus assumes his followers are active in these three areas. He says, “when you give” (6:1), “when you prayer” (6:5) and “when you fast” (6:16). He cautions his followers against publicity and doing these things to be seen. He cautions us to not babble on and on searching for the right prayer formula or combination of words that will produce the desired results. Jesus says to his disciples, “pray like this”, and then proceeds to teach them the prayer that has come be known as “The Lord’s Prayer” or the “Our Father”. As we will see, this is a prayer we must learn to live. It is a prayer that has power to form us.

Recordings from our Evenings with David and Anita Ruis

Two weeks ago David and Anita Ruis, our Founding Pastors and the National Directors of Vineyard Canada, were visiting WCV and they hosted an evening of teaching on Discernment and a Worship, Waiting & Weighing night for us and the Vineyards in Manitoba.

You can find the Recordings of here on YouTube:

Delving Into Discernment

Worship, Waiting & Weighing

 

Covid-19 Sunday Update – Effective July 18, 2021

On July 18, 2021 some of the current Covid-19 restrictions are changing regarding church gatherings. The new orders will allow churches to gather to 50% capacity to a maximum of 150 people – while adhering to the normal WCV protocols (hand-sanitizing, physical distancing, wearing masks at all time indoors, staying home if you’re sick, etc).

We are making a few changes effective Sunday July 18, 2021.

Due to ongoing renovation work and the need for physical distancing, the current capacity will be approximately 50 people.  As gatherings have generally been smaller in the summer, we will wait and see if there will be a need to pre-register at all.

 

 

 

Covid-19 Sunday Update – Effective June 27, 2021

On June 26, 2021 some of the current Covid-19 restrictions are changing regarding church gatherings. The new orders will allow churches to gather to 25% capacity to a maximum of 25 people – while adhering to the normal WCV protocols (hand-sanitizing, physical distancing, wearing masks at all time indoors, staying home if you’re sick, etc).

We are making a few changes effective June 27, 2021.

We will be opening up the building for a limited number of people to participate by joining the live-streaming service in-person on Sunday mornings. We will give priority to those who have no access to technology to watch the livestream from home.  We will be in touch with those people to specifically invite them (since they most likely won’t be reading this post!). Additionally, those who are involved in the Mercy Boot Camp (either recipients or volunteers) will be able to join in the service in-person.  We will keep a strict cap on the number of people in the building.

As day camp allowances open up (20 persons allowed as of June 26), we look forward to planning in-person opportunities for the kids & youth – so watch your email for possible get-togethers over the summer.

 

 

Mercy Boot Camp 2.0 – an opportunity

Invitation to Volunteer for Mercy Boot Camp 2.0

Recap on Season 1:

We’ve handed out food bags every Sunday from November to April: 6 months, 26 Sundays, 800 bags to hungry people in our Street Parish including many visitors.

We have two types of bags, small and large, that we alternate each week. The small holds two sandwiches ready to eat, a bag of potato chips, zip top can of hearty chicken soup, twelve wieners, dry soup bag, cookies and a fruit juice. The big bag has two mac and cheese, two dry soup, a sleeve of crackers, cans cans of pork and beans, a can of luncheon meat, chicken bologna and wieners. We spend approximately $1000/ month for this food. It has a tremendous impact on the recipients.

We share the food and we share the good news about Jesus. We always offer to pray with those who come and invite them into relationship with Jesus. Many know Jesus, some don’t.

Until now we’ve had various faithful volunteers each Sunday with no structured schedule.

The hungry count on us every week. Our Street Parish has been held together by this touch point activity throughout Covid-19.

Mercy Boot Camp 2.0: Season 2, May-Aug

We envision an opportunity to expand the volunteer participation for serving those who are at risk in our neighbourhood and community. The plan is to find 16 volunteers to form 4 teams of 3 people to help every 4th week. We’d also like to have 4 people on a standby list.

One person hands out the food bags, one serves coffee, the other serves cookies. All food prep logistics are handled beforehand and are not the team’s responsibility.

This new plan will start on May 9.

The commitment is 1 hour every 4th Sunday from 9:30-10:30am.

In total we seek 16 Mercy Boot Camp volunteers for the 4 summer months. No experience necessary. Just a passion with a heart of mercy to feed those who are hungry.

  • Week Firsts rotation: May 9 + June 6 + July 4 + Aug 1  (1 more needed)
  • Week Seconds rotation:  May 16 + June 13 + July 11 + Aug 8  (3 needed)
  • Week Thirds rotation:  May 23 + June 20 + July 18 + Aug 15  (3 needed)
  • Week Fourths rotation:  May 30 + June 27 + July 25 + Aug 22  (3 needed)

Please contact the office: hello@WCVchurch.ca / 240-582-2900 

or John: johnrademaker1(at)gmail.com / 204-228-0042.

 

In Matthew 25 Jesus said “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat… When did we see you hungry and feed you?… Truly I tell you whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sister of mine, you did for me.” (vs 35 & 40 NIV)   

 

 

Photo by Maya GM on Unsplash

Covid-19 Sunday Update – April 27, 2021

Effective immediately the tightened Covid-19 restrictions will result in WCV suspending in-person gatherings.

We will still be broadcasting live from WCV during this time.  No visitors will be permitted in the building besides those helping to run the service.

We will continue to serve our community folks outside (Mercy Boot Camp).

At this time, we understand implications for other meetings as thus:

  1. Jouth & Youth – These worship and instructional settings operate under the day camp provisions of the orders which allow gatherings of up to 10 people indoors or outdoors.  Stay tuned to newsletters and emails of each week’s plan.
  2. House Groups – Time to take advantage of the warmer weather and take a walk outside in public places (as you’re not allowed to meet in/on any private property at all).

The revised restrictions are in effect until May 26 or until superceded.

 

 

Photo by Martin Sanchez on Unsplash

Women’s Art Night

This is an invitation to all the women of WCV to an art night.  The south housegroup is planning an evening of fun and creativity for Thursday, February 4th at 7:30 pm. We still need to meet on zoom but we can still have a great time together.

We will begin by listening to the creation story and responding to our creator with colour and word. This is for fun, no skill or experience with painting is needed!

We will make up a package of materials for you and drop it off at your door, so please send us your registration by the week before (Jan. 28). Register by email to Valerie Hutt at vhutt@shaw.ca. We’re looking forward to seeing you.  We hope you will come!

Barb, Valerie, Daile, Lois