For the month of April we will be spending time reflecting on the Good News of Jesus!
We will kick off our new series called “Simply Good News” beginning with the Holy Week (Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday), and will carry on our series reflecting on how we are invited to hear, respond, and share that good news in our world.
We invite you to join with us for the following Holy Week services:
April 2 – Palm Sunday -10am
April 7 – Good Friday – 10am
April 9 – Resurrection Sunday – 10 am
Our Simply Good News sermon series will continue for the month of April:
April 16 – 10am
April 23 – 10am
April 30 – 10am
We hope you can join us!
If you want to dig deeper on your own, check out this book written by N.T. Wright: Simply Good News
As we mentioned in our last post, we have invited two new pastors and two new prospective elder couples to join us in leading WCV for this upcoming season! To help us get to know one another, we invited each of them to share a bit about themselves.
Let’s continue to pray for these new leaders, as well as the existing Leadership team of Winnipeg Centre Vineyard.
Mauritz & Estelle van den Heever
Mauritz will join our community as lead pastor, as soon as immigration gives them the green light to come to Winnipeg!
Mauritz has been involved with the Vineyard in South Africa since 1996.
Throughout the years, he has served as a youth pastor, administrator, lead pastor and itinerant preacher within the Vineyard South Africa movement .
Estelle is a teacher, who served with Mercy Ships in West Africa, shortly before meeting Mauritz and serving alongside him. They share a passion for missions, both having been part of mission work within Africa and abroad.
Throughout the years they have found themselves involved with ministry to the poor and vulnerable.
As a family they value hospitality, friendship and lots of laughter. With their son, Benjamin, they look forward to being part of the Winnipeg Centre Vineyard church family.
Krista & Cliff Heide
Krista and Cliff have been part of the Winnipeg Centre Vineyard since 2003, and have raised their three kids in this community.
Over the past many years Krista has served in various ministry roles inside and outside of WCV, including worship leading, creative arts, preaching, eldering, house group and mission work. She carries a deep love for involving creativity and trauma informed care into pastoral care and spiritual formation.
Krista is a spiritual director and is completing her last course of her Masters of Ministry Program.
Krista is currently serving as our Interim Pastor, and will step into a more focused pastoral role once Mauritz arrives.
Barb & Dave Johns
Dave and Barb are new prospective elders and have enjoyed being with the Vineyard tribe since 1999. They’ve loved the heart and cry to call the kingdom to come right in our midst both through worship and engaging each other and those in our neighbourhood.
Dave was drawn to the Vineyard initially through the music and finds a place some Sundays playing the harmonica. But it was also a place that had a refreshing view of Jesus that kept him coming back. He has a deep heart to see the first Nations served in a culturally relevant way and has been a part of the community outreach.
Barb’s heart rests solidly in the desire to see people engage more deeply with God. She has served broadly through the prayer ministry and prophetic avenues. She is a spiritual director and is currently apprenticing to guide others in the Ignatian exercises.
Deanna & Deyan Momtchilov
Deyan and Deanna have been part of the Winnipeg Centre Vineyard for over 20 years and continue to consider it home. They first met through one of the church’s house groups and got to know each other while serving the community together.
Over the years, they have completed the church’s internship program, helped out in kids’ ministry and led a house group. Deyan has enjoyed contributing to the creative community and Deanna has loved being involved for many years in Breathe, our mom’s group.
On top of being prospective elders, Deyan is currently serving on the BOD and Deanna is looking forward to continuing to find ways to lend her support to the women and families in our community.
Deyan and Deanna have four children, Simeon, Esther, Kaloyana and Gavrail, and live in the Scotia Heights neighbourhood of the city.
We are hosting a workshop designed to help us understand the effects of stress and the importance of self-care in difficult seasons of our lives. We will learn about how the brain responds to life’s challenging situations and some practical self-care strategies to combat stress and negativity. The overall goal is to promote wellness.
We’re bringing in Sarah Juchnowski to facilitate this event. Sarah is a psychologist with St. James Assiniboia School Division. Her passion is working with children and families and sharing her knowledge about the brain and mental health in an accessible and practical ways. She comes to us with experience in dealing with stress, anxiety and negative thinking. With a deeper understanding of how stress affects us we can empower change towards a more healthy and peaceful way of life.
Hi everyone, as part our creative initiative around Advent this year Beckie Wood is spearheading a community art project and is inviting all ‘yarners’ to come together on Sunday, Dec. 23.
2018 WCV CHRISTMAS ART PROJECT
Sunday, Dec. 23 during our worship gathering.
BEING TOGETHER: Sharing, listening, hearing, grieving, discovering hope
The civil rights movement in 1950’s was started by people sitting around in rocking chairs.
God among us and working as we gather and talk, share experiences, listen, hear reality, grieve together and discover hope.
It’s no hype.
No official meeting or prayer service.
It’s simply showing up for one another and gathering with each other; with our community. God is in this.
Rocking chairs are art. They’re rhythmic, soothing, beautiful, and good ones are noteworthy – usually simple designs but difficult to build.
During the service on Sunday Dec. 23rd, yarners will be sitting in chairs around the room (and some in rocking chairs) crocheting and knitting. They will make squares about the size of a hand.
It is a symbol of gathering together.
Being together in the waiting.
In a calm and soothing posture.
(We will have a basket of yarn and needles, but please bring your own if you have.)
At the end of the service, as we come together at the communion table, we can take the squares we have created and pin them up as a bunting. On this Sunday, we will attach the squares to a string with clothes pins. Later, Beckie will attach them together with a simple crochet chain. It will hang in our space as a visual reminder of our collective waiting.
We’d love to have you participate. And please – invite a fellow crocheter or knitter! We are in this all together.
(If you won’t be at church this particular Sunday, you can still participate. Create a square on your own and give it to Beckie and she will make sure it is added to the bunting).
As subcategory of worship, the arts is a Core Practice in our church. We can see this creativity in the artwork hanging on our walls, the ribbons and flags waving during our worship times together, the dancers, the painters, the poetic words shared in our services and in our songs, and more. These creative expressions are beautiful elements of our worship together. They inspire us, affect us, and draw us deeper.
This year we want to invite our community to engage with creativity even more. We know that seeing and receiving the beauty of art can be powerful. Yet before beautiful art existed, there first was a person who embarked on a creative process. This year we want to learn together the value of being creative people, and discover how the act of creating is powerfully formative as well.
If you feel that art isn’t your thing, or that you are the “logical type”, we would love to dialogue with you. We believe that creativity is a trait common to all human beings, and we would be happy to walk alongside you as you unlock this unexplored area of your potential.
There are multiple benefits in being creative. In choosing to be creative, we become people who notice life around us with different eyes. We learn to take risks, we become better problem solvers, we notice people, nature, colours, words, melodies, and movements with a deeper awareness. We become more playful, grateful, and more joyful. Even more exciting is that as we begin to create, we are invited into a deeper encounter and relationship with God, the One who is the Creator and Source of all life around us. We long for our community to engage with and experience this for themselves.
Krista Heide
Johanna Giesbrecht
Deanna & Deyan Momtchilov
We have reconfigured the old arts team at church for this new season and going forward we are calling ourselves the WCV Creative Team. Krista Heide will be coordinating this team, with Johanna Giesbrecht and Deyan Momtchilov serving as assistant Coordinators. Also on the team is Amanda Leighton, Jessica Williams, Cornelius Buhler, Blair Barkley and Brian James.
We are choosing to focus our efforts this year on making space for people to engage in creativity together. We want to grow in relationship with one another, grow in our artistic skills, and grow in our ability to engage with God in our creative process.
Over the course of the year we will be offering regular opportunities for the community to engage in creativity. Some will be offered on a regular basis, and some will be invitations to special events. You can find these opportunities in the bulletin, online, or by talking to one of us.
From October to June we will be offering two regularly scheduled creative opportunities each month:
Monthly Makers Night
Beginning October 19th (7:30-9:30pm) and the second Thursday of every month after that. Flatlanders Studio. 3rd Floor
These nights will be geared towards visual arts. Everyone is welcome! Painters, Drawers, Photographers, Quilters, Knitters, Creative experts, beginners, and everything in between.*
Bring something you are working on, or use some of the supplies we will have available (collage making, yarn, pencils and paper, etc.)
This night is a safe place to be creative, find community, and be inspired as we nurture the gifts growing within us.
Monthly Writers Circle
The last Friday of every month beginning October 27th. 7:30-9:30pm. Comfy Couch Room. Main Floor.
Everyone is welcome! New writers, old writers and everyone in between (these evenings are geared towards the older youth and adults in our community. You are welcome to bring a child if you take responsibility for engaging with them during the course of the evening).
Bring a short piece of written work to share, whether it is new or old. The circle will be a safe place to share, encourage and build each other up as we nurture the gifts growing within us.
We feel excited about this next season. We sense God’s invitation to go deeper in together, and hope you will come out to be a part of this.
If you’d like any more information please connect with anyone on the leadership team. Thanks!
