5 Ways You Can Serve

Our District Quiz Meet is right around the corner – February 10-12. There are at least 5 ways that you can serve our hard-working quiz team!

  1. Host some quizzers, officials or coaches in your homes. Thank you to those of you who have indicated that you will do this!  Make sure you fill out THIS APPLICATION to let us know all the pertinent information.
  2. Baking!!!  Some of you are pretty great at this. The District needs between 80-100 DOZEN items to help feed all those Bible-loving youth during the weekend!! We would be especially grateful for some gluten-free and/or dairy-free items for those with sensitivities. Let Lani know how many items you can send with us! (lani@wcvchurch.ca)
  3. Transportation. We’re going to be hosting about 20 youth in our building with Millar’s help, however, we need a way to get them back and forth to the quiz meet. If you can be a driver, that would be excellent!
  4. Cheer us on!! The competition is open to the public, you’re welcome to come and watch and cheer on our team!! The meet is being held at Cornerstone Alliance Church.
  5. Pray for us. We REALLY need this, it can feel like a lot of pressure to compete with everybody looking. Please pray for calm nerves, recall of the things they’ve already learned, and capacity to learn what they need to in the weeks before competition.

Billet Application Form

Opportunity to Practice Hospitality

Hey WCV Family,

We started a Bible quizzing club this year! They’ve been doing an amazing job of learning and memorizing in the book of ACTS. One of the things they get to do is compete in quiz meets throughout the year to see what they’ve learned, and they have some fun doing it. We are part of the Canadian MidWest Bible Quizzing District (CMD).

You can view more photos of the quiz meets  by clicking HERE.     

There are a whole lot of other quizzing clubs that are part of CMD. On the weekend of February 10-12 about 200 youth quizzers, coaches and officials will be coming to Winnipeg for the first District quiz meet. Cornerstone Alliance Church is hosting the meet but we need to find places for all of those people to sleep.

Quizzing churches (that would be us) have been asked to help find hosts who would be willing to use some floor space and/or beds/couches for these lovely folks to lay their heads while they’re here.

There is an application process. Canadian Midwest Quizzing District (the organization that oversees the quizzing community) has a SafePlace Policy that requires vetting of all host families.

You can access the application form at the link below, it has all the information regarding the particulars of hosting quizzers!

February 2022 Billet Application (002)

We’ll also have paper copies available at the church office. Thanks in advance for supporting the quizzing community.

If you have any questions you can chat with Lani! (lani@wcvchurch.ca)

Getting to Know our New Leaders

 

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.

Leadership Developments

As you may know we’ve had a few things on the go for the past several months. Specifically, we’ve been praying and working towards a new leadership situation at WCV. As was announced in our Sunday Gathering a few weeks back and was communicated by email, here is the exciting news:

New Pastors:

We have made offers to both Krista Heide and Mauritz van den Heever and both have accepted!

Mauritz will be WCV’s new Lead Pastor as soon as he, Estelle and Benjamin can get here. The van den Heevers will be joining us from South Africa so it may take some time for them to get to Winnipeg. Because of this Krista will be serving as Interim Pastor (part-time position) to help bridge the gap between Andy stepping away October 2 and whenever Mauritz and Estelle are able to be in Winnipeg.

After the interim period Krista will be working in a part-time pastoral position which will focus on teaching, creative and spiritual formation.

New (Prospective) Elders:

While we’re excited about the pastoral developments we also have some exciting news to share about our Elder team.

Dave and Barb Johns and Deyan and Deanna Momtchilov have agreed to let their names stand as Prospective Elders! This means that they will be functioning as elders for the next season to see if it’s a good fit. The Prospective period lasts until the AGM in 2023 (likely in April) at which time the community is given an opportunity to ratify them. You can read more about our Elder process here.

We’re grateful for God’s continued provision and faithfulness to us as a community. Seek first the Kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added. This certainly has been our experience as we have endeavoured to seek Jesus above all else. Let’s keep doing that!

 

Photo by Merakist on Unsplash

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.

The Investigators: Learning to see what the Spirit is doing

This summer we’re going to be sharpening our discernment muscles. We’ve felt a specific nudge to lean into discernment and so we’ve developed a fun and exciting plan for our Sunday Gatherings this summer called, “The Investigators: learning to see what the Spirit is doing”. We are going to be bringing kids church downstairs for the summer because this is something that we can all benefit from, no matter our age. Not only will this make our gatherings more family friendly, it will be an opportunity to learn and experience together across all ages.

Rooted in the John 5:19 scripture in which Jesus says he only does what he sees the Father doing, we’re going to be like detectives on a search to see what the Spirit is up to amongst us. On Sundays we’ll be looking at various Jesus stories – you know, the kind of stories in which Jesus did something dramatic, impactful or loving. Each Sunday we’ll be asking:

  1. What did Jesus see his Father doing in this story?
  2. What do we see Jesus doing in this story?
  3. What is the Spirit inviting me to do?

Each week we’re going to make space to hear how we answered the Spirit’s invitation to us over the past week and we’ll hear a short teaching about the story we’re exploring. There will be object lessons, group activities and options to engage in group discussion around tables. It will be a great summer to bring the whole family.

Let’s get good at seeing what the Spirit is up to together!

 

 

 

Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

 

Administration Transition Situation – Update 16 June (Job Posting Re-opened)

Update:

We have been very blessed to have Katrin temporarily helping us out in the office for the last 3 1/2 months.  Her diverse skillset was instrumental in technical projects such as implementing the building access systems, check-in systems, and building the church database.

In two weeks’ time she will be moving on to another exciting job.  Thank you Katrin for tackling those intensive tasks in such a wonderfully diligent manner!

We are re-opening the application for the Administrator Position.   Applications will be open until June 30.

Andrew Chan will be working down to a 0.25 part-time position to continue in the bookkeeping role and provide oversight in administrative matters.

 


 

We’ve been blessed (lucky) to have Andrew Chan working as our Interim director of Administration and Bookkeeping since August 2020. It is hard to describe how helpful it has been to have his expertise focussed on this part of the church – particularly during a pandemic. His attention to the detail while maintaining a firm grasp on the big picture has been invaluable. Thanks Andrew! As his title suggests, this was always meant to be an interim arrangement. We’ve approached this interim period with the goal of upgrading or implementing various systems and structures that would help the next person or people flourish in these roles which, in turn, would enable us to better accomplish our mission of partnering with God in the redemptive mission we are called to. Let’s hear it for good administration in the Kingdom of God! Yay!

In the next month or so we will be posting a job position for a part-time administrator to begin the process of transitioning to a new administration situation. You can watch for that and be praying about it.

In the meantime Katrin Loewen has offered to help out for the next three months. This will free up some of Andrew’s time to tackle the larger projects on the docket that keep getting deferred (that pesky virus got in the way of some of our plans!). Thanks Katrin!

Katrin Loewen & Andrew Chan

 

 

Feature Photo by Damian Zaleski on Unsplash

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

 

We’re Searching & Praying: Lead Pastor (updated)

Update Sept 18, 2022 : We sought and the Lord provided!  Please refer to the separate posting for details.  The search is now closed, but keep praying for the transition process.

 

We are in the process of searching and praying for a new Lead Pastor. Check the Job Description below for full details.

We’ve also created a few other supplementary documents regarding our transition process. The Pastoral Transition Map is designed to give some form to our process and let the community know about opportunities for involvement along the way. The Pastoral Transition FAQ provides some answers to some common questions about our process in general and Andy’s stepping away from his role in particular.

Lead Pastor Job Description

  • Full description of the role.
  • Application details.
  • Posted May 27, 2022.
  • Will remain open until filled.

Pastoral Transition Map

  • Outline of our transition process highlighting various markers along the journey.
  • Includes opportunities for community to engagement.

Pastoral Transition FAQ

  • Compilation of information shared at our AGM back in April.
  • Questions and answers about why Andy is stepping away from his role as well as the general process moving forward.
  • Note that some of these details will shift as things develop.
  • Originally shared with the community via email in the beginning of May.

 

 

 

Photo by Chase Clark on Unsplash

Just Jesus: National Vineyard Celebration

Every four years the Canadian Vineyard family gathers together to celebrate the life we share as followers of Jesus and his way. This July we will be gathering in Calgary!

These times are always significant and encouraging. This is an opportunity to be refreshed by the Holy Spirit, learn together and connect with others from across the Vineyard Canada family.

This year, there are a few unique opportunities including one-on-one Spiritual Direction, Coaching and Prayer Ministry sessions. Make sure you take advantage of this – these are available on a first come, first served basis. There will also be amazing tracks for kids and youth.

Kathy MaskellKathy Maskell will be one of the guest speakers. Kathy leads the Vineyard Justice Network and is the lead pastor of East Denver Vineyard. She is an amazing communicator with a deep love of the poor and the work of the Holy Spirit.

Check out the Vineyard Canada website for more details including registration info, schedule, etc.

July 20-23

Calgary, Alberta

Sign up here

 

We Are Hiring… 2 positions open

We have some exciting news… we’re hiring!

We currently have two positions we are looking to fill (and soon to have a third – stay tuned about that one):

 

Assistant to the Director of Kids and Youth Ministry

Posted April 20, 2022. Application deadline May 16, 2022

 

Administrator

Posted April 26, 2022. Application deadline May 17, 2022

 

 Check Job Descriptions for full details. 

To apply please forward a cover letter and resume to Andrew Chan!

 

 

Worship, Waiting & Weighing – Updated

Here’s some updated info on the Worship, Waiting & Weighing event happening Thursday, May 12, 7pm (note date change). In addition to this, David and Anita will be hosting an evening devoted to teaching on the topic of Discernment. This will be Wednesday, May 11, 7pm.

All are welcome!

Delving into Discernment: Wednesday, May 11, 7pm

Worship, Waiting & Weighing: Thursday, May 12, 7pm

782 Main St. Winnipeg

Here’s what they’ve written regarding the Worship, Waiting & Weighing event tour:

As we’ve been engaging with people across the country in contexts where we are “waiting on the Lord” and inviting the Spirit’s prophetic activity in community, we have noticed that there is a significant diversity of opinion and thought, even theology, around how we facilitate this in a healthy, biblical and safe way. Seeing how central these practices are to who we are in Vineyard and how vital it is to our ability in navigating our future together in Canada, we felt that it was prudent to create space across the country to come together to experience together who we are as a people of presence and how we engage with the prophetic nature of our worship and prayer, in community.

As we’ve been working on shaping what this all could look like, we kept referring to  it as the “Worship, Waiting and Weighing” Tour. The name’s stuck. We love how Acts 13:2 captures the essence of what we are reaching for together, “while they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Spirit spoke.”  A key element that we want to explore together is the posture and practice of waiting. Hosea, in Hosea 12:6, seems to capture our sentiment here beautifully, weaving posture, the call to justice and the need to wait for the Lord in a three-stranded cord, “Therefore, return to your God, observe kindness and justice, and wait for your God continually.” And then there’s the weighing bit. Something of a lost art in much of the charismatic culture and celebrity driven models within the mega-church and non-denominational world. As 1 Corinthians 14:29-33 lays it out. “Two or three prophets speak and the others should weigh carefully what is said. And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. For God is not a God of disorderbut of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.”

The end game in it all is to equip us to be a people who discern well. Those who do not despise prophecy and its place in community, and yet have learned to keep it unclutured and anchored to the wisdom of the Father, the character of Jesus and the fruit of the Spirit.

A final thought taken from Hebrews 5:11-14. The key to maturity as followers of Jesus and building healthy communities that are able to discern truth, is that we need to be students of the way of righteousness, the path of justice, that is core to the entire biblical narrative. God setting things right. The work of the Father, the Son and the Spirit in “making all things new.” As we commit ourselves to being lifelong learners of this Way, that we will in turn foster mature communities that can tell the difference between good and evil and discern well.

Our desire is to carve out some space during the day together in order to facilitate dialogue and teaching around these practices. In the evening, we will gather together for worship and prayer as we lean into the posture of listening together that we may discern how the Spirit may be speaking to us and empowering us for ministry.

Looking forward to worshiping, waiting and weighing with you all! Let the kingdom come.

David & Anita

We Are Hiring…

We have some exciting news… we’re hiring!

If you are an energetic person with a passion to see kids and youth grow in their love for God and a servant heart to serve in our KidMin and Youth Ministry, consider applying.

We invite you to:

  1. Join with us and pray for the right person.

  2. Forward this opportunity to someone you think might be a good candidate, or  

  3. Apply yourself.

 

Job Description – Assistant to the Director of Kids and Youth Ministry

 

>>Applications (resume and cover letter) can be submitted to Andrew via email, or dropped off at the WCV office. Check Job Description for full details. 

 

>>We will be accepting applications for this position until May 16, 2022.