News > 2010 Parish Life Notes > 10.07.04 Parish Life

TODAY - Evening Service Afternoon BBQ


Sunday July 4, 2010 from 2:00 pm to 6:30pm. All are welcome.
Food will be pot-luck. If your last name begins with letters A-G please bring something salad related, H - O a main dish and P-Z a dessert. Bring something for yourself to drink and to BBQ. Games if you have them! In the event of rain we will continue, using the gym. Contact Michael Blackman if you have any questions by email or phone at 604-312-0934.

St. John’s Family BBQ

Reminder that everyone is invited to a BBQ after the 10:00 am service on July 11. If you are able to help, please contact Linda Hewitt at 604.266.4374. The cost is $5 for individuals and $10 for a family. This should be a great time of fellowship and fun. See you there!

Legal update:

This past Tues, Jun 9, Justice Kelleher ruled that the plantiffs, St. John’s, Good Shepherd, St. Matthews, and St. Mathias & St. Luke trustees, should bear the majority of costs of trial and that the Dioceses of New Westminster should be able to hold a Sunday worship service at St. Matthews Abbotsford. Both these items will be added to the appeal argument.
This is disappointing news. The trustees with our legal counsel will determine what potential impact this may have and will communicate to you if there are any changes. Our legal counsel was prepared for this, with regards to the Appeal process but the trustees are determining if this changes the anticipated total cost. If there are any changes we will let you know as soon as we can.
In this process, we rely on God, knowing he is faithful and just and that his purposes will be fulfilled. Please continue to pray that he would grant us patience and perserverance in this process.

Parish Family News

Birth
Congratulations to Aaron and Amy Roberts on the birth of their little girl, Sadie Elizabeth Roberts, born Saturday June 26 at 5:08 pm, 9lbs 6oz.

Condolences

The funeral service for Henry Cheng, Pauline Hale’s father, will be held here on July 15 at 2:00 pm. Henry was at the final stage of dementia, and had a brief struggle with pneumonia and went to be with the Lord Jesus just prior to his 95th birthday. Please pray for Pauline Hale’s relatives many of whom are unbelievers. Pray that they will be able to attend the funeral, and that God will open their hearts to His comfort and grace. Please also pray that Pauline will find peace.

Community News

RATANAK - Monthly Prayer Meeting
DATE: Wednesday, July 7th (first Wed of each month)
TIME: 7:00 - 9:00 pm
LOCATION: Ratanak Vancouver Office
698 East 64th Avenue, Vancouver (At the corner of East 64th and Fraser Street, above the Tandoori King Restaurant)
MEETING DETAILS: Join us as we gather together to learn and pray about Cambodia and the work the Ratanak Foundation is doing there.

We have just had news from Jeremy Curry, one of mission partners, who has spent some time in Nepal with hopes of returning with a team in a year to minister to the Tibetan people and eventually moving into Tibet. He brings interesting and wonderful news of what God is doing in Nepal. Approximately, 40 years ago there were less than 100 Christians in Nepal, now there is over 1 million. Christians as a percentage of the overall population has gone from .00004% in 1970 to .04% in 2008. Although, .04% still seems small, this is a 27% annual growth rate over the 38 years. This growth has happened through tremendous persecution, where it was a federal offence to preach or teach the Gospel until a few years ago.

Canada
In March this year, Statistics Canada published a study: Projections of the diversity of the Canadian population. In this study it looks ahead 25 years from 2006 to 2031 and it predicts that by year 2031, 25-28% of the population will be foreign born and the majority will be Asian and Arab. This is higher than the peak of 22% foreign born in the 20th century. The percentage of those Canadians claiming Christianity as their religion continues to shrink.

Vancouver is remarkably different than the rest of the country in a couple of ways:

• As the statistics show, Vancouver is less Christian than the rest of Canada with the trend continuing.
• In 2010, Mercer Consulting ranked Vancouver 4th in the world in their quality of living survey for cities of the world and according to Economist Intelligence Unit, Vancouver as the most liveable city in the world.

From a worldly perspective Vancouver is great. We are very blessed and should be very thankful. From a Gospel perspective, the statistics are clear that the mission field is growing in Vancouver and in Canada.

As the family of St. John’s, we need to pray for our city and our country. We need to be thankful that we live in a country that allows us freedom to worship and freedom to preach the Gospel. We need to be thankful that God has put us in a city that desperately needs Him, and we need to pray that he would show us how we can best further his Kingdom in Vancouver, in Canada, and around the world.

In Christ,
Joanne Lawrie