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For the past few months, the simplechurch leaders have been meeting to discuss our church and its direction for the season ahead. We’ve looked at all our current activities and what makes us who we are.  And then we’ve asked some simple questions: are there things we are doing that we don’t need to do any longer?  Where do we see God at work, and how might we be invited to join him? Are there weaknesses that could be corrected through changes?

At our meeting on Tuesday (January 21), we wrapped up the discussion (for now) and agreed on some changes and new initiatives. In brief, here are some of the things we are planning for the year ahead:

 

  1. CityWide is going on the road (and online)! In the past few years, our network has expanded significantly in its geographic diversity.  We now have churches in Squamish, Surrey, Chilliwack and Prince George.  To honour this diversity, we have decided to move our CityWides around occasionally.  While most will still occur in North Vancouver, we will host some gatherings in the Sea to Sky and Fraser Valley. While this will involve extra driving for some, we hope this extra effort will support our geographic diversity more effectively. And, as the subject line says, in addition to these moves, we will also try to livestream our CityWides.
  2. International Mission—For the season ahead, we will focus our international mission support on Ukraine. To this end, we will work with our partners at Hungry for Life to find more focused ways to support, learn, and pray. 
  3. Leadership Evenings - For those who attend our monthly leadership meetings (or those who would like to; it’s a pretty open group!), we will host a bi-monthly speaker series where Andy will invite guests to address our leadership community.  Our goal is to increase the quality and effectiveness of our leadership gatherings.
  4. Evangelism Training - Some expressed a desire to increase our engagement in sharing good news with the world. To this end, we will host an online workshop (“or evangelism jump starter”) hosted by a ministry colleague of Andy’s. The goal is to spark our prayer and witness in the season ahead. In addition, we will find ways to support the Alpha that some want to start in Squamish.
  5. Glorify Collective - is the worship initiative led by Jason and Joanna Imoo.  Along with hosting sporadic worship evenings, they are also cultivating a worship-leading community that supports churches (including our citywides!).  We will work with Jason and Joanna to see how we might increase our support and engagement with them in the year ahead. 
  6. Theme for the Year - We will develop a “Theme for the Year” that will serve as something our churches can rally around.  The theme may be justice and mission-oriented, theological or community needs.  We don’t yet know what the theme will be… but we’ll seek thoughts from all of you to help us discern.  The intention is that the theme will provide a catalyst for us to host learning events, or prayer gatherings, or fundraising or…  hopefully you get the idea.

 

So, there you have it—a bird’s eye view of some new plans/dreams and initiatives for the season ahead.