Kick Off Sunday - Sept 12
Welcome back everyone! Even if you didn’t travel this summer, it feels like we haven’t seen each other in a year and a half.
Come and join your church family for the launch of a new ministry year!
A BARBECUE will follow the service. BRING A SALAD AND DESSERT TO SHARE.
Many of our ministries have already begun:
Preschool, Youth Group (Wednesdays at 7pm), Sunday School, and Moms Meet.
Others will begin soon
One major COVID-19 update:
After considering both the immunocompromised and the unvaccinated, the board has decided to require that all who attend the service wear a mask.
If you’d like more information on the reasoning behind this, you’ll find it below.
A NEW SERVICE TIME?!
Let’s be honest: We learned some new habits during the pandemic and not all of them were good. Our morning routines may have slipped a bit.
IN OCTOBER, we will move our Sunday Service start time to 10:30am.
Since we have shortened the service to one (1) hour, we will still be done well in advance of lunch.
But if we do this, please make it your top priority to make it to the live service rather than taking in the online stream. We will continue to offer the stream, but we hope that it will be used by those who cannot come for health or work reasons.
PLAN TO PROTECT TRAINING
If you will serve in any of our children’s ministries, we need you to participate in this training time. It will follow the barbecue and last about an hour and a half.
Please make this your top priority as keeping kids safe is our top priority.
Parents and guardians who wish to simply observe our practices are welcome to join as well.
Notify Pastor Alex immediately if you are unable to attend.
THANKSGIVING FOOD DRIVE
Rally your family and/or friends to round up some food from your neighbourhood for the Salvation Army’s food bank.
Pick up a route from church on Sept 20 after the service
Deliver the pre-marked bags to each house on Sept 21 or 22 or 23
Pick up the food from those houses on the morning of Sept 25 and deliver it to the collection point
A surprisingly easy way to make a real impact in our community!
YOUTH GROUP NEWS
We started our weekly program (Wednesdays, 7-9pm at the church) with a new series called “God Blows My Mind.” All kids in grades 7-12 are welcomed to join. (Grad 6s may come until Kings Kids starts.) Games. Deep discussion. New friends. Adventures.
BIGGER OR BETTER: Friday, Sept. 17, 7-9:30pm. Meet at the Hogendoorns’ (1738 Rushbrook). See if your group can trade a paper clip for something bigger or better! Snacks and trampoline to follow.
TONA HIKE: Saturday, Sept. 24. More details will come, and this is weather dependent, but mark it on your calendars. A beautiful hike not seen by most Rupertites. Take on this adventure with your friends!
Contact Pastor Alex if you have any questions.
PRAY FOR OUR PRESCHOOL STAFF
Our preschool staff do an amazing job expressing the love of God to families in our community on behalf of the church.
This year, we have two key staff positions opening up.
Rowena Mitchell, our manager, plans to retire. We praise God for all her love and service with us, and she will leave a huge vacancy.
There are a number of ways that we can staff our team to make things work. ECE would be a huge asset, but a servant-leadership heart is essential. So if you have a heart for our church and preschool and the families of Prince Rupert, and you would like explore if you might be a good fit for our team, please contact Pastor Alex.
Regarding our MASK POLICY for Sundays, the board offers these reasons for the decision:
In Philippians 2:1-11 tells us to imitate the example set by Jesus. "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others."
While we are very grateful that the government gave us exemptions to all restrictions, we enjoy a privilege shared with no other types of organizations. Schools, grocery stores, theatres, etc. all must require masks for public health safety. Essentially, this policy allows faith based organizations to behave in a way that everyone else cannot behave without causing a greater problem. Churches should be an example that everyone can follow.
Furthermore, the only reason we would have trouble bringing the immunocompromised and unvaccinated together in fellowship is if we insist on exercising this liberty (of not wearing masks indoors in a large group while singing, etc.) By joining our neighbours in wearing masks in a setting like church, the danger to both the unvaccinated and immunocompromised is mitigated.
The leadership of our church continues to express trust in our medical professionals here in Prince Rupert and provincially. We believe them in that vaccination is an important tool in the fight against COVID-19. So we strongly encourage everyone in our congregation to submit to the guidance of our public health professionals and get vaccinated.
