A year of expansion

ABBOTSFORD, B.C.

1. Elgin and Betty Sider had their send-off to Aennofield and their commissioning service by the North Peace MB Church in Ft. St. John on June 1. North Peace pastor Rick Hall expressed best wishes to the new church and encouraged the North Peace Church to be generous and encouraging in its parenting role.

2. Dan and Berni Warkentin from Yorkton, Saskatchewan have begun the church plant in Pitt Meadows and expect to be at the public worship stage by fall. Some surveys, a brochure blitz and a public information and interest meeting have already happened, with good results.

3. Mike and Teresa Klassen from Mountain Park Community Church in Abbotsford, B.C. have been assigned to Westbank in the Kelowna area, effective July 1, 1997, to begin planting a new church there. This is an area which was already approved and tested for church planting a few years ago. The Garden Valley Church is providing much of the initiative for this new church, with support from Willow Park Church.

There are also a number of new initiatives being considered within the international community in Vancouver and the Fraser Valley:

* The Chinese MB churches in Vancouver are working at several church planting options involving West Vancouver and Port Coquitlam.

* A group of Mandarin and Cantonese Christians are meeting in the Westwood Community Church in Prince George with the intent of forming a church.

* An international group in Langley is dialoguing with the Board of Church Extension about becoming an MB church.

We are grateful to God for the many open doors to the spiritual harvest. B.C. is well on the way of achieving the goal of having 100 churches by the year 2000. At present, there are 86, including the emerging churches.

James Nikkel, Director of Church Extension

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