A banner year for church planting

ABBOTSFORD, B.C.

The Board of Church Extension of the B.C. MB Conference is restricting its mission to planting "self-supporting, reproducing churches". This clear focus has brought concerted results. Some of the church plants involve a partnership with existing churches, some are directly initiated by BOCE, some are a combination of individual vision and BOCE partnership, and some new churches are adopted or endorsed as church plants with less BOCE involvement. 1997 was a banner church planting year, resulting in seven new church starts.

Aennofield Community Church

This church officially launched in June, 1997 in partnership with North Peace MB Church in Fort St. John. It is located near Fort St. John in the Peace River valley in northern British Columbia. Elgin and Betty Sider were bi-vocational church planters. Unfortunately, Betty suffered a severe stroke in the summer, forcing BOCE to start looking for a replacement bi-vocational church planter. This emerging group has up to 30 people participating.

Pitt Meadows Discovery Church

Dan and Berni Warkentin moved from Yorkton, Sask. to start this ministry at the end of April. It is located in the lower Fraser Valley, east of Vancouver on the north shore of the Fraser River. The church had its launch service September 28, with 84 in attendance. It worships regularly, with 80-90 in attendance. Some conversions and recommitments are happening.

SunRidge Community Church

Michael and Teresa Klassen moved from Abbotsford, B.C. to Westbank in July to start this new congregation. It is located in Westbank, near Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley. They had their public launch service on Thanksgiving Sunday, October 12 in Rose Valley Elementary School. They are now worshipping in the Comfort Inn Hotel, with attendance averaging 70 people. They have had several conversions and recommitments and a baptism.

Langley International Church

Roberto and Maria Labastida are bi-vocational church planters with a vision to plant an English-speaking, culturally diverse church. They began in September, with services being held in the South Langley MB Church. They have a core group of five-to-eight families.

Vancouver Logos Chinese Church

John and Lillian Kwok came to BOCE with a vision for a new church near the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. They began in September and had their public launch and commissioning service January 11, 1998, with 150 people present. The average attendance is near 100. Already 10 people have come to the Lord.

Ladysmith

This church plant is in Ladysmith, near Chemainus on Vancouver Island. Dave and Colleen Koot moved from Nanaimo, B.C. to Ladysmith in October, 1997 and are working toward a public launch in March, 1998. They have five-to-seven family contacts as a core group and are doing aggressive advertising for the March public worship service.

Abbotsford Meeting Place

A group of interested individuals has been meeting for a number of months with a vision to launch a seeker-targetted church. They are looking for a church planting pastor and plan to start public services early this year. They have 30 people in their core group and meet at the Chum Centre, a dinner theatre restaurant on the Sumas Highway.

Continuing subsidies

Five other churches are continuing on BOCE subsidy: Surrey Hispanic Church, the Indo-Canadian Community Church in Surrey, the Lao Christian MB Church in Surrey, Vancouver Persian Christian Fellowship, and East Ridge Bible Fellowship in Maple Ridge.

Three churches will come off BOCE subsidy in 1998: Fleetwood Community Church in Surrey, Maranatha Indonesia Church in Coquitlam, and Arabic Evangelical Church in New Westminster.

More in 1998

BOCE's plans for 1998 are mainly focussed on ethnic church plants. At this time, BOCE is anticipating a number of Chinese church plants through the initiative of existing churches. These new churches will be located in Port Moody, North Vancouver, the North Shore and possibly the west side of Vancouver.

James Nikkel, Director

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