Dear New Life Family,
We have now been meeting for in-person gatherings each week since June 6. It’s wonderful to enjoy fellowship and each other’s presence. Please be mindful of public health recommendations that reduce the spread of the Covid-19 virus: face masks, handwashing, and social distancing. Let’s also make sure we are caring for one another by respecting other people’s concerns, especially for those who are immune compromised.

Online Campus

A “blessing in disguise” resulting from the pandemic has been the opportunity to develop ministry with electronic media. The New Life Online Campus offers people a way to participate in the community and ministry of New Life Church where ever they are.  When you view a worship service online, for example, you can participate in the chat throughout the service and engage with others in fellowship as you worship. We are excited about this ministry platform and hope that it will continue to expand and serve as a tool for growing God’s kingdom. Videos of past worship services continue to be available as well.  All of it is available by going to www.newlifecrc.ca.

Facility Upgrade Project

Another blessing has been the opportunity to bring some necessary upgrades to the New Life auditorium. With a fresh coat of paint throughout the auditorium, a new projection system, and new stage lighting, there is quite a different look. New house lighting will be installed hopefully during the week of August 9, which should complete projects that we have planned. Not only were these upgrades over-due, but they also have allowed us to develop our media ministry (e.g. live streaming worship services).  Along side of these upgrades we have recently addressed rising security concerns for the facility. We have contracted with a security company to install cameras that will be monitored for dangerous activity in and around the premises. This upgrade should be completed by the end of August.

Serve 2021

Throughout 2021 we have been emphasizing the pillar of “serving” in our ministry plan.  Thank you so much for the ways you have participated and responded to the opportunities extended to us.  In the month of August we want to serve the Delair community around the church by offering hospitality, fellowship, and fun with Superhero Park Days at Delair Park (corner of Delair and Old Yale). We hope you come out to meet your neighbours. That’s happening Monday through Thursday, August 9-12 from 10am to 12pm.

Hopefully you’ve had opportunity for refreshment this summer. We are entering a new fall ministry season that will draw people to Jesus and help us follow him with all our heart.  Please keep all of the ministry start-up in prayer. We depend on your enthusiasm, volunteering, and support. Let us know how you are willing to help. God is doing a great work in and through us. Let’s grab hold of that work and celebrate his goodness together.

Serving Christ together,
Pastor Nathan

Dear New Life Family and Friends, 

We are grateful for the recent lifting of restrictions, particularly on churches.  We will be transitioning this summer to phase 3.  Here is what Phase 3 means for New Life Church ministries as of July 1, 2021: 

• There are no restrictions on gathering capacity,  
• Wearing a mask is still recommended, but no longer mandated, 
• Social distancing is recommended, but no longer mandated, 
• Hand sanitizing is recommended but no longer mandated. 
• You are still required to assess your own health and the health of your children before attending, with the recommendation to stay home if you are unwell. 
• Monitoring for proof of vaccinations will not be required, nor is it allowed.   

In short, we are no longer in a public health emergency, and for that we are extremely grateful.  It does mean, however, that people may still choose to exercise public health practices as they so desire.  Please be generous and gracious with others as people navigate through this time of recovery.   

Starting Sunday, July 4, registration to attend worship services will no longer be required.  You will be able to sit anywhere in the auditorium, but please respect the space that others may require for safety and comfort.  We will resume the following activities in worship services: 

• Fellowship and congregating, but again, please respect the wishes and comfort of those around you.   
• Singing!  Again, please be aware of the wishes and comfort of those around you.   
• Offering time in the worship service, collection boxes will be at the front of church and you will be able place your offerings there.   
• Nursery (birth to 3 years) will be available beginning July 4.  Depending on the availability of volunteers, Sprouts (ages 4-5) will also be available this summer.  KidsChurch  will begin in the fall. 

Worship Services will now be held once on Sundays at 10:00 am.  Our worship service will have live worship and preaching. The service will be live streamed to our new online campus beginning on July 4. It can be found at  newlifecrc.online.church.  We invite you to join together in worship either in person or online.  We understand that some may feel wary to return to a worship service and we understand.  Please proceed as you are comfortable.  Join us online if that is what you prefer.   

We continue to pray for the church to fully gather and worship our Lord and Savior all together.   

Pastor Nathan and Pastor Mike 

We are so grateful that we can once again worship together on Sunday mornings. We are sending out a loving invite for all to gather together again on Sunday mornings for worship.

This is an exciting time of change. We will be providing two Sunday morning worship services at New Life at 9am and at 11am. Click here for more information about attending.

We also realize that for some it will be difficult to come back for in person worship and for them the online worship service is important. There are people who are shut ins, out of town, on vacation, or those who do not feel comfortable coming back to in person worship yet. We want to be sure we stay connected with the entire New Life family and friends so we will continue providing online worship services along with the onsite services into the future.

We are learning how to improve the worship experience online and we want to let you know of a new approach to worshipping online that we will be moving to. This new approach is more ministry focused and brings engagement during the worship service. It’s called New Life Online.

Current Online Worship

The existing way we have been worshipping online is on YouTube. Our ministry staff pre-records the worship service mid-week and then we watch it on YouTube after it’s published on Sunday morning. This approached has worked but we noticed there are some shortcomings. We didn’t know who was worshipping with us. We missed being able to check in with people and pray with people at the worship services and know what their needs were. We missed being able to connect people to ministry opportunities during the service.

How It Will Work

We feel New Life Online will be more interactive and more participative.  It will be our online campus that we are adding to New Life ministries. The worship service live-stream will show but there will be a pastor or trained elder logged into a chat area. You will be able to interact with one of our pastors, pray with them, make comments during the service, give and connect with ministry opportunities during the service. It will no longer be just you or family watching the service, you will be with others online and can worship together in community hosted by a pastor.

New Life Online will start at 11am on Sunday mornings. We will add more online services as the need is there or change the start time as we hear from you what is best. We are learning.

We will also be shifting from providing pre-recorded worship services to showing what is happening live in the auditorium during Sunday am in person worship services. This is called live-streaming. We will be video streaming live what is happening during a worship service on Sunday am at New Life to those who are online on New Life Online. This will begin on Sunday, July 4.

This live-stream will be saved as a video and available later to view on our YouTube channel. We will make this video available as an “on demand” option so you can watch it later during the week.

• Pastor Mike

Summary

NEW LIFE ONLINE CHURCH   We are adding an online campus to New Life ministries!  Since adapting to the restrictions within a pandemic, we realize there are people who still will be unable to return to in-person gatherings for health or geographic reasons.  We are now prepared to offer worship services and fellowship online.  We will continue to present our Sunday worship services virtually but on a more interactive and ministry focused platform. The worship service live-stream will show and you will be able to interact with one of our pastors live, pray with them, make comments during the service, as well as give and connect with ministry opportunities during the service.  You will be able to access the online campus through our website, the same way you accessed these videos, these changes will be made on Sunday, July 4.

Dear New Life Family,

Finally, we’ve had some good news with respect to the pandemic.  As the rate of vaccinations increases we are moving closer to less restrictions for meeting together.  We are thankful for this news.

Worship Services

We will begin in-person worship services on Sunday, June 6 with two groups of 50 in the auditorium.  With the limited capacity we are hosting two services each Sunday morning, one at 9:00am and another at 11:00am.  We hope this gives the greatest opportunity to attend an in-person service.  The services will still follow the restrictions of social distancing, no singing, and no congregating.  Registration will be required, it will open weekly on Tuesdays and close on Fridays. The best place to register is on our website.  According to the BC Restart Plan, we could see increased capacity after July 1, perhaps with lessened restrictions.

We will continue with online worship services throughout this transition, moving to live-streaming sometime mid-summer.  These services will continue to be online and on-demand.  In addition, we are developing a permanent online church campus.  This will allow people to attend church where ever they are (live-streamed with chat functions).  A launch date for the online campus is yet to be set.

Facility Upgrade Project

We are grateful that during this pandemic, restricting our use of the auditorium, we have been able to make some necessary improvements.  We can’t wait to welcome you back to a refreshed and upgraded auditorium.  The new lighting system should be installed near the beginning of July.  We are grateful for the donations you have made to help this major project along.

Serve 2021

The New Life focus on serving carries forward in the month of June with attention on some of our “front-line” workers in this Covid-19 pandemic.  We are collecting 150 Thank you cards (accompanied with a $10 Starbucks card) from the congregation.  Come to the church with your Starbucks donation and sign a Thank-you card (or several, provided at the church).

Postponed NL LIVE

This is a reminder that the Board of Elders has postponed our next New Life LIVE to September 25, 2021, normally scheduled for early June.  This will allow us to gain a better picture on expenses and future financial needs as we pull out of this pandemic.  We are confident that God has wonderful opportunities and exciting ministry prepared for us as we step forward and persevere for the sake of the gospel and God’s kingdom.

Thank you for your on-going support of New Life ministries, and the consistent encouragement staff have received from you.  If you have questions or need, please feel free to contact the church or a pastor.

Serving Christ together,

Pastor Nathan