New Life News
Facility Upgrade Project
Dear New Life Family,
We are inviting you to participate in an exciting, long awaited project within New Life Church.
We are in the process of upgrading our auditorium and today we are asking you to prayerfully consider giving to this project. Your help will enable the church to move into the future to fulfill the ministry God has called us to.
New Life’s facility was built in the mid 1990’s. Over the years the auditorium has mostly remained the same and recently we have begun some of the long-awaited upgrades.
Last summer we began with upgrading our stage lighting. We removed the old stage lighting system and replaced it with new lighting that has been a wonderful improvement for the church. Most recently we upgraded our video projection system to a larger and clearer screen. We are very thankful for these upgrades and we are blessed that they were paid for from the church’s savings.
Currently, we are focusing on painting the walls, improving acoustics and changing all the house lights. The dark colored walls with the dim house lights will be changed!
We are also eager to update the original bathrooms and change the flooring in the auditorium and we will pursue those projects at a later date after this current phase of upgrades is complete.
The Board of Elders wanted to move forward with this project as soon as possible because it is convenient to do the work when the church isn’t meeting in the auditorium.
We are asking you to prayerfully invest into New Life’s future by giving today to help offset the costs of upgrading our auditorium.
If you donate to the Facility Upgrade Fund, all your funds will be used towards these long-awaited upgrades.
Blessings,
Mike VanderKwaak
Executive Pastor
OUTSIDE Abide
Abide is going outside! Abide is typically a live streamed worship and prayer night on the last Sunday of every month. This month we won’t be live streaming, but will be hosting a outdoor in person gathering. We can only host 50 participants so register quick. Grab your chair and experience a wonderful night of worship and prayer in the back parking lot. Please enter through the west green gate. This event will proceed rain or shine at 7:00PM. Follow this link to register: https://new-life.ccbchurch.com/goto/forms/129/responses/new. Hope to see you there!
COVID Update – March 31, 2021
Dear New Life Family,
We celebrate the risen Christ with you this week. This Friday is Good Friday and once again we have joined together with other Christian Reformed churches in Abbotsford and Mission to compile a joint online service to commemorate the great sacrifice of our Saviour. You will be able to view that video on Friday morning.
On Easter Sunday we will have a very special online service that we are excited to present to you. At the same time, we are sad this will be our second Easter apart. We had so hoped that this year it would be something more. Our staff team was making exciting plans to host in person worship services on Easter and the weeks to come. Then this past Monday we heard the difficult news that health officials reversed their initial allowance for indoor worship events. We were so terribly disappointed of the news. For Easter, we had planned three consecutive times to meet together in groups of fifty and other special ways to make the Easter service a celebration together. Despite our disappointment, however, we stay the course and continue to be diligent while we are in the pandemic.
We are also suspending youth and young adult ministries based on health official recommendations. We had been continuing these programs with in-person gatherings, and will re-evaluate for the week of April 12. Our priorities at New Life during this pandemic have been to do ministry safely and sustainably. At this time, when Covid cases have surged, especially in the age-range of young adults, we want to be extra careful. The health of our ministry volunteers, participants, and all our members are an important concern.
In the midst of these set-backs, the New Life auditorium is undergoing some improvements and we can’t wait to show it off. Right now, we are focusing on the stage area, with a new projection system that will be larger and clearer. Work has also begun to replace sound panels throughout the auditorium and give it all a fresh coat of paint. The next major piece of the project will be a new lighting system for the auditorium. A loan of $170,000 has been approved by the congregation at the last New Life LIVE meeting. To contribute money for these improvements, we will be promoting donations to reduce the loan amount. Watch for an up-coming fund-raising campaign.
Thank you for your support and encouragement throughout this time. It is trying for all of us. You are in our prayers. If there is anything we can help you with please don’t hesitate to call the church office or a pastor. Please keep staff and ministry volunteers in your prayers as we continue to adjust and adapt ministry to different conditions. We remain filled with hope in our resurrected Saviour, and anticipate that God is at work through all of our circumstances. To him be all glory.
Blessings,
Pastor Nathan and Pastor Mike
Community Food Drive: April Serve Focus
This April the serve focus will be a food drive! Our partners are Archway Community, Life Recovery, and Joshua House. Items that are being collected for each organization are below. This month as an added incentive to bring in food if enough of specific items are brought in the staff will each eat their least favourite food. Items can be brought anytime during office hours, our hours are Tuesday-Thursday 9am-2pm and Friday 9am-12pm.
Items Needed:
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Kraft Dinner
- Jam
- Condiments (Ketchup, Mustard, Mayonnaise, Salsa, Ranch, Ceasar Dressing, Soy Sauce)
- Pasta Noodles
- Canned Soup
- Beverages (Coffee, Tea, Juice, Hot Chocolate)
- Canned Fruits & Vegetables
- Sugar
- Ground Coffee
Abide March 28, 2021
Sunday, March 28, 2021 we are hosting a live streamed worship night. This will be an intentional time of prayer, worship & reflection. The live stream link will be on our website and youtube channel.
Easter Weekend
Good Friday
On Friday April 2, 2021 we are joining with area Christian Reformed Churches for a joint worship service that will be pre-recorded.The link will become available in the usual way on April 2 at 10:00am (and thereafter) for your participation in the service. Let us come together, virtually, to worship our God and Saviour.
Easter Sunday
We are excited to offer a very special New Life Easter service on Sunday April 4. If you know someone who could use a encouraging message of hope, invite them to join us virtually on Easter morning. We have so many different elements included in this service and so many familiar faces.
Both services will be available on our website & Youtube Channel.
Cyrus Centre Meal Train – Serve 2021
For the month of March our Serve 2021 focus is going to be supporting the residents of the Delair Court apartment fire and providing meals for the Cyrus Center. The Cyrus Centre strives to help meet the basic needs of at-risk, homeless youth, and their families. Youth who are homeless or at-risk of being homeless can access supports 24 hrs. a day 365 days of the year. One big way of supporting them is by providing meals!
Both Chilliwack and Abbotsford Cyrus Centre’s are scheduling meals through the meal train website. If you would like to sign up to bring a meal, click on the corresponding link at the end of the post. Once you’ve created an account, click on the date you’d like to bring a meal.
Fill in your name (or initials), email, and the meal you’ll be cooking. You’ll receive a reminder email the day before you are scheduled. Then just drop the meal off before dinner time at 6pm! The Abbotsford Location is filling up quick so please consider signing up for the Chilliwack Location.
Abbotsford Meal Train: https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/6wzv4q
Address: 2616 Ware Street Abbotsford.
Chilliwack Meal Train: https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/w1r7v1
Address: 45845 Wellington Ave, Chilliwack
We are also offering the opporuntity that if you would like to drop off frozen meals we can deliver them to Cyrus Centre. The GEMS are also having a virutal baking night to supply baking and that is open to anyone who wants to supply a special treat.
Thanks so much for serving!
New Life Live March 10 at 7pm
Dear New Life Family,
New Life Live will be on Wednesday, March 10 at 7:00pm.
This will be an online event and we will send out a computer link so you can participate in the event online.
We encourage the congregation to participate in the event and to submit any questions. You can submit questions by email prior to March 10 by emailing the office or you can watch the event online and ask questions during the presentations through the chat function.
The voting will take place electronically and the motions will be open to vote starting after the meeting on March 10, 2021.
The New Life Live package can be download here.
Zoom link:
Topic: New Life Live
Time: Mar 10, 2021 07:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/97056654418
Meeting ID: 970 5665 4418
Delair Apartment Fire
Dear New Life Family,
We appreciate the prayers that you have given for our neighbours involved in the Delair Fire.
Here is an update on the situation:
Delair Court Apartments has two buildings. The East Building caught fire and is completely destroyed. All of the residents of the East building are permanently displaced and have lost all their belongs – over 40 families. The West Building did not burn and the families in that building are slowly moving back into their homes. All the families are devastated and are just beginning to realize the scope of their loss. They have been provided places to stay by Emergency Social Services for four days at which time, they need to find their own way of living again.
New Life’s Involvement:
God’s love is shining through so brightly! We are so grateful for the overwhelming response to help with the DeLair Road fire victims. The families affected by this fire will be adding a new chapter of hope and compassion to their stories! A few weeks ago we had to opportunity to serve these victims by taking everything that was donated by the community and organzing it for the victims to look through. We had about 15 families come through and take anything they needed. It was such a awesome use of our big somewhat empty building. Thank you to everyone who used their weekend to sort all the donations.
2 Ways You Can Help:
1. If you know of a basement suite or apartment that is available for rent, please contact Yolanda Apperloo at apperloohouse@gmail.com. She will forward your information to the point person organizing and matching accommodations to families. Then he will connect with you for further details.
2. Donate Money to the Delair Fire fund at New Life Church. You can do this by writing a check to New Life, e-transfer New Life (giving@newlifecrc.ca) or drop off cash. Make sure you specify that it goes to the Delair Fire Fund. From here, New Life Deacon’s will use those funds to support the families and their needs.
Each family who has been hurt through this event has their own unique story of loss and grief to tell. Let’s give them a new story of hope and compassion to rebuild their lives. We thank you for you love and care for our neighbors who covet your prayers during this time.
We are so humbled by all the response we have received. Many people offered rental suites and apartments, so many large items donations were received that MCC is packed full, the Salvation Army is filled to capacity with smaller household items and clothing, and so far between E.S.S., MCC, the Salvation Army, New Life Church and other donators, the families have received enough funding to be able to prepare the way to start their new journey, setting up their new homes, and picking up food hampers. Organizers for the food hampers also called to express deep appreciation for the volunteers they had.
Yolanda Apperloo
Delair Fire Deacon Co-Ordinator
Abide Worship Night : February 28, 2021
Sunday, February 28, at 7pm we are going to have a live streamed worship night. It’s called Abide. This will be a time to worship in song and prayer together, led by the worship team and the Monday Night prayer team of New Life Church. This is another opportunity to connect with each other and with God through reflection, prayer, and worship. To join the Abide event look for the live-stream link on the main page of the New Life website.