Dear New Life Family,

Who would have thought a year ago that we would be in these pandemic circumstances?  We’re sending this letter out to you to inform you of how we see things, ministry-wise.  We also want to encourage you to press on in your own spiritual journey in order to stay faithful to God.

Restrictions

Given the announcement of February 5 by health official Dr. Bonnie Henry, the church remains closed for ministry events of greater than 10 people until further notice.  The exception remains for youth programming which is allowed with a maximum of 50 people.  Our youth program, Switchlife, continues to meet at the church on alternateThursday evenings, with Covid proticols.  Weekly worship gatherings will continue virtually with pre-recorded services until further notice.  We are hopeful, based on the February 5 announcement,that if cases continue to decline we can return to in-person gatherings soon.

Life Groups

Meeting together in small groups at home or at church remains restricted as well.  This makes it difficult to sustain Life Groups at New Life, especially as using video conferencing platforms (Zoom, Skype, etc.) becomes more tiresome.  We acknowledge that this is a difficult time to continue with meetings.  However, we encourage Life Groups to continue to keep connection.  Let us press on and “fight the good fight (I Tim.6:12),” and “spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not give up meeting together…but encouraging one another (Hebrews 10:23ff).”  If your Life Group is “taking a break” —

• we encourage you to pick it up virtually (even as second-best, it’s still a blessing to connect!),
• connect briefly, read a Scripture passage together, see how everyone is doing, close in prayer,
• meet for one-on-one walks,
• extend an invitation to friends who do not have community to connect in your Life Group.

Serve Opportunity

Thank you to everyone who responded to our January call to service! Throughout the month we offered the opportunity to sign up for grocery delivery with the Archway Food Bank.  We had more volunteers than the Food Bank could handle at this time.  Thanks to the drivers for your willingness to serve.  For the month of February we are moving on to a new opportunity with “Best for Babies” (click here).  Since the start of 2021, while we are still in this pandemic, we’ve been shifting our focus into serving the community.  We are still all about gathering to worship, still all about being community, but now is a time to serve.  And because of your response, New Life is being an agent for a radical impact!

In Christ,

Nathan Elgersma (Lead Pastor)

Justin Dudney (Life Groups Pastor)

Dear New Life Congregation,

Welcome to a new year, 2021!  We all wish, or at least joked, that a new year could bring a clean slate to this pandemic situation. Unfortunately, it is still with us. At New Life we keep pressing into God’s calling to work for changed lives, a diverse community, and a radical impact. Admittedly, it does get frustrating to discern exactly what restrictions there are, how they apply to us, and for how long. Through it all, we are still making plans for ministry, and feeling enthusiastic about the opportunities God places before us.

Shifting Focus

Recently, staff discussed moving forward in ministry. We discerned God’s call to a more outward focus in serving the community. In the past year we placed a lot of energy and effort into producing virtual worship experiences and sustaining community through various connections and Life Group meetings. Worship and Community remain important pieces of our ministry, and in addition we want to place our initial focus on serving for the coming year. Many are already serving in various capacities, and we are glad for that. This shift in focus is not an expectation that we just do more, but that we recognize God’s on-going purposes in our life together.  Let us know that you are in:  1) send us back a reply here; or 2) comment in the staff video here.  We would love to hear your stories of serving too!

Serve Opportunity

This month our “serve” focus will land on the Abbotsford Food Bank. Not only does the food bank require on-going donations of food and money, but especially in this pandemic season, they need people willing to deliver groceries to food-bank clients. New Life deacons would like to provide teams of drivers that could participate on a monthly rotating schedule to make deliveries. If you could serve in this capacity, please contact deacon Mark Heidelberg who will direct you to the scheduler at the food bank.

Ministries

With health restrictions renewed for another month, worship services will continue to be pre-recorded and posted on our website, YouTube, and Facebook.  Though we don’t expect it for another couple months, we will be prepared to return to all live worship services when in-person gatherings are permitted for churches.  We encourage Life Groups to stay connected by electronic means.  A current public health order does allow some children and youth programming.  We are exploring how to proceed with this.

Thank you for your encouragement and support to church staff and leaders during this unusual season.  And if you are feeling overwhelmed, discouraged, or depressed, or if you need assistance in any way, make sure that you stay connected with us directly, or through your Life Group, and elder or a deacon.

In Christ,

Nathan Elgersma (Lead Pastor)

nelgersma@newlifecrc.ca

(604) 743-8001

Dear New Life Congregation,

In this time of pandemic and on-going disruption, and especially in this Christmas season, the staff of New Life want to bless you with peace and grace.  As we have been dealing with necessary adaptations to our plans at church, we know that you also have to make changes, adjustments, and even sacrifices.  This week we’ve reminded ourselves of the need to rest on God’s grace, sufficient for all that we must endure.  And so we bless you.

We have been so excited about the Bethlehem Walk that we’ve been planning since September, and have been announcing for some time now.  The idea was to allow people to go through the church building with decorated stations that tell and reflect on the Christmas story.  It would have been so exciting to welcome you through the building.  The latest restrictions from any kind of gatherings or events have forced us to make changes.

So, we hope to present to you an online version of the Bethlehem Walk that will be our gathering point for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  You will be at home, but we will virtually gather to celebrate our Saviour’s birth through video.

Weekly online services will also continue to be produced for Sunday worship in your own homes.  This virtual gathering will be the only way to meet until at least Sunday, January 10, 2021.  We encourage you to participate in these online services and keep connection with New Life Church.   If you have any needs or concerns, please don’t hesitate to be in touch with us.  Email or call the church, or use Pastor Nathan’s direct line (604) 743-8001.  We will continue to assess when we might resume in-person gatherings for Sunday worship and other ministry groups.

Thank you for extending so much encouragement to the New Life staff in this peculiar season.  At times it has been exasperating to continually adapt ministry with changing health restrictions.  Thank you also for your continued faithfulness in giving to ministry at New Life Church.  We have worked hard to keep focused on worshipping together, on sustaining a sense of community, and extending a hand of grace and mercy to the people around us.   Your donations have made that possible.

As we near the year-end please consider a gift that will continue to sustain New Life Church as we move into a new year, with great anticipation that no matter the circumstances, we can proclaim the love of God to our neighbours.

In Christ,

Nathan Elgersma (Lead Pastor)

Our mission partners are once again excited to have their items displayed in the catalogue. Please take a look at the catalogue and prayerfully consider how you can support New Life’s partners and missionaries.

Click here to see the Catalogue.

There are 3 ways to order:

1. Print off the PDF order form and bring it to the office with your payment.
2. Fill in the PDF order form and email it to the office.
3. Click here to fill out the online order form.  Once you’ve put in your online order, payment can be made by dropping off a cheque or cash to the NL office before Dec 31 or by e-transfering giving@newlifecrc.ca.

Thank you so much for your support! 

Dear New Life Members,

In light of the announcement made today by Dr. Bonnie Henry and Adrian Dix we are writing to inform you of how this will affect New Life Church moving forward and what you need to know.

In her briefing this afternoon she communicated that seeing as our numbers in B.C. have continued to rise, they have made the decision to implement more restrictions. What this means for us as a religious organization is that all our in-person gatherings, both mid-week ministries and Sunday services, are put on hold until December 7. They will revisit their decision in the next two weeks. Our Marriage Night set for Friday November 20 will be postponed to a date in the new year.

During these 2 weeks of added restrictions, we want to encourage you to stay connected to New Life Church and community through our virtual Sunday worship services, our virtual Sunday kids’ services, our prayer wall on our New Life app, through your Life Groups virtually, and by reaching out to one another via phone or text.

We encourage New Life members to abide by the restrictions laid out for us by our government and do our part to ensure the safety of everyone in our community. We know that this is not ideal and not how we would desire for our community to move forward at this time, but we are living in the reality of a worldwide pandemic. Let us be the examples of Christ by our lifestyles, our actions, and our attitudes in these difficult times.

Lastly, we ask that you would reach out to us to let us know of your situation. We want to know how your family is doing, what life is like for you, what does work look like for you in light of these new restrictions, how are you growing your faith, and how can we serve you and your family? Connect with us via, phone, email, social media.

God bless you and keep you,
New Life Staff

New Life Family,

Please be advised that recent health regulations restrict all social gatherings, however Dr. Bonny Henry said the restrictions don’t apply to churches and other religious centres.

We will proceed with the worship service as planned for tomorrow (Sunday, November 8), and further assess our activities in the week to come.

Please stay safe and observe the recommendations that have been made.

Dear New Life Family,  

We are praying for you and hope that you are walking with Jesus in this most unique time.  We sure miss seeing all of you, worshipping and serving together.  Along with this update we send our best wishes to you, hoping you had some refreshing times this summer, and encourage you to press on with faithfulness to God.   

Since our June update not a lot has changed with the pandemic conditions.  We continue to follow the health authority guidelines and we will adjust if and when guidelines change.  A guiding principle in all of this is to love our neighbor and ensure the health and safety of our church family.  We are also committed to praying daily for the church as we love and care for each other. Daily prayers are offered through the New Life smart phone app so you can join us in prayer.  It’s a great way to bless the congregation. 

VIRTUAL WORSHIP SERVICES 

Through the end of the 2020 year we will worship together by way of pre-recorded worship services online.  That will be re-evaluated at the beginning of January 2021.  This fall we will upgrade our YouTube channel (through which you view the online services) to increase opportunity for online interaction.  Our stage lighting upgrade is progressing and will be finished by the end of this month.  This upgrade will improve the viewing quality of our online services in addition to improving the over-all function of our auditorium.   Our main goals are to be faithful to the Word of God, engage the congregation in worship, and reach more people.  Producing virtual worship services has introduced quite a new task within our ministry.  We are thankful to staff for working hard each week to produce the weekly videos.    

FALL EVENTS 

In addition to virtual worship services, we plan once a month to host churchwide events for this fall.  Sunday, September 20 is the date for our fall kick-off service and we are busy making plans for that to be an outdoor event in the church parking lot.  With multiple services, we expect be able to host everyone.  Registration for the event will open soon.  Watch for it.   In October we’ll host another event on Thanksgiving Day in lieu of a worship gathering that will feature a food drive (for Abbotsford Food Bank) and opportunity for testimonies of thanks.  Plans for a November event and for some great Christmas specials are also in the works.  It’s going to be an exciting fall after all!   

CONNECTION 

One of our endeavors throughout this pandemic is to provide ways to connect to God and to one another.  We hope to develop some kind of online opportunities this fall by which we can grow in faith and encourage one another to follow hard after Jesus.   Life Groups continue to be a key component for connection as well.  Some groups are meeting together for the virtual worship services as well as other occasions.  Pastor Justin and the Life Group elders are available to assist your group in gathering appropriately, or in helping you get involved in a group.  Make sure you stay connected.  And as always, contact a pastor or drop by the church, we’d love to encourage you and bless you.   

 For Christ and His Church,  

 Pastor Nathan and Pastor Mike