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)

[email protected]

(604) 743-8001