Dear Congregation

There is a notable staffing change at New Life Church that we would like to share with you. Effective in September, 2018 Pastor Koen Beugelink will be shifting his duties at New Life Church to fifty percent (50%). This will allow him at that time to begin a half time role at Abbotsford Christian Secondary School as Director of Faith Formation.

After 15 years of full time faithful service, Pastor Koen’s transition will be a significant adjustment for both he and us. We are grateful; however, that Pastor Koen will remain in leadership as a pastor at New Life Church, involved specifically in Switchlife (Youth) ministries. In the following months we will be deciding how to staff other areas of ministry in which Koen has been involved.

Pastor Koen and his family remain passionate about the New Life community and will continue to be vital members of New Life Church. We are grateful for Koen’s tremendous ministry, and his desire to remain part of the New Life staff team. Together, we are confident that this change will be an exciting opportunity for Pastor Koen, a challenging new direction for New Life, and a fruitful development for the larger Christian community.

Serving Christ together,

Pastor Nathan

Hello New Life – here it is!! Our second annual Chilli cook-off. This is part of our yearly ‘volunteer appreciation” celebration. If you would like to enter the chilli contest, please go to the attached link, fill out the NLV form, and begin perfecting your recipe. It’s going to be fun folks … save the date!!

To Our New Life Family

For the past many years, New Life has had the privilege of reaching out to our community each summer with a VBS kids program. You might recognize these outreaches by familiar names such as, “Mega Sports Camp,” or “Athletes In Action Summer Camp.” Over the years, the lives of hundreds of kids have been touched by these programs. We look forward to running these outreaches each summer, we believe strongly in them, and they are the focus of much of our creative energy throughout the year.

One key factor in making this life changing week available to our community has been the Canada Summer Jobs program. This is a program run by our Canadian Federal Government that gives grants to organizations wishing to hire students over the summer months. These students typically work for New Life starting in June, and then continue their employment through the rest of the summer. For New Life, the hiring of summer interns has become a critical and timely component to our summer outreaches.

As many of you might be aware, this past year, our Federal Government made some drastic changes to the approval process for the Canada Summer Jobs program. In short, they denied all applications that didn’t attest to supporting abortions – amongst several other important moral issues. New Life has made application this year but we have been denied approval for any summer student funding. We are not alone in being denied in this process. Over 1500 churches and religious organizations nationwide are in the same situation this year because of these changes.

This summer, we have an amazing plan for an outreach within our city and in city parks. All of the pieces of the puzzle are coming together, we are excited, and we are already on our knees praying. However, we have been left without critical funding due to the circumstances explained above. Without our summer interns, it will be very difficult to move ahead with our plan. The Canada Summer Jobs program usually funds us to the amount of $10,000 which is enough for two summer students. The good news is, we have applied for an alternate grant and have been approved for $2000. This leaves us short approximately $8,000.

We are putting this need in front the New Life family, knowing that God accomplishes His purposes through His people. This Sunday, May 6, we are asking you to prayerfully consider giving an extra, one-time gift above your regular giving towards our summer outreach. We are fully convinced that as a church, we are called to reach out to our city parks and streets in this way. We thank you in advance for your generosity.

For Christ and His Church,

Mike VanderKwaak

Executive Pastor, New Life Church

Future Ministry Plans April 22 Update