Since the new year I've received a couple of notifications for comments on this blog. Funny thing was, I'd more or less forgotten it existed! So, after a bit of trial-and-error guesswork, I managed to get the right user/pass combo and here I am.
Perhaps an update is in order! Obviously I'm not visiting new churches every Sunday anymore (otherwise I'd have been writing all about it, of course). After my last post, I spent about a year attending Oasis Community Church (click here for my original impressions), about which I'll probably write another post, hopefully soon. After that I began attending CMU (Canadian Mennonite University), at which point I kind of dropped off of the church-going map; instead I attended CMU's chapel services and participated in a fellowship group, so for a while CMU became my church.
This past year I spent a solid five months abroad in Europe, living in France while my girlfriend studied at the Universite d'Avignon. While there I didn't attend church regularly, but I had the phenomenal opportunity to spend a week in Taize, which is a monastic community that hosts week-long retreats, primarily for youth. It was an amazing week, which I described in some detail on my other blog.
Finally, to the present. Once again I find myself at that stage where I'd very much like to find a church. But not only that, I strongly feel the need to become part of a vibrant, active faith community. I haven't quite decided where I'm going to start; chances are I'll go back and read some of my old posts, and maybe try a few new churches over the next couple of months. I'll also be talking to some of my friends (those few church-goers), to see where they've made their home.
Long story short, hopefully I'll begin posting here again.
Until next time!
-Brock
Monday, July 29, 2013
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Waverley Fellowship Baptist Church
Sunday May 2, 2010, 10:00 am
Waverley Fellowship Baptist Church, 2171 Waverley St.
I'm going to apologize if any of this is incoherent, I had a bit of a late night and an early morning. No double vision to report yet. I pass Waverley Baptist every time I go to the University of Manitoba, but I never checked it out until now. It's a big building with a huge stage inside (only the right half was actually used during the service) and quite possibly the comfiest chairs ever.
I was greeted twice walking in and handed a visitor card to fill out (free pen!) Then I headed into the sanctuary. There was actually a decent mix of the young and the old, and maybe 150 people there. The pre-service announcements (including a plug for the wonderful "Love Winnipeg" program) seemed to take forever, though it might have just seemed that way since as I mentioned it was taking an inordinate amount of energy to concentrate and not fall asleep.
A small worship band (guitar, bongos, piano, 2 singers) led some nice music to start the service and then Rev. Mark took the stage. The message this morning seemed pretty long and at times repetitive, but the gist of it was actually kind of neat. He talked about the Jewish "Shema," Deuteronomy 6:4-9 which talks about putting God first "when you lie down and when you rise." It is the original staement of "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might," and was recited fastidiously by Jews in Jesus' time. Mark talked about these ideas for a bit and then concluded by noting that Jesus does something unprecedented: he adds to the single greatest commandment in the law when he says "you shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matt. 22:39). Thus not only does he express the weight of his two commandments, he also displays the fact that he is God by amending God's law. It was an interesting message.
The offering went around, the worship band played a couple more songs and we took communion before Mark came back onstage and wished us well for the week. I had to hurry out because I felt a nap fast approaching, but I must say I did feel welcomed there. People sat near me with no hesitation and there were empty seats elsewhere. All in all a nice, unremarkable church but one that I might be tempted to learn more about.
http://www.mywaverley.com/
Waverley Fellowship Baptist Church, 2171 Waverley St.
I'm going to apologize if any of this is incoherent, I had a bit of a late night and an early morning. No double vision to report yet. I pass Waverley Baptist every time I go to the University of Manitoba, but I never checked it out until now. It's a big building with a huge stage inside (only the right half was actually used during the service) and quite possibly the comfiest chairs ever.
I was greeted twice walking in and handed a visitor card to fill out (free pen!) Then I headed into the sanctuary. There was actually a decent mix of the young and the old, and maybe 150 people there. The pre-service announcements (including a plug for the wonderful "Love Winnipeg" program) seemed to take forever, though it might have just seemed that way since as I mentioned it was taking an inordinate amount of energy to concentrate and not fall asleep.
A small worship band (guitar, bongos, piano, 2 singers) led some nice music to start the service and then Rev. Mark took the stage. The message this morning seemed pretty long and at times repetitive, but the gist of it was actually kind of neat. He talked about the Jewish "Shema," Deuteronomy 6:4-9 which talks about putting God first "when you lie down and when you rise." It is the original staement of "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might," and was recited fastidiously by Jews in Jesus' time. Mark talked about these ideas for a bit and then concluded by noting that Jesus does something unprecedented: he adds to the single greatest commandment in the law when he says "you shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matt. 22:39). Thus not only does he express the weight of his two commandments, he also displays the fact that he is God by amending God's law. It was an interesting message.
The offering went around, the worship band played a couple more songs and we took communion before Mark came back onstage and wished us well for the week. I had to hurry out because I felt a nap fast approaching, but I must say I did feel welcomed there. People sat near me with no hesitation and there were empty seats elsewhere. All in all a nice, unremarkable church but one that I might be tempted to learn more about.
http://www.mywaverley.com/
Sunday, April 25, 2010
The Table
Sunday April 25, 2010 10:30 am
The Table (Inside The Academy); 437 Stradbrook ave.
After my adventures through South Africa and a whole whack of fascinating and diverse churches, I was fairly secure in the notion that there was nothing left in Winnipeg capable of surprising me. God in His wisdom decided that wasn't an acceptable state of affairs.
Enter The Table. When I heard that there was a church held inside The Academy I didn't believe it. The Academy is a longstanding bar and eatery that recently moved into larger accommodations in Winnipeg's hip Osborne Village. Walking up there was no signage indicating that there was a church there, and I lingered at the door until I could follow somebody in.
A handful of people were milling around in the empty restaurant having coffee and dainties and if it wasn't for the logo projected on the wall of the stage, I would've thought it was The Academy any morning of the week. The moment I walked in I was warmly greeted and by the five minute mark I think I'd been introduced to just about everybody in the place. I met the pastor, who invited me to talk sometime, and chatted with people about my year and the church's history (though I didn't find out where they stand theologically).
The service began with a sort of gong-bowl calling people to worship. Some people stood in the open area in front of the stage, some sat on the bar stools around the periphery and some in the restaurant area in the back. It was a kind of informal church I'd never seen before. People still had their coffee cups and someone went around with refills periodically. A fellow with a guitar and a female singer led the music for the service.
Let's talk about the music, because that's what I like to do. Throughout the service there were a couple of worship songs I recognized, a converted hymn and a modified Taize chant that accompanied communion (which was open to everyone). Of course if I was having trouble before figuring out what this church is about, after seeing the diversity of music I was lost (but certainly not in a bad way. I loved it).
A guest speaker (I've forgotten his name) did the sermon. The first few minutes were spent expanding on the concept of water and I really had no idea where he was going. Then he started talking about the woman at the well (John 4) and it kind of made sense, since Jesus used a metaphor of living water. Then the speaker said a whole bunch of things that I really, really liked. Direct quote: "So Jesus knows all of my shit, and it's a good thing? ...Yes." He said that when the Samaritan woman went to her village and presented the fact that Jesus knew everything about her - including her sordid past - as a good thing, it serves to show us that yes, Jesus knows all of our shit and still loves us. There are two sides to Jesus, he said, that can indeed coexist: the holy side and the honest side. I've got to say that this resonated with me.
He ended the sermon talking about how we use placebos for the "living water" of Jesus; how things like consumerism and substance abuse can be tied back to a deep need for fulfillment and love, replacements for the love of God. He also said, however, that Jesus Himself is often used as a placebo: we assume that Jesus will make everything in our lives good, a "five-minute fix," when instead life is a journey that consists of good and bad. Jesus is not here to make everything fine. He's going to do that later. He's here right now to walk with us on our journey, through whatever may come.
Anyway. Excepting the beginning, one of the best sermons I've heard. At the end the speaker led a prayer exercise, playing some music and water images and inviting us up to the front to place a stone in a jug of water, the stone representing a placebo or something bad that we need to bring to God and get rid of. I really, really like that kind of experimental worship and prayer.
I talked to some more people at the end of the service, got invited to a barbecue (but had to decline) and left feeling really good. I'll definitely be going back, hopefully in about a month. I forgot to mention, the congregation was about thirty people and very diverse. The bulk of it was younger (20s to early 30s) couples with a few older folks thrown in. One child under the age of 18. What a cool morning.
http://www.thetablewinnipeg.com/The_Table/Home.html
The Table (Inside The Academy); 437 Stradbrook ave.
After my adventures through South Africa and a whole whack of fascinating and diverse churches, I was fairly secure in the notion that there was nothing left in Winnipeg capable of surprising me. God in His wisdom decided that wasn't an acceptable state of affairs.
Enter The Table. When I heard that there was a church held inside The Academy I didn't believe it. The Academy is a longstanding bar and eatery that recently moved into larger accommodations in Winnipeg's hip Osborne Village. Walking up there was no signage indicating that there was a church there, and I lingered at the door until I could follow somebody in.
A handful of people were milling around in the empty restaurant having coffee and dainties and if it wasn't for the logo projected on the wall of the stage, I would've thought it was The Academy any morning of the week. The moment I walked in I was warmly greeted and by the five minute mark I think I'd been introduced to just about everybody in the place. I met the pastor, who invited me to talk sometime, and chatted with people about my year and the church's history (though I didn't find out where they stand theologically).
The service began with a sort of gong-bowl calling people to worship. Some people stood in the open area in front of the stage, some sat on the bar stools around the periphery and some in the restaurant area in the back. It was a kind of informal church I'd never seen before. People still had their coffee cups and someone went around with refills periodically. A fellow with a guitar and a female singer led the music for the service.
Let's talk about the music, because that's what I like to do. Throughout the service there were a couple of worship songs I recognized, a converted hymn and a modified Taize chant that accompanied communion (which was open to everyone). Of course if I was having trouble before figuring out what this church is about, after seeing the diversity of music I was lost (but certainly not in a bad way. I loved it).
A guest speaker (I've forgotten his name) did the sermon. The first few minutes were spent expanding on the concept of water and I really had no idea where he was going. Then he started talking about the woman at the well (John 4) and it kind of made sense, since Jesus used a metaphor of living water. Then the speaker said a whole bunch of things that I really, really liked. Direct quote: "So Jesus knows all of my shit, and it's a good thing? ...Yes." He said that when the Samaritan woman went to her village and presented the fact that Jesus knew everything about her - including her sordid past - as a good thing, it serves to show us that yes, Jesus knows all of our shit and still loves us. There are two sides to Jesus, he said, that can indeed coexist: the holy side and the honest side. I've got to say that this resonated with me.
He ended the sermon talking about how we use placebos for the "living water" of Jesus; how things like consumerism and substance abuse can be tied back to a deep need for fulfillment and love, replacements for the love of God. He also said, however, that Jesus Himself is often used as a placebo: we assume that Jesus will make everything in our lives good, a "five-minute fix," when instead life is a journey that consists of good and bad. Jesus is not here to make everything fine. He's going to do that later. He's here right now to walk with us on our journey, through whatever may come.
Anyway. Excepting the beginning, one of the best sermons I've heard. At the end the speaker led a prayer exercise, playing some music and water images and inviting us up to the front to place a stone in a jug of water, the stone representing a placebo or something bad that we need to bring to God and get rid of. I really, really like that kind of experimental worship and prayer.
I talked to some more people at the end of the service, got invited to a barbecue (but had to decline) and left feeling really good. I'll definitely be going back, hopefully in about a month. I forgot to mention, the congregation was about thirty people and very diverse. The bulk of it was younger (20s to early 30s) couples with a few older folks thrown in. One child under the age of 18. What a cool morning.
http://www.thetablewinnipeg.com/The_Table/Home.html
Saturday, April 24, 2010
The Madcap Returns
Hey all
You may have noticed I've been a bit silent lately. For good reason, I promise you: I just returned from a 3-month trip to South Africa with the Outtatown discipleship school based out of Winnipeg's CMU. It was an absolutely phenomenal experience.
Anyhow, since I've still yet to find a home church I'll still be attending different churches, and I figure why not keep up with my posting too. I'm definitely more on the lookout for a home church than I was before, perhaps evidenced by the fact that I repeated two churches (though I didn't blog about them) over the Christmas holidays: Bethel Mennonite and Oasis.
Anyhow, I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things and exploring more of the faith communities Winnipeg has to offer. I saw some pretty cool worship in Africa; a gospel church in a city called Soweto officially set my record for longest service, clocking at 3 and a half hours (and we left early). It was also one of the coolest services I've ever been to: so much singing and praising, and a spirit of joy in worship that I've never found anywhere else.
I wrote some notes in my journal whenever we went to church in SA, so I might compile them later into a post of their own.
Continuing on the journey,
-Brock
You may have noticed I've been a bit silent lately. For good reason, I promise you: I just returned from a 3-month trip to South Africa with the Outtatown discipleship school based out of Winnipeg's CMU. It was an absolutely phenomenal experience.
Anyhow, since I've still yet to find a home church I'll still be attending different churches, and I figure why not keep up with my posting too. I'm definitely more on the lookout for a home church than I was before, perhaps evidenced by the fact that I repeated two churches (though I didn't blog about them) over the Christmas holidays: Bethel Mennonite and Oasis.
Anyhow, I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things and exploring more of the faith communities Winnipeg has to offer. I saw some pretty cool worship in Africa; a gospel church in a city called Soweto officially set my record for longest service, clocking at 3 and a half hours (and we left early). It was also one of the coolest services I've ever been to: so much singing and praising, and a spirit of joy in worship that I've never found anywhere else.
I wrote some notes in my journal whenever we went to church in SA, so I might compile them later into a post of their own.
Continuing on the journey,
-Brock
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
"Adore" at Glad Tidings Pentecostal
Sunday Nov. 15, 2009 6:30 pm
"Adore" at Glad Tidings Pentecostal Church, 1800 Quadra St. Victoria BC
Pastor Andy Moore
So I found myself in Victoria this past Sunday, a beautiful city for anyone wondering. "Adore" is a youth-based evening offshoot of the Glad Tidings Pentecostal Church in Victoria BC. The building looks potentially old-fashioned from the outside, but inside for "Adore" it's transformed, with four jumbo-screens, a coffee center and lots of information centers. And little mini-bibles all over the place.
My first thoughts were "holy shit, this church has a mascot," and in fact it has not one, but two giant "child" mascots who lead the kids off to children's time or Sunday school or whatever you choose to call it. It was something I've absolutely never seen before.
This church probably had about 2-300 people and bar none the largest population of youth I've seen in any church. Makes sense, since the program was started with youth in mind. There were a few families and even a couple of older folk out, but the youth were dominant.
The service started with about 20 minutes of songs from the worship band. The band played well; the singers were both a bit lacking but they were enthusiastic in their worship. My only question mark was that the worship band had a "look," all wearing the same style of low-neck t-shirt et cetera. I'll leave that one without comment, just saying that my eyebrows raised a bit.
After that there was an offering, and I always love it when they encourage the visitors not to feel pressured to give, which I think is extremely considerate and often overlooked in churches who seem to assume that the congregation all knows what's going on.
Then Pastor Andy took the stage. He was what I have now come to consider the "norm" for the hip, young pastor: silk shirt, designer jeans, gelled hair. It almost feels like a new pastor stereotype is being formed: we all have the image of the old-time pastor in black with the white collar, or the older fellow in a suit. Now we have the guy with the styled hair in a dress shirt.
He spoke well, if a tad frenetically, continuing the established theme of "Text Me," in which the church is taking a look at the Bible. Pastor Andy talked today about the reliability of the Bible. He pulled out a few interesting statistics (the chances of Jesus having fulfilled all of the prophesys that he did are approximately 100,000,000,000,000,000 to 1), analyzed the Bible according to a system for evaluating the historical accuracy of academic texts and even talked about archaeology and the Bible. It was interesting stuff; not terribly in-depth or scientifically solid (understandable given the time constraints) but it was thought-provoking, so I think it did its job.
Pastor Andy prayed and the worship band played a couple more songs to end the evening. I did enjoy myself and I enjoyed the pastor's message and the absolute influx of youth. I always find a certain amount of ego inherent in these band-and-jumbotron-based churches and this one had it in particular. But it also had literally over a hundred youth.
Hm.
http://adorevictoria.blogspot.com/
"Adore" at Glad Tidings Pentecostal Church, 1800 Quadra St. Victoria BC
Pastor Andy Moore
So I found myself in Victoria this past Sunday, a beautiful city for anyone wondering. "Adore" is a youth-based evening offshoot of the Glad Tidings Pentecostal Church in Victoria BC. The building looks potentially old-fashioned from the outside, but inside for "Adore" it's transformed, with four jumbo-screens, a coffee center and lots of information centers. And little mini-bibles all over the place.
My first thoughts were "holy shit, this church has a mascot," and in fact it has not one, but two giant "child" mascots who lead the kids off to children's time or Sunday school or whatever you choose to call it. It was something I've absolutely never seen before.
This church probably had about 2-300 people and bar none the largest population of youth I've seen in any church. Makes sense, since the program was started with youth in mind. There were a few families and even a couple of older folk out, but the youth were dominant.
The service started with about 20 minutes of songs from the worship band. The band played well; the singers were both a bit lacking but they were enthusiastic in their worship. My only question mark was that the worship band had a "look," all wearing the same style of low-neck t-shirt et cetera. I'll leave that one without comment, just saying that my eyebrows raised a bit.
After that there was an offering, and I always love it when they encourage the visitors not to feel pressured to give, which I think is extremely considerate and often overlooked in churches who seem to assume that the congregation all knows what's going on.
Then Pastor Andy took the stage. He was what I have now come to consider the "norm" for the hip, young pastor: silk shirt, designer jeans, gelled hair. It almost feels like a new pastor stereotype is being formed: we all have the image of the old-time pastor in black with the white collar, or the older fellow in a suit. Now we have the guy with the styled hair in a dress shirt.
He spoke well, if a tad frenetically, continuing the established theme of "Text Me," in which the church is taking a look at the Bible. Pastor Andy talked today about the reliability of the Bible. He pulled out a few interesting statistics (the chances of Jesus having fulfilled all of the prophesys that he did are approximately 100,000,000,000,000,000 to 1), analyzed the Bible according to a system for evaluating the historical accuracy of academic texts and even talked about archaeology and the Bible. It was interesting stuff; not terribly in-depth or scientifically solid (understandable given the time constraints) but it was thought-provoking, so I think it did its job.
Pastor Andy prayed and the worship band played a couple more songs to end the evening. I did enjoy myself and I enjoyed the pastor's message and the absolute influx of youth. I always find a certain amount of ego inherent in these band-and-jumbotron-based churches and this one had it in particular. But it also had literally over a hundred youth.
Hm.
http://adorevictoria.blogspot.com/
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Bakerview Mennonite Brethren Church
Sunday Nov. 1, 2009 11:15 am
Bakerview Mennonite Brethren Church, 2285 Clearbrook Rd. Abbotsford BC
Pastors Ray Harris and Dianne Bowker
The next stage of my adventure this year has taken me out west to BC. We managed to head out to church this morning; one of our group leaders chose Bakerview Mennonite Brethren and I'm really glad he did. It was a really enjoyable service.
A note about Bakerview that I think is really cool: they actually have three different services. They have a traditional service earlier in the morning, and then a 'contemporary' service and a liturgical service just after. In this way they offer three different approaches to worship all in the same building and at the same time. Though I could see how this would divide the church community-wise, I think it's a great way of approaching the divide between services appealing to younger, middle-aged and elderly congregants. And if you want something different one Sunday, you can just go to a different kind of service.
I attended the liturgical service, was greeted warmly as I walked in and was handed a veritable novel of liturgy, a 48-page program of service that holds the current record as longest bulletin in my filing cabinet. Since the contemporary service is held in the sanctuary at the same time, the liturgical service is held in the multipurpose gymnasium, with stacking chairs arranged around a stage. The centerpiece of the stage is a large cross made simply with un-milled logs. The interesting thing is that they actually had 'blood' painted on the cross where Jesus' hands, feet and back would have been. A bit macabre, perhaps, but nonetheless a powerful message of Jesus leaving death behind.
There were about 200 people there, mostly grey-haired but with a smattering of youth and a couple of families. The service followed the bulletin exactly, with responsive readings, prayers and scripture and hymns and sung responses accompanied fantastically by a choir, organ, piano, violin, trombone and flute. We took communion and Pastor Ray Harris did a phenomenally brief sermon on the morning's Gospel reading (John 11:32-44, wherein Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead).
And during the offering, out of nowhere, a couple played a fantastic duo piano rendition of "Oh When the Saints." It was actually amazing. I'd like a recording of it, it was so good. Anyhow, the service ended with a sending and this time I actually stayed for lunch afterward (a first, I think, for me in this church-visiting odyssey). I really enjoyed that too.
Considering the reputation MB churches sometimes have and that it was a liturgical service, I really enjoyed myself today. I've been a bit church deprived on this trip, so I always love getting out to church on Sunday morning. Till next time!
http://www.bakerview.org/
Bakerview Mennonite Brethren Church, 2285 Clearbrook Rd. Abbotsford BC
Pastors Ray Harris and Dianne Bowker
The next stage of my adventure this year has taken me out west to BC. We managed to head out to church this morning; one of our group leaders chose Bakerview Mennonite Brethren and I'm really glad he did. It was a really enjoyable service.
A note about Bakerview that I think is really cool: they actually have three different services. They have a traditional service earlier in the morning, and then a 'contemporary' service and a liturgical service just after. In this way they offer three different approaches to worship all in the same building and at the same time. Though I could see how this would divide the church community-wise, I think it's a great way of approaching the divide between services appealing to younger, middle-aged and elderly congregants. And if you want something different one Sunday, you can just go to a different kind of service.
I attended the liturgical service, was greeted warmly as I walked in and was handed a veritable novel of liturgy, a 48-page program of service that holds the current record as longest bulletin in my filing cabinet. Since the contemporary service is held in the sanctuary at the same time, the liturgical service is held in the multipurpose gymnasium, with stacking chairs arranged around a stage. The centerpiece of the stage is a large cross made simply with un-milled logs. The interesting thing is that they actually had 'blood' painted on the cross where Jesus' hands, feet and back would have been. A bit macabre, perhaps, but nonetheless a powerful message of Jesus leaving death behind.
There were about 200 people there, mostly grey-haired but with a smattering of youth and a couple of families. The service followed the bulletin exactly, with responsive readings, prayers and scripture and hymns and sung responses accompanied fantastically by a choir, organ, piano, violin, trombone and flute. We took communion and Pastor Ray Harris did a phenomenally brief sermon on the morning's Gospel reading (John 11:32-44, wherein Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead).
And during the offering, out of nowhere, a couple played a fantastic duo piano rendition of "Oh When the Saints." It was actually amazing. I'd like a recording of it, it was so good. Anyhow, the service ended with a sending and this time I actually stayed for lunch afterward (a first, I think, for me in this church-visiting odyssey). I really enjoyed that too.
Considering the reputation MB churches sometimes have and that it was a liturgical service, I really enjoyed myself today. I've been a bit church deprived on this trip, so I always love getting out to church on Sunday morning. Till next time!
http://www.bakerview.org/
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Bayview Evangelical Free Church
Sunday Oct. 4, 2009 10:45 am
Bayview Evangelical Free Church, South Colonization Road at Colville Rd. Sound Beach, Gimli MB
Guest Pastor Mark Westman
So for a second time this year the Outtatown program led us to a church for the Sunday service. Gimli is about an hour outside of my home city of Winnipeg; we’ve been staying at a place called Camp Arnes about twenty minutes from there. Bayview is a little church, fairly out of the way, and when we trouped in about 30 strong we just about doubled the congregation.
There was a worship band playing when we walked in and despite our overwhelming numbers we were greeted warmly. The congregation was mostly middle-aged with a smattering of young adults and youth, the building small with stacking chairs set out around a pulpit, with a stage off to the side for the band. When everyone was settled there were a few announcements and then the congregation stood and joined the band in singing three songs.
The offertory was then taken. After that the floor was opened up for prayer and praise requests and that actually took quite a while; lots of people in that little church know folks experiencing some pretty hard times. The story of a twenty year old with terminal cancer messed me up. The speaker prayed at length for everyone involved before introducing his son, Mark Westman, to do the sermon.
On first impression Mark didn’t seem to be much of a speaker. He had a nasal voice and tended to read from his notes too much rather than speak. But he infused a good amount of humour into his sermon, actually a really excellent one about concepts of unity within a church community. He talked about overcoming small differences and loving and caring for everyone.
The service ended with prayer, communion and a blessing. It ended up being a really long service, not necessarily a bad thing, just saying. Just as we’d been welcomed earlier people were very friendly to our large group after the service. I found it to be a really enjoyable service in a nice little Gimli church
http://bayviewchurch.com/
Bayview Evangelical Free Church, South Colonization Road at Colville Rd. Sound Beach, Gimli MB
Guest Pastor Mark Westman
So for a second time this year the Outtatown program led us to a church for the Sunday service. Gimli is about an hour outside of my home city of Winnipeg; we’ve been staying at a place called Camp Arnes about twenty minutes from there. Bayview is a little church, fairly out of the way, and when we trouped in about 30 strong we just about doubled the congregation.
There was a worship band playing when we walked in and despite our overwhelming numbers we were greeted warmly. The congregation was mostly middle-aged with a smattering of young adults and youth, the building small with stacking chairs set out around a pulpit, with a stage off to the side for the band. When everyone was settled there were a few announcements and then the congregation stood and joined the band in singing three songs.
The offertory was then taken. After that the floor was opened up for prayer and praise requests and that actually took quite a while; lots of people in that little church know folks experiencing some pretty hard times. The story of a twenty year old with terminal cancer messed me up. The speaker prayed at length for everyone involved before introducing his son, Mark Westman, to do the sermon.
On first impression Mark didn’t seem to be much of a speaker. He had a nasal voice and tended to read from his notes too much rather than speak. But he infused a good amount of humour into his sermon, actually a really excellent one about concepts of unity within a church community. He talked about overcoming small differences and loving and caring for everyone.
The service ended with prayer, communion and a blessing. It ended up being a really long service, not necessarily a bad thing, just saying. Just as we’d been welcomed earlier people were very friendly to our large group after the service. I found it to be a really enjoyable service in a nice little Gimli church
http://bayviewchurch.com/
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Winnipeg Centre Vineyard
Sept. 27, 2009 10:00 am
Winnipeg Centre Vineyard, 782 Main St. Winnipeg
Pastor Nathan Rieger
Greetings from Outtatown! As part of our program this week we were in Winnipeg for an urban plunge. We stayed at the Vineyard church and naturally attended their Sunday service. The Vineyard is located right on Main street in an old factory building, in the North End. The building is fantastic, literally a converted factory where the bottom floor is the church. The upper floors host "Flatlanders," a housing centre for people at risk of homelessness.
The congregation was very diverse. There were about 30 Outtatown people there, so we ballooned the numbers. Probably a bit over 100 people there. There were a lot of young people and children as well as middle-aged and older. Some of the people were obviously either homeless or very down on their luck. Others were people from more fortunate walks of life who had found a community they enjoyed. Everyone came ready to worship.
The service started with the volunteer worship band playing several songs. The words were flashed on the back wall with a projector. The entire time the band was playing, to the left of them (actually getting about equal stage space) the children (and a few adults) danced around waving flags and streamers. It was such a free, energetic expression of worship and I honestly have never seen anything like it.
After they'd prayed a man said a lengthy prayer before inviting Pastor Nathan Rieger to the microphone. A man I'd met before the service had immensely good things to say about Nathan so I'll admit my expectations were pretty high.
Nathan spent the first few minutes talking about how he'd really like a cup of coffee. Then he launched into his sermon in earnest and didn't notice the coffee placed before him until the end. He spoke at length about the story of Ruth and how the farm master took pity on her and was merciful. He also told a moving story about how a friend of his had risked his life to save a Sikh family from an Islamic lynch mob (and succeeded, with God's help) and talked about some of the people he works with in the North End. I found his sermon a bit disjointed, but his stories were powerful and he definitely made me think.
After he was done he prayed and the band played again, and the congregation took communion. Then we were invited to the front for prayer if we desired and the service ended.
I found the spirit in this church to be wonderful. It's a church born of inner-city mission and the people associated with it are doing no end of wonderful things for the people living here. I've had the opportunity to hear many of their stories over the past few days and they are just inspiring. I think that if God gives me the urge to serve in this city, the Vineyard will be high on my list of places to turn to for guidance.
http://winnipegcentrevineyard.com/
Winnipeg Centre Vineyard, 782 Main St. Winnipeg
Pastor Nathan Rieger
Greetings from Outtatown! As part of our program this week we were in Winnipeg for an urban plunge. We stayed at the Vineyard church and naturally attended their Sunday service. The Vineyard is located right on Main street in an old factory building, in the North End. The building is fantastic, literally a converted factory where the bottom floor is the church. The upper floors host "Flatlanders," a housing centre for people at risk of homelessness.
The congregation was very diverse. There were about 30 Outtatown people there, so we ballooned the numbers. Probably a bit over 100 people there. There were a lot of young people and children as well as middle-aged and older. Some of the people were obviously either homeless or very down on their luck. Others were people from more fortunate walks of life who had found a community they enjoyed. Everyone came ready to worship.
The service started with the volunteer worship band playing several songs. The words were flashed on the back wall with a projector. The entire time the band was playing, to the left of them (actually getting about equal stage space) the children (and a few adults) danced around waving flags and streamers. It was such a free, energetic expression of worship and I honestly have never seen anything like it.
After they'd prayed a man said a lengthy prayer before inviting Pastor Nathan Rieger to the microphone. A man I'd met before the service had immensely good things to say about Nathan so I'll admit my expectations were pretty high.
Nathan spent the first few minutes talking about how he'd really like a cup of coffee. Then he launched into his sermon in earnest and didn't notice the coffee placed before him until the end. He spoke at length about the story of Ruth and how the farm master took pity on her and was merciful. He also told a moving story about how a friend of his had risked his life to save a Sikh family from an Islamic lynch mob (and succeeded, with God's help) and talked about some of the people he works with in the North End. I found his sermon a bit disjointed, but his stories were powerful and he definitely made me think.
After he was done he prayed and the band played again, and the congregation took communion. Then we were invited to the front for prayer if we desired and the service ended.
I found the spirit in this church to be wonderful. It's a church born of inner-city mission and the people associated with it are doing no end of wonderful things for the people living here. I've had the opportunity to hear many of their stories over the past few days and they are just inspiring. I think that if God gives me the urge to serve in this city, the Vineyard will be high on my list of places to turn to for guidance.
http://winnipegcentrevineyard.com/
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Future of the Blog
So!
Obviously summer's taken me away from the blog. I just posted two new churches that I've been neglecting for months, which you'll find below. And I have come to the end of my year of visiting churches.
This coming year I'll be embarking on a program with Winnipeg's Canadian Mennonite University, entitled "Outtatown," which will take me from Winnipeg to Vancouver to South Africa and back. Needless to say, my updates will continue to be pretty spotty.
However, I must conclude that I haven't yet satisfied my need to experience new churches, and certainly haven't found a place to settle down. I fully intend to keep visiting new churches both when I'm back for the Christmas holidays and when I'm back for good in April. So naturally, the blog will stay alive.
I'm tempted to try to draw conclusions from this year, but my experiences were so myriad and often confusing that it's certainly difficult. I will say that beyond a shadow of a doubt, the vast majority of Winnipeg churches are having a terrible time attracting and keeping youth. I will also say that the vast majority of Winnipeg churches probably don't have stellar youth programs; I can't, however, comment on whether this is a cause or an effect. Probably both. Finally, I strongly believe that in order to make church accessible for youth and young adults, churches on the whole need to start mixing things up. When I don't even need a program to figure out exactly what's up next, there is a problem. Experimenting needs to be done; the status quo needs to be seriously messed with.
Thanks for reading,
-Brock
Obviously summer's taken me away from the blog. I just posted two new churches that I've been neglecting for months, which you'll find below. And I have come to the end of my year of visiting churches.
This coming year I'll be embarking on a program with Winnipeg's Canadian Mennonite University, entitled "Outtatown," which will take me from Winnipeg to Vancouver to South Africa and back. Needless to say, my updates will continue to be pretty spotty.
However, I must conclude that I haven't yet satisfied my need to experience new churches, and certainly haven't found a place to settle down. I fully intend to keep visiting new churches both when I'm back for the Christmas holidays and when I'm back for good in April. So naturally, the blog will stay alive.
I'm tempted to try to draw conclusions from this year, but my experiences were so myriad and often confusing that it's certainly difficult. I will say that beyond a shadow of a doubt, the vast majority of Winnipeg churches are having a terrible time attracting and keeping youth. I will also say that the vast majority of Winnipeg churches probably don't have stellar youth programs; I can't, however, comment on whether this is a cause or an effect. Probably both. Finally, I strongly believe that in order to make church accessible for youth and young adults, churches on the whole need to start mixing things up. When I don't even need a program to figure out exactly what's up next, there is a problem. Experimenting needs to be done; the status quo needs to be seriously messed with.
Thanks for reading,
-Brock
Oasis Community Church
June 28, 2009 10:30 am
Oasis Community Church, 505 Oakdale Dr. Winnipeg
Pastor Dustin Funk
I'd been meaning to get to Oasis for a while, intrigued because the website proudly advertises that they meet in the gymnasium of Charleswood School. I figured this would be a small gathering, a few dozen cash-strapped congregants who wanted to meet quietly together in the gym.
I was really, really wrong.
There were parking attendants. There were free information CDs for all first-time visitors. The gymnasium was transformed, rows of chairs facing a giant stage with two jumbotrons and a full light show. Without comparison, this church had the highest ratio of youth:everyone else that I've ever witnessed in a Winnipeg church.
Impressive, I thought. The service started off with music from the band, which was really solid. Both the male and female singers had a good set of pipes, and neither was trying to be particularly "pop-y," which is excellent. There was a baptism which was actually held outside and televised on the screens, preceded by taped confessions of faith from all those being baptised.
Pastor Funk then continued a series of sermons entitled "Reveal," in which he interprets the meaning behind scripture passages. Today he tackled The Lord's Prayer. I've personally heard a lot of interpretation of The Lord's Prayer, and I can't say Pastor Funk really said anything I haven't heard before, with a couple of exceptions. He noted that the final section, "for yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever, amen," was historically not actually taught by Jesus but added in later because someone didn't like to end the prayer with "and deliver us from evil." Interesting stuff.
Pastor Funk was a good, approachable speaker and I got the chance to shake his hand on the way out. The service ended with more music and a prayer. I would be at all surprised to find myself back at Oasis in the future, if for no other reason than to make some connections with the overwhelming number of youth.
http://www.oasiscc.ca/
Oasis Community Church, 505 Oakdale Dr. Winnipeg
Pastor Dustin Funk
I'd been meaning to get to Oasis for a while, intrigued because the website proudly advertises that they meet in the gymnasium of Charleswood School. I figured this would be a small gathering, a few dozen cash-strapped congregants who wanted to meet quietly together in the gym.
I was really, really wrong.
There were parking attendants. There were free information CDs for all first-time visitors. The gymnasium was transformed, rows of chairs facing a giant stage with two jumbotrons and a full light show. Without comparison, this church had the highest ratio of youth:everyone else that I've ever witnessed in a Winnipeg church.
Impressive, I thought. The service started off with music from the band, which was really solid. Both the male and female singers had a good set of pipes, and neither was trying to be particularly "pop-y," which is excellent. There was a baptism which was actually held outside and televised on the screens, preceded by taped confessions of faith from all those being baptised.
Pastor Funk then continued a series of sermons entitled "Reveal," in which he interprets the meaning behind scripture passages. Today he tackled The Lord's Prayer. I've personally heard a lot of interpretation of The Lord's Prayer, and I can't say Pastor Funk really said anything I haven't heard before, with a couple of exceptions. He noted that the final section, "for yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever, amen," was historically not actually taught by Jesus but added in later because someone didn't like to end the prayer with "and deliver us from evil." Interesting stuff.
Pastor Funk was a good, approachable speaker and I got the chance to shake his hand on the way out. The service ended with more music and a prayer. I would be at all surprised to find myself back at Oasis in the future, if for no other reason than to make some connections with the overwhelming number of youth.
http://www.oasiscc.ca/
Crescent Fort Rouge United Church
May 3, 2009 10:30 am
Crescent Fort Rouge United Church, 525 Wardlaw Ave. Winnipeg
Rev. Barb Janes, Rev. Irene Greenwood
I realize it seems like I'm going backwards in time. Truth is, I misplaced the order of service for this one and completely forgot to blog it. So excuse me if my details are sketchy, but it's been four months.
Anyhow, once again I felt the need for something familiar, and so I headed off to Crescent Fort Rouge. I've attended concerts in the building before, but never a service. It's a pretty classical stone church design, picture Westminster United but smaller, hidden away at the end of Wellington Crescent.
I was a bit surprised to see that the congregation, about 100 present or so, was actually fairly varied in terms of age. Naturally the grey-haired folk were out in force, but there were also some very young families and a handful of teens.
If I detailed the service I would feel very much like I was repeating myself; it followed closely the United Church format that I'm oh-so-familiar with. The service was highlighted with lots of music, and being the first Sunday of the month there was communion. I must admit I really don't remember what the sermon was about. I do remember being impressed, as it was a treatise on the works of God in the world today.
Crescent Fort Rouge United was a nice, safe (for me) experience.
http://www.crescentfortrouge.ca/
Crescent Fort Rouge United Church, 525 Wardlaw Ave. Winnipeg
Rev. Barb Janes, Rev. Irene Greenwood
I realize it seems like I'm going backwards in time. Truth is, I misplaced the order of service for this one and completely forgot to blog it. So excuse me if my details are sketchy, but it's been four months.
Anyhow, once again I felt the need for something familiar, and so I headed off to Crescent Fort Rouge. I've attended concerts in the building before, but never a service. It's a pretty classical stone church design, picture Westminster United but smaller, hidden away at the end of Wellington Crescent.
I was a bit surprised to see that the congregation, about 100 present or so, was actually fairly varied in terms of age. Naturally the grey-haired folk were out in force, but there were also some very young families and a handful of teens.
If I detailed the service I would feel very much like I was repeating myself; it followed closely the United Church format that I'm oh-so-familiar with. The service was highlighted with lots of music, and being the first Sunday of the month there was communion. I must admit I really don't remember what the sermon was about. I do remember being impressed, as it was a treatise on the works of God in the world today.
Crescent Fort Rouge United was a nice, safe (for me) experience.
http://www.crescentfortrouge.ca/
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Springs Church
May 17, 2009 11:30 am
Springs Church, 595 Lagimodiere Blvd. Winnipeg
Pastor Leon Fontaine
Can you say pop-Christianity? Yeah, so can I, and I'll admit that was on my mind as I headed into this one, probably one of the biggest churches in Winnipeg. You know a church is massive when it's got more parking attendants than some churches have congregants. You could land a 747 in the Springs Church parking lot. The building is huge with a massive sanctuary in the center, circled by a hallway that has classrooms for the Springs school, Sunday school rooms, lounges, a huge gift shop and a Starbucks knock-off. By this point the place is screaming at me: business! business! I was greeted by a couple of ushers as I pushed through a throng of people into the sanctuary.
I'm not even going to hazard a guess at how many people were in there. Upwards of a thousand. It was huge. The age demographic was extremely varied, though dominant were the twenty-somethings, believe it or not. I sure didn't. The sanctuary was a huge space with chairs set out in a semi-circle around the stage, which boasted not one but four jumbotron-style screens. Christian hard-rock was playing through the speakers.
The service was kicked off with four songs from the resident rock band, and they were pretty solid. Bass, guitar, drums, keyboards, four vocalists and a backing "choir" were all onstage unleashing hits from the Christian rock world, all highlighted by a light show. A light show.
Pastor Leo Fontaine took the stage and said a prayer in his booming voice with a hint of a southern accent, which had me all ready for some ridiculous, speaking-in-tongues sermon. My expectations weren't high.
And then he blew me away with one of the best sermons I've heard all year. It was thought provoking, relevant, and had just the right amount of "shit-disturbing" to satisfy my young adult brain. You know something's going down when the first words out of the pastor's mouth are "I don't like religion." The sermon was all about the difference between the Christian faith and Christian religion, the latter being the often-abused organization of the "Christian church" around Jesus' teachings, the former being living through Jesus' teachings themselves and not some forced religious doctrine.
Pastor Fontaine spoke about how Jesus didn't come to start a new religion, he came to challenge all religions. He talked about how we "jump through hoops" and try to do exactly the right things to please God because our religion tells us to, when through Jesus we are offered a "free gift" of salvation and really, we don't have to do anything but live through His teachings. He produced an interesting metaphor in the idea of a father and his children: why would children fall over themselves to please the father, bring him a drink after work and bring him the paper and hang up his clothes and on and on, if they are loved by default? Why should they feel they need to do all kinds of stuff to gain their father's approval when they have it already, simply on the merit of being his children? Pastor Fontaine also touched on something that interested me, and that was the formulization of the modern-day church service, how people get so set in their traditions and their organization that the message is lost.
I'll stop now. But on their website under "Media Player" you can access a video of the sermon, and I'd suggest you take a look. I'm trying very hard to think objectively about what he said, because the presentation was extremely powerful, to the point where I wonder if I was really blown away by the message or just brainwashed by the charismatic man. But in any event I've been given food for thought.
Though the sermon and the music were great, I'm not sure how I would feel belonging to a church with probably a couple thousand members. For me church needs to be about community. Of course with a larger community there's more opportunity for interaction, but is some intimacy not lost with such a massive congregation? There's no way that Pastor Fontaine knows the names of all his members, and how could he possibly make time for everyone? There's a level of implied buerocracy and commercialization to this church that makes me wonder, and obviously heavily influenced my first impressions.
Boy has this one got me confused, and thinking. About time.
http://www.springschurch.com/
Springs Church, 595 Lagimodiere Blvd. Winnipeg
Pastor Leon Fontaine
Can you say pop-Christianity? Yeah, so can I, and I'll admit that was on my mind as I headed into this one, probably one of the biggest churches in Winnipeg. You know a church is massive when it's got more parking attendants than some churches have congregants. You could land a 747 in the Springs Church parking lot. The building is huge with a massive sanctuary in the center, circled by a hallway that has classrooms for the Springs school, Sunday school rooms, lounges, a huge gift shop and a Starbucks knock-off. By this point the place is screaming at me: business! business! I was greeted by a couple of ushers as I pushed through a throng of people into the sanctuary.
I'm not even going to hazard a guess at how many people were in there. Upwards of a thousand. It was huge. The age demographic was extremely varied, though dominant were the twenty-somethings, believe it or not. I sure didn't. The sanctuary was a huge space with chairs set out in a semi-circle around the stage, which boasted not one but four jumbotron-style screens. Christian hard-rock was playing through the speakers.
The service was kicked off with four songs from the resident rock band, and they were pretty solid. Bass, guitar, drums, keyboards, four vocalists and a backing "choir" were all onstage unleashing hits from the Christian rock world, all highlighted by a light show. A light show.
Pastor Leo Fontaine took the stage and said a prayer in his booming voice with a hint of a southern accent, which had me all ready for some ridiculous, speaking-in-tongues sermon. My expectations weren't high.
And then he blew me away with one of the best sermons I've heard all year. It was thought provoking, relevant, and had just the right amount of "shit-disturbing" to satisfy my young adult brain. You know something's going down when the first words out of the pastor's mouth are "I don't like religion." The sermon was all about the difference between the Christian faith and Christian religion, the latter being the often-abused organization of the "Christian church" around Jesus' teachings, the former being living through Jesus' teachings themselves and not some forced religious doctrine.
Pastor Fontaine spoke about how Jesus didn't come to start a new religion, he came to challenge all religions. He talked about how we "jump through hoops" and try to do exactly the right things to please God because our religion tells us to, when through Jesus we are offered a "free gift" of salvation and really, we don't have to do anything but live through His teachings. He produced an interesting metaphor in the idea of a father and his children: why would children fall over themselves to please the father, bring him a drink after work and bring him the paper and hang up his clothes and on and on, if they are loved by default? Why should they feel they need to do all kinds of stuff to gain their father's approval when they have it already, simply on the merit of being his children? Pastor Fontaine also touched on something that interested me, and that was the formulization of the modern-day church service, how people get so set in their traditions and their organization that the message is lost.
I'll stop now. But on their website under "Media Player" you can access a video of the sermon, and I'd suggest you take a look. I'm trying very hard to think objectively about what he said, because the presentation was extremely powerful, to the point where I wonder if I was really blown away by the message or just brainwashed by the charismatic man. But in any event I've been given food for thought.
Though the sermon and the music were great, I'm not sure how I would feel belonging to a church with probably a couple thousand members. For me church needs to be about community. Of course with a larger community there's more opportunity for interaction, but is some intimacy not lost with such a massive congregation? There's no way that Pastor Fontaine knows the names of all his members, and how could he possibly make time for everyone? There's a level of implied buerocracy and commercialization to this church that makes me wonder, and obviously heavily influenced my first impressions.
Boy has this one got me confused, and thinking. About time.
http://www.springschurch.com/
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
St. James Presbyterian
April 26, 2009 11:00 am
St. James Presbyterian Church, 1476 Portage Ave. Winnipeg
Rev. Allan Farris
So I remembered to check which side of Portage this church was on, unlike last time. I was greeted warmly by several people walking in and though at a quarter-to the tiny sanctuary was almost empty, around 100 people had arrived by go time. For such a small congregation the youth were fairly well-represented, with lots of families in attendance as well.
The service followed a pretty normal format, opened with prayers, announcements and hymns. I noticed how full the pew shelves were: a hymnal, a bible and two psalm books were in every compartment and all were used during the service.
Reverend Farris was probably one of the youngest ministers I've encountered so far. His mannerisms seemed a bit awkward at the beginning and for a while I couldn't put a finger on what was different about him... eventually it hit me. He was smiling the whole time; genuinely enthusiastic and excited about what he was talking about. Making eye contact too. And his sermon was pretty neat; he used a hilarious story about his nephew's interpretation of Jesus as a popculture zombie to illustrate how we categorize things we don't understand. He went on to argue that Jesus and the resurrection defies categorization, and therefore as a people Christians should (and sometimes do) defy categorization as well. I think he got a bit hung up on this idea and had trouble drawing a conclusion, but it was an engaging and generally relevant sermon.
Offertory, a few more hymns, a neat children's "sermon" about the idea of children of God versus 'regular' children and the service was capped off. I would say I definitely got a positive experience out of this one.
http://www.stjamespresbyterianwinnipeg.com/
St. James Presbyterian Church, 1476 Portage Ave. Winnipeg
Rev. Allan Farris
So I remembered to check which side of Portage this church was on, unlike last time. I was greeted warmly by several people walking in and though at a quarter-to the tiny sanctuary was almost empty, around 100 people had arrived by go time. For such a small congregation the youth were fairly well-represented, with lots of families in attendance as well.
The service followed a pretty normal format, opened with prayers, announcements and hymns. I noticed how full the pew shelves were: a hymnal, a bible and two psalm books were in every compartment and all were used during the service.
Reverend Farris was probably one of the youngest ministers I've encountered so far. His mannerisms seemed a bit awkward at the beginning and for a while I couldn't put a finger on what was different about him... eventually it hit me. He was smiling the whole time; genuinely enthusiastic and excited about what he was talking about. Making eye contact too. And his sermon was pretty neat; he used a hilarious story about his nephew's interpretation of Jesus as a popculture zombie to illustrate how we categorize things we don't understand. He went on to argue that Jesus and the resurrection defies categorization, and therefore as a people Christians should (and sometimes do) defy categorization as well. I think he got a bit hung up on this idea and had trouble drawing a conclusion, but it was an engaging and generally relevant sermon.
Offertory, a few more hymns, a neat children's "sermon" about the idea of children of God versus 'regular' children and the service was capped off. I would say I definitely got a positive experience out of this one.
http://www.stjamespresbyterianwinnipeg.com/
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Bethel Mennonite Church, Take Two
April 12, 2009 10:45 am
Bethel Mennonite Church, 465 Stafford Ave. Winnipeg
Lisa Enn-Bogoya
As on Christmas, the family decided that Bethel would be a good choice for Easter. I must say I enjoyed my first visit and so I was happy to go back for the Easter service. The big, open church was again filled to capacity as the large (and really excellent) choir sang a processional.
The service was similar in content to the Christmas service, with scripture readings interspersed with prayers, offerings from the choir and lots and lots of hymns, always certain to make me happy. The children's story was a bare-bones version of the connection between the CS Lewis classic The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and the Easter story.
Lisa Enns-Bogoya was a really great speaker. She talked about her family's recent trip to Disneyland and contrasted the exhibitionist, so-called "Mickey Mouse theology" with the story of the ressurection. She talked well and got her message across, and I definitely enjoyed her sermon.
The service ended with an open invitation for congregation members to join the choir in singing the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah. It was an extremely powerful and uplifting way to end a really great service.
http://www.bethelmennonite.ca/
Bethel Mennonite Church, 465 Stafford Ave. Winnipeg
Lisa Enn-Bogoya
As on Christmas, the family decided that Bethel would be a good choice for Easter. I must say I enjoyed my first visit and so I was happy to go back for the Easter service. The big, open church was again filled to capacity as the large (and really excellent) choir sang a processional.
The service was similar in content to the Christmas service, with scripture readings interspersed with prayers, offerings from the choir and lots and lots of hymns, always certain to make me happy. The children's story was a bare-bones version of the connection between the CS Lewis classic The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and the Easter story.
Lisa Enns-Bogoya was a really great speaker. She talked about her family's recent trip to Disneyland and contrasted the exhibitionist, so-called "Mickey Mouse theology" with the story of the ressurection. She talked well and got her message across, and I definitely enjoyed her sermon.
The service ended with an open invitation for congregation members to join the choir in singing the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah. It was an extremely powerful and uplifting way to end a really great service.
http://www.bethelmennonite.ca/
Our Lady of Perpetual Help
April 10, 2009 3:00 pm.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Roman Catholic Parish, 4588 Roblin Blvd. Winnipeg
Pastor Barry Schoonbaert
I have to apologize for this entry a little. I didn't remember that there was no order of service handed out for this one, so details may be sketchy. I decided to go to a second service on Good Friday, this one at the Catholic OLPH, another church that I've been driving past for years. I was also interested in the Catholic take on the Good Friday service.
The place was packed. I'll never guess the right number, but there were probably 5 or 600 people there. It was as close to standing room only as churches get these days. Ushers were helping people find their spots but there was absolute silence; not a person was speaking. Inside the church itself was tastefully decorated, with a very low ceiling.
The service began with a processional up to the front, followed by some lengthy preemptive scripture passages alternating with solos done very well by soloists and a vocal quartet. Pastor Schoonbaert led a prayer and then the Passion was recited responsively, readers alternating with the congregation.
After the Passion and the prayers, also done responsively but in song, was an event I've never personally witnessed before. Dubbed the "Veneration of the Cross," it involves a large crucifix supported by the Pastor brought up to the front, after which the entire congregation lines up to pay respect to it whether by bowing, kneeling or in many cases kissing the depiction of Jesus' crucified body. I won't go into my issues with the "Veneration of the Cross" here, suffice it to say I didn't take part.
The Veneration took an extremely long time. Afterwards a solid communion was shared and after a blessing the service ended. There had been signs posted beforehand asking the congregation to exit in silence, and so they did. I found the service an extremely interesting experience, very reverent and in the somber mood of the day. I'd be interested to see what the turnout is at a regular OLPH service.
http://www.olphwinnipeg.ca/
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Roman Catholic Parish, 4588 Roblin Blvd. Winnipeg
Pastor Barry Schoonbaert
I have to apologize for this entry a little. I didn't remember that there was no order of service handed out for this one, so details may be sketchy. I decided to go to a second service on Good Friday, this one at the Catholic OLPH, another church that I've been driving past for years. I was also interested in the Catholic take on the Good Friday service.
The place was packed. I'll never guess the right number, but there were probably 5 or 600 people there. It was as close to standing room only as churches get these days. Ushers were helping people find their spots but there was absolute silence; not a person was speaking. Inside the church itself was tastefully decorated, with a very low ceiling.
The service began with a processional up to the front, followed by some lengthy preemptive scripture passages alternating with solos done very well by soloists and a vocal quartet. Pastor Schoonbaert led a prayer and then the Passion was recited responsively, readers alternating with the congregation.
After the Passion and the prayers, also done responsively but in song, was an event I've never personally witnessed before. Dubbed the "Veneration of the Cross," it involves a large crucifix supported by the Pastor brought up to the front, after which the entire congregation lines up to pay respect to it whether by bowing, kneeling or in many cases kissing the depiction of Jesus' crucified body. I won't go into my issues with the "Veneration of the Cross" here, suffice it to say I didn't take part.
The Veneration took an extremely long time. Afterwards a solid communion was shared and after a blessing the service ended. There had been signs posted beforehand asking the congregation to exit in silence, and so they did. I found the service an extremely interesting experience, very reverent and in the somber mood of the day. I'd be interested to see what the turnout is at a regular OLPH service.
http://www.olphwinnipeg.ca/
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Charleswood United Church
April 10, 2009 11:00 am
Charleswood United Church, 4820 Roblin Blvd. Winnipeg
Rev. Michael Wilson, Rev. Joanne Kury
So I'm a bit behind on the posting, and cause of exams these next few will be a bit haphazard. But I'm still going in order. I decided to take in two services on Good Friday, one am, one pm. This was my first one of the day.
Even though my background is in the United Church, I can't remember ever going to the actual Good Friday service. Probably too busy enjoying the day off school, I guess. Charleswood United recently had a slew of renovations done, so the church building is looking really good. They've got a nice big room for alternative worship and the sanctuary itself is decked out nicely too. When I walked in there were black coverings on the windows, creating an appropriately somber mood.
There were a few prayers and hymns before the Passion was played out, alternating scripture readings, sung responses and solos by members of the large choir, which were done very well. Some churches I've been to didn't have a congregation the size of Charleswood's choir and altogether I'd say there were about 2-300 people in the sanctuary.
Rev. Wilson was called upon to do the sermon. He was an extremely good speaker, talking about the story of the crucifixion as going beyond the traditional "good versus evil" scenario. He tried really hard to pull in pop culture references from Harry Potter to Lord of the Rings and though I'm sure they would appeal to some, the connections were a bit weak for me to find them effective. Altogether though it was a nicely done sermon.
The service ended with a few more hymns, the prayer and a final blessing before the congregation filed out. It was a very nice, peaceful, traditional service, though as I often do I found myself wishing for some deviation from the standard worship format. I'd be happy to go back and see what regular worship is like at Charleswood; from my observations it really seems to be a vibrant community.
http://www.charleswoodunited.org/
Charleswood United Church, 4820 Roblin Blvd. Winnipeg
Rev. Michael Wilson, Rev. Joanne Kury
So I'm a bit behind on the posting, and cause of exams these next few will be a bit haphazard. But I'm still going in order. I decided to take in two services on Good Friday, one am, one pm. This was my first one of the day.
Even though my background is in the United Church, I can't remember ever going to the actual Good Friday service. Probably too busy enjoying the day off school, I guess. Charleswood United recently had a slew of renovations done, so the church building is looking really good. They've got a nice big room for alternative worship and the sanctuary itself is decked out nicely too. When I walked in there were black coverings on the windows, creating an appropriately somber mood.
There were a few prayers and hymns before the Passion was played out, alternating scripture readings, sung responses and solos by members of the large choir, which were done very well. Some churches I've been to didn't have a congregation the size of Charleswood's choir and altogether I'd say there were about 2-300 people in the sanctuary.
Rev. Wilson was called upon to do the sermon. He was an extremely good speaker, talking about the story of the crucifixion as going beyond the traditional "good versus evil" scenario. He tried really hard to pull in pop culture references from Harry Potter to Lord of the Rings and though I'm sure they would appeal to some, the connections were a bit weak for me to find them effective. Altogether though it was a nicely done sermon.
The service ended with a few more hymns, the prayer and a final blessing before the congregation filed out. It was a very nice, peaceful, traditional service, though as I often do I found myself wishing for some deviation from the standard worship format. I'd be happy to go back and see what regular worship is like at Charleswood; from my observations it really seems to be a vibrant community.
http://www.charleswoodunited.org/
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Maranatha Evangelical Free Church
March 29, 2009 11:00 am
Maranatha Evangelical Free Church, 910 Sturgeon Rd. Winnipeg
Pastor Dave Friesen
This church was a perfect example of how first impressions aren't always indicative of what's in store. Maranatha is a small church, honestly looking a bit run-down from the outside. As I was walking in I had to pass through a gauntlet of older people huddled around the front doors smoking their lungs out. Naturally I was a tad apprehensive walking into the place.
I was greeted immediately by a greeter who had me fill out a visitor contact card. On the way to my seat I met the pastor and was invited for coffee. The sanctuary is a smaller room with rows of stacking chairs set out. A band was onstage getting set up and I was curious to see what this place was all about.
The service began with four numbers by the band. The band was obviously pieced together from volunteers in the church, and they performed well. The songs were mostly modified hymns and the words were shown on a big screen at the front. Through all these services I've been to I've decided that I really enjoy a live band, but there's just no good way to sing along. For singing along I'll take good old hymns any day.
Anyhow. There were announcements (including birthdays), prayers and an offertory. Apparently Maranatha is also actively looking to bolster it's congregational ranks, about 100 strong this morning, as Pastor Friesen mentioned in the announcements. The band played another song and then the sermon began.
I was intrigued by Pastor Friesen's sermon and though I found it a little ambiguous, it was an interesting meditation on Ephesians 6:10-18. The passage deals with a call to put on the "whole armor of God," and to "fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness." Pastor Friesen brought this passage into a modern context, using it as a call both to evangelism and to combatting Satan. I wasn't quite sure where some of his Satan-related arguments were coming from, though the concept of the Devil is an area where I'm personally a little foggy to begin with. Overall it was an empowering and inspiring sermon. Pastor Friesen is a really likeable, friendly and accesible speaker.
The service ended with a closing song. On my way out I must've been stopped by at least five people introducing themselves and wanting to chat. I was particularly excited that one of them was a youth: I've been at this since September and this was the first time that I was approached by a youth from the congregation I'm visiting. Very cool indeed. Seems like my first impressions were bunk, because this was one of the friendliest churches I've visited.
http://www.mefree.ca/
Maranatha Evangelical Free Church, 910 Sturgeon Rd. Winnipeg
Pastor Dave Friesen
This church was a perfect example of how first impressions aren't always indicative of what's in store. Maranatha is a small church, honestly looking a bit run-down from the outside. As I was walking in I had to pass through a gauntlet of older people huddled around the front doors smoking their lungs out. Naturally I was a tad apprehensive walking into the place.
I was greeted immediately by a greeter who had me fill out a visitor contact card. On the way to my seat I met the pastor and was invited for coffee. The sanctuary is a smaller room with rows of stacking chairs set out. A band was onstage getting set up and I was curious to see what this place was all about.
The service began with four numbers by the band. The band was obviously pieced together from volunteers in the church, and they performed well. The songs were mostly modified hymns and the words were shown on a big screen at the front. Through all these services I've been to I've decided that I really enjoy a live band, but there's just no good way to sing along. For singing along I'll take good old hymns any day.
Anyhow. There were announcements (including birthdays), prayers and an offertory. Apparently Maranatha is also actively looking to bolster it's congregational ranks, about 100 strong this morning, as Pastor Friesen mentioned in the announcements. The band played another song and then the sermon began.
I was intrigued by Pastor Friesen's sermon and though I found it a little ambiguous, it was an interesting meditation on Ephesians 6:10-18. The passage deals with a call to put on the "whole armor of God," and to "fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness." Pastor Friesen brought this passage into a modern context, using it as a call both to evangelism and to combatting Satan. I wasn't quite sure where some of his Satan-related arguments were coming from, though the concept of the Devil is an area where I'm personally a little foggy to begin with. Overall it was an empowering and inspiring sermon. Pastor Friesen is a really likeable, friendly and accesible speaker.
The service ended with a closing song. On my way out I must've been stopped by at least five people introducing themselves and wanting to chat. I was particularly excited that one of them was a youth: I've been at this since September and this was the first time that I was approached by a youth from the congregation I'm visiting. Very cool indeed. Seems like my first impressions were bunk, because this was one of the friendliest churches I've visited.
http://www.mefree.ca/
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Gloria Dei Lutheran
March 22, 2009 11:00 am
Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, 637 Buckingham Rd. Winnipeg
Pastor Lanny Knutson
Another pick out of the hat turned out to be a really nice service. Nestled in the heart of Charleswood, Gloria Dei is an older-looking building from the outside that turns out to look a bit like a high school gymnasium on the inside. It was the first church I can remember being wider than it is long.
I was welcomed warmly as I took my place among the 100-some congregation members. There were a lot of middle-aged and elderly people around, though the youth and kids were ably represented as well.
After a few announcements the service began. It followed standard format, opening prayer, opening song, reading etc. There was a lot of music in this service, which I loved, sung in parts, which I loved too. There was a lot of page-turning, as one book had all the readings and hymns in it. No wonder it had the fancy ribbon placemarkers. One of the scripture readers identified himself as a guest reader from a nearby United church, which I thought was pretty neat.
Probably my singular complaint about the service would be that the sound system sucked the big one. Not to mention the acoustics, like the decor, were like a concrete gymnasium. A workable problem, but as Pastor Knutson took the podium it became evident that this would be a hard sermon to follow. He had a habit of talking really fast, though at his age (and assumed level of experience) it seemed strange that this would be out of nerves.
The sermon revolved around a parallel idea to that of Rev. Cam Hamoline at the Center for Conscious Living a couple of weeks ago, this time in that we often go to great lengths to hide the things that we may be embarrassed or ashamed of when we should accept everything we are as people and put everything out on the table before God. At some point he started quoting John 3:16 and I got a bit confused, but Pastor Knutson ended strong with a call to understand ourselves so that we can better serve others.
After the requisite prayers and communion (accompanied by no less than four hymns) the service ended. Despite the crappy sound I found it to be a very warm, comforting service and I left feeling refreshed. I shook six hands on my way out, as all those who'd served up onstage lined up to chat. Neat.
http://www.mnosynod.org/gloriadei.html
Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, 637 Buckingham Rd. Winnipeg
Pastor Lanny Knutson
Another pick out of the hat turned out to be a really nice service. Nestled in the heart of Charleswood, Gloria Dei is an older-looking building from the outside that turns out to look a bit like a high school gymnasium on the inside. It was the first church I can remember being wider than it is long.
I was welcomed warmly as I took my place among the 100-some congregation members. There were a lot of middle-aged and elderly people around, though the youth and kids were ably represented as well.
After a few announcements the service began. It followed standard format, opening prayer, opening song, reading etc. There was a lot of music in this service, which I loved, sung in parts, which I loved too. There was a lot of page-turning, as one book had all the readings and hymns in it. No wonder it had the fancy ribbon placemarkers. One of the scripture readers identified himself as a guest reader from a nearby United church, which I thought was pretty neat.
Probably my singular complaint about the service would be that the sound system sucked the big one. Not to mention the acoustics, like the decor, were like a concrete gymnasium. A workable problem, but as Pastor Knutson took the podium it became evident that this would be a hard sermon to follow. He had a habit of talking really fast, though at his age (and assumed level of experience) it seemed strange that this would be out of nerves.
The sermon revolved around a parallel idea to that of Rev. Cam Hamoline at the Center for Conscious Living a couple of weeks ago, this time in that we often go to great lengths to hide the things that we may be embarrassed or ashamed of when we should accept everything we are as people and put everything out on the table before God. At some point he started quoting John 3:16 and I got a bit confused, but Pastor Knutson ended strong with a call to understand ourselves so that we can better serve others.
After the requisite prayers and communion (accompanied by no less than four hymns) the service ended. Despite the crappy sound I found it to be a very warm, comforting service and I left feeling refreshed. I shook six hands on my way out, as all those who'd served up onstage lined up to chat. Neat.
http://www.mnosynod.org/gloriadei.html
Monday, March 16, 2009
Portage Avenue Church
March 15, 2009 10:00 am
Portage Avenue Mennonite Brethren Church, 1420 Portage Ave. Winnipeg
Travis Reimer
And now, from the other side of Portage...
Whenever my high school went on its ski trip, the Beaver buses would meet us in the parking lot of Portage Avenue Mennonite Brethren Church. I decided after six years of invading their parking space, I should finally attend one of their services.
The building is really nice, quite modern yet tasteful. As I walked in I was greeted almost immediately and from the front doors to the coat rack I was wished a "good morning" at least a half dozen times. As I sat down the woman to my left, the man to my right and the woman sitting in front of me all welcomed me to the church. Simple things to do, but immediately I had a warm, comfortable vibe.
The music for the service was offered by a male chorus of about fifteen men who all sang quite well. To my delight most of the congregational hymns were sung in four-part harmony, as opposed to the usual droning melody, all led by the choir. Like the rest of the congregation of about 150 people, they were just about all in the "snow on the rooftop" age demographic. There were a few families scattered here and there, but you know a congregation is aging when the minister in his opening announcements encourages the people to be "adventurous" and sit somewhere new for a change.
Travis Reimer was a delightful speaker and though he seemed like the type to shy from technology, he used the large screen at the front to emphasize his points. His sermon was a bit confusing at first, mainly because I didn't really understand where his argument was coming from or where it was going. He divided churches into two groups, one serving as a "commisary," the other as a "caravan." The idea of the commisary church was applied (through implication, never directly) to the Catholic church, and was defined as an establishment-oriented system of thinking, more of an institution. On the other hand, he argued that his church as a "caravan" is a community, eschatologically oriented and with a focus on leaning on one another for a common goal. These were all interesting ideas, but by the end I was still confused as to where they were coming from.
There were also some references throughout the service to attracting new members: apparently Portage Avenue Church is aware that its age demographic isn't exactly sustainable, and are working hard to draw people. I must say with a delightful service like this I can't imagine it will be very hard to do.
http://www.pachurch.ca/
Portage Avenue Mennonite Brethren Church, 1420 Portage Ave. Winnipeg
Travis Reimer
And now, from the other side of Portage...
Whenever my high school went on its ski trip, the Beaver buses would meet us in the parking lot of Portage Avenue Mennonite Brethren Church. I decided after six years of invading their parking space, I should finally attend one of their services.
The building is really nice, quite modern yet tasteful. As I walked in I was greeted almost immediately and from the front doors to the coat rack I was wished a "good morning" at least a half dozen times. As I sat down the woman to my left, the man to my right and the woman sitting in front of me all welcomed me to the church. Simple things to do, but immediately I had a warm, comfortable vibe.
The music for the service was offered by a male chorus of about fifteen men who all sang quite well. To my delight most of the congregational hymns were sung in four-part harmony, as opposed to the usual droning melody, all led by the choir. Like the rest of the congregation of about 150 people, they were just about all in the "snow on the rooftop" age demographic. There were a few families scattered here and there, but you know a congregation is aging when the minister in his opening announcements encourages the people to be "adventurous" and sit somewhere new for a change.
Travis Reimer was a delightful speaker and though he seemed like the type to shy from technology, he used the large screen at the front to emphasize his points. His sermon was a bit confusing at first, mainly because I didn't really understand where his argument was coming from or where it was going. He divided churches into two groups, one serving as a "commisary," the other as a "caravan." The idea of the commisary church was applied (through implication, never directly) to the Catholic church, and was defined as an establishment-oriented system of thinking, more of an institution. On the other hand, he argued that his church as a "caravan" is a community, eschatologically oriented and with a focus on leaning on one another for a common goal. These were all interesting ideas, but by the end I was still confused as to where they were coming from.
There were also some references throughout the service to attracting new members: apparently Portage Avenue Church is aware that its age demographic isn't exactly sustainable, and are working hard to draw people. I must say with a delightful service like this I can't imagine it will be very hard to do.
http://www.pachurch.ca/
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Centre for Conscious Living
March 1, 2009 11:00 am
Centre for Conscious Living, 612 Valour Road Winnipeg
Rev. Cam J. Hamoline
This is a pretty interesting one. I was looking for a Presbyterian church just off Portage and got turned around navigating side streets. When I saw a traditional-looking church building I parked and went inside without a second thought. Upon sitting down and looking at the bulletin, I realized that I wasn't in a Presbyterian church.
Billed as an "Inclusive Spiritual Centre," I wasn't sure what to expect as this service got underway. It was in a small traditional old building with stained glass windows depicting New Testament scenes. Middle-aged was the dominant demographic with a few older folks and a healthy proportion of young kids. I was the only youth I could see. The small sanctuary was pretty full, probably about 100 people.
The front of the church was set up for a band and indeed, the service started with music. And I've gotta comment on it. This was unlike any church band I've ever heard. They avoided stereotyped, overdone and overly "uplifting" songs in favour of songs with music and a general themed message. The musicians were fantastic (there was a bass solo and I nearly cheered) and the music was great.
Onwards. I wasn't sure (and still am not) exactly what the Centre for Conscious Living is all about. The opening "Affirmative Prayer Treatment" recognized that there existed a higher being called "God," though She was never mentioned again through the service. Their website is an interesting read, they recognize Jesus in some capacity but as an example of the spiritual beings we all are, rather than the exception. They consider the notion of "Bible" to include ALL religious texts, which is an intriguing (and I think fantastic) notion.
Rev. Hamoline seems like a boring speaker, a bit monotonous and prone to over-simplifying. But he ended up getting his message across very well. He spoke primarily about the value of emotion. He noted that all emotion is positive, anger and sorrow included, because it brings us a message about ourselves. He encouraged introspection with an interesting analogy, which I'm going to paraphrase quickly:
"Once a woman was looking out her window and saw her neighbour outside in the street, bent over and searching intently for something. The woman went outside and asked, "what are you looking for?" Her neighbour replied, "I've lost my ring." The woman asked, "where did you lose it?" Her neighbour replied, "I lost it in the house, but I'm looking out here because the light is much better."
Often when we look inwards we find ourselves grasping around in the dark and choose instead to look uselessly outward, because the "light is better." Food for thought.
The service ended with more music and as usual I had to run so I didn't really get the chance to socialize. I'm very interested to see what this church or centre is all about, and i hope to return.
http://www.livingconsciously.ca/
Centre for Conscious Living, 612 Valour Road Winnipeg
Rev. Cam J. Hamoline
This is a pretty interesting one. I was looking for a Presbyterian church just off Portage and got turned around navigating side streets. When I saw a traditional-looking church building I parked and went inside without a second thought. Upon sitting down and looking at the bulletin, I realized that I wasn't in a Presbyterian church.
Billed as an "Inclusive Spiritual Centre," I wasn't sure what to expect as this service got underway. It was in a small traditional old building with stained glass windows depicting New Testament scenes. Middle-aged was the dominant demographic with a few older folks and a healthy proportion of young kids. I was the only youth I could see. The small sanctuary was pretty full, probably about 100 people.
The front of the church was set up for a band and indeed, the service started with music. And I've gotta comment on it. This was unlike any church band I've ever heard. They avoided stereotyped, overdone and overly "uplifting" songs in favour of songs with music and a general themed message. The musicians were fantastic (there was a bass solo and I nearly cheered) and the music was great.
Onwards. I wasn't sure (and still am not) exactly what the Centre for Conscious Living is all about. The opening "Affirmative Prayer Treatment" recognized that there existed a higher being called "God," though She was never mentioned again through the service. Their website is an interesting read, they recognize Jesus in some capacity but as an example of the spiritual beings we all are, rather than the exception. They consider the notion of "Bible" to include ALL religious texts, which is an intriguing (and I think fantastic) notion.
Rev. Hamoline seems like a boring speaker, a bit monotonous and prone to over-simplifying. But he ended up getting his message across very well. He spoke primarily about the value of emotion. He noted that all emotion is positive, anger and sorrow included, because it brings us a message about ourselves. He encouraged introspection with an interesting analogy, which I'm going to paraphrase quickly:
"Once a woman was looking out her window and saw her neighbour outside in the street, bent over and searching intently for something. The woman went outside and asked, "what are you looking for?" Her neighbour replied, "I've lost my ring." The woman asked, "where did you lose it?" Her neighbour replied, "I lost it in the house, but I'm looking out here because the light is much better."
Often when we look inwards we find ourselves grasping around in the dark and choose instead to look uselessly outward, because the "light is better." Food for thought.
The service ended with more music and as usual I had to run so I didn't really get the chance to socialize. I'm very interested to see what this church or centre is all about, and i hope to return.
http://www.livingconsciously.ca/
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