BCY News

James Ronald (Ron) King Passes - Go to 'In Memoriam'

Alberta News

Albert Edward Milton Passes - Go to 'In Memoriam'
Wilfred Highfield Passes - Go to 'In Memoriam'
AB & NWT Summer Newsletter - Go to Alberta Journey

Heartland News

Flooding In Emerson - Go to Heartland News

Key Information

World Refugee Day

Canadian Baptists celebrate World Refugee Day on either June 20th or June 27th. We have been active for more than 30 years in helping refugees settle in Canada but the needs are greater than ever before – the number of forcibly displaced people has doubled to 43.3 million between 2006 and 2009.

Links:

• World Refugee Day - link
• Canadian Baptist Refugee Work Honoured - link
• World Refugee Day Church Bulletin Insert - link

CBWC Stories

This summer we are starting up a series to introduce you to some authors that call themselves Canadian Baptists. This week we introduce you to: Rob Des Cotes

Our first author is Rob Des Cotes. Rob is a spiritual director and pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in Vancouver. He teaches Contemplative Traditions at Trinity Western University, as well as courses on spirituality and the arts at Carey Theological College and Columbia Bible College.

Rob also directs Imago Dei, a network of faith communities that encourages the practice of prayer and a transforming relationship with God www.imagodeicommunity.ca

Rob at the Banff Pastors and Spouses Conference 2010

This year Rob is holding a workshop at Banff in November. The workshop is titled "What’s so Biblical about Contemplative Prayer(and what might not be)?"

We look forward to hearing from him this fall!

To read descriptions on the two books that Rob has written, please click here

CBWC News

On June 25, Canadian Baptists of Western Canada became part of a coalition of 23 churches to sign a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper urging him to take action towards global nuclear disarmament to ensure we live in a world without nuclear weapons. This marks the first time the churches belonging to the Canadian Council of Churches have acted as a collective body on the nuclear disarmament issue.

The letter was signed by our Executive Minister Jeremy Bell, with the approval of the CBWC Board of Directors. It was brought forward to the Board by the CBWC’s new Justice and Mercy Task Force. It was also signed by Tim McCoy, Executive Minister of our sister denomination, the Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec, as well as by representatives of the Reformed, Mennonite, Anglican, Lutheran and other churches.

Advocacy

To read more the letter sent to Stephen Harper, click here
To read the cover letter, click here

Canadian Baptists have signed this letter because we are committed to the shalom of God and believe that we must act to usher in God’s kingdom of mercy and justice through many methods. Not only are we called to personal, practical action to usher in God’s kingdom of mercy and justice, we are called to address the root and systemic causes of injustice and to take collective action collective action to right systemic injustices as well as personal and practical action that provides immediate relief.

BCY News

About 255 pastors, spouses and lay members of Canadian Baptist churches came together on the July long weekend for The 2010 Gathering, a very full weekend of fellowship, workshops, worship and restoration.

For two days, 12 candidates submitted themselves to the questions of the Ordination Examining Council about their faith journey and their discernment of ministry. Presented to the OEC by their congregations, all 12 candidates passed through this rigorous process and were accepted for ordination.

“I truly believe this is the strongest group of candidates who have ever come before the OEC,” said Jeremy Bell, Executive Minister. We are pleased to welcome 12 newly ordained pastors and recognize the prior ordination of 3 pastors.

We also welcomed 16 new churches to the Canadian Baptist Family – an amazing 10% expansion in the number of churches affiliated with the CBWC. They will join us officially at our next Assembly.

Click the link to see the full list of churches introduced as well as the 12 candidates ordained