The Activities We are Involved In
You can visit the website of numerous activites by clicking on their titles if they are hyperlinked (underlined blue font).
Love Richmond
This is a cross Canada church effort whereby congregations perform services for the community as a gesture of love and goodwill to those around them. We have done things like free car washes, giving out bottles of water on street corners on Hot Spring days and cleaning up the streets of our neighborhood. This ends with a BBQ at the church to which our neighbors and those whom we have served during the day are invited.The Fall Welcome Fair
Together with our church's Fellowship Committee and our Chinese congregation we host a barbecue lunch with fabulous salads and desserts and salads, to showcase all of our involvement in missions and service, and welcome the neighborhood to join us for the lunch and to see this.Minute for Missions
Ongoing through the year, at least once every month, this feature in the Sunday morning worship hour highlights missions and service. Usually this entails a report from a member or a group of missions or service work that they have been engaged in, or relate to.English as a Second Language
This continues to be one of our largest local outreach efforts, begun in 2004. It was founded by then newcomers to the church, Paul and Mona Chin. Currently headed up by Loretta Unger representing the teachers and Lottie Epp in administration, lessons are provided at a nominal fee for those who wish to further their English language skills. Relationships between students and the congregation are encouraged and facilitated by coffee breaks during which time members of the congregation to serve and meet with the students, as well as regular celebratory potlucks, featuring the foods of all the nationalities participating, especially around graduations from each class.Simple English Bible Studies
Anne and Lorne Brandt continue to conduct this Sunday morning session after the worship service, mainly for ESL students and newcomers.Quilters Group
The ladies meet for support and fellowship around quilting under the direction of Annie Siemens as they prepare warm coverings for MCC.Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS)
Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) representatives receive MDS related materials and helps to seek out and recruit needed volunteers when needs arise around the continent. Karl and Rhonda Hildebrand represent us here. Behind the Hammer is their newsletter with interesting stories about the work MDS does in places like cleaning up after the famous Katrina hurricane around New Orleans.Mennonite Central Committee (MCC)
We also have an MCC representative to receive regular mailings from MCC, distribute materials and alert the congregation to needs, meetings, programs and resources and receive mailings regarding personnel and highlight these in the congregation. Currently member Len Block continues to volunteer at administrative levels nationally and internationally. He is currently vice chair of the MCC BC Board and Executive Board member for MCC International. We are kept further informed of MCC's many programs through bulletin inserts and mailbox flyers as well as through its own paper, A Common Place. See also MCC's websites: provincially at http://bc.mcc.org/, nationally at http://canada.mcc.org/ and international at http://www.mcc.org/.The Vancouver MCC Thrift Shop
Bill and the Mildred Schroeder and Jake and Lilly Braun head up a group of our members, especially the older ones, who help with the many duties involved with running this thrift shop/secondhand store, the proceeds of which go to support MCC projects around the world.MCC Refugee Food Bank
At Sherbrooke Mennonite Church in Vancouver, we continue to have representation on this by the person of Shirley Hsu.Ten Thousand Villages
Betty Bartel, Bertha Wiens and Regina Bartel volunteer in this Vancouver gift shop which offers wares created by Third World artisans at fair trade prices.Mennonite Economic Development Association (MEDA)
Lorna Goerz serves with MEDA as our representative. Surf through the website or pick up a copy of their newsletter, The Marketplace. Its stories are just as interesting as those in the MCC and MDS newsletters.Communitas
Ken Kehler continues to be active in this agency, which provides residential care for many needy in our society.Mennonite Seniors Housing Society
board members from Peace are Lorna Goertz and Janet Enns. Peace Church also has services for the residents of Pinegrove periodically, coordinated by John Sawatzky.Mennonite Church British Columbia/Canada
As I mentioned last year, Missions and Service has one of the largest portions of our overall expenditures because it is through the giving to the Mennonite Church British Columbia (MC-BC) that we support missions and church planting in BC and it is through Mennonite Church Canada (MC-C) that we support missions and church planting internationally. For more on the work of our conferences you can also access their websites: MC-BC and MC-C. Our own Gerd Bartel, of course, is the current MC B.C. moderator. Also at MC-BC, John Sawatsky is a Pastoral Care Rep. Our pastor, Tim, is serving as chair of the Faith and Life Committee of MCBC.Richmond Food Bank
Vic Ewert and Fred Bartel as coordinators, along with as many as 20 other volunteers including John Cantello, and Michael Wu, continue to keep our church's branch of this going every Tuesday morning.UrbanPromise
Both Diedre Sportak and Cheryl Enns have been commissioned by the church for their ministry with this organization that reaches out to underprivileged children in Vancouver. There have been others of our church who have helped over time as well.The Vancouver Airport Chaplaincy
This mission continues to benefit from the support of Peace through Shirley Hsu and John Sawatsky as volunteers on call.Freshwaves
Under the leadership of Rhonda and Karl Hildebrandt, a group of volunteers make soup and sandwiches every Monday afternoon. In the evening, they load up the old blue bus with food and clothing, and head to downtown Vancouver to provide a hot meal for those who are homeless and vulnerable. Other foodstuffs and clothing too is handed out.