Messages

How many of us find ourselves constantly bombarded with news and social media posts that feel disproportionately tilted towards bad news? Pay too much attention and you can be overwhelmed by sad reports, scary predictions, and depressing statistics which shapes how we understand the world and our lives. We need a different pair of lenses to look through to process reality. What if, instead, we cou...

Conventional wisdom says that "You can't teach old dogs new tricks," that once we've developed the ruts of our lives, those ruts pretty well dictate who we are and what we become. But what if we could break out of those ruts? At a moment where we are rethinking even our most basic routines—when to buy groceries and how to engage in recreation—what if we chose to rethink our spiritual routines as w...

An early Sunday morning that changed the course of human history; that is what we celebrate at Easter. There's no weekend more significant in the life of the church, so we invite you to join us for a celebration of the resurrection of Christ and our new life in Him. We'll sing songs of hope, hear stories of faith and transformation, celebrate new decisions through baptism, and be challenged to con...

Good Friday is an opportunity to reflect, contemplate, and embrace the significance of Jesus's death on the cross. It's a chance to appreciate his loving sacrifice through song, scripture and the Lord's Supper. It is an invitation to come and belong, a reminder that Christ is no stranger to suffering and a celebration of gift of new life that flows from His death. We invite you to join us on Good...

The Novel Coronavirus is literally sweeping through every area of life. It is spreading all across the globe, and touching every area of life. It is affecting us physically, socially, emotionally, and relationally. And, for many if not all, it is affecting us financially. Whether it is the extra expenses incurred to manage our daily lives, the loss of work because of social distancing or self-isol...

Many people don’t like surprises. Most people struggle with change. Even those who enjoy change, only enjoy it when they are fully in control of every aspect of it, when it is something they’ve chosen for themselves. NOBODY likes the kinds of changes that have been thrust on us over the last couple weeks: broad, sweeping, terrifying changes on an unknown timeline, disrupting our lives in unpredict...

The world is a different place than it was even a week ago, with rules and protocols changing sometimes by the hour.. The Coronavirus (or COVID-19) has transformed the social and psychological landscape of our culture, changing our patterns of behaviour, reorganizing our priorities, and introducing new phrases into our collective vocabulary: social distancing, flattening the curve, and community s...

What comes to mind when you think of a typical Sunday morning church service? Perhaps you think of it like a classroom where you learn about God, or a concert where you sing along with your favourite songs, or maybe even a pep rally where you get inspired to change the world. But what if the weekly church gathering was meant to be more like a gymnasium - a place to work out your faith, exercise yo...

From time to time, every family needs to come together for a family meeting to clear the air, address conflict , and re-establish family rules and values. As Paul concludes this section of his letter to the Galatian church, he calls a time out and gets personal with them. And taking our lead from him, we are going to do the same. Join us this Sunday for a family meeting as we hear God's heart for...

It's said that you can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family. But that's not entirely true, at least, not when it comes to adoption. In adoption, people who may not otherwise get to experience family are given the gift of being chosen. And it comes with the promise of being a "forever family" together. What does it mean to be ​adopted into our spiritual family? ​What difference does it...

Some family members are "born into" more privilege than others. Parents shouldn't, but often act as though they have favourites. Firstborns are often entrusted with the most leadership. The babies are often showered with the most privilege. (The middles always get forgotten. Always.) Yet, somehow they are all supposed to be family, especially within the family of faith. So how do we do that? How d...

Every good family has a set of rules, written or unwritten, that structure family life and embody the family values. As the kids grow into adults, they may leave the specific rules behind but their goal is to still model the family values in their own way. Does that happen in our spiritual family as well? Is there a difference between following the "family rules" in the Bible and following Jesus?...

If you know the parents, it can often be pretty easy to see the family resemblance in the lives of the children. As the saying goes, "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." But we all know people who don't fit the family mold, who don't look like the others or follow the family rules. Sometimes its hard to imagine that they really are from the same family. When it comes to our spiritual family...

Hopefully all of us, regardless of our experiences with our biological families, had people who were "family" to us. Think about your best times with the people you called "family," those "laugh until you cry" moments, the best family times, the memories you wouldn't trade for anything. How did those moments happen? What made them so special? Those same kinds of moments happen with our spiritual f...

Getting by on your own seems fine when you're getting by, but when life throws a curve ball we all need someone who has our back. What if we related in such a way that there would be people who are there for us when we need it most, and that would call us when they needed it as well? What would it look like to love together -- toward one another, with one another, and beyond one another -- for a w...

Weather, sports, and gossip: they're the conversations that consume us. We may long for friendships and confidants to process the deeper things, but most of us find ourselves skimming across the surface. But what if we could invest in relationships where no question is off limits? What if we could explore life and faith in community, learning to put it into practice? What if we had people who care...

Fast food: it's the epitome of a culture with no time to eat. And whether you hit the drive thru or not, most of us live at a pace with no room for "slow cooking." But relationships need time and space -- like a home-cooked meal -- to mix, mingle, and be savoured. So how can we overcome busyness that blocks relationship? What can we do differently to make space for friendship? How might learning t...

Fast food: it's the epitome of a culture with no time to eat. And whether you hit the drive thru or not, most of us live at a pace with no room for "slow cooking." But relationships need time and space -- like a home-cooked meal -- to mix, mingle, and be savoured. So how can we overcome busyness that blocks relationship? What can we do differently to make space for friendship? How might learning t...

Fast food: it's the epitome of a culture with no time to eat. And whether you hit the drive thru or not, most of us live at a pace with no room for "slow cooking." But relationships need time and space -- like a home-cooked meal -- to mix, mingle, and be savoured. So how can we overcome busyness that blocks relationship? What can we do differently to make space for friendship? How might learning t...

Some might say we live in the age of connection, with advancements in technology and vast social opportunities making it easier than ever to connect. But whether we're scrolling through Instagram or standing in a crowd, the data tells us that individualism and isolation are at an all-time high. Is this how things are meant to be? Are we destined to just fend for ourselves? What would it look like...

As 2019 draws to a close, what can we learn from the year that was? How has God grown us, challenged us, and inspired us to experience more of the life we were created for? Are we in the same place we were a year ago, or have we been shaped into a greater, more loving and grace-based reflection of Jesus? And what will it take to step into 2020 with a clearer vision for God's heart?

Christmas is a magical time, and everything we see adds to the excitement: Christmas lights up and down the streets, trees and decorations filling people's homes, parties filled with the loving faces of family and friends. For kids, from the colourful paper wrapping the gift to the stocking hiding Christmas treats, from the little doors of an Advent calendar to seeing Santa at the mall, there is n...

We are called to be ambassadors of hope: to right wrongs, heal hearts, bring peace to chaos, love to the excluded and mercy to the broken. But what does it really take to make the most of our one and only lives? How far can we really take this journey of living on the redemptive side of history? As a community that has become convinced that the best of life is only experienced when we live beyond...

It's easy to feel paralyzed by the problems of our world, helpless to make any real difference or affect any lasting change. It's one thing to become aware of  devastating oppression and injustice all around us. But once your heart has been gripped by reality of pain and the urgent need for change, is there anything we can actually do about it? How can big problems like these get solved by individ...

It's a classic story. "I never really gave it much thought, until it happened to someone I love." We can so easily walk through life, surrounded by some of the greatest tragedies and injustices, and somehow remain blissfully unaware. Cancer, poverty, sexual violence, bullying... these are all just hypothetical concepts until they come knocking on our door. But how can we be people who don't wait f...