Pilgrim Church

In Canada, our government has been hit by several scandals, is shoveling money out the door (both in relief and to secure favour), and this week prorogued Parliament to pause investigations and reset the agenda. In the US, the regular presidential and lower elections are happening this fall. Policies of states affect our lives. What does the Bible and Christian teaching have to say about governmen...

"Just Tell Me What To Do!" Rules can be important, but what is more important is understanding what lies behind the rules. When that happens we know when rules are to followed or discarded. We can find comfort in easy rules, but maturity calls us into deeper thinking and living. Beyond rules religion to Jesus-shaped living. Do not, do not, do not - is not the way to happiness.

“How do we get into this place?!” Ever struggle to find the entrance to a building or home? Paul encourages the Colossians to remember the doorway into a new way of life. They don’t make the doorway, but crossing over the threshold puts them into a new reality. The old way of living is trying to sell hope based on the old ways, but it’s fake news. Join us as we explore the meaning of baptism and w...

Jesus vs. Everybody? Paul tells the early believers, “Jesus is alive” and they can hang their whole life on it. This changes ALL power dynamics for EVERYBODY everywhere. Even today powers try to censor this message because it challenges ultimate authority. You can get caught up in fake news about Jesus because powers that want to control you don’t give up easily.

You've said YES to too much. The demands of work or family (or both) have squeezed out your time for being human. You’re glued to your phone, your schedule and to-do lists are packed. You constantly multitask but feel you are doing few things well. There are seasons when we all get lost in the whirlwinds of life and spiritually. We barely have the strength to see our own hand in front of our face-...

We are told how important “being” is but is there also value in “doing”? Summer is the season for vacations but we are exploring what our faith has to say about the balance of work and rest. This Sunday and next, we will look into these two aspects (of many) structuring our lives.

David is the pastor of Vancouver Zion Baptist Church an NAB Korean language church that meets on Sunday afternoons. They formed out of Emmanuel Baptist Church. David is also a secondary school teacher and lives with his wife and two daughters in Vancouver.

“DO YOU COMMIT SIN? Enter the church and repent of your sin; for here is the Physician, not the judge; here one is not investigated, one receives remission of sins.” —St. John Chrysostom. Join us to hear from Andrés Pérez González as he shares with us from the gospel of John.

What if, while being rooted and grounded, the trees could walk? To flourish as humans we need both adventure and stability. Covid-19 has, for many, provided a kind of stability and adventure but not the kind we generally desire. This Sunday we explore stability that "travels" well and enables us to risk well.

A special message shake up stepping outside the Colossians series for Father's Day.

The New Testament calls us into community with others. This community is sustained by something other than common interests, a deep need we are awakened to that challenges us to grow as no other self-selected community can. In the story for this Sunday we see someone who wanted to crush the church, turned into someone who will suffer and even die to see this alternative community grow. You were ma...

Pastor Shel spoke on Pentecost Sunday that "Breath" is one aspect of God's Spirit in all people.  We spoke of the murder of George Floyd and how racism seeks to choke or diminish that God-given breath and image of God in others. It fears the loss of control. Being committed to everyone’s flourishing as followers of Jesus, we asked what we must offer and do in response to racism. We build on t...

Pentecost - "I CAN'T BREATHE" - The Choking Spirit vs The Breath of God Isaiah 42:4-5,  Romans 8:26, Acts 2:1-4(5-21) The prophetic Spirit names injustice and has the power to challenge and change oppressors. From the Minneapolis cop to the Hong Kong police, governments that choke the spirit of men and women (and try to choke the Spirit in the church of the margins) are all rooted in an ancie...

Do You Want to Be Well? Deconstruction can be an endless loop. But what if we develop a questioning life, a wrestling faith that allows us to be confident enough to act on the one thing that is indestructible, love as revealed in Jesus? Join us as we explore how deconstruction and restoration work in tension and are embraced in the Jesus-way.

Colossians 1:21-23 NT wright refers to this passage as a big "You are here!" sign. Here is where we find ourselves in relationship to the song lyrics from last week. Here is where he tells us what the artist meant when he sent the song to us. Join us to find out where you are, or could be..

Why has the world not destroyed itself over and over again? Why are we not driven to despair by the ideology and identity divisions we are taught to cling to? What keeps this show moving forward even with glimmers of hope? The Creator of it all is not done with us. This Sunday, we explore an ancient poem/song that pulls back the curtain. It's not over, it's moving onward!

People yearn for liberty and look for it in many places. We seek goodness and long to be people of kindness, but where does that power come from when our world is driven by greed and every imaginable division? Is there any way out or up? When does knowledge become wisdom? This Sunday, we look at an ancient prayer and a way of looking at the world that makes the pieces fit.

Are you feeling trapped in your house, your mind, and your body? Paul, in his letter to the Colossians, shares with us from prison how based on reunion with the Creator and Creation, we can unlock the door and explore the contours of being an alternative community. Can you see yourself as part of a community where God is king instead of our various ideologies?

Hear from our special guest, Pastor David Chow. In light of our engagement with the newly forming Jesus Collective (jesuscollective.com) we've invited a local Anabaptist leader to share his insights and wisdom on this Jesus-centred way of living our faith. David Chow is passionate about the intercultural congregation and community that he calls home. A fourth-generation Westerner, David was previo...

EASTER SUNDAY Provoking the Powers -The Cross Defines the Resurrection (Mark 16:1-8) We’re celebrating Easter/Resurrection Sunday together via LIVESTREAM with live music, scripture, and teaching. We encourage you to call everyone you know at Pilgrim and perhaps someone you have been thinking about inviting.

Worship is a political, Provoking the Powers act (inside yourself and beyond). This Palm Sunday we are in a whole new world. The politicians are helping, AND helping themselves, to powers they cannot possibly predict the future impact of. We are worshippers; we will worship Jesus or we will worship other things like our false sense of security and peace promised to us by powers to secure their own...

The virus has forced us into a greater awareness of the body. We are material beings very susceptible to brokenness and evil in creation, but what does this mean for "the body of Christ," the local church? The Pandemic reminds us we are matter and more than matter. Jesus reveals to us there are parts of us the plague cannot extinguish. 1 Corinthians 12:27, Romans 8:1-12

Is this God's will? It's common for people to blur the line between the possible good that can come out of evil, to calling evil itself a "good thing". With sickness, this gets really messy, but if we think about other evils, we can get our blurry lines snapped back into shape pretty fast. Jesus gives us direction to not confuse the good that can come from evil, while still naming some things as e...

We're jumping out of our Lenten Series for "PANDEMIC and The Pantokrator-Christian Response To Crisis" with Pastor Shel.

We're continuing our Deconstruction & Restoration Series for Lent 2 with our Andrés Pérez González speaking on John 12:24-25.