Friday, November 02, 2007
Report From Grants Tour ‘07 - Visits in Washington State and British Columbia
Before Betty Grit traveled east to visit grant recipients (more about this here), she traveled west, to Washington State and British Columbia. Here is her report from that trip:
New Hope Community Services Society
Celebrating All Nations Church
Vancouver, British Columbia
Pastor James Lee welcomed us on a Sunday afternoon to the ministry center in East Vancouver (above). Several young people joined us to tell about their worship renewal project. They had worshiped as a congregation on Saturday and many of these young people had led through music, Scripture reading and sound technology. The grant project is intended to help them learn more about worship and develop skills for worship leadership. As we conversed, several of the young men were creating small works of art using their skills as graffiti artists. One piece announced “Cross culture – Church Boiz”. They gave these pieces of art as gifts to us to help us remember their ministry.
Additional pictures from Vancouver here and here
The previous Thursday evening these same young people had traveled to Lynden, Washington with Pastor Lee to learn about worship with staff and students from four Christian High Schools. Hosted by Ben DeRegt and students from Lynden Christian High School, this workshop was intended to train and encourage student worship leaders. On Thursday evening we engaged in interactive learning sessions. On Friday morning, Paul Ryan led sessions on “Worship Secrets Revealed” and “Worship Planning.” 
We also learned about Vertical Habits and how they can help us grow in our relationship to God and to each other. We were grateful for the warm hospitality extended to all of us at Lynden Christian High School. After meeting the East Vancouver team in Lynden, it was good to see them again and learn more about worship renewal in the congregation and the ways they are reaching out to their community through service.
On Saturday we traveled to Sunnyside, Washington, a beautiful five hour drive through the mountains. More than sixty pastors and lay worship leaders gathered for a day of worship and learning. Many had traveled long distances. Mary Werkhoven and members of the Sunnyside Christian Reformed Church warmly welcomed us and served brunch from the harvest of Washington apples and grapes. 
Led by Paul Ryan and accompanied by Kent Hendricks on piano, we began and ended the time together with worship. The Hispanic ministry worship team of Sunnyside Christian Reformed Church participated in learning with us and helped us understand the challenges of bilingual worship.
On Sunday morning we were privileged to worship at the Bridge Community Church in Langley, British Columbia, a 2006 Worship Renewal Grant recipient. The sermon by Pastor William Delleman, based on Acts 9, reminded us that God is hospitable and invites his people into the same life. This hospitality was generously extended to us. We saw evidences of the grant project which helped the congregation deepen their participation in worship through music, drama and the arts. We had received a report that the grant process helped them grow as a team of diverse people with unique gifts to work together to plan and lead worship. We were pleased to meet them and hear more about the impact of the grant. Plans had already been made to offer a visual arts workshop that will continue the process of worship renewal beyond the grant year.
Grants • Leadership • Liturgical Arts • Worshipping Communities • (0) Comments • Permalink