service

September 25, 2021 | Update From Pastor Matt

Dear church family -

The weather certainly has changed our perspectives on what fall might be this week and my hope is that you have had the chance to go outside and enjoy the beautiful land that we enjoy.  I wanted to take a moment and just remind you of a few things that we are important for you to know as we continue to work to protect ourselves and our community in the midst of this pandemic.

I know that there are a wealth of differing opinions and thoughts on the way forward with COVID and I certainly do not want to entertain a discussion about it as it will only further “mute” our influence with each other and our community.  I do want to encourage us, at Renfrew Baptist Church, to be intentional in our efforts to continue to nurture our community.  This will take hard work on all of our parts but I do know that we are a resilient group of people.

One of the ways that we can accomplish this is by continuing to gather on Sunday mornings.  We have (and are continuing to work) hard at creating two spaces in our building for us to worship each Sunday.  These spaces are socially distanced and will allow you to see other people and continue to feel like you are a part of something “bigger” than just yourself as an individual, which sometimes we can feel like we are facing in this pandemic.  We have opened up the fellowship hall so that you can have a communal experience and we can accommodate most (if not all) the people in our church.

For the time being, we have made the tough decision to not hold any “fellowship” events that are facilitated by the church.  As much as we want to, we believe that our testimony to our Renfrew community outside of the church is stronger by simply choosing to wait for our province to recover from this 4th wave.  We desire to get together but we also desire to be great neighbours to our community who need Jesus.

We also understand that you might make a personal decision to just stay home and we are committed to still providing an excellent online experience for you.  Please stay connected to us - send us a text - give us a call or join us on a Sunday morning.  You are important to us and we love the opportunity to do life with you.  We are praying for you and your family in this season!

Pastor Matt

September 18, 2021 | Update From Pastor Matt

Greetings Church –

This week has certainly been another experience in the journey that COVID-19 has brought us.  Words such as social distancing, restrictions, vaccine records and capacities have become familiar words that we have added to our vocabulary.  The “roller coaster ride” that COVID-19 continues to be is something that I am sure we would all love to be able to get off of.  And yet, despite all the external chaos, I am reminded that God, the Alpha and Omega, is still in control.

 “Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus.” 

(Hebrews 3:1 – NIV)

We can become distracted as we wrestle through our own debates on the government’s approach to things.  We can find ourselves in debates where at the end of the conversation we aren’t even sure what we are arguing about.  We can feel like we personally have a “better way.”

I am reminded that the Jesus way – the mission and message of Jesus was to simply help people experience and extend the kingdom of heaven on earth.  As Paul wrote “to be agents of reconciliation (or hope, or grace or even kindness) to a world that needs it.”  I am not saying it is easy, trust me.

Hillel was a Jewish leader right after Jesus died (about 110 AD) and he said poignant words for us today.  “"If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And being only for myself, what am 'I'?”  He followed it up by saying this, “Jesus is life to me; the rest is commentary.”  For me personally, I need the space in my head and my heart to be occupied by Jesus, not what is happening in the pandemic or what side of the vaccine debate I am on.

Bruxy Cavey, a pastor and author from the Meeting House in Ontario, said this, “Christ followers are called to provoke one another, to jab one another, to poke and prod one another toward loving well and living well.”

This week I once again found myself in the “trap” of self-absorbed questions about our rights as a church.  In no way am I am saying that we don’t protect our freedoms. And yet, I am always intrigued that “the church” causes government (a mostly secular organization) to make exceptions for the church because they are concerned about our reaction?  To me, that is a slippery place to occupy when at the end of the day, we are called to be bearers of the good news.  Is the good news attached to the “need” for these exceptions?  Would government officials find an “ally” with the church in Canada? Could they count on us to pray for them as they make these complex decisions?

We know and understand the importance of “meeting together” and as the author in Hebrews 10 tells us, “let’s not give up the habit of doing this.”  As a church, we have sacrificed this for a long time.  It was an incredible experience together last Sunday, to hear our unified voices in worship and to hear the chatter of people in the building.  The “taste” of last Sunday might be why this past week’s announcement hit me as hard as the first announcement in March of 2020. 

So, where do we go as Renfrew Baptist Church? First of all, we are NOT going to stop meeting together.  Yes, we have capacity and space limits and out of our posture to honor the government, we are going to do our best to enforce this.  This is not the time for us to not meet together nor is it the time to not follow the guidelines set out for us.

In line with these guidelines, at this time we will have around 40 people socially distanced and masked in the sanctuary as well as another 50 people socially distanced and masked in the Fellowship Hall downstairs.   The Fellowship Hall will be receiving a live stream of the service.  Children’s ministry will still be offered and will be in the educational wing of the church (dismissed part way through the service).

We know and understand that the Fellowship Hall isn’t like being “upstairs” in the sanctuary, and yet it will afford us the opportunity to still gather in our building.  We would ask that you honor each other by choosing to sit upstairs one week and then the next week sit downstairs.  As you read this, we are thinking through creative ways to use our parking lot over the next while to simply allow us a space to congregate after the service.  We will encourage you to enjoy time fellowshipping out in the parking lot as our space inside the building is limited with our social distancing requirements. 

Trust me, this can feel like we are making lemonade out of tart lemons (and we are) but more importantly, the leadership team at Renfrew Baptist Church, wants this to be a viable option for us for the next few months if this is what we need to do to be together.  The next few months, let’s together make the most of every opportunity we might have to share the good news of Jesus.

Pastor Matt

on behalf of Renfrew Baptist Church Leadership Team

 

 

Church Service on August 15

Meet at Renfrew Baptist Church @ 10:30 AM

Due to the smoke and poor air quality, today’s Outdoor Church service has been moved indoors. We will be meeting at 10:30 AM at Renfrew Baptist Church.

Hope to see you there! If you are unable to attend in person, the Service will also be live-streamed at 10:30 AM via YouTube.

Information for Sunday July 18 | From the Desk of Pastor Matt

I hope that you are enjoying the warmer than usual weather that we are experiencing as of late.  As much as we might struggle with the “heat” this summer, I do know that cooler weather is right around the corner. 

I wanted to take a minute to make sure that you knew what was happening on Sunday with the Stampede Breakfast and the church service that will follow the breakfast.  The breakfast is going to happen rain or shine and will be at Daybreak Community Church (2104 Yankee Valley Boulevard, Airdrie).  We will plan on doing church after the breakfast (inside at Daybreak) at 11:00 am.  This service will primarily just be Renfrew people as Daybreak doesn’t normally do a service on their Stampede breakfast date.

Here’s what you need to know:

  1. Breakfast will happen from 9:00 am to 10:45 am.  Come and grab some great food and get to know our friends at Daybreak.

  2. Volunteers - we still need lots of volunteers and it will speak to our friends at Daybreak if we link arms with them as they impact their community.  Please shoot me an email and I will get you a “spot” to help out.

  3. Church Service will happen inside Daybreak at 11:00 am.  The service will involve worship being lead by Spencer and I will bring a short message.  We will plan on being done by noon.

Renfrew friends - I know that it is different helping another church, but you are healthy enough to do this.  This is a “kingdom” mindset that involves a large amount of generosity.  This is what God’s economy is all about and I am pumped to see where God will take all of this.  This is what churches should do for each other.

Thank you for your commitment to Renfrew and God’s work that is unfolding all around us.  Hang on! 

Pastor Matt

Church Service on July 11

Meet at Renfrew Baptist Church @ 10:30 AM

Due to the weather, today’s Outdoor Church service has been moved indoors. We will be meeting at 10:30 AM at Renfrew Baptist Church.

Hope to see you there! If you are unable to attend in person, the Service will also be live-streamed at 10:30 AM via YouTube.