The Banner
Seeking to minister in new ways in challenging days!
“Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ.” 2 Corinthians 2:14
Tiny Bubbles & Home Church Bubbles
When I was a kid I remember hearing this song….Tiny bubbles in the slime(?), make me happy, make me feel fine. I am sure those were the words 😀 Whatever the ‘concoction,’ these ‘bubbles’ were guaranteed to make you happy and fine!
I want to talk to you about another kind of ‘bubble’ that I’m confident will make you feel happy, fine and connected to your BSBC family — HOME CHURCH BUBBLES.
Finding new ways to ‘do’ church
As the pandemic continues, we must find new ways to ‘do’ church at BSBC. We will continue to offer online services and activities — even as we “open up” for in-person events. We’re confident that some of our church family will reengage with in-person events, while many, for a variety of reasons including personal vulnerabilities to the virus, will not be able to. So how do we ensure that we stay connected, which we know to be an important element of being part of the Body of Christ?
A HOME CHURCH BUBBLE allows our big family to begin to reconnect in safe and consistent ways.
Home Church Bubbles
Home Church Bubbles are a small group of individuals or families who commit to meeting together on a regular basis for fellowship and the weekly online worship service. In this way, you’ll be gathering for worship with your “home church” family. A Home Church Bubble is the intentional joining of individual ‘bubbles’ to create a slice of BSBC community. Bubbles can be an amalgamation of people of the same age or intergenerational groups. Be as creative as you can!
Will you prayerfully consider creating a Home Church Bubble? It’s as easy as inviting others to gather weekly or biweekly to watch the online service in your home or the homes of your bubble members. If you’d like help creating a HOME CHURCH BUBBLE, Alyse Wilton, our Church Family Life Coordinator, is happy to help.
What do you do first?
1. Prayerfully consider creating or joining a HOME CHURCH BUBBLE.
2. Talk to those you know and explore the option.
3. Register your HOME CHURCH BUBBLE with Alyse (churchfamilylife@bsbc.nb.ca).
4. Want to join a group but don’t know who to ask? Email Alyse and we’ll try to connect you.
When do we want to start?
You don’t have to meet on Sunday mornings – it can be anytime during the week – but it should be a consistent time. Each week we’ll share online resources that you can print off for the children in your group and discussion questions for the older members of your bubble.
We will prayerfully launch our HOME CHURCH BUBBLE ministry on Sunday, Sept. 27, so please register your HOME CHURCH BUBBLE before.
Questions?
Email Alyse at churchfamilylife@bsbc.nb.ca.
Thank you for considering a new iteration of ministry at BSBC! Help us stay connected! Experience the Body of Christ in a new way!
Pastor Greg & Your Deacons
Live Worship @ BSBC
Greetings Church! Our plans continue for live worship services. We recognize that we are still in the midst of a pandemic and encourage you to consider your vulnerabilities when prayerfully considering coming out to join us!
Wednesday, August 19, 6:30 p.m.
Preacher – Dr. Keith Bodner – “Ruth, Part 2”
Traditional Worship Led by Ross & Janice Simonds and Talia Kennedy
Wednesday, August 26, 6:30 p.m.
Communion Service (not recorded for public release)
Preacher – Dr. Keith Bodner
Traditional Worship Led by David Steeves, Gloria Tranquilla, Yvonne Kershaw, Pascale Beaulieu
Wednesday, September 2, 6:30 p.m.
Preacher – Pastor Greg Geldart
Traditional Worship Led by Gloria Tranquilla & Margaret Geldart
How to attend
To attend any of these services, please make a reservation with the church office (receptionist@bsbc.nb.ca/458-8348). Reservations are part of our new normal. However, if you are out and about, you can drop by and see if there is seating available – given that social distancing limits seating in the sanctuary.
Pastor Greg
Another Change: Communion
The ‘age’ of COVID-19 has brought many changes to our lives. Your leadership is seeking to follow the protocols from the provincial government for in-person events and this will impact our observance of the Lord’s Table on Wednesday, Aug. 26.
Since serving from common sources like a plate, are considered highly dangerous, the way we receive and take the bread and the cup will be different. When you pass through screening, sanitizing and masking and before you go to your seat, from a gloved hand, you will be given the elements for communion in one professionally packaged unit that you will take with you to your seat.
The pre-filled communion cup has two tabs for release. The first, clear tab (with the wheat motif) will, at the right time, be peeled off to reveal the bread for eating. A second tab, under the bread, can, at the right time, be peeled off to open the cup for drinking. Your used cup can then be placed in the communion cup rack on the back of the pew before you.
This change may seem jarring to our sensibilities but will allow us to have a meaningful time at the Lord’s Table as we give thanks for His sacrifice for us and remember that, one day, we will share a meal of celebration in His presence. I’m confident that we will have a spiritually significant time when we gather on Wednesday, Aug. 26 at 6:30 p.m.
Worship This Coming Sunday - Aug. 23
This coming Sunday Dr. Bodner will be offering a two part sermon focused on the book of Ruth and entitled “The House That Ruth Built.” He writes: During the turbulent days of the Judges, a family from Bethlehem has to respond to a national crisis.
Worship leaders
Worship music for our contemporary service will be led by guest musicians, Faith and Adam Moore. Won’t it be a treat to have Faith and Adam back with us at BSBC? Songs for the traditional service will be led by Calvin Smith accompanied by Gloria Tranquilla and David Steeves. The service will be opened by Jennifer, Ron and Sophia Weed who will share their personal reflections on scripture and open the service with prayer. Matt Moore will offer the post-sermon prayer.
It promises to be a wonderful time of worship and instruction. Perhaps there’s someone you know you could invite to join us online!
Housing Needed
We are so looking forward to Chuck Millette joining our church staff on Aug. 24 as our “Missionary in Residence” with responsibility for our youth and young adult ministry and work with the broader congregation. BUT, Charles, Sarah, Lucie, Victoria and Joseph would like to get settled in new living situation. Can you help them? Do you know someone who might have a rental home for a family of five? If you do, please let the church office know (458-8348 OR receptionist@bsbc.nb.ca) and we’ll happily pass the information along. If you don’t have a possible solution to share…do feel free to pray for God’s provision! ☺️
Update from André Sibomana
I’ve just heard from our Canadian Baptist Ministries’ Partner in Mission, André Sibomana, in Rwanda. He writes:
“Hello Pastor Greg. We are doing well as a family by God's Grace. Thanks for your encouragement. The situation is that things are opening up but churches and schools are still closed. There was a sense of opening churches but the government is so demanding that many churches decided to wait for the right time. Please pray that schools may open as it being so hard for both children and us as parents.”
I thank Andre for this update and encourage you to include the situation in Rwanda in your praying.
Pastor Greg
Update From Your Board of Management
Hello Church Family!
As Chair of the Board of Management (BoM) this year, I’d like to fill you on in our recent activities during these strange days.
Our monthly meetings have still been taking place via Zoom, and it’s been a great blessing to me to see my team members’ faces and voices. So, even if you feel technically challenged, don’t hesitate to join into our church family functions via Zoom. If we can do it, everyone can!
Shannon and Buffett have reviewed our 2019 Financial Statements and found all in order. These will be passed along to our church family at an upcoming Business Meeting.
The BoM deals with many mundane matters on a day-to-day basis, but some changes are very visible to our church family. I am so grateful for our BoM members who have accomplished the following:
Naomi Phillips has been hired full-time to act as both receptionist and in-house bookkeeper. She is in the process of learning the ropes and makes the Treasurer‘s job much easier.
Much of the water damage to the interior of the Sanctuary is now repaired. The plaster has been repaired around the windows and walls and repainted, and it looks awesome.
The parts of the lawn that were damaged from the heavy equipment during the roof replacement were reseeded in late May. The new lawn survived the drought and is growing faster than it can be cut! Thank you to Louise Billings and Shirley Craft for planting flowers along our front walkway.
As promised in a previous business meeting, any further renovations to the facilities were held off pending roof project completion. The amount remaining on our loan after the roof project completion is $92,661. The BoM will be identifying further facility issues that need addressing, especially in the gym/office area, obtaining quotes, and reporting back to the church family.
Finally, I want to thank you, the church family, for your faithful and generous giving. Through your efforts, we have not had to worry about how to pay staff salaries or the electricity bills!
Thank you!
Kellie Brown
Somber Update From Green Hill Lake Camp
While we rejoice that Green Hill Lake Camp has been open this Sunday, sharing the gospel of Jesus with children of all ages, the following letter from the Chairperson of the GHLC Board shares the difficult decisions that have been taken for the long term stability of the ministry. I share the whole letter knowing how precious GHLC is to the BSBC family. This will aid you in praying and in considering how the BSBC family can come to our camp’s aid. Your ideas are welcome (greg@bsbc.nb.ca)!
Pastor Greg
August 1, 2020
Dear Member ChurchIn many ways summer at The Lake is exactly as it has been for the past 59 summers. Lovely weather, children’s laughter, busy summer staff and everyone enjoying God’s creation at Green Hill Lake Camp. In other ways things were totally new – masks, hand sanitizer everywhere, cabin bubbles and X marks the spot to maintain social distancing.
COVID 19 has left its mark on your camp. All of our spring 2020 bookings were cancelled and over 95% of our events for fall 2020 and spring 2021 have been cancelled. We are so grateful to God and you that with a lot of hard work and the donations from our April 25 Kitchen Party we were able to open this summer. Kids are hearing the good news that Jesus loves them and getting a little “normal” back in a world that has been anything but normal.
We write to you to say God is good and we are so thankful we were able to open when many Christian camps remained closed. As thankful as we are the board has had to make some very, very tough decisions. We need to significantly reduce expenses so that it will be possible for us to be ready and financially sound to have summer camp in 2021. We will be closing the facilities in the fall of 2020 with plans to reopen in spring 2021. This means a staggered layoff of our 5 year round staff. This includes Cindy and Ashley Arbeau, Tim Carruthers, Janette Curtis Alward and Stephen Alward. We are so thankful for their hard work and love of the ministry here at GHLC and this decision was not made lightly. We know that God has touched lives here at Green Hill Lake Camp Inc for almost 6 decades and we know He knows what the future holds.
Even with these drastic measures we need over $ 90,000 to cover costs like insurance, Work Safe, utilities and mortgage payments to see us through to spring 2021. The board will be taking on additional responsibilities for the next several months as we close up and prepare to re-open in spring 2021. We realize this may be a shock to some and for that we apologize. We have been in contact with all those impacted by the layoffs, spoken with our summer staff and are now reaching out to you, our member churches.
We ask for your continued prayer and financial support.
Sincerely
Sonja Card
GHLC Board Chair
Funeral Service
The funeral service for the Late Evelyn Ginson will be held at BSBC on Friday, Aug. 21 at 1 p.m. Evelyn passed away on March 14, just as the world was shutting down. Thank you for thinking of her family as they gather to celebrate her life.
To attend, please make a reservation through the church office (receptionist@bsbc.nb.ca | 458-8348). There will not be visitation before the service and there will not be a reception following.
BSBC BODcasts
No BODcast this week as Charlie Ritchie was our preacher last Sunday.
Next Tuesday tune in for Dr. Keith’s “director’s cut’ of his second message on the book of Esther. Hear more background and the answer to your questions.
How to submit questions
Please feel free to submit your questions to the church office (458-8348 or receptionist@bsbc.nb.ca) each week by Monday at 4:30 p.m. Questions are always dealt with anonymously.
Stewardship
Financial Giving Update (January to July 31, 2020)
Current Year Previous Year Budget
General Fund $502,012 $498,600 $542,215
Building $69,996 $72,907 $78,750
Dear Faithful Givers,
This financial report is awesome to see! Thank you for your commitment to Kingdom work in these days. Our General Operating giving is ahead of this point last year! We are still below budget by about $40,000 but this typical of past giving cycles.
At this point, the Building Fund giving is $3,000 behind last year and about $9,000 behind budget, BUT we believe that it is possible to catch up as we all consider what part we can play to bridge the gap.
With our expenses down due to COVID-19, we are in a surplus situation which positions us well for reengagement in ministries as we discern the appropriateness of such engagement in the weeks and months ahead. Thank you for showing such amazing faithfulness in this strange season in the life of our fellowship.
Ken Reimer, Treasurer
Greg Geldart, Lead Pastor
Your Library
Our Librarian, Sharon Gosselin, doesn’t even require you to be quiet when you visit our church library which you can do any Wednesday between 10 a.m. and noon.
Bring your children for a great selection of faith-based children’s books! Enjoy reading fiction? We’ve got shelves full. Looking for something more serious – no problem, our library has LOTS to offer from discipleship to study materials.
Drop in next Wednesday and have a look around. If it’s your first visit, we doubt it will be your last! Oh, and if you’ve been in before…please have a look around your home for any books you might like to return – we’re a ‘fine free’ library!
You Asked For It
We’ve had numerous requests for a new edition of a printed/paper church directory (names, phone, email). While we continue to encourage use of the online directory, which you can join by contacting the church office and providing your email address, we are preparing to respond to these requests.
For this printed version, the office is contacting everyone with email addresses to verify your information. If you are without email, we encourage you to contact the church office to make sure your information is up to date. If you have any questions, please contact Janet or Naomi in our office (458-8348 OR receptionist@bsbc.nb.ca) and they will be happy to help.
Our plan is to print at the end of August with these available for early September. If you would like to pre-order a copy of the printed directory please contact the church office to place your order. Copies will be $5 each and we will arrange home delivery, if required. Please note that these directories are not published for business or other forms of solicitation but for helping with community building at BSBC.
Consider Those You Know
Just a reminder that we want to stay connected with those who might not have access to thestreetonline.ca.
Each Wednesday at 1 p.m. in the Family Room we offer a showing of the traditional service recording. You can encourage folks to call the church office (458-8348) to make a reservation to come any Wednesday afternoon and join Pastor Steve or Greg for the service.
OR, we are happy to mail DVDs and paper copies of the e-newsletter directly to individuals each week. Simply contact the church office to request the mailing. Thank you for making these opportunities known to those who aren’t able to access our website.
YOUR LEADERSHIP TEAM
Dr. Keith Bodner, Preaching Pastor
Pastor Greg Geldart, Lead Pastor
Pastor Jim McLellan, Pastor of Senior’s Visitation
Pastor Steve Patterson, Outreach Pastor
Pastor Changbin Tian, Full-time Pastor to the Chinese Congregation
