The Banner
In This Issue:
1. Check Out Our Advent Activities Page
2. Follow Us On Instagram
3. Virtual Hanging of the Greens
4. Speaking Your Truth Workshop
5. Covid and Us – Congregational Update
6. Bereavement
7. Starting Local/Going Global
8. It’s Not too Late to SWOT
9. Financial Report to the End of October
10. Bed Needed
11. Online Traditional Service | Sunday, Nov. 29
12. In-Person Services | Sunday, Nov. 29
13. Vacation: Pastor Steve
14. This Week @ BSBC
15. December Birthdays
1. Check Out Our Advent Activities Page
It’s beginning to look a lot like…ADVENT AT BSBC!
That’s right, this coming Sunday, we begin our annual journey to Bethlehem! We encourage you to visit our website for all the details on special events for the season. That's also where you can make your individual reservations for seats at these services and events.
We really appreciate advance reservations
We REALLY appreciate advance reservations which help to make sure our events are safe for everyone by controlling the number of people who are coming and allowing us to quickly move you through screening and into your seat.
Do you know someone looking for ways to connect this Christmas?
Why not share our website with those you know who might be looking for ways to connect with the real meaning of Christmas and can do so at BSBC, in many cases, both in-person OR online. We appreciate your willingness to engage with us and trust this year’s advent journey will be especially powerful as we turn to the coming of The Prince of Peace.
2. Follow Us On Instagram
Brunswick Street Baptist Church is officially on Instagram. You can find us (and tag us!) @brunswickstreetbaptist. We hope you’ll stop by for the latest news from BSBC, regular encouragement — and most importantly to engage in community together!
3. Virtual Hanging of the Greens
New to BSBC? Don’t be alarmed by an invitation to a service that marks the beginning of Advent.
No Greens will be harmed in this service. BUT, we will hang evergreen wreaths, light the Christmas candles, bring in the poinsettias and decorate the tree!
Tune in on Facebook Live
Under normal circumstances, both sanctuary and gym worshippers would gather in the sanctuary for this service of decorating and Christmas music. But these are “unprecedented” times and so, Sunday night, ONLY the participants in the service will gather in the sanctuary but everyone else can join us on Facebook Live.
Wondering how you would do that if you are not a regular Facebook user? Easy peas-y…here’s what you do.
How to watch
On Sunday evening, a little before 6:30 p.m.
Simply click here to tune in LIVE on Facebook OR
Not able to watch live? The recording will be available the next day at thestreetonline.ca/worship-online.
4. Speaking Your Truth Workshop
Who doesn’t like to listen to a good story and lose sense of time for a little while? Who is not eager to be entertained and taken far away to a beautiful place they have never had the opportunity to visit? I’d say that many of us are indeed ready to take a trip to an oasis that is safe, hope-filled and ideal to unwind from the daily grind.
We have the stories
Guess what brothers and sisters, we own the stories others have been waiting to hear. Not because we have the right words and the skills of the world’s greatest story-tellers, but rather because we have received the script that all need to hear: there is salvation graciously accessible to all in the midst of the raging storm! Consider coming, not because you love telling stories about yourself, but because others would love to hear your God-stories!
When?
Next Thursday evening, Dec. 3, from 7 to 9 p.m., we will take time to consider the story of our lives and how skillfully God has touched and crafted our years thus far, giving us a story we can tell to bring others to Him through what He’s done in our lives.
How to sign up
Don’t be uptight about engaging in this workshop. Instead, come and ENJOY the stories of your brothers and sisters as, together, we work to make them clear and engaging. Yes, we will laugh as we engage in what will help us be better prepared to share. Email me (charles@bsbc.nb.ca) to make your reservation for joining online or in-person.
5. COVID & Us - Congregational Update
We’ve all heard of rising COVID-19 numbers in New Brunswick and elsewhere. With Moncton and Saint John placed in the orange recovery phase, we recognize that the same possibility exists for the Fredericton area.
At our November Board of Deacons meeting, we considered these realities and possible implications for ministry at BSBC. To that end, we encourage the congregation to redouble efforts for safe interactions at the church facility at all times during the week by:
Staying at home if you are experiencing any symptoms of illness (i.e. fever, new cough, sore throat, runny nose, etc.) Please note: Individuals who have travelled to an orange zone, are asked to respect guidelines to limit gatherings including worship services at BSBC
Wearing a mask at all times inside the church building. This includes services, meetings and events. Masks are no longer to be removed in meetings or small groups. Please note: Face shields do not qualify as a mask. They may be worn in addition to a mask but not instead of mask. Worship leaders may remove masks for their period of leadership but must then replace them.
Always sanitizing your hands AFTER being screened OR having entered your contact information (name, date, time, phone number) in the registry.
Being hyper-vigilant about maintaining a 2 m distance from other “bubbles.” Please note: 2 m is, once again, the accepted BSBC standard for services, small groups and meetings. There will no longer be 1 m distanced seating in the sanctuary. Under current Provincial guidelines, this will permit us to worship in singing and to receive communion.
COVID Committee
We have created a Joint Ad Hoc COVID Committee composed of 2 Deacons, 2 members of the Board of Management and a Parish Nurse to gather information and issue protocols for ministry. Please note: Questions can be referred to the COVID Committee through the church office (458-8348).
Cancellations
We have created a small team of five (four Deacons and Pastor Greg) who are empowered to cancel or make adjustments to services and ministries as advised by Public Health or discerning the need to do so, even at short notice, with all avenues of contact to be used to inform the congregation.
Proactive Planning
Pastoral staff are taking steps to ensure proactive plans are in place to return to the early days of recording a traditional service mid-week or offering a contemporary Facebook Live service – both with no congregation, should in-person services be curtailed.
KidzTown
Further, a plan that was underway to restart KidzTown will be placed on hold until the new year, given the overwhelming responsibility placed on our teachers and leaders to be responsible for the safety of the K to Grade 5 children in their care at this time. Starting Sunday, Nov. 29, provision will be made in the gym service for children to have activity space for quiet work during the sermon. Advance family reservations will ensure that such preparations are available for K to Grade 5 children.
The Advent Season
Our prayer is that we can enjoy the fellowship provided by the regular and special services for the Advent/Christmas season. However, even if services continue to go forward, we encourage our church family members to prayerfully consider personal sensitivities and vulnerabilities when considering engaging in in-person ministry. We covet your prayer over the situation in our city, province and country and for the ongoing ministry of BSBC.
Your Board of Deacons & Pastor Greg
6. Bereavement
As a church family we have the privilege to pray for our brothers and sisters who experience loss though the death of a loved one. You are invited to include David and Elizabeth Olmstead in your prayers as they have experienced the loss of David’s brother, Vaughn, on Wednesday, Nov. 4, in Vankleek Hill, Ontario. Vaughn, a former airline pilot, was 89 years old. Of his fulsome obituary, I wanted to share this:
Vaughn was a high-energy, generous person, a dedicated and delightful husband and father, and a faithful Christian and member of Lakeside Heights Baptist Church, and later, Vankleek Hill Baptist Church. He was a keen Bible Study small-group member and often a trustee. He experienced and exuded a triple measure of joy in the simplest things, gratitude to his God, and affection for others, to the blessing of those of all ages who knew him. He was truly a humble, gentle, yet magnetic personality.
As we pray for David and Elizabeth and family, I invite you to remember Vaughn’s wife, Elizabeth Waugh- Olmstead (a former member of the pastoral staff of Grace Memorial Baptist Church), son, Phillip (Katherine) and their family and brother James (Ruth).
Pastor Greg
7. Starting Local / Going Global
Have you heard that we are living in “unprecedented” times? Yes, it’s become the watchword of 2020. And so, this year’s Starting Local/Going Global Christmas Campaign will take a different shape as we continue our pattern of blessing others in Jesus’ name…at home…and abroad. Here’s the scoop:
Starting Local
We invite you to share "Christmas love" through this annual event at BSBC. Designating money to the "local" part of our project will help provide ‘gift cards’ for the families of our New Life Ministry AND to some of our benevolent families. This ‘gift card’ initiative replaces the past tradition of the congregation purchasing gifts as we face the new challenges of the pandemic. Such engagement would require gifts totalling $6,100. Thank you for considering engaging in this BSBC tradition.
You can give to this part of the project by marking your donation “Starting Local.” We thank you for considering this opportunity to be a blessing.
Going Global
Our “Going Global” initiative invites our church family to designate the gift of money to sharing the gospel with the Mising Tribe who are an unreached people in north eastern India. You can give to this project by marking your gift “Going Global.”
8. It's Not Too Late to SWOT
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Last Sunday, November 22, I had the opportunity to offer a sermon with the title, “A SWOT at our Future.” In it, we considered what it means for brothers and sisters in Christ to “invest” in the ministry life of their church family.
Each person has something to offer, put together as God willed, for the purposes He has planned. We’re in this together.
Once more, I encouraged each of you to consider investing time and energy by yourself, with your family, friends, small group, etc. to consider your views on life at Brunswick Street Baptist Church. The SWOT analysis has been our theme for November and I’m hoping that you will submit your view by the first of December.
What?
You can do this by engaging in prayerful discussions about your understanding of our Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats as you understand them at this very point in our ministry of witness to Jesus Christ.
How?
(1) Take a piece of paper and make a list of what you determine under these four headings. Here are a few questions to help you get started. (2) Then, email receptionist@bsbc.nb.ca with your findings OR drop your notes off to the church office.
Why?
I don’t believe that your elected leadership can operate in a vacuum…we need grass roots input. While we seek to lead this fellowship, we shouldn’t do that on our own. I long for the investment of all members of our congregation in this process. Unusual? Yes. Needed? I would also respond, YES!
We appreciate your prayers
Together, let us shape our future under God. Please pray that many will be inspired to engage in this and include yourself in that prayer. And that this may be an engagement that will begin to prepare us for deeper reflection and sharing in 2021 as we look further down the road.
9. Financial Report to the End of October
Thank you, church family, for your faithfulness in financial stewardship. I ask you to prayerfully consider the following report as you consider your giving between now and the end of 2020.
Building Fund
We rejoice in increased giving to the building fund. As of Oct. 31, giving was $104,837, almost exactly what it was at this time in 2019. That is just $7,662 below budget compared to $15,000 below budget at the end of both August and September. Thank you for closing that gap. Keep up the good work!
General Fund
As of October 31, giving was $694,429, which is below last year at this point which was at $721,898 for the same period. That is $82,656 below our 2020 budget for this point in the year, compared to $72,393 below budget at the end of September and $69,344 below budget at the end of August. So, that gap is widening. Yet, with lower expenses, we will be in the black, and with some surplus, if your giving stays on track in a similar way for the remainder of 2020.
Every blessing,
Ken Reimer, Treasurer
10. Bed Needed
A BSBC family will have an adult family member coming to live with them and are in need of a single bed or a hide-a-bed.
If you have an answer to this need, please contact the church office (458-8348). Thank you!
11. Online Traditional Service: Sunday, Nov. 29
Pastor Charles leads the opening of the traditional service which includes music ministry by David Steeves and a Ladies’ Vocal Ensemble. You’ll hear from Sheila Ross, offering an invitation to engage in our Starting Local Christmas project. Sergiy Polyachenko will offer the Scripture reading from I Corinthians 12. The children’s time features an outdoor visit with Sarah Duguid.
Pastor Greg will be considering the implications of I Corinthians 12 and Matthew 25 – Jesus’ parable of the three servants/talents. In this sermon, he’ll invite you to consider how the skilled artisans who built the sanctuary building took a variety of small, medium and large, oddly shaped stones and created the perfect exterior of our sanctuary building. A wonderful object lesson about how God takes multi-shaped and skilled people and puts together a church – a building perfectly oriented AND equipped for Kingdom work.
12. In-Person Services: Sunday, Nov. 22
Can't make it? Tune into the Contemporary Service on Facebook Live
Reminder: You can tune into the gym service on Facebook Live — just visit the BSBC page a little before 10:30 a.m. to join your church family.
Can you believe that Nov. 29 is the first Sunday in Advent, marking the start of our annual journey to Bethlehem. Over the next four Sunday’s, we’ll be considering what the coming of Jesus means for us.
In the gym, Julianne Moore will be leading corporate worship, while, in the sanctuary Margaret Geldart and one of our ensembles will be offering the gift of song with David Steeves (organ) and Gloria Tranquilla (piano) sharing their gifts.
Both services will include a special advent video to help us focus on this season of preparation and the lighting of the first Advent candle.
In both services, Pastor Greg will be preaching as part of a series called, “Comforting Christmas Traditions” with this week’s focus on the symbol of the star of Bethlehem.
13. Vacation
Pastor Steve and Cindy would appreciate your prayer for a time of vacation that will start after lunch on Thursday, November 19. Pastor Steve will be back at the church on Saturday, afternoon, Nov. 29.
May they find this a time of renewal and blessing.
14. This Week at BSBC
Thursday, Nov. 26
9:30 New Life Ministry (3rd Floor)
1:30 Bible Study with Mary McMulkin (3rd Floor)
1:30 Ladies Bible Study with Carol Bray (Family Room)
6:30 Adult Handbell Choir (KidzTown)
7:00 GriefShare (3rd Floor)
Friday, Nov. 27
9:30 Seniors Exercise (Gym)
10:30 Seniors Exercise (Gym)
7:00 Middle & High School Youth Groups (3rd Floor)
Saturday, Nov. 28
1:00 Worship Team Practice (Gym)
7:00 Just Church (Gym)
Sunday, Nov. 29
10:30 Traditional Service (Sanctuary)
10:30 Contemporary Service (Gym)
10:30 Youth Greenhouse Service (3rd Floor)
12:00 Young Adult Lunch (3rd Floor)
2:00 Chinese Service (Gym)
6:30 Hanging of the Greens Service (Online)
Monday, Nov. 30
7:00 Vocal Ensemble (Sanctuary)
Tuesday, Dec. 1
8:30 Solid Rock Café
1:30 Quilters for Missions
1:30 Pastoral Staff Meeting (Family Room)
2:45 Full Staff Meeting (Family Room)
6:30 Bible Study with Toon Pronk (Choir Room)
6:30 Bible Study with Pastor Steve (Family Room)
6:30 DivorceCare (3rd Floor)
7:00 Nominating Committee Meeting (2nd Floor Boardroom)
Wednesday, Dec. 2
9:00 Seniors Exercise (Gym)
10:00 Library Open
10:30 Seniors Exercise (Gym)
12:00 Prayer Time with Pastor Charles (Sanctuary)
6:15 Vocal Ensemble (Choir Room)
6:30 Youth Bible Study (3rd Floor)
6:30 Micah 6:8 Bible Study with Pastor Greg (Sanctuary)
15. December Birthdays
Happy Birthday to all celebrating in the coming month! Stop by our website for the full list of December Birthdays.
YOUR LEADERSHIP TEAM
Dr. Keith Bodner, Preaching Pastor
Pastor Greg Geldart, Lead Pastor
Pastor Jim McLellan, Pastor of Senior’s Visitation
Pastor Charles Millette, Missionary in Residence
Pastor Steve Patterson, Outreach Pastor
Pastor Changbin Tian, Pastor to the Chinese Congregation
