News

10:15 Zoom Opens (Text Chat Available)

10:30 Service

After the Service - Visiting on Zoom

Welcome to church at West Point Grey! Click the zoom button above at 10:15am this morning to join. The service begins at 10:30am.

The Lord's Supper

Today we are celebrating The Lord's Supper together after the sermon. You can prepare by having a piece of bread or cracker and some grape juice, wine, or an alternative with you before the service.

Visiting After the Service

You are invited to stay online after the service to visit on Zoom.

Meeting ID: 819 7304 6522

Passcode: 196397

Dear Friends,

What a special worship service we had on Sunday. The scripture passages, songs, and stories many of you shared in the service really impacted me. What a depth and diversity of life experiences! I was encouraged to hear how God has supported, guided, and walked with you through scripture and songs. I’ve also heard how many of you were touched and encouraged in your faith by each others’ stories as well.

This week I listened to a podcast interview of Regent College President Jeff Greenman, titled “The Pedagogy of Praise.” Thank you Doreen for the recommendation! One of the things Jeff says in the podcast is that many people could engage more fully in their regular church services if their church talked more about how the service is designed and how they can respond. So I have been inspired to share with you a little bit about our worship services!

Did you know that nearly every Sunday at West Point Grey Baptist, you experience 4 sections, or “movements?” No, it’s not quite Bard on the Beach! (Shakespeare’s plays have 5 acts, anyways.) But there are some similarities between our worship services and a play. Just as a Shakespeare play has a physical location for each scene, each of the 4 sections of our worship services has a different spiritual “place” or focus. And, like a story or play, there is a beginning, middle, and an end. Knowing a bit about these movements can help you engage in the service.

The four movements we often use at WPGBC are called the Gathering, the Word, the Response, and the Sending. These names are taken from Constance M. Cherry’s book, “the Worship Architect.” If you’re keen to dive a little deeper on this topic and like books that talk about theology, you can read more about them there.

Now, like any good story, I am going to keep you in a bit of suspense! I’m not going to tell you today what is included in the Gathering, the Word, the Response, and the Sending, or how you can engage with them. Next week, I’ll tell you a little more about the first movement, the Gathering. 

This Sunday, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to do a little detective work! As you follow along with the service this Sunday, can you figure out when each of the 4 movements begins, based only on their names? (You might want to write down the 4 names ahead of time on a piece of paper to refer to: the Gathering, the Word, the Response, and the Sending.) Do you have a sense of how you can engage with each one?

More to come…

Blessings,

Heather

Heather, Worship Coordinator

___________________

Have questions and wondering who to contact?

• Anything relating to worship services: Heather at worship@wpgbc.org
• Anything else related to the office, church directory, weekly emails, who to talk to about a question, etc: Anne at office@wpgbc.org

10:15 Zoom Opens (Text Chat Available)

10:30 Service

After the Service - Visiting on Zoom

Welcome to church at West Point Grey! Click the zoom button above at 10:15am this morning to join. The service begins at 10:30am.

You are invited to stay online after the service to visit on Zoom.

Meeting ID: 819 7304 6522

Passcode: 196397

This Sunday is a special service of songs, scripture, and stories shared by members of our church community. Thank you to everyone who submitted something to share. Bob T. and I were touched by your choices and stories, and we're looking forward to hearing and singing them together!

As we listen and participate this Sunday, let's reflect on how God has walked each of us through our different journeys. I think we will all be encouraged and our faith will be strengthened.

Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

-Colossians 3:16-17

Blessings,

Heather, Worship Coordinator

___________________

Have questions and wondering who to contact?

• Anything relating to worship services: Heather at worship@wpgbc.org
• Anything else related to the office, church directory, weekly emails, who to talk to about a question, etc: Anne at office@wpgbc.org

10:15 Zoom Opens (Text Chat Available)

10:30 Service

After the Service - Visiting on Zoom

Welcome to church at West Point Grey! Click the zoom button above at 10:15am this morning to join. The service begins at 10:30am.

You are invited to stay online after the service to visit on Zoom.

Meeting ID: 819 7304 6522

Passcode: 196397

Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

-Colossians 3:16-17

Isn’t it amazing how music connects with our memories, our relationships, our bodies, and our souls and our faith journey? A few weeks ago, I decided to go through my massive black binder of worship music, collected over several decades of playing piano and bass guitar for worship teams at various churches, summer camp, and with a university Christian club band. 

There were hymns and choruses from the Mennonite church where I grew up, sung at Sunday services and Tuesday night youth group. There were songs written in the 1700s, 1800’s, 1970’s, 1980’s, 1990’s, 2000’s, 2010’s and even a few in the 2020’s. 

Going through these songs took me on a walk through my faith journey. I remembered youth group retreats, all-city Kelowna young adults events, playing on the worship team at Tenth Church when I first moved to Vancouver, and more - and all the things God was doing in my life during those times. 

Each one of us has musical and probably also scriptural “markers” along our faith journey. Often we connect with songs or passages that were central in our faith community during the formative time of our teens and twenties; or perhaps during other significant bends in the road of our journeys. 

On July 31st, we are having a special service of worship songs and scripture passages that have been touchstones in our lives at various points. I’m looking forward with anticipation to hear how God has touched you through scripture and music! See the announcement further down in the email about how you can contribute.

The Triune Poet makes us for His glory,

And makes us each the other’s inspiration.

He calls us out of darkness, chaos, chance,

To improvise a music of our own,

To sing the chord that calls us to the dance…

-from A Sonnet for Trinity Sunday by Malcolm Guite

Read the rest of the poem here https://malcolmguite.wordpress.com/2020/06/06/a-sonnet-for-trinity-sunday-7/ 

Blessings,

Heather, Worship Coordinator

___________________

Have questions and wondering who to contact?

• Anything relating to worship services: Heather at worship@wpgbc.org
• Anything else related to the office, church directory, weekly emails, who to talk to about a question, etc: Anne at office@wpgbc.org

Dear Friends,

For our Sunday July 31st service, you are invited to share a worship song, or passage of scripture (250 words or less) that has been meaningful to you at some point in your spiritual life. You are also invited to include a short explanation of the impact this song/scripture passage has made in your walk with God.

The worship team will lead us in singing the worship songs together, in reading the scripture passages and in reading the impact of these songs/passages on individual lives. Or, we may invite you to come on stage and read it yourself if you are willing to do so. If this is the case, we'll let you know in advance.

This will be a special Sunday where we have a glimpse into each others' spiritual journeys. Thank you to all contributors!

PS Please note that while we will do our best to include as many as possible, we might not be able to include all the submissions depending on suitability / how many we receive.

You can submit your worship song or scripture passage using the form at this link:

https://forms.gle/ykk1jeo1HoBohcp68

DEADLINE: Submission will close after the end of Sunday, July 24th, to give use time to prepare and practice. Thank you!