WVC Newsletter
Coming Up At WVC
January 25, 2024
Hello Church Family,
Seasons come and go bringing changes we need to embrace. The warm weather this week has given us a taste of Spring reminding us this seasonal change is just around the corner. Changing our clocks on Saturday evening to adjust to daylight savings time also reminds us that Spring will soon be here.
We are experiencing changes as a church in transition. Our welcome goes out to Heather O’Connell who has accepted the position of Church Administrator. Heather will be working part-time, at fifteen hours a week. Caleb Gagnier has been working generally as assistant pastor. Caleb is now our Pastor of Youth and Young Adults. We are sharing Caleb with Next Level Ministries where he will be able to invest his pastoral skills, mentoring small group leaders to take their group to the next level of their walk with Jesus. Caleb will minister at WVC 25 hours a week and at Next Level 15 hours a week.
Good Friday and Easter Sunday at WVC
At the end of March we will celebrate Good Friday and Easter Sunday together. On both these days, we will have a family worship service including our children.
On Good Friday, we will meet at 10am in our worship auditorium to reflect on the death of Jesus on the cross and how this is Good News for us. The service will include taking communion together. Since we will have the children with us, it will be up to the parents to guide the children as to whether or not they should take communion. Participating in communion is an expression of faith in Jesus as Lord and Saviour. Many people come to Jesus for salvation as children. However, not all children - nor all adults, have experienced a personal relationship with Jesus which we celebrate in communion. We encourage you to make Good Friday an opportunity to have a conversation with your children about sin, salvation and deciding to follow Jesus.
Easter Sunday, we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. Our family worship service at 10am will focus on the resurrection and the call to Walk with Jesus while reflecting on the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. Following our service, we will celebrate together in the cafeteria over brunch.
Family Easter Craft Night
We are looking forward to our Family Easter Craft Night on March 22nd at 6pm. We will be doing some painting, and will have some other special crafts, and will celebrate the resurrection of Christ together. To register and for more information, please click here. We hope to see you there!
WVC Summer Camps
This summer, we are excited to be offering three different weeks of camp!
We will be having two weeks of backyard camp, where we will be learning about how God always wins, and about the greatness of God in salvation. The camp will be olympic themed and we will have Bible story time, games, crafts, and some fun surprise activities! Backyard Bible Camp will be for any children going into JK up to grade 5. It will cost $20 per child, to cover the cost of snacks, craft supplies, and t-shirts.
For more information or to register, please click below:
Backyard Bible Camp Week 1 - July 1st-5th - Mooney's Bay
Backyard Bible Camp Week 2 - July 22nd-26th - Westboro
We will also be partnering with Sequoia Church to offer VBS! The kids will set off on an epic adventure from Genesis to Revelation, to answer questions like: Did God really create everything? Why do bad things happen? Why do I need to be saved? Can I trust the Bible?
The camp will run at the Ottawa Christian School, on July 8th-12th, from 9am - 3:30pm. Children from K-Grade 6 will be welcome to join us for the great jungle journey!
For more information or to register, please click here.
We are looking for volunteers to join us as group leaders and helpers. Please be praying about serving some awesome kids, and sharing the love of Christ with them this summer! If you would be interested in serving at backyard camp or at VBS, please email emily@westvillage.church.
WVC Youth Group and Young Adults
The Lord has been moving in so many incredible ways through our new Young Adults and upcoming Youth ministries. The Young Adults meet weekly on Monday evenings to pray, share, study God’s word, serve, and of course, eat good food! The Lord is also at work in regards to the Youth. Some of our faithful volunteers and parents were able to meet this past Sunday to discuss how we can better serve and care for the youth at WVC. It was a very encouraging meeting and we are excited to share more news regarding our next steps very soon.
For more information about Young Adults, click here or email caleb@westvillage.church.
New Plan to Protect Trainer
Are you passionate about helping make sure that children and vulnerable adults are safe at WVC? We are looking for someone who would be willing to teach our Plan to Protect training course. This person would teach our church’s policy as well as Plan to Protect procedures to volunteers who will be serving with children, youth, and/or vulnerable adults. If you would be interested in serving in this way, or if you would like more information, please email caleb@westvillage.church.
Church Family Update - March 24th
We will be holding a Church Family Update following the service on Sunday, March 24th for all who consider WestVillage their church-home. Parents are encouraged to promptly pick up their children from WVC Kids and re-join us in the auditorium to hear from our Elders and leadership team about how God is moving us forward and growing us as His church.
Upcoming Dates to Remember
Monday, March 11th @ 9:30am - Playgroup - More information here
Monday, March 11th @ 7pm - Young Adults - More information here
Tuesday, March 12th @ 7pm - Sister Circle - More information here
Wednesday, March 20th @ 6:30pm - OpenC - More information here
Friday, March 22nd @ 6pm - WVC Kids Family Easter Craft Night - More information here
Sunday, March 24th after the service - Church Family Update - More information here
Friday, March 29th @10am - Good Friday Service - More information here
Sunday, March 31st @ 10am - Easter Sunday Service and Brunch - More information here
We are looking forward to connecting with you all over the coming weeks.
Blessings,
WVC Staff