News

Generosity Update

Jan 5, 2023

Dear Cascades Church family,

Thank you for demonstrating care and generosity through November’s Month of Generosity and our Christmas Eve Offering. In this time we highlighted a total of 5 different ministries working in our city, Mexico and the Middle East.
Together we were able to give: $4371.30.
Additionally, we gave:
12 Christmas Gift cards for refugee families new to our city through Journey Home Community.
10+ Backpacks of Hope for people struggling with homeless through Lookout.
Thank you for giving for the good of others over these last two months.

You can review a detailed breakdown of donations for each organization below.

May God bless you richly,

Pastor Alex on Behalf of Cascades Leadership Team

Indigenous Neighbours Workshop

September 2023

Date: September 27 | 6:30-8:30PM
Where: Gym

What is a Blanket Exercise?
The Blanket Exercise is an interactive and visual approach to telling the story of Canada and the first settlers who came into contact with Indigenous peoples in the land. It’s called the Blanket Exercise because the story is told using blankets laid on the ground to represent Indigenous People and the land.

Participants are invited to step into a reenactment of this history and stand on the blankets. As the story unfolds various participants will be asked to leave the blankets or have the blankets taken away. There will be a time sharing to allow people to process their experiences and leave in a good way.

What is the purpose of this workshop?
To grow in our knowledge, compassion, and capacity to be good neighbours with them.

Who is running this workshop?
We have invited Bridget Findlay from Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) to facilitate this Workshop.
Through the Indigenous Neighbours program MCC walks alongside churches and Indigenous communities toward reconciliation. The program strive to build respectful relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. It does by listening deeply to the voices of Indigenous people and communities and relying on their knowledge and experience.

Can I bring my children?
We recommend bringing children who are 10 years or older.

Is this there a cost ?
No this workshop is free.

Painting the exterior

October 2023

This month A. Craig & Son painted the exterior of the church building. We’re very pleased with the end result!

Before

During

After

Ensenada Mexico Mission

September 2023

Our own Joel Hagglund will be participating on this short-term mission through CA Church. The team will be working closely with Oasis Ranch. It is a boys home that houses troubled youth from all over Mexico.

Ways to Support Joel:

Download Prayer Requests

Giving – If you’d like to give towards Joel’s mission costs you can do via tithe.ly or cheque and indicating “Ensenada Mexico Mission Support”.

Generosity Update

December 2022

A note from Pastor Alex:
I’m so glad to share to share this update with you. Thank you for partnering with Jesus in loving our city in November.

In November, we gave over $3000 through our Month of Generosity initiative. That money went towards people in our city need — homeless needing shelter, those living mental health issues finding permanent housing, refugees getting settled, and people equipping churches to pray.

As of Wednesday this past week a total of $2,518.80 had been donated and additional $650 in gift cards. Altogether the total comes to: $3168.80!

This is awesome! The rich in kingdom of God are not those with a ton of money and things, they are those who hold what they have with an open hand to God and ask, what will you have me to do with it? How can I use this for others? Thank you for being a people who live like this!

EWS Season has begun!

November 2022

For the third season in a row, Cascades is partnering with the Lookout Society to offer our gymnasium as an Extreme Weather Shelter for those needing a warm, dry, and safe place to sleep. They will be open from November 1st to March 31st during extreme weather nights as called by the City and the EWR response coordinator. Last season it was open for 108 night nights.

We believe in caring for the poor and that this was something very near to Jesus’ heart. So, we’ve put together a list of four organizations including Lookout Society that doing value work our mission, service, and support. We want to people to consider supporting the Lookout Society.

For more details, check out Month of Generosity campaign.

Our new Worship Director - Sarah

August 2022

The elders and deacons of Cascades would like to bring you up to date on our search for our new Worship Director. In early 2022, we created a job description that outlined the kind worship leader we were looking for. We wanted someone who understood our love for worship, discipleship and the vision God has given us for our church and our city.

We asked you to pray for the Lord’s leading for our next worship director. The position was posted on our website and shared with some of Alex’s contacts in different places. It was also shared on social media and invited you to share it with others.

While we looked and prayed for our next worship leader Joel Hagglund graciously offered to be our interim leader. He served well beyond his initial commitment. We are thankful for Joel’s sacrificial and servant’s heart.

In early July Sarah Pothecary expressed an interest in the worship director position and applied. That same month, Pastor Alex and our Chair Marsha interviewed Sarah on behalf of the leadership team. We were impressed with her mature faith, humility, and her heart to lead others into God’s presence. She has been following us from afar and understands our mission and vision.

We also invited Sarah to come and lead one of our worship services on August 7th. After the service, a number of you shared with us how much you appreciated Sarah’s tone, musical gifting, and leadership.

At a subsequent leadership meeting, we were unanimous in our decision to make an offer to Sarah to become our next Worship Director. We are excited to announce that Sarah accepted our offer. We are delighted to appoint her to his position!

We want to acknowledge that from its inception God has always been faithful to Cascades. We recall how three years ago, the Lord brought Jonas at just the right time, especially with his audiovisual talents; Joel during this season of transition; and we believe the Lord has brought Sarah to us at the right time— for this new season we are entering into at Cascades. We are very thankful for Sarah and for the Lord’s provision. We also want to thank you for your prayer and faithfulness in asking the Lord to lead us through this season of searching and waiting.

We ask for your continued prayer as Sarah and her family leave their home church and transition to Cascades. Sarah will begin working at Cascades on September 1st.

Pastor Alex
On behalf of Cascades Leadership team

We're hiring: Worship Director

Jan 10, 2022

We are passionate about the church gathering to worship. We are looking for a worship director whose heart burns for the presence of God, loves to lead others, and bring creativity and organization to our worship ministry.

Do you know someone who might be a good fit? Tell them about this opportunity!

Details can be found on our Employment Opportunities page.

BC's Health Update

March 11, 2022

Great news— Cascades Church family!

Yesterday Provincial Health Officials announced that because of B.C.’s lowered hospitalization and transmission rates restrictions on the capacity of worship services and the use of masks for indoor public settings would be lifted starting today March 11th, 2022.
We want to say decreasing transmission and hospitalization rates are really good news! We can all rejoice in that. The fact officials believe we can lift these restrictions is also encouraging. However, some of you may be wondering what that means for us.

So there’s no more restrictions then?

When it comes to church gatherings — Yes, that’s right. You can read the announcement here.
Masks are now optional for our worship services and ministries.
The lifting of capacity limits just means we don’t have to turn anyone away when we get to 80 people.

What if I don’t feel comfortable with these changes?

This is an understandable sentiment. We appreciate not everyone will feel excited about this due to health concerns or other reasons. After two years of living through this pandemic a big change like this can be uncomfortable. We want to be a people who are gracious to each other. This has been a long and difficult season.
In light of this, we will reserve the back three rows as a Mask Area and allow for distancing. These three rows are closest to the emergency exit doors and receive the most air flow.
Let’s respect the decisions others make about wearing a mask or maintaining a distance from others, trusting them to make the best decision for themselves.

Will anything stay the same?

Yes, we’ll keep doing these three things:

We will make masks available upon arrival for anyone.
We ask all people who are exhibiting cold/flu symptoms to stay home.
We will Livestream our Worship Services each Sunday at 10AM.

Pastor Alex
On behalf of Cascades Leadership team

Generosity Update

Jan 9, 2022

Dear Cascades Church family,

I’m so glad to share to share this update with you. Thank you for partnering with Jesus in loving our city in November and December.

In November and December, we raised over $6000 through our 3 Weeks of Generosity and Christmas Eve initiative. That money went towards people in our province in need — homeless needing shelter, refugees getting settled, people equipping churches to pray, and for people needing help after severe flooding.

3 Weeks of Generosity Campaign
– Journey Home – $1159 plus $350 in Gift Cards
– Lookout Society – $445 plus 11 Backpacks of Hope
– 24/7 Prayer Canada – $721.95

Christmas Eve Offering
– MCC – BC Flood Response Fund – $3464.13

This is a beautiful reflection of God’s heart for the people of our city. It makes me rejoice to see how God moved among us. Thank you for responding to this initiative!

May God bless you richly,

Pastor Alex on Behalf of Cascades Leadership Team

BC's New Restrictions

Dec 2, 2021

Dear Cascades Church family,

You have likely heard that Provincial Health Officials introduced two new restrictions for religious gatherings. First, masks are now required for everyone over the age of 5 for any religious gathering. Second, there are new capacity restrictions. We will be following with these restrictions. The good news is that not much will change for us at Cascades. Here’s what it means for us:

Masks are now required at our Sunday Gatherings or any other ministry event at Cascades anyone over the year of 5 years. If you do not have a mask, we will provide you with one at the entrance.
Masks can be removed for partaking communion.
The capacity of our services will be limited to 80 people, which is 50% of our capacity. At the moment, we are not at risk over going over this. We have not exceeded more than 80 people in the last 18 months.
Our Christmas Eve service will also have a 80 person limit. We are looking into the best way to do this–including the option of requiring registration through Eventbrite as we did for previous gatherings. We will provide you with more information about this in the coming days.

I (Alex) can appreciate that for some these restrictions feel frustrating and discouraging. There’s room for those emotions, yet I would also want to remind us that these new restrictions will not hinder us from gathering to worship Jesus or loving one another. (All these things are still possible!) Nor can they stop us from engaging in the wondrous story of God coming to us and becoming one of us in the person of Jesus Christ. Let’s be a people who live into that story this Advent season.

Thank you for being a people who seek to keep Jesus front and centre of our community. Thank you for continuing to be a gracious, flexible, and united people.

May God bless you richly,

Pastor Alex on Behalf of Cascades Leadership Team

3 Weeks of Generosity

Nov 21, 2021

November 21 – December 11

We want to highlight organizations doing great work. These three organizations have different mandates and unique groups they seek to serve, but each one serves groups of people that we believe Jesus cares about. We believe seeing our city renewed requires collaboration with different organizations.

Through these three organizations refugees coming to our city are given material, spiritual, and social support; the poor and marginalized are provided shelter; and churches are equipped to cultivate cultures of prayer, mission and justice in our city.

These organizations are Journey Home Community, Lookout Society, and the 24/7 Prayer Canada. For the next three weeks we encourage you to practice generosity by supporting these three organizations by giving to their work and praying for their work.

National Day of Truth and Reconcilation

Oct 3, 2021

This past week was Canada’s first ever National Day of Truth and Reconciliation–A day dedicated to acknowledging the harm done by residential schools and the ongoing effects that Indigenous communities continue to live with. In a spirit of humility and reconciliation let us:

Ministry Room Launch

September 19, 2021

Last week we celebrated the dedication of our new Ministry Room. It was great to see so many faces.

What’s left for us to do?

We will be installing two new windows in the coming months. We are wanting on the contractors to complete their quotes.

Thank you!

As of this past week, you have given over $4200 towards this project. Thank you for responding with generosity.

How can I help?

If you want to contribute to the remaining amount of this project you can do so through tithe.ly and selecting the “Building Fund” option. Or with a cheque or cash and a note indicating “Ministry Room Renovation”.

May God bless you richly,
Pastor Alex on behalf of Cascades Leadership Team.

Renovation Update 4

September 5, 2021

We’re getting closer to having to completing our new ministry space. Floors are installed, the walls are painted, baseboards are getting installed this week. We are excited about this renewed space, but more than a nice space we are excited for the children and adults who will encounter Jesus and the Good News He brings in this room.

What’s left for us to do?

install baseboards and paint them. (this week)
install two new windows.
purchase new storage pieces for Children’s ministry activities.
~~Prep and paint the walls~~
~~Install the floors~~

What will this cost us?

In all this project will cost approximately $14,000.
As of this past week, just over $3000 have been donated.

How can I help?

There are three ways to help: Praying, Serving, and Giving.

You can help by praying for the ministry that will be done in this renewed room. Pray for the kids who will learn about Jesus in this room, pray for the seekers and skeptics alike who will enter into this space that they might like hear of and experience the love and life found in Jesus Christ.
You can help with some of the prep work and labour involved with these remaining items.
You can also help by giving to this specific project.

If you want to contribute to this project you can do so through tithe.ly and selecting the “Building Fund” option. Or with a cheque or cash and a note indicating “Ministry Room Renovation”.

May God bless you richly,
Pastor Alex on behalf of Cascades Leadership Team.

Renovation Update 3

August 27, 2021

Great news! Floors are almost done and walls are getting painted. We’re getting closer to having a new ministry space the important work for caring for and teaching our kids on Sundays, serving people who are exploring Jesus, and helping people know Jesus and embrace His Way.

What’s left for us to do?

install baseboards and paint them.
install two new windows.
purchase new storage pieces for Children’s ministry activities.
Prep and paint the walls
~~Install the floors~~

What will this cost us?

In all this project will cost approximately $14,000.

How can I help?

There are three ways to help: Praying, Serving, and Giving.

You can help by praying for the ministry that will be done in this renewed room. Pray for the kids who will learn about Jesus in this room, pray for the seekers and skeptics alike who will enter into this space that they might like hear of and experience the love and life found in Jesus Christ.
You can help with some of the prep work and labour involved with these remaining items.
You can also help by giving to this specific project.

If you want to contribute to this project you can do so through tithe.ly and selecting the “Building Fund” option. Or with a cheque or cash and a note indicating “Ministry Room Renovation”.

May God bless you richly,
Pastor Alex on behalf of Cascades Leadership Team.

BC's Mask Mandate

August 26, 2021

This week BC health officials announced the reinstatement of the mask mandate for all public indoor spaces. For the time being BC’s mask mandate does not apply to churches–all worship services are exempt.

Despite the mask mandate not applying to us, we still want to take every step possible to make our worship gatherings safe for all people. We love the opportunity to worship together, it is a great gift.
Here’s how we will be moving forward at this time:

Masks are strongly recommended, but not mandatory. Our leadership team will be wearing masks throughout the service unless singing or speaking from the front.
We will have extra masks available if upon arrival you don’t have one and you would like one.
We ask all people who are exhibiting cold/flu symptoms to stay home.
We will continue to livestream our Worship Gatherings each Sunday at 10am.

The past year has been a trying one for many. As we transition into a fall that seems uncertain, let us continue to be a people who are gracious to one another, to our neighbours, and to co-workers. In a time division seems to be the norm, may we pursue another way; the Way of Jesus, our Lord. I (Alex) am reminded the words found in the book we spent much of the past year studying, Ephesians 4:1-3:

“I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

May God bless you richly,
Pastor Alex on behalf of Cascades Leadership Team.

Renovation Update 2

August 15, 2021

Work has begun on removing the carpets, preparing the floors for new flooring as well as prepping and priming the walls for a new coat of paint.

We are working to renovate our ministry space downstairs. We want to create a space that is hospitable for our children’s ministry on Sundays and evening ministries like Alpha.

For those who would like to contribute to this project directly you can do so via:
(1) On tithe.ly be sure to designate “Building Fund” as where you want the gift to go; Or
(2) With a cheque or cash be sure to include a memo indicating “Ministry Room Renovation”. The Offering Envelopes in the Foyer also have an area where you can designate your gift.

Renovation Update 1

August 8, 2021

We are working to renovate our ministry space downstairs. We want to create a space that is hospitable for our children’s ministry on Sundays and evening ministries like Alpha. Among other things, we intend to repaint walls and doors and replace the flooring. Much money has been saved through the work and time given by members who have cleaned, organized and taken things down themselves.
One item we want professionals to do is the installation of commercial laminate flooring. We anticipate the work costing our church about $13,000. While this is a significant expense, the size and needs of the room require professionals to ensure it’s done properly. We’ve seen a number of you give your own time, energy, and sweat to help with this. The new floor coupled with your efforts will go a long way in creating a welcoming and bright space we envision.

A number of you have given in various ways, but others are only hearing about this. This update is also an open invitation. If you want to contribute to this project directly over and above what you normally give you can do so via two ways:
(1) On tithe.ly be sure to designate “Building Fund” as where you want the gift to go.
(2) With a cheque or cash be sure to include a memo indicating “Ministry Room Renovation”. The Offering Envelopes in the Foyer also have an area where you can designate your gift.

How We're Responding to Phase 3

July 1, 2021

As the province enters the Phase 3 on July 1st, here is how we will be responding to the new guidelines:

1. Registration for Sunday worship services is no longer required.
2. Masks are recommended for people 12 years of age and older who are not yet fully vaccinated. (If you do not have a mask and would like one, we can provide it for you).
3. We will be singing.
4. If you are not feeling well, please stay home.
5. Once you arrive at the church, you will be receiving a shot of hand sanitizer.

If you would like to know more about the details of the Provincial Phase 3 guidelines, click here.

Thank you for your support in this. If you have questions don’t hesitate to reach out to us via email.