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Justice and Compassion |
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What is the family of churches known as The Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada doing in the area of justice and compassion? How are local churches reaching out to the disenfranchised and needy in our communities?
Here is a brief listing of some of the activities. As we become aware of others, they will be added. For further information on each individual project or ministry, contact the listed individual.
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Canadian Pacific District |
 Oliver Alliance Church Oliver, B.C.
Coffee House. Oliver Alliance Church runs a store front coffee house called Oasis. It is open for a minimum of two hours each morning, Monday to Friday. Volunteers from the church offer coffee, muffins and conversation to anyone who stops by. Our purpose is to show God?s love by caring for marginalized people in our community.
For information, please contact Pastor Jeremy Cook, olivercma@telus.net |
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Chilliwack Alliance Church
Chilliwack, BC
Blue Christmas Service. A special reflective liturgical worship service planned annually one week prior to Christmas. It is designed to assist those who have experienced loss (death, divorce, health, employment) and for whom Christmas is especially difficult. Personal invitations are sent throughout the community to hospices, hospitals, funeral homes as well as those we personally know who have suffered loss. At this event, people are given permission to experience and express the sorrow of their circumstance.
Cookies for Kids. Each month the church partners with a local church to provide cookies at recess. Volunteers in the church bake and deliver the cookies. Adjunct to this, the church does a winter coat and book delivery to the school?s lost and found so that teachers can go to the depository and "find? appropriate winter clothing for those who have none without embarrassing the children.
Grandparents raising Grandchildren. In cooperation with local social services, the church has created a strategic partnership to provide a weekly support group for grandparents and/or other non-parental relatives who are raising children. To free them up for the support group, the children are seamlessly streamlined into the existing midweek children?s programme.
Dr. John Gray, Assoc. Pastor Adult & Community Care |
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Fort St. John Alliance Church
Fort St. John, BC
Clothesline. The church hosts a clothing drive and giveaway twice a year for the community. Prior to the event, clothes are brought in, cleaned and sorted. Then, during a three day "Clothesline?, those clothes are provided free of charge to the needy in the community. The event has helped hundreds of families in the area and is, today, a much anticipated community event.
C.L.O.D. "Christ?s Love On Display? is a church-wide fundraising/outreach event where the church targets a particular community project or need. Past projects have included I-Vac pumps for the hospital, financial gifts for the Community Pregnancy Care Centre and MCC Respite Care Services, automatic opening doors for the Seniors Care Centre, office furniture for a palliative care centre, equipment for the local hospital?s kidney dialysis unit and a thermal imaging camera for the local fire department.
Rev. Gord Klassen, Assoc. Pastor |
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Sevenoaks Alliance Church
Abbotsford, BC
Clothesline. A biannual clothing giveaway event that serves 500+ people and mobilizes approximately 30 volunteers.
Love, Abbotsford. Practical monthly community-wide ministries that help the poor in the community as well as the general public. The monthly ministries include doing yard work for the infirm, painting over graffiti on public buildings, food giveaways, cleaning up local parks and the like.
ESL. Providing language assistance for new Canadians, helping them feel at home in the new country.
Extreme weather shelter. Provide beds, sleeping bags and locations in the church gym as a needed shelter during extreme weather. The church also provides breakfast and a bag lunch. This operates in conjunction with three teams from a group of churches that provide volunteers
Rev. Jack Campbell, Outreach Pastor |
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Tenth Avenue Alliance
Vancouver, BC
Out Of the Cold. This programme hosts an average of 100-170 underprivileged people each Monday evening over a hot meal. Approximately 25 stay overnight and are served a hot breakfast the next morning. Each Tuesday at noon the church hosts between 70-90 with a hot meal.
Patrick Elaschuk, Interim pastor, missions and outreach |
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Vernon Alliance
Vernon, BC
Common threads. Free new and used clothing provided to those in need from "Common Threads? a boutique located next door to the church.
Compassion Ministry. Counseling and practical support for those in times of personal difficulty. Examples include providing freezer meals to anyone who is hungry, school supplies each fall to those students who lack the necessary resources to buy supplies, and volunteer nurses to provide health information and counseling.
Gwen Bilodeau, Compassions Ministry |
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Pacific Community Church
Surrey, BC
Cloverdale Cares. The church has taken a leadership position in a new partnership with other area churches to form "Cloverdale Cares?. Projects include providing mattresses, blankets and pillows for a new emergency shelter during extreme weather; renting and developing a space that will provide showers and laundry facilities; a community Christmas hamper drive for more than 200; creating and distributing "knap? sacks filled with underwear, socks, toiletries, blankets and other items for the homeless.
Dean Cooper, Executive Pastor |
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To read what's happening in the Western Canadian District, click here.
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To read what's happening in the Canadian Midwest District, click here.
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To read what's happening in the Central Canadian District, click here.
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To read what's happening in the Eastern Canadian District, click here.
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Disclaimer: The
C&MA in Canada is not responsible for the content
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© 2010 The Christian and Missionary Alliance
in Canada. All Rights Reserved.
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