Hello Church,
Here is the latest update on SCC Chase. Spring has sprung in the Shuswap and with the warm weather
comes the sun and the return of the song and snow birds. We have had a great spring so far out in Chase and are looking forward to what the summer holds for SCC.
This spring we ran a six week long Alpha program. It was hosted in our home and it was amazing to see
God at work in Chase through it. The series started out a bit rocky, we had invited a bunch of families from
Kids Zone and the community and many people expressed some interest in attending. Then they all cancelled the morning of our kick-off. We began to invite everyone we could think of to try and get people out. We were a little worried, but God was working. Our family was covering a local paper route that day and were racing to get it done before Alpha started that evening. In the rush we missed a house and the owner came out and chased after us down the street in search of his paper. We apologized and gave him his paper and as we were about to leave we invited him out to Alpha. He came. It was really neat to see how the whole situation played out. It reminded me a little of the Parable of the Wedding Feast found in Luke 14. That night, when all day we were unsure if anyone was going to come, we had 4 non-Christians show up for our first meeting. It was amazing. Over the next few weeks our group continued to grow and as we ended we had over 25 people (including children) invade our home on Thursday nights to hear about Jesus. God is at work in Chase.
For Easter Sunday, instead of hosting an evening service as usual, we gathered together at 10:30am to
celebrate together. We had a great service which saw over 40 people come through our doors to worship
together. This summer we are looking at transitioning from evening gatherings to a morning service but all the details for that switch have yet to be sorted out. This is an exciting time in the life of our church and we are looking forward to the upcoming changes.
On May 14th we ran our final Kids Zone event for the season. We ended off with a bunch of fun games
and a candy auction. One of the items up for grabs in the auction was an “Action Bible” (a comic book style
story bible). A little boy from a non-Christian home, who got connected with our church last summer through soccer camp, came out for the event. He saved up his money and instead of spending it on Mars bars and suckers he bought the Action Bible. I coach his younger brother in the community soccer league and I was talking to his Mom the next day. She told me that since getting the Bible he hasn’t put it down. He absolutely loves it. Since January we have had over 45 different children come and be a part of Kids Zone. It has been an amazing way to connect with the families in Chase and has helped us to build a positive reputation in the community.
Looking ahead we have a lot to look forward to. This summer we will be hosting a series of Family
movie nights to continue to build relationships in the community and meet new people. We have plans to run some children’s and family activities at the Canada Day celebrations as well as our annual Soccer Camp Outreach. We will also be working with some young leaders in the community to host a youth hangout night to begin to build towards a youth program in Chase. Children and youth are an unreached demographic in Chase. The village has a reputation as a retirement community but Haldane Elementary, Chase Secondary and the Chief Atahm School boast a combined enrollment of close to 600 young people. These children and their families make up a significant demographic of the community yet are proportionally underrepresented in the local churches. We hope to reach out to these pockets of people and be a shining light of the transforming power of the gospel!
Our church has been blessed in many ways by the unique model of church that we are a part of. Being
one church in four locations is not just a novelty but rather the work of God in the church to make disciples of all nations. The overflow campaign and the support pledged by the other campuses allow us to continue to minister to and reach the lost people in Chase. It is a huge blessing to our church that we don’t have to worry about dollars and cents but rather can focus on lost souls and seeing people come to salvation. The gospel counselling classes hosted by the Salmon Arm campus have been well received and we have had over half a dozen people from our campus join in those discussions. A huge blessing has been the ability to live stream the seminars which help us, in the remote corners of the Shuswap, engage without the 2 hour round trip commute. We gather in our living room here and watch together and it is a beautiful thing. We also had a number of families make the trek to the Good Friday service in Enderby. As with many of us, they were awestruck to see our church gathered together as a whole. Sometimes we can lose sight that we are part of something more and that service was a glimpse of what the glory of heaven will look like. The saints from all across the world gathered together to worship our Lord. Please continue to pray for our family and this community.
There are many exciting things happening but we are in this fight for the long haul. The church
has endured for centuries around the world and we hope this little church in Chase can thrive as well. If you would like to hear more about what is going on our in Chase please feel free to give me a call or come and check things out for yourself. We meet on Sunday evening at 5:35PM at the Chase community hall. We would love to see you.
Blessings,
Pastor Spencer Coers
(250) 306-3527
spencer@aplacetobelong.ca