Midway Bible Camp has faced various challenges in the last few years. The lease on the previous campsite had run out, leaving the camp in need of a new home. God has provided a new site that is even better situated than the old site. Forest fires and building delays changed plans this past summer, but God still gave opportunities to reach the youth with the gospel in unexpected ways. Work is ongoing to clear the site and build the necessary facilities. Danielle Johnston, Correspondent  Christian Fellowship Chapel Winnipeg Winnipeg, MB Timothy Harris, Pastor cfc-wpg.org We continue to have a lot to be thankful for! Our fall season began with a pancake breakfast in our churchyard for congregants and neighbors alike. English and Spanish Sunday School resumed, as did our AWANA club. The Ladies Abide Group met for four sessions, where we studied waiting on God. We have had baby dedications, and baby showers, a wedding shower and a wedding, and the blessing of helping two YFC missionaries in our midst with a fundraiser.
 This picture brings in our Advent theme, LIGHT OF THE WORLD. Painted by our resident artist, we see the cross and light from heaven, superimposed onto Bethlehem and our corner of the city. Can you see our church? There’s symbolism to ponder here. Each week as we move toward Christmas Eve, there will be more lights in the sanctuary. Our theme song this year is LIGHT OF THE WORLD, by “We the Kingdom”, and this will be sung in conjunction with the candle lighting each week. Each week, there will also be a personal story given related to Hope, Peace, Joy and, Love. Our first Advent speaker was Mike Reimer. He spoke on bringing the light of the gospel to an unreached village in Bolivia 18 years ago. He could only visit twice in person, but prayed that Radio Tembipe, (meaning “light” in Guarani), would help bring these people out of demonic darkness. Recently, a woman called the radio station, asking to be baptized. When the radio pastor came, 54 people wanted to be baptized! There's a church starting there now, 18 years after Mike’s first visits!
Countryside Bible Church Meade, KS Jonathan Dale, Pastor countrysidebiblechurch.net "It is good to give thanks to the LORD, and to sing praises to Thy name, O Most High; To declare Thy lovingkindness in the morning, and Thy faithfulness by night, With the ten-stringed lute, and with the harp; With resounding music upon the lyre. For Thou, O LORD, hast made me glad by what Thou hast done, I will sing for joy at the works of Thy hands. How great are Thy works, O LORD! Thy thoughts are very deep." -Psalm 92:1-4 Greetings in the precious name of our Lord, and a blessed Thanksgiving and Christmas season to all of you! Praying that the Lord will bless each of you and your families with His abundant goodness, grace, and lovingkindness throughout the rest of the year and as we begin a new year. There are indeed so many things to be thankful for, and our God is worthy of all our praise and adoration, and He has made us glad! May we indeed sing for joy at the works of His hands! We’re grateful to share a glimpse of what God has been doing at Countryside Bible Church recently. The first Sunday in November, we had our annual Harvest Missions weekend, which is always a special time. Taylor and Abigail Wiens and their three boys from Redeemer Bible Church in Liberal, Kansas, came to share with us as our missionary family for the week. Abigail shared an encouraging devotional about "Pursuing a Path of Wisdom" from Proverbs chapters 1 and 4 with the ladies at the Ladies Brunch on Saturday, and Taylor shared with the men at the Men's Trap Shoot that afternoon. On Sunday morning, Taylor gave a challenging and convicting message from Colossians 1:28-29 – "The Mission of the Church: To Proclaim Christ." To proclaim Christ is indeed the mission of the church, and it is the mission of every believer within the Body of Christ, not just the pastors/elders. After the Worship Service, we had our special Harvest Missions Meal together. Throughout the month of November, Pastor Jonathan took us through a short series of "Thanksgiving Psalms" during our Morning Worship Services. It has been so encouraging and uplifting to be reminded to have our hearts and minds filled with thanksgiving praise unto our great God! We went through Psalm 30, Psalm 42, Psalm 43, and Psalm 111. On Sunday evenings we have been going through a series studying "The Fear of God" more in depth. We have dug deeper into several different passages of Scripture referencing the fear of God, and Pastor Jonathan has given many examples and helpful suggestions as well. What a vivid reminder that we all ought to be growing both in our fear of God and our love for God! And to be able to realize and recognize what is a right and righteous fear and view of God, and what it looks like to have an unrighteous and wrong fear of God. One of the books he has recommended is: "The Forgotten Fear" by Albert Martin. This fall, some from the church have also had the opportunity to talk with people in our community as we have gone door-to-door "Witnessing in the Neighborhood." There have been some interesting conversations with people, where some have been very receptive and wanted to hear more, and others who avoided the topic or said they didn’t have time to talk. Please pray with us for boldness and courage to proclaim Christ and make Him known, no matter what, and to be bright lights for Christ in our community! Now that we are getting into December, there are several Christmas festivities beginning at Countryside Bible Church, and we look forward to this joyous time of celebrating our Savior's birth together and how Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners (1 Timothy 1:15)! What a joyous truth that is. On December 6th, we had our Ladies Christmas Candlelight event. We had a special Christmas treat exchange, shared dessert together, sang hymns, and listened to some special music. December 14th is our Family Christmas Night, where the children (2 years old up to Junior High) will be taking turns reading through the Christmas Account in Luke 2, and will sing some different Christmas Carols reflecting on Jesus as King. A favorite of the evening is Mr. Jerome Wiens' Children's Story, which he reads, and he always has Oreos to give out to the children. This year, a number of different folks from the church will also be playing "O Little Town of Bethlehem" with hand bells. A special Christmas Worship Service is being planned for December 21st, and then we will also plan to have a Christmas Eve Service together on December 24th. If any of you are in the area during this Christmas season (or anytime throughout the year!), you are more than welcome to join us! We would love to have you come and worship the Lord along with us! Abigail Bartel, Correspondent Dalmeny Bible Church Dalmeny, Saskatchewan Dennis Friesen, Pastor dalmenybiblechurch.ca We were grateful to reconnect with several Global Partners this summer. One of our partners, whose name we cannot share due to the nature of their ministry, joined us for a church camping weekend and shared on a Sunday morning. We also welcomed updates from Matthew and Katarina Colegrove with GEM from Germany, Linda Walker from the Bridge Fellowship, and Dave Thiessen and Anthony with Children’s Camps International. We welcomed three new members into our membership in June. We held our Mini Club Summer Camps in July where kids from grade 1-3 came in the mornings to experience all sorts of clubs, such as Lego, crafts, games, cooking, and woodworking. The afternoons welcomed kids in grade 4-6 for art, cooking, and board games clubs. Our theme for the week was Beach Party, and we talked about Jesus' love and character through Bible stories that involved the beach! The week wrapped up with a BBQ where we got a chance to get to know the families of the campers better. We also hosted a soccer camp with Athletes in Action. This has turned into a well anticipated week in our community every summer, and we held one of our biggest camps this year. We love this program for how it focuses on the whole athlete - body, mind, and spirit by teaching skills alongside the gospel and showing love to the kids who attend. As a ministry leader, I have also come to love the way that this program develops our young leaders, who also love to be involved in this ministry! Overall, we were blessed with a great week full of great kids and even great weather, which is always a huge answer to prayer! We started the beginning of Sept with a BBQ lunch for the congregation and held a New Attendees Lunch one Sunday for those who have recently begun attending our church. Bible Discovery (Sunday mornings) and Youth (Tuesdays and Thursdays) have all started up again after the summer break as well as our Mini Clubs program which runs Wednesday nights. This is one of our main community outreach programs that we revamped after the pandemic. This fall we have cooking, Lego, woodworking, crafts, and crochet clubs available for kids to attend. Pray that we can continue to use this program well to reach our community families and welcome them into our church. On October 31st we held our annual Trunk or Treat event in our church parking lot. Many church families brought their vehicles, decorated their trunks and handed out candy. The local fire department and police service also joined in! We served free hot dogs and hot chocolate (nearly 400 cups!!). This year we also set up a projector and outdoor screen and put on the Blue Jays playoff game, which was a fun bonus! It was a great time connecting with kids and families and providing a welcoming atmosphere for our community. We filled 41 shoeboxes for the Operation Christmas Child project. Ladies attended a hotdog roast potluck, worship, and reconnecting at a local acreage in Sept; in October the theme was thankfulness with a testimony from Shirley Hiebert; November we enjoyed a Baked Potato Bar for supper and Val Redekop shared on reaching out in our own church foyer. Men’s Breakfasts are once a month with someone sharing their testimony. On November 15th we held our annual @home conference. This is where we come together and touch on different conversations around discipling the next generation. This year our focus was on developing resiliency in our kids, including helping them develop a biblical worldview, helping them critique and engage with culture, and helping them boldly step out in faith. We are excited by the conversations that happened and will hopefully continue moving forward! The Triad Ministry among men and women continues to expand as several new groups have been formed to encourage Bible Reading, Prayer and Support/Accountability Sixteen adults of various ages are in the midst of a year-long comprehensive discipleship program called Deep Discipleship, which is equipping them in the Christian Story, Christian Belief, and Christian Formation. This fall, we expanded our school partnerships with the vision of serving “the least of these” (Matthew 25:40-45). Fourteen volunteers are helping with literacy development (K–6), and more than 50 volunteers serve through a nutrition program in both the elementary and high school. Dennis, Jaydon, Melissa, and Marilyn, Correspondents Martensville Mission Church Martensville, SK Justin Klassen, Pastor This Fall, Pastor Justin started a new sermon series where he has been leading us through the book of Ephesians. He has paused the Ephesians series to focus on Advent. MMC was a hub of activity this Fall, with children and youth filling up spaces in our church as the various programs started once again. There is nothing like food and fellowship to celebrate the Lord’s goodness and faithfulness to us, and we had several opportunities for both. The fall season was officially kicked off with a family BBQ following the Sunday service on September 14th, and we shared our Thanksgiving meal on October 19th. Our Christmas Banquet was on December 7th after the morning service, our Ladies Fellowship Supper will be on December 11th, with our guest speaker, Katie Snow from the MMC, presenting her testimony, and lastly, the Christmas Coffee House will be on December 13th. September was also an exciting time for the MMC. Besides September 14th being our kickoff Sunday, it was also a baptismal Sunday. We were blessed by five individuals who took the step of obedience and publicly declared their faith through baptism. At our Semi-annual meeting on September 26th, the MMC Membership passed a resolution to proceed with a vote to accept the proposed building plan for an addition of a new sanctuary and a complete renovation of our existing church building. After a resounding “yes” to the plan, we pray for the Lord’s blessing and wisdom as we step out in faith and work towards our goal. As a Christmas fundraiser, with proceeds going to the building fund, our fundraising committee is selling trays of homemade Christmas treats. What better way to get ready for Christmas! As always, Operation Christmas Child in November was a huge success as we sent over a hundred shoe boxes to Samaritan’s Purse. It was such a blessing to see the MMC Sunday School kids bring those boxes into the sanctuary for the dedication and to know that each of these boxes will bless another child in another part of the world. Further to the Samaritan’s Purse children’s ministry, Compassion Canada also gave a presentation on November 16th and eight children were blessed through sponsorship. Our Sunday School kids are busy preparing for the Christmas presentation, which will be during the service on December 21st. The annual Mission Trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, is scheduled for next February 18-25, 2026. Five men have signed up to go and will be working on various improvements to the new church building in Oaxaca, including soundproofing their sanctuary and constructing a proper balcony, as well as removing the old church building. They will also take some time to go up to a village in the mountains to encourage and minister to the people there by assisting them in Bible studies, in reading their Bibles, and in teaching them to apply Biblical teachings to their lives. Brenda Quirt, Correspondent  Rock Valley Chapel Beloit, WI rockvalleychapel.org After 17 years of faithful ministry at Rock Valley Chapel, Pastor Tim Johnson and his wife, Kathryn, felt God's call to pursue ministry in a different place and way. We had the month of July for Pastor Tim to prepare us in his messages for this new era in the life of Rock Valley Chapel, and ending in a wonderful time of fellowship and a farewell meal with our congregation. Pastor Tim and Kathryn have moved to Virginia, where he is the Executive Director of the Bradley Study Center. We wish them God's richest blessings as they follow God's leading and ministry!  Pastor Tim Johnson and family Karen Broekhuis, Correspondent Salem Church Waldheim, SK James VanderVeen, Pastor salemchurch.ca Over the last few months, we have started up our Fall programs and seen a significantly higher number of community kids attending our midweek programs. We also had the opportunity to celebrate 10 baptisms in November! There has been much to celebrate and rejoice in during this season, and we recognize God’s faithfulness through it all. This has also been a season of change for Salem Church. Brenda Wiens, who has served as the Director of Family Ministries for the last 6 years, retired at the end of July. Shawna Mwakikuti, who has served as the Office Administrator for the last 5 years, began her maternity leave in July. Shailey Boehm started the position of Office Administrator in August, however the position for the Director of Family ministries is still vacant. Shailey Boehm, Correspondent Saron Mennonite Church Fairview, Oklahoma Arnold Curby, Pastor  In October, our church hosted chalk artist James Pence and his wife, Laurel. Jim shared two inspiring chalk art presentations, with the evening performance seeing an especially large turnout from people in the community
Saron Church was recently recognized for five years of service as the Area Dropoff Collection Center in northwest Oklahoma for Operation Christmas Child. On November 16, forty-two shoeboxes were collected from our church during the morning service. Church volunteers worked throughout the following week receiving shoeboxes from other churches in northwest Oklahoma, then helped load the trucks to deliver the boxes to the distribution center in Dallas, Texas. Denise Nunn, OCC Area Coordinator, reported a total of 5,624 shoeboxes from our area! This month, we are anticipating Christmas caroling, a Curby Christmas Open House, the annual Christmas Eve service, and our New Year's Eve party! Grace Curby, Correspondent Vita Bible Church Vita, Manitoba Jonathan Coutts, Pastor vitabiblechurch.com As we say goodbye to summer, we turn our excitement toward a fresh new year of Sunday school, small groups, Kid’s Club, Women’s Ministry, and Youth Group. Pastor Jonathan has set aside our look into the Psalms for summer and has resumed our study of the book of Acts and the early church. “What does it take to be saved?” Pastor Jonathan asked us one Sunday morning. For the Jews and the Gentiles of the early church, and for us today, Paul proclaims that we are all saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus our LORD. After a meeting of the disciples, the apostle James decides to share with the Gentile believers a few guidelines they will do well to follow. He includes these as a means to bring unity and peace amongst the Jewish and Gentile believers, for the encouragement and edification of the church, as well as not to discourage those whose faith has not yet reached maturity. Therefore, our salvation is the same today as it was for the early church, a free gift we do not deserve; grace. Pastor Jonathan also reminded us of 2 Timothy 3:12, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,”. The early church was no stranger to persecution. It was the very tool used to spread and strengthen the church. As we hear of and experience persecution in the world today, may we be strengthened, and together spread God’s Word even more boldly, continually encouraging our fellow believers. Our fall meetings, November 9th-11th, focused on marriage. We spent all three evenings meeting together to discuss being “Married for Good.” All across the world, and even in our churches, marriages are under attack. The number of people being married and considering marriage has drastically dropped in the past few years. With this in mind, we gathered together to study the scriptures to hear what God has to say about marriage and His design for it. We listened to various people within our church, as well as testimony from a guest speaker, about how God has brought about healing in marriage, and how God uses our marriage to draw us closer to God. We discussed hope and restoration even when there are failures, and what a blessing it is to spend time with our spouses, building up our relationships and having our marriages be an example to both believers and unbelievers alike. On November 16th, we enjoyed a baby dedication where our three newest babies, Preston Friesen, David Doerksen, and Olivia Dyck, were all dedicated to the LORD. It is with such great joy that we have the opportunity to come alongside and encourage these young families as they strive to raise Godly offspring for Him.  From left to right: Hunter and Jenny Doerksen with baby David, Colton and Corissa Friesen with baby Preston, and Jared and Aniko Dyck with baby Olivia. Here at Vita Bible Church, we are so blessed by the fellowship we share on Sunday mornings both in Sunday school, where we have opportunity to study the scriptures and to take part in discussions, learning from one another, asking questions, and getting to know one another better, as well as during our morning service, where we can hear God’s Word proclaimed. We also take the opportunity to encourage one another during our various weekday programs and enjoy the opportunity to host or visit a fellow congregant at random one Sunday a month with our “Guess Who’s Coming for Coffee”. We are so thankful for our church family and our time spent together, all praise and glory to God for His design for His church. Tiffany Tuurenhout, Correspondent Tags:
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12/8/2025
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