We at Westheights are part of a great greater church body called BIC Canada (you may have to read that again carefully, it’s not a typo!) which held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) recently in Oakville. I was privileged to attend as a delegate for our church this year but I’d recommend that anyone who would like to be encouraged to hear about how God is at work among His people in the BIC can and should attend.
The day began with some beautiful singing by a young choir from Niagara Christian Community of Schools (affiliated with the BIC), along with meaningful worship. We also heard thoughtful reflections from three representatives of our different congregational expressions – Community Churches (like Westheights), Network Churches (church plants and life communities), and The Meeting House (multi-site, mainly meeting in movie theatres). These three people also represented the diversity of ages we see in our churches as they included a senior person, a twenty-something, and a 10 year old.
Throughout the morning we heard about the lives that God is touching through our many partnerships: with the BIC church in Nepal, through MCC-Canada, Camp Kahquah, and the FLOW internship program for young adults.
While sometimes statistics and financials can be tedious, it was exciting to find out that in the past five years the BIC has launched 18 new church sites and that the attendance in our churches each week is over 10,000 people! As well, we at Westheights are one of 25 BIC churches that have sponsored a refugee family in the past year.
One of the most significant parts of the AGM was the ratification of a suggested name change for the BIC. You’ll be hearing more about this soon but I was glad to be able to contribute my vote to this historic and positive decision.
Finally, an announcement was made about the BIC Summer Book Club. This year’s book is “re(union): The Good News of Jesus for Seekers, Saints, and Sinners” by Meeting House pastor Bruxy Cavey. I have already finished reading it myself and highly recommend it to you.
If you are interested in learning more about the AGM, there are a number of Annual Report videos available on the BIC website to help you get a glimpse of the exciting things that are taking place in the church.