Please pray for
MILL LAKE CHURCH
Our LPD Church of the Week
Mill Lake Church (formerly known as “Abby Free”) was planted in 1962, when the population of Abbotsford was just 20,326 people. Today the population is more than 141,000. The community has been known as the “Bible Belt,” and more recently,on occasion, as the “bullet belt,” due to some violence related to the drug trade.
Abby Free has changed with the community, and over the years has had to retool and revision, all the while being true to its mission.
In the spring of 2020, the church launched a name change to “Mill Lake Church.” This reflects a refreshed and renewed vision and their desire to be “salt and light” to the neighbourhood in which God has placed them. They state:
We exist to make the hope of Jesus known
We are Mill Lake Church, though for nearly 60 years at the intersection of Marshall and Ware streets in Abbotsford, we’ve been known as Abbotsford Evangelical Free Church (or “AbbyFree”). Our name has recently changed but our commitment to our Mill Lake community has not.
Pastor Randy and Allana Lemke came to serve as youth pastor in 2001, and became Lead Pastor in 2010. (He also serves as Chair of our Lower Pacific District Board). Karl and Mandi Owens serve as Worship Director.
Our Mission
The purpose of our church, by the power of the Holy Spirit, is to glorify God, making disciples of Jesus Christ who cultivate, communicate and celebrate a lifestyle of following Jesus.
To glorify God through connecting people to Jesus and each other.
To find out more about Mill Lake Church, or to “attend” their services virtually, please see their website: https://www.milllakechurch.ca/
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Introducing Evans and Donnae Hundermark
The Lower Pacific District Board is pleased to introduce Evans (Donnae) Hundermark as the candidate to become District Superintendent for the Lower Pacific District of the Evangelical Free Church of Canada.
Here is a letter from our District Chair, Randy Lemke:
LPD_DS_Candidate_Announcement
We are thankful for the diligent work of our District Succession Committee (Charles Labun, Randy Lemke, Ben Crumback Josh Lok, Craig Murdoch and Josephine Papp) who led the search process, and for our district board who unanimously recommend Evans to us.
You will have opportunity to meet Evans and Donnae in person at our district conference (see below), and to affirm them in their servant leadership.
Here is a brief greeting from Evans:
My name is Evans Hundermark and I am a 53-year-old South African man married to a wonderful South African woman, Donnae. I am passionate about The Lord Jesus, His Word and coming alongside others to help them grow in their Christian faith. Donnae has not only been an awesome mother but has also homeschooled our four children, manages our busy home, and is a medical transcriptionist. We have four amazing children – Caleb (24yrs), Kelsey (22yrs and married to Noah), Gabby (20yrs) and Jodi (13yrs), and we are blessed to have one wonderful grand-daughter, Aurora-Rose (11 months).
We started our journey serving God by youth pastoring in South Africa almost 30yrs ago, and have served and pastored in churches in South Africa, Zimbabwe, British Columbia, and Alberta since then. I have a Licentiate degree (the equivalent here is a Bachelors degree in Theology) from five years of study at Cape Town Baptist Seminary in Cape Town, South Africa. In that time I have been a Youth Pastor, Senior Pastor, and served on Ministerials and District Boards in the Lower Mainland, BC and Alberta. Donnae has a diploma in nursing in South Africa, and as mentioned is presently a medical transcriptionist for a hospital in Belfast, Ireland, and for three hospitals in Ontario.
Our heart is to serve – to serve one another, serve God’s family, the church, and to serve you, the district God is leading us to. We are excited about the journey God has had us on over this last year. It has been both scary and exciting, but we feel stretched and our faith has been put to the test as we look back on this last year. I look forward to sharing more with you!
As we look forward we are excited by what God is doing in these unique times and how He is using people like you to build His Kingdom and get the Gospel out in a world of chaos and turmoil. I am excited to join you on your journey with your church and be a part of this incredible mission God is calling us to. I hope to share more at conference in March and hope to personally meet you there.
Please be in prayer for Evans and Donnae as they serve in their current ministry, pastoring Foremost EFC, as they transition, and as they prepare for what God has for them in the days ahead.
Karen and I look forward to serving with them and continuing to serve you through the season of transition ahead.
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COVID UPDATE
There are no new mandates for churches this week. Please see the ongoing policies for worship services : covid-19/info/restrictions#new
Mask Mandate: Masks are required for all indoor settings including faith services. The mask is required for everyone 5 years of age and older, and includes choirs. Masks can be removed to speak or pray up front if social distancing is maintained, or for communion.
Gathering and Events: Faith Services must now limit capacity to 50% of seating capacity unless the church decides to require everyone in attendance to provide proof of vaccine. In calculating seating capacity it would be wise to use the load occupancy of the facility in which the service will be held. (This number is the seating capacity, as determined by the Fire Marshal, and posted in your church). This number will in most cases be higher than the number of seats you have set up in your church.
Here is the information from the BC Centre for Disease Control: bccdc.ca/health-info/faith-based-spiritual-and-worship-practices
Here is a link to the Provincial Health Orders on Masks, as updated on Monday, December 6: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/covid-19/info/restrictions#masks
Please check our LPD Website to keep up to date with the latest regulations and protocols: https://www.lpd-efcc.ca/covid-19/
For personal assistance regarding COVID Policy and the Canadian Recovery Hiring Program (CHRP) and COVID Protocols, please contact Josephine at our district office.
