Immanuel Christian Reformed Church
2626 Mayfield Road L7C3K7 Caledon, ON, Canada

Immanuel, thank you for that beautiful tribute video for us today, and for the many gifts we have received and will receive. Your generosity and love is received with much gratitude -Ruth Ann and Erick.

Hey church, as we wait at home to participate in our last service with you, I’m filled with my usual pre-service jitters and second thoughts on all decisions if it appears as though I am less emotional than you would expect at the beginning, keep watching Love Ruth Ann

Really feeling this song today! -RA

Pastor Erick's 4th Reflection Blog, this time on "Ministry" at Immanuel in the last 18.5 years: After writing the reflection last week on our social gatherings, I was wondering why there were not more of them. I suspect it has something to do with the fact that my greater passion is moving people into meaningful ministry and allowing the social connections to happen in that context. So, this week I want to end this series with reflections on some of the ministries we starte...Continue reading

From John Witvliet, director of CICW. Please pray

Yesterday, a snowy November Sunday, was our last in-person gathering for at least 4 weeks. A few families with young children came out as our worship songs were selected from their choices. Ruth Ann led us in actions, Richard led us in prayer, Martin led us to actively remember the Lighthouse ministry, and Pastor Erick opened our eyes to the story of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch as the final sermon in the Re-Church series. It was wonderful to see familiar and new faces.

Facebook Live with Ruth Ann this morning at 10 AM! If you'd like to join the singing and need the lyrics- here they are :) https://docs.google.com//1SBVH7KP2A2yLwDG-mH60_Duuc-/edit

Tomorrow at 10 AM I'll be leading a "live" worship time right here. Please join me as we continue to look at the verse: "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid, do not be discouraged; for the Lord your God will be with you." Joshua 1: 9

Ready to sing this tomorrow? It is by far the most favourite of the boys and girls at Immanuel. Get up and dance!

Why Pray? - Henri Nowen Why should I spend an hour in prayer when I do nothing during that time but think about people I am angry with, people who are angry with me, books I should read, and books I should write, and thousands of other silly things that happen to grab my mind for a moment? The answer is: because God is greater than my mind and my heart and what is really happening in the house of prayer is not measurable in terms of human success and failure.... What I must do first of all is to be faithful. If I believe that the first commandment is to love God with my whole heart, mind, and soul, then I should at least be able to spend one hour a day with nobody else but God. The question as to whether it is helpful, useful, practical, or fruitful is completely irrelevant, since the only reason to love is love itself. Everything else is secondary. The remarkable thing, however, is that sitting in the presence of God for one hour each morningday after day, week after week, month after monthin total confusion and with myriad distractions radically changes my life. God, who loves me so much that he sent his only son not to condemn me but to save me, does not leave me waiting in the dark too long. I might think that each hour is useless, but after thirty or sixty or ninety such useless hours, I gradually realize that I was not as alone as I thought; a very small, gentle voice has been speaking to me far beyond my noisy place. So, be confident and trust in the Lord.

Hi Everyone The worship lyrics I posted earlier this morning are incorrect (they were from last week) So sorry! Use these instead! https://docs.google.com//1SBVH7KP2A2yLwDG-mH60_Duuc-/edit

It was good to worship together (yet apart) yesterday. I hope you had a chance to participate. We heard from John Jacob, the refugee (and a friend of Basharat & Ayesha) that Immanuel is supporting. And Pastor Erick reflected on 4 surprising ways that God worked in Acts 8: 4-25. Do you remember what those were? Comment below!

Regeneration Food Drive! Saturday, October 31 from 12-4 PM at 253 Queen St. E. This is a city-wide FOOD DRIVE! Erick and I are offering our house as an alternative drop-off on Saturday. Bring your food donations to 37 Curtis Dr. and throw it in the open back of our old van and we (Pastor Erick) will bring it all to Regen. Be generous, as God has been generous with you. - Ruth Ann

On Sunday we continue the ReChurch series with a look at Acts 8:4-25. We are jumping over the story of Stephen, but feel free to read Acts 6:8 8:3 so that you have the whole context. The message this week will look at some of the dynamics of how God works through his people; the church. The invitation to a short 4-week small group session has been effective and impactful! You can still join. Contact Karen or Pastor Erick. Here's the small group questions for this w...eek. Questions from the sermon on November 15: Acts 8:4-25 (make sure you do 1,2, 8, 9, 10 as they are the key questions) 1. What in this passage grabs your attention and makes you wonder? 2. What from the sermon made you pause to wonder and think? 3. If Stephen and Philip were among the seven set apart in Acts 6:1-7 to oversee the distribution of bread, what does this suggest about ministry? 4. What do you think is the difference between what Simon was doing and what Philip was doing? 5. How do you think baptism without the Holy Spirit looks different than baptism with the Holy Spirit? 6. Simon wanted to purchase the power of the Holy Spirit. Is there any way we try to do something similar? 7. How did Peter know Simon’s heart condition? 8. What in this passage is different from how we experience being the church? 9. Is there something we could pursue that would help us grow? 10. Is there a next step for you as an individual or as a group?

Two more weeks of the Re-Church series before Advent.

If you missed the service yesterday, I encourage you to look up the link on our youtube channel and have a listen. Our guest preacher, Pastor Joe Abbey-Colbourne had an interesting and challenging message on the story of Ananias and Sapphira from Acts 5.

Join us this Sunday for a Zoom coffee social! Grab a cup of coffee and head to your computer for a chat at 11:30 AM. It will be good to "see" you. Zoom link details in your email

This week our offering is for Friendship Ministries, for the learning materials that the denomination creates for Friendship groups in hundreds of churches, including ours. This video reminds us again that people of all abilities can know and express the basics of the Gospel: the love of Jesus.

November Opportunities! Here's Pastor Erick's blog Is anyone else tired of talking about Covid and dealing with restrictions? This is a long tough journey and it takes a toll on us. It is healthy and important to express those feelings. At the same time, we continue to try to find healthy ways to adjust that allow us to move forward. We have managed to take a few steps into our new reality. We have the option of in-person worship. We have been experimenting with live-...streaming (or delayed-gratification live-streaming sometimes). We have had on-line congregational meetings. Our youth ministry is making a start. One of the biggest challenges for ministry at this time is that we have a deep-rooted addiction to using numbers to measure success. And the big number has always been bums in seats on Sunday morning. Let me tell you how tempting it is, in spite of convictions to the contrary, to challenge you all to show up on Sunday morning. The fact is, we couldn’t hold you all anyway. But the temptation is to see anyone not-attending as not-in-church. Now let me quickly remind you that I know that you can’t go to church, you can only be the church; that we can’t build a sanctuary on our property, we can only be the temple of the Holy Spirit. So what does this mean, practically speaking? It definitely means we need a new measuring stick. Us old people remember the shift to metric from imperial, cm instead of inches. (yes, that is the definition of old, remembering the 1970’s). We are in such a church shift right now. We are moving from Sunday morning seats to real-time relationships. Let me explain and illustrate. Thanks to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Immanuel was already on a re-focusing journey when this pandemic hit. We started focus groups on Growing Young, Learning Outside of Sunday, and Fostering Internal Relationships (GY, LOS, and FIR). GY is a long ongoing culture shift toward empowering youth and young families in ministry. LOS has decided that the real key to connecting people in groups is a personal invitation. And FIR senses a real need just to be connected and so will be inviting us to online coffee time. Lots more detail on each of those is coming soon. The point I want to make is simply this: it isn’t and never was a question of how many times you get through the door at 2626 Mayfield Road. It is, however, about finding ways to be in meaningful relationships that encourage you to grow as a Jesus follower. We are going to find ways in the month of November to invite you into coffee conversations, small group connections, and worship opportunities. Please take the opportunity. We can’t be the church on our own. ~Pastor Erick

A very good perspective. I encourage you to read it!

This guy has some very good words... this reminded me of Pastor Erick's sermon on Sunday. How about you?

Our Re-Church fall series continues until November 22

What a great celebration we had yesterday in worship. Derek and Jill were thanked and encouraged and sent on their way to their new calling in Ingersoll. If you haven't watched the service yet it's available now on our youtube channel

Make sure you bring your kids to the livestream tomorrow, Mrs. Gwen has a short message for the children in the service Or come in-person, there's still room (you must register with the office). And we'll celebrate and give thanks to God for Pastor Derek. You can access the livestream link on our website www.immanuelcrc.ca

The Knight's Table was so full of gratitude for a car FULL of donations. Thank you Immanuel!

Pastor Derek will be the first to admit and acknowledge that all he is, all he has done with us, all he hopes to do in Ingersoll is because of Christ working in him. Listen and reflect how God is working in your life through the power of Christ.

This Sunday we say farewell to Pastor Derek and Jill. Sign up with Nicole in the office if you want to attend worship in-person.