A Greeting from the five Bishops of BC
March 9, 2010
We greet you, being together as BC Bishops of the Anglican Church in North America. The context for our meeting is the visit by Rev William Beasley for Renewal Mission 2010. We are working together on the Anglican 1000 Church Planting Initiative.
We give thanks for your congregations in the Anglican Church in North America as you prepare for Easter. We pass on our blessings to each congregation.
With love in the Lord,
The Right Reverend Charles Dorrington, Reformed Episcopal Church
The Right Reverend Dr Ron Ferris, Anglican Network in Canada
The Right Reverend Dr Stephen Leung, Anglican Network in Canada
The Right Reverend Silas Ng, Anglican Coalition in Canada/AMiA
The Right Reverend Dr Trevor Walters, Anglican Network in Canada
Making a Difference at Winter Olympics 2010
March 2, 2010
by Rev Ed Hird
for the Anglican Mission March Currents
I have never seen Vancouver so electric, so dynamic, so alive. When Vancouver won the Olympic Men’s Hockey game, more than 500,000 Vancouverites flooded the streets, so many that the police had to temporarily shut down the bus system. Canada, who has never won Gold when twice before hosting the Olympics, was privileged to win 14 gold medals, the largest number ever won by any country.
In the midst of Canada’s unexpected Gold Rush, the Body of Christ was there pointing to More Than Gold. More Than Gold is a movement of churches that gathers at each Olympics to let people know that while winning gold is exciting, there is something worth more than gold: the good news of Jesus Christ. The Christians in Vancouver have been preparing for years for this 17-day Olympic outreach. We had extensive training by the Billy Graham people, Campus Crusade for Christ/Power to Change, Alpha, and many others. Serving as an Anglican representative on the MTG Executive Committee, I was impressed by the phenomenal response of the local churches with over 4,000 people volunteering to serve. Perhaps the biggest hit was the over 600,000 cups of free coffee and
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Will that be coffee or hot chocolate?
hot chocolate handed out at skytrain, subway, and bus stations. The buzz around the complimentary hot coffee was palpable. As one of the 40 Community Chaplains, I was able to visit many Olympic pavilions and More Than Gold concerts, sharing the love of Jesus Christ in word and deed.
Tens of thousands of Olympic visitors were willing to receive the high quality More Than Gold literature with its focus on Olympic athletes who profess Christ. The Pocket Guide sponsored by the Billy Graham Association and produced by More Than Gold was a big hit, with its free maps and personal testimonies by Athletes. Based on loving conversations, many visitors were happy to receive special Olympic-edition Gospels of Mark produced by the Canadian Bible Society. Over 1,100 missionaries came to Vancouver from North America and around the world, including over 180 YWAM youth who did street drama, served coffee, and set up ‘free prayer’ stations.
Seldom have we seen Christians work so well 
together in reaching out in mission. The Anglican Coalition in Canada, which is the Canadian wing of the Anglican Mission, was an official sponsor of the More Than Gold outreach, along with our sister ACNA jurisdiction the Anglican Network in Canada. Virtually all faithful churches were involved in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Our own congregation St. Simon’s North Vancouver commissioned fifteen volunteers who served free coffee and hot chocolate at 430am in the morning to people going to the Cypress Mountain Olympic site. They came back from doing this, excited and grateful to God.
Christians in Vancouver are asking ‘what can 
we do together in the future?’ A next step that all were invited to was Renewal Mission & Christ Awakening 2010 on March 5th to 7th. St Simon’s NV gave leadership to this Body of Christ celebration, looking at‘Fanning into Flame God’s Glory’. Please keep us in prayer in Vancouver that this new ‘unity for the sake of mission’ momentum will be maintained for the sake of the lost.
Rev Ed Hird, Rector
St Simon’s Church North Vancouver, BC
Anglican Mission in the Americas (Canada)
-author of the award-winning book Battle for the Soul of Canada
http://www.battleforthesoulofcanada.blogspot.com
edhird
