Donna Stewart, a long-time advocate for below-market housing who is part of the Canadian Baptist family has been honoured for her lifetime of dedication to helping the vulnerable.

At the beginning of May, the BC Government honoured her with a BC Community Achievement Award, noting that she "has given a lifetime of volunteer service. She has advocated for the rights of women and children, affordable housing and accessible community resources." Ever the advocate, Donna managed to slip Premier Gordon Campbell a package of information on the need for low-rent housing in Vancouver while he was shaking her hand during the award ceremony.

On June 1, Donna was named Vancouver’s Woman of Distinction in the Community Building category. Specifically, Donna was being honoured for her work in founding A Place to Call Home, a society with a vision to create below-market housing for people who cannot afford to live and work in North and West Vancouver.

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Penticton First Baptist Church and The Ark Youth Centre suffered a fire and smoke damage Thursday, April 14th. We give thanks that no one was hurt and that the fire damage was contained to the kitchen.

The Ark Youth Centre is located in the basement of the church. Although the fire didn’t spread, there was extensive smoke damage throughout the rest of the building. A restoration crew got to work immediately to clean the church sanctuary, which was ready for Sunday services. The youth centre itself cannot be used until the damage is repaired. At this time, the cost of damages has not yet been assessed.

The Ark had only recently re-opened after suffering extensive water damage almost exactly a year ago. Please pray that the Ark will re-open again soon once renovations are complete and that God will work through this experience in the lives of the youth. Please pray that the need to clean and repair the building one more will be used in some way to open the lives of youth and everyone involved to God’s work in our lives.

Sylvan Acres Ministry is being transformed by a bold new vision that will radically change Canadian Baptist camping on Vancouver Island.

Sylvan Acres Ministry, which is owned by the CBWC, had run a traditional summer camp near Youbou on Vancouver Island for many years, but in the last few years it had struggled to attract campers and run sustainably. No official camping programs were offered in 2008 or 2009 and the future of camping looked bleak. Something needed to change.

Historically, Sylvan Acres has been run by the Vancouver Island Association of Churches, a group of 15 CBWC churches. These island churches met and decided the camp needed oversight more consistent with that given other Canadian Baptist camps. They decided to create an independent camp board. Three island churches are represented on this board (instead of 15) and the camp has been made accountable to the CBWC Camping Committee, like other CBWC camps. This new structure became official in July 2009.

The new board brought in Jeff Dyer, formerly the Executive Director of Gull Lake Centre and now the COO of the Mustard Seed Society), as a consultant to help them with visioning. Through this process, the board believes God is calling Sylvan Acres to a new vision for camping that would focus on community and creation care by starting a year-round community retreat and ranching ministry.

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The number of homeless people living in Vancouver has risen from 1,576 in 2008 to 1,762 at the end of March 2010, according to a count organized by the city. While these numbers indicate a 12% rise in homelessness, the number of people living on the street has been cut in half from 811 in 2008 to 428 in 2010. The number of sheltered homeless people is up from 765 in 2008 to 1334 in 2010.

BC’s Housing and The numbers show that more permanent social housing is urgently needed, according to Mayor Gregor Robertson. "With seven temporary provincially funded shelters due to close April 30, 500 people will be sent straight back to the street," he said.

Anyone interested in poverty and homelessness issues could contact Lynn & Larry Pearce, the Homelessness and Affordable Housing Coordinators for the CBWC at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it to learn more about these issues.

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