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In this message from our Under His Wings series, Covered, we turn to Ruth 3, where Ruth takes a courageous step of faith and approaches Boaz on the threshing floor. What might seem like a strange or even uncomfortable encounter becomes a beautiful picture of trust, vulnerability, and the hope of redemption. Ruth's request for Boaz to spread the corner of his garment over her is more than a marriage proposalit is an invitation for him to become the answer to the very blessing he had spoken over her. This sermon reminded us that faith doesn't always come with certainty about how things will turn out. Sometimes it means taking the next faithful step, placing ourselves in God's hands, and then learning to wait. As Ruth's story pauses without a resolution, we are invited to trust that waiting does not mean God has stopped working, and an unfinished story is not an abandoned one.

This week, we were delighted to welcome Pastor Carolyn Crowell as our guest speaker. Carolyn serves as the Unit Supervisor for the Rocky Mountain Unit of Foursquare Canada and as the Lead Pastor of New Life Foursquare Church in Cranbrook, BC. In her message, The "Why" Day, Carolyn reminded us that God has a calling and purpose for each of our lives. While our insecurities, worries, fears, and doubts can sometimes cause us to question whether God could really use us, His calling is not limited by our perceived shortcomings. This encouraging message invited us to look beyond the things that hold us back and begin discovering the unique "why" God has placed on our lives. We are each called by God, and our lives have a purpose worth discovering and living out!

In the second week of our Under His Wings series, Provided, we turn to Ruth 2, where the story begins to shift from emptiness toward hope. As Ruth goes out to gather grain to provide for herself and Naomi, she finds herself in the field of a man named Boaz. What appears to be an ordinary encounter becomes a beautiful picture of God's quiet provision, revealed through the kindness, generosity, and faithfulness of others. This sermon invited us to recognize that God's provision doesn't always arrive in dramatic or miraculous ways. Sometimes it comes through ordinary people choosing to show extraordinary kindness. Through Ruth and Boaz, we discover the beauty of hesedGod's steadfast, faithful loveand how He invites us not only to receive that love, but to become an expression of it in the lives of others. Wherever we find ourselves, we can trust that God is at work, and that even our ordinary acts of kindness can become part of His extraordinary provision.

In the opening message of our Under His Wings series, Empty, we begin exploring the Old Testament story of Rutha story of loss, loyalty, unexpected kindness, and God's faithfulness in the midst of life's most difficult seasons. In Ruth 1, we meet Naomi, a woman who leaves Bethlehem with her family in search of a better future, only to return years later carrying profound grief and loss. Her story reminds us that faith doesn't mean pretending everything is okay, and that sometimes the most honest thing we can do is acknowledge our emptiness. But even in Naomi's grief, something is beginning to unfold that she cannot yet see. Through Ruth's remarkable loyalty and love, we catch the first glimpses of God's quiet provision. This sermon invited us to consider how God can be at work even when His presence is difficult to recognize. Our emptiness may be real, but it does not mean God is absentor that our story is finished.

In the final week of our Who We Are series, we explored what it means to say We Are For Our Community. Jesus calls His Church to be more than a gathering we attendHe sends us into the places where we live, work, learn, and play as people who genuinely love our neighbours and seek the good of our community. As we brought the series to a close, we returned to the story these four values tell about who God is forming us to be: God gathers a people. God speaks to His people. God transforms His people. God sends His people. We are a family, rooted in the Word, formed by grace, and for our communitynot simply as words we say, but as a way of life we are learning to live together.

In the final session of Closed Doors?, we widen the lens and look at the women Scripture shows God calling, gifting, and using in significant ways. From Deborah, Huldah, and Miriam in the Old Testament to Phoebe, Junia, Priscilla, Lydia, and others in the early Church, we explore what their stories contribute to the conversation about women and leadership. After spending the previous sessions wrestling with some of the Bibles most difficult passages, this session invites us to consider the larger biblical picture. When we allow these women to take their place in the story, we see God repeatedly empowering women to lead, teach, prophesy, serve, and participate in His missionand we consider what that means for the Church today.

In the third week of our Who We Are series, we explored what it means to say We Are Formed by Grace. Grace is more than the way we enter into a relationship with Jesusit is the way God continues to meet us, shape us, and transform us throughout our lives. We are all at different places in that journey, and none of us has arrived. This sermon invited us to become a church where people have room to growwhere we can be honest about where we are while trusting God to keep forming us into who He is calling us to become. Grace meets us as we are, but it loves us too much to leave us there. We are not finished products; we are people being formed by grace.

In Session 3 of Closed Doors?, I Do Not Permit a Woman, we turn to 1 Timothy 2:915one of the most significant passages used to restrict women from teaching or exercising leadership in the Church. Rather than beginning with a conclusion, we slow down to examine Pauls words within the larger context of his letter to Timothy and the challenges facing the church in Ephesus. Together, we explore the language Paul uses, the problem of false teaching, his references to Adam and Eve, and the difficult statement about women being saved through childbearing. As we work through the passage, we ask whether Paul was establishing a universal restriction for women everywhere, or addressing a particular situation in Ephesusand what that means for how we understand the passage today.

In the second week of our Who We Are series, we turn to another value that shapes the kind of church we believe God is forming us to be: We Are Rooted in the Word. Being rooted in Scripture is about more than knowing the Bible or collecting informationit means allowing the story and truth of Scripture to sink deeply into us and shape who we are becoming. Drawing from Colossians 3 and James 1, this sermon invited us to become people who don't simply visit God's Word, but dwell in it. As Scripture takes root in us, the Holy Spirit uses it to form our character, reshape our instincts, and produce fruit in our everyday lives. We don't just read the Word; we let the Word read us, root us, and form us.

In Session 2 of Closed Doors?, Women Should Be Silent?, we turn to one of the most challenging passages in the conversation about women in the Church: 1 Corinthians 14:3435. Pauls words that women should remain silent in the churches have shaped Christian practice for generationsbut how should we understand them alongside the rest of 1 Corinthians, where women are clearly praying and prophesying in the gathered church? In this session, we slow down and examine the passage in its biblical, literary, and cultural context, exploring the major ways Christians have interpreted these difficult verses. Rather than avoiding the tension, we allow Scripture to interpret Scripture as we ask what Paul was addressing in Corinthand what this passage reveals about the participation of women in the life and ministry of the Church.

In this opening message of our Who We Are series, we begin exploring the four values that help describe the kind of church family we believe God is forming us to be: We Are a Family, Rooted in the Word, Formed by Grace, and For Our Community. These aren't simply statements on a wallthey are invitations to live out our faith together as the Holy Spirit continues to shape us. In We Are a Family, we explored both the beauty and the challenge of belonging to a church community. Family means connection, support, and belongingbut it also means navigating differences, disappointments, and moments when we get on each other's nerves. The miracle of the Church isn't that we're all the same or always agree; it's that, in Christ, we can choose unity and learn to practice grace, mercy, forgiveness, and love with one another. Unity doesn't mean sameness. It means choosing each other because Jesus has already chosen us.

In the first session of Closed Doors?, we begin our study of women and leadership in the Church by laying the groundwork for the conversations ahead. We explore the major ways Christians have understood the roles of women and menpatriarchal, complementarian, and egalitarianand consider the assumptions and influences we all bring with us when we approach Scripture. Rather than beginning with conclusions, this session invites us to ask good questions, examine our own interpretive lenses, and allow Scripture to challenge us. At the heart of the study is a bigger question than simply who can lead: What does the Bible reveal about the character of God and His purposes for women and men in His Church?

In this message, Pastor Cyrille spoke about the importance and priority of prayer in the life of every follower of Jesus. Prayer is more than bringing our needs and desires before Godit is an ongoing relationship with Him, where we learn to seek His presence, depend on Him, and trust Him through every season of life. This sermon encouraged us to remain faithful in prayer even when God's answer looks different from what we hoped for. As we pray, we are invited not only to ask God to move, but to surrender ourselves to His willtrusting that He sees what we cannot see, knows what we do not know, and remains faithful through it all.

In this message from our Weird series, When Jesus Yelled at a Tree, we explored one of the strangest moments in Marks Gospel: Jesus curses a fig tree for having no fruit, confronts what is happening in the Temple, and then returns to find the tree withered. What initially seems like an odd moment of frustration becomes a powerful prophetic picture of religion that looks alive but is failing to produce the fruit God desires. This sermon invited us to look beyond outward appearances and ask what kind of fruit our lives are actually producing. Jesus isnt looking for impressive religious activityHe desires lives shaped by genuine faith, prayer, forgiveness, and a relationship with God that bears fruit from the inside out.

This week, Pastor Lori and our Costa Rica Missions Team shared stories and reflections from their recent trip. We heard about the people they met, the ways they were able to serve, and some of the moments where they saw God at workin the communities they visited and in their own lives as a team. More than simply a recap of where they went and what they did, this was an opportunity to celebrate what God is doing through His Church across cultures and borders. As we listened to their stories, we were reminded that mission is something we all get to be part of as we follow Jesus togetherwherever He sends us.