4 PONOKA NEWS
Religion
Your Guide To Local Houses of Worship
Week of prayer for unity and community
CHURCH DIRECTORY Associated Gospel Churches of Canada
CHURCH OF THE OPEN BIBLE Pastor Jerry Preheim • Pastor Matt Sealy 3704 - 42 St. Ponoka 403-783-6500 Worship Service 11:00 a.m. • churchoftheopenbible@telus.net
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH PONOKA Sr. Pastor Paul Spate
Erin Dirsten - Fac. Youth & Family Min. & James Crosina - Fac. of Community Life
5109 - 57 Ave. Ponoka www.fbcponoka.org
403-783-5533
Bible Discovery Hour 9:30 a.m.
Worship Service 10:30 a.m.
NEW COVENANT BAPTIST REFORMED CHURCH Currently meeting at Ponoka Christian School 6300-50 St. Worship Service Sunday 10:30 a.m. Everyone Welcome! phone: 403-783-6962 • www.baptistreformedponoka.org
PARKLAND REFORMED CHURCH South on 2A, West on Spruce Road 403-783-1888 Worship Service 10:00 a.m. & 2:30 p.m. Rev. Mitch Ramkissoon www.parklandurc.org
PONOKA WORD OF LIFE CHURCH Pastor Rob McArthur
403-783-5659
Sunday @ 10:30 a.m. Corner of Hwy 53 & Hwy 2A (former Crossroads Restaurant)
www.wordoflife.ca
PASTOR TIM GRAFF Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church Next week, eight of our local churches are sponsoring the annual “Week of Prayer for the Community.” From Monday to Friday, you are invited to meet at St. Mary’s Anglican Church (11:45 a.m.) for a buffet of the best soups in town
followed by a brief time of prayer for different parts of our community. In praying for our community, we recognize that God does not stand somewhere on planet von Zeipel with disinterest in what is happening on planet Earth. In fact, God established such things as government (Romans 13:1) and preserves and sustains everything that contributes to good order and the well-being of His creation. Can you imagine our community without emergency services, schools, town and county workers managing the infrastructure, medical services and all those volunteer organizations filling in the gaps? I certainly can’t. It is why we join in prayer to thank God for these servants of good order and to ask God’s blessing on their work as they contribute to the well-being of our larger community. Being a community is
PONOKA UNITED CHURCH Minister: Beatrix Schirner
ponokaunited@shaw.ca
Sunday Service 10:00 am. 5020-52 Ave. Ponoka
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2016
Week of Prayer
Phone: 403-783-4087
SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH PASTOR DAVE BEAUDOIN 6230-57 Ave. Ph. 403-783-6404 Saturdays 9:30 - 12 Noon dsjjb@xplornet.com ponokaadventist.ca
SONRISE CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH Pastor W. Delleman Worship Service 10:30 a.m. ½ mile south of Centennial Centre for Mental Health & Brain Injury
Held at St. Mary’s Anglican Church 51 20-49 Ave Ponoka, Alberta January 18 - 22, 2016 at 11:45am
difficult at the best of times. In being a community, we rarely agree on everything or even anything, but as a community we learn to compromise on the less important things and work together on the more important matters. Prayer is a great expression of what is vital: to commune with one another and with the Triune God, to whom we direct our prayers and give our thanks. In many parts of our world, this week is also a time when some of the churches meet together to pray for Christian unity. Christian unity can even be more elusive than being a community. There are 12 churches listed in our local paper, each with beliefs, practices and personality that keep us from gathering under one roof at the same time. And yet we hold many common beliefs and values (not always understood the same) such as the Triune God, our human condition, Jesus Christ, salvation, the Bible, worship, love of God and love of neighbour. In the pursuit of Christian unity and fellowship, some would have us lower our
denominational flags and dumb down to the lowest common denominator. However, this kind of unity is like hiring a contractor with the lowest bid to build a recreational facility. The end result will be anything but satisfactory. True unity, however, is tough slugging because our unity does not come from us, but from the God who revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ; who lived the life we couldn’t live; who suffered and died for our sins and then overcame death through His resurrection. True unity is what Christ has given us in Himself and even though we gather under smaller and larger roofs, Christ is King of kings, Lord of lords and the One we will all bow down before in the end (Philippians 2:9-11). Until that day I celebrate the times we can pray with others for our community and those times when we as churches in our community can come together to love our neighbour. Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. – 1 Peter 3:8
PET OF THE WEEK
Please join us as we gather, to fellowship over a light lunch, and pray for the needs of our community.
403-783-6012 • www.sonriseponoka.com
ST. AUGUSTINE CATHOLIC CHURCH Fr. Shimit Abraham CFIC
Sponsored by the Ponoka Ministerial and the Churches of Ponoka
Mass Times: 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 9:00 a.m. Sunday
5113 - 52 Ave., Ponoka, T4J 1H6 403-783-4048 stachurch@shaw.ca
ST. MARY’S ANGLICAN CHURCH Rev. Donna Willer Rev. Marty Tuer, Honourary Assistant 5120 - 49 Ave. Ponoka
PONOKA RISING SUN CLUBHOUSE
A division of Little Jons Portable Toilet Services
403-748-2628 Commercial • Residential • Recreational
403-783-4329
Sunday Service: Holy Eucharist 10 a.m. www.stmarysanglicanponoka.com
TRINITY EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH 5501 - 54 Ave. Ponoka 403-783-4141 Sunday Service: 10:30am Sunday School: 10:30am Pastor Tim Graff • trinityponoka.ca
ZION CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP Pastor Fred Knip 9 miles east on Hwy 53 403-782-9877 Jr. Church during service for children Sunday Service 10:30 am
Community Blue Box Program For $12.00 per month We will pick up your paper, clean tins, glass, No. 1-5 plastic and cardboard. We also pick up cardboard from local businesses.
For more information on these programs please call
403-783-5810 Weekdays
Abby
is a playful one year old who loves kids!
To adopt call
403-783-7447
Ponoka Animal Services (Old MacDonald Kennels) Check our website
www.oldmacdonaldkennels.ca