Sunshine Community Baptist Church Updates
Sunshine Community Baptist Church Updates are a way of keeping up-to-date on everything happening. Come back regularly to check for current information. New information will be at the top, right below this line.
July 10, 2021
We are now fully open again for in-person services, including Sunday school. All are welcome.
July 3, 2021
This is just a quick update. Watch this space for more information, soon!
Some of the rules have been relaxed as the Province of British Columbia entered “Stage 3” of the “reopening strategy.”
Masks are no longer required indoors. They are now just recommended by the government, but not required. This is truly a breath of fresh air!
We have not yet been given access to the downstairs, and pews are still marked off at this time, but that is expected to change by next week. The local SDA is waiting for an announcement from their head office letting them fully reopen. They will let us know when that happens. Until then, they ask that we continue to honour their present requirements.
So, the main change for this Sunday, July 4th is, masks are no longer required.
May 29, 2021
We are scheduled to reopen following the guidelines set out by the government of BC for religious communities on May 30, 2021. The condition set by our landlords for us to reopen is that we follow those guidelines.
If you are unwell or if the present guidelines are not acceptable to you for any reason (we don’t pry!), we ask that you wait a bit longer until the restrictions are further relaxed. Our pastor has given his word as a condition of return that we will follow those guidelines. Our live stream via Sermon.net is working very well on our website. We continue to use Sermon.net to stream to YouTube and Facebook.
We will also continue to stream our 7:00 pm Sunday night and Wednesday night services from the office for now.
Please visit this link for the latest information on the government variance listing guidelines for reopening churches. More information will be added where relevant and when updated. It is not the full unrestricted opening that we wanted, but it is what it is. As renters, we are required by our landlords to follow all the rules, period. The present setup is the best we can get at this time. Yes, they do require masks. We hope this doesn’t last long.
The Seventh Day Adventists, whom we rent from, have taped off pews and put up signs as required for reopening. The bathrooms are open. The rest of the rooms downstairs, including the kitchen, are closed.
Again, if you are sick, please stay home. If you feel you are in a high risk group, based on age, compromised immune system or have anyone in those categories at home, don’t feel guilty about staying home a bit longer. If you have children who cannot sit quietly through a service, please keep them at home or get a babysitter for them. We are not able to set up for active children at this time, due to rules from our landlords.
Children are welcome to attend with their family, but they must sit quietly with their family at all times. We cannot have any running around. The church is set up for a very unusual situation, with taped off areas and strict protocols we are required to follow by our landlords. Your pastor has agreed to these conditions. Please do not try to force him to compromise.
Please try to avoid using restrooms at the church. They will be open, but we do not have the manpower to clean and sanitize after every use. If used, please be sure to wash your hands thoroughly and dispose of the paper towel in the trash can.
There will be no hand shaking, fist bumping, nor elbow tapping at this time. A wave or a bow in greeting is welcome. It’s also good to say hi, just not too closely. People outside your family unit are required to maintain a 2 metre space from others.
Continue to pray for God to use this for His glory!
March 28, 2021
On March 25th, news came out that Dr. Bonnie Henry, BC’s Chief Medical Officer, had finally relaxed the restrictions that banned “Religious in-person gatherings and worship services,” making it illegal to attend a service at a church or other place of worship.
Unfortunately, the claims are not holding up to the light of the actual facts.
The updated order allows religious organizations to have four services between March 28th and June 30th, after which time they will conduct a review. But those services are restricted to the point of being virtually meaningless to many small churches, including us.
The order allows, with extremely strict measures, 50 people OR 10% of capacity, whichever is less, to meet for a service. That means 7 people, including the pastor, in our meeting place. Furthermore, no congregational singing is allowed, masks must be worn, and no visiting of any kind is allowed before or after the service.
At the same time, it is still legal for all stores, liquor stores, restaurants, and bars to be open, and you are free to attend
- City council meetings
- Alcoholics Anonymous
- Group support meetings
- Business meetings
as long as they are under 50 people!
The facts do not hold up to scrutiny. The vast majority of deaths attributed to the virus occurred among residents of care homes. According to a recent article in the National Post, “There is not a shred of scientific data to justify treating religious gatherings more strictly than other gatherings — watching a hockey game at a bar, for example. The BC Centre of Disease Control reports that fewer then 300 cases have emerged from religious gatherings, less than 3/1000ths of B.C.’s 95,000 cases to date.”
As previously mentioned, the Seventh Day Adventists, from whom we rent our facilities, have been told by their head office that we cannot use their building for services until the order is lifted. They are charging us a reduced rent to keep our right to use the building after the restrictions are removed.
Continue to pray God will soon bring all these lockdowns to an end.
If you have prayer requests, please phone, email, or text them to Pastor Dave.
Tithes and offerings can still be made using Tithe.ly, Direct Deposit, by mail, or dropped off at the office (please phone ahead).
February 7, 2021
Although very little has changed since November, it is a new year, so here is the latest (slight) update.
On November 19th, Dr. Bonnie Henry, BC’s Chief Medical Officer, implemented new restrictions that banned “Religious in-person gatherings and worship services.” It is now illegal to attend a service at a church or other place of worship.
At the same time, it is quite legal to attend
- City council meetings
- Alcoholics Anonymous
- Group support meetings
- Business meetings
as long as they are under 50 people! It’s also okay to go to a restaurant, bar or pub. It is just illegal to attend a worship service of any kind, as well as a small number of other venues they consider non-essential, such as theatres, gyms, and various types of exercise studios.
The Seventh Day Adventists, from whom we rent our facilities, have been told by their head office that we cannot use their building for services until the order is lifted.
We are no longer live-streaming from the church, but all services are now live-streamed from the office, only, until the restrictions are lifted. The SDA are charging us a reduced rent to keep our right to use the building after the restrictions are removed.
Continue to pray God will soon bring all these lockdowns to an end.
If you have prayer requests, please phone, email, or text them to Pastor Dave.
Tithes and offerings can still be made using Tithe.ly, Direct Deposit, by mail, or dropped off at the office (please phone ahead).
November 21, 2020
On November 19th, Dr. Bonnie Henry, BC’s Chief Medical Officer, implemented new restrictions that banned “Religious in-person gatherings and worship services.” It is now illegal to attend a service at a church or other place of worship.
At the same time, it is quite legal to attend
- City council meetings
- Alcoholics Anonymous
- Group support meetings
- Business meetings
as long as they are under 50 people! It’s also okay to go to a bar, pub or movie theatre. It is just illegal to attend a worship service of any kind, as well as a small number of other venues they consider non-essential, such as gyms and various types of exercise studios.
The Seventh Day Adventists, whom we rent our facilities from, have informed us that we cannot use their building for services until the order is lifted.
We are allowed to live stream from the church, so we plan to live stream our Sunday morning services from there until further notice.
Our Sunday night and Wednesday night services are scheduled to be live streamed as they have been since the lockdowns began.
Continue to pray God will soon bring all these lockdowns to an end.
Tithes and offerings can still be made using Tithe.ly, Direct Deposit, or dropped off at the office (please phone ahead).
We are required to send in an annual report once per year after our annual general meeting. This year, this will be a virtual meeting, coming up shortly.
October 17
Halfway through October, there is still no sign of the pandemic being declared over. Just as at the beginning of September, we are being told that the numbers are increasing rapidly. Restrictions are again being put in place in many areas of the country.
Continue to ask God to use this for His glory and to bring it to its conclusion. We would all like to get back to as normal as possible. Remember, this is entirely in God’s hands. He is still on the throne and is still 100% in control!
At present, our Sunday morning service at 10:30 am is live in the chapel in Wilson Creek and is livestreamed, as well. The Sunday night and Wednesday night services are still being livestreamed only.
Our livestream on our website here, is being phase out as we move to our new subdomain, http://broadcast.scbchurch.info, which finally offers live chat. We can now all go to our church website for our livestreams AND we can now say hi to one another as we desire.
Note that while our subdomain, https://broadcast.scbchurch.info has an SSL (Socket Security Layer), which is really only necessary for commerce, our livestream to that subdomain from Sermon.net does not yet have SSL. Their owner tells me they are planning to do that, soon. But since you are not using a credit card on that site, there is no risk,anyway.
It is no longer necessary to sign in to live chat. We will be watching to ensure it isn’t hit by internet trolls. Our chat is also moderated, so this gives the moderator a way to block anyone who shouldn’t be there.
We will also continue to livestream to Facebook and YouTube. However, we are having ongoing challenges with YouTube. They continue to change their system (they call it updates), which has caused us to miss more at least two services on their platform. Some pastors have had their accounts closed simply for mentioning abortion or COVID-19. If you say anything that disagrees too much with their very liberal philosophy, there is a risk of losing your account.
So far, Facebook has not given us any major troubles, and their live captioning usually works well. The only issue with Facebook is that their “token” or code for the livestream has to be updated every week or they might not connect.
YouTube does not offer live captioning unless you have more than 1000 subscribers.
We have also been using the Live Church platform on our subdomain. However, it has also been using YouTube for the feed, so if there was something wrong with YouTube, it would not work. This week, we are running a test to see if our embed from Sermon.net will work with it. If not, we will simply move away from it, completely.
Again, if you go to any site and find it isn’t working correctly, go to http:broadcast.scbchurch.info or to https://www.scbchurch.info/live-broadcast, which does not have live chat. Our livestream goes there before it goes anywhere else.
Many churches in Canada and the United States are facing a return to major restrictions. So far this has not happened in BC. Pray it does not. Remember, churches who rent like we do must follow the rules set by their landlords.
Please support your own church! We have protocols in place that make it possible for all of us to meet in the chapel quite legally and safely. The building is disinfected on Sunday mornings prior to the service and everyone coming in must sanitize their hands upon entering.
Traffic flow is in the main door and exiting via the wheelchair ramp at the front of the sanctuary. Please arrive on time, as the door is locked after the service begins. At present with staff available, this is the only way we can meet our landlord’s requirements.
Every other pew is roped off (with tape) and only three people who do not all live in one household are allowed to sit in a pew. All who live in the same household can sit in a single pew and are asked to do that to ensure seating for others.
If you have never been to the church, please contact us ahead of time to ensure there is a seat available. We would love to meet you!
We are told not to neglect gathering together to worship God and encourage one another, and especially in this time as we get so close to the return of Christ. “Let us hold fast the profession of [our] faith without wavering; (for he [is] faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some [is]; but exhorting [one another]: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” Hebrews 10:23 – 25
I am concerned that by the time this is all over, if the Rapture has not occurred, that many churches across this land and around the world will have closed for good. I do not want Sunshine Community Baptist Church to be one of them! But I am the preacher, the pastor, Christ’s under-shepherd at this church. A shepherd does not drag anyone to church.
Seriously, prayerfully consider coming back to church in person, if you have not already. We may not have this freedom for long!
September 5, 2020
As we enter September, there is still no sign of the pandemic being declared over. In fact, we are being told that the numbers are beginning to increase rapidly, as many are no longer willing to social distance or wear masks. This is especially true among young adults.
Pray, asking God to use this for His glory and to bring it to its conclusion. We would all like to get back to as normal as possible. But we are being told by our government that we will not be able to do that until the majority of the population has been vaccinated. Unfortunately, there is no evidence at present that such a vaccine will be successfully developed, at least in the foreseeable future.
At present, our Sunday morning service at 10:30 am is live in the chapel in Wilson Creek and is livestreamed, as well. The Sunday night and Wednesday night services are still being livestreamed only.
Our livestream is available on our website here, and is also on Facebook and YouTube. We have also been using the Live Church platform on our subdomain. However, it uses YouTube for the feed.
Many churches in Canada and the United States are re-opening with certain restrictions and requirements in place. Some jurisdictions will not allow churches to meet in their meeting places, at all. Pray especially for California, where the government is heavily fining churches for meeting, while allowing almost every other gathering place to open almost unrestricted, including large malls and big box stores. They are also allowing massive protests and even appear to be encouraging them.
Please support your own church! We have protocols in place that would allow all of us to meet in the chapel quite legally and safely. The building is disinfected on Sunday mornings prior to the service and everyone coming in must sanitize their hands upon entering.
Traffic flow is in the main door and exiting via the wheelchair ramp at the front of the sanctuary.
Every other pew is roped off (with tape) and only three people who do not all live in one household are allowed to sit in a pew. All who live in the same household can sit in a single pew and are asked to do that to ensure seating for others.
We are told not to neglect gathering together to worship God and encourage one another, and especially in this time as we get so close to the return of Christ. “Let us hold fast the profession of [our] faith without wavering; (for he [is] faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some [is]; but exhorting [one another]: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” Hebrews 10:23 – 25
I am concerned that by the time this is all over, if the Rapture has not occurred, that many churches across this land and around the world will have closed for good. I do not want Sunshine Community Baptist Church to be one of them! But I am the preacher, the pastor, Christ’s under-shepherd at this church. A shepherd does not drag anyone to church.
Seriously, prayerfully consider coming back to church in person, if you have not already. We may not have this freedom for long!
July 11, 2020
Our live stream via Sermon.net is working very well on our website. At this time, live captions are not available on that platform. We are also using Sermon.net, rather than Restream, to stream to YouTube and Facebook.
Please visit this link for a bit of information on government guidelines for reopening churches. More information will be added where relevant and when updated. Nothing has been updated by the government on that.
We are reopened on June 7th at 10:30 am for our morning service. We are having only one service at the church per week for now. The service is also live streamed for those who choose for health reasons for themselves or loved ones to continue to stay home. We also ask anyone who is sick to stay home and enjoy the live stream.
Our Sunday School Adult Bible study has been moved to Wednesday night at 7:00 pm. Both it and our Sunday night services are live streamed from the office.
The Seventh Day Adventists, whom we rent from, have taped off pews and put up signs as required for reopening.
Again, if you are sick, please stay home. If you are in a high risk group, based on age, compromised immune system or have anyone in those categories at home, it is recommended that you still stay home. If you have children who cannot sit quietly through a service, please keep them at home or get a babysitter for them. We are not able to set up for active children at this time, due to rules from our landlords.
Children are welcome to attend with their family, but they must sit quietly with their family at all times. We cannot have any running around. The church is set up for a very unusual situation, with taped off areas and strict protocols we are required to follow by our landlords. Should we not follow them, we risk no longer having any place to meet.
Please try to avoid using restrooms at the church. They will be open, but we do not have the manpower to clean and sanitize after every use. If used, please be sure to wash your hands thoroughly and dispose of the paper towel in the trash can.
There will be no hand shaking, fist bumping, nor elbow tapping at this time. A wave or a bow in greeting is welcome. It’s also good to say hi, just not too closely. People outside your family unit are required to maintain a 2 metre space from others.
Continue to pray for God to use this for His glory!
June 4, 2020
You can now watch our live stream on our platform from Sermon.net. At this time, live captions are not available on that platform. We are now using Sermon.net, rather than Restream, to stream to YouTube and Facebook.
Please visit this link for a bit of information on government guidelines for reopening churches. More information will be added where relevant and when updated.
We are on schedule to reopen on June 7th at 10:30 am for our morning service. We will only have one service at the church per week for now.
The Seventh Day Adventists, whom we rent from, have taped off pews and put up signs as required for reopening.
If you are sick, please stay home. If you are in a high risk group, based on age, compromised immune system or have anyone in those categories at home, it is recommended that you still stay home. If you have children who cannot sit quietly through a service, please keep them at home or get a babysitter for them. We are not able to set up for active children at this time.
We are prepared to live stream our services from the church on Sunday mornings. Sunday night and Wednesday night services will still be live streamed, for now. If you are watching the live stream, you are encouraged to share and even start a “Watch Party” on Facebook. This is a tremendous opportunity we were not previously aware of to reach a lot of people around the world.
There will not be any Sunday School at this time. Social distancing is still required by the BC Health authorities and children generally have a very difficult time with that, especially in a classroom setting. Children are welcome to attend with their family, but they must sit quietly with their family at all times. We cannot have any running around. The church is set up for a very unusual situation, with taped off areas and strict protocols we are required to follow by our landlords. Should we not follow them, we risk no longer having any place to meet.
Please try to avoid using restrooms at the church. They will be open, but we do not have the manpower to clean and sanitize after every use. If used, please be sure to wash your hands thoroughly and dispose of the paper towel in the trash can.
There will be no hand shaking, fist bumping, nor elbow tapping at this time. A wave or a bow in greeting is welcome. It’s also good to say hi, just not too closely. People outside your family unit are required to maintain a 2 metre space from others.
Continue to pray for God to use this for His glory!
May 30, 2020
Last week, our livestream from the chapel in Wilson Creek went quite well. There were some speed bumps, but generally, it was much better than the previous few weeks of dealing with a very slow video card and slow wifi.
We did experience some problems with the wifi. Our upload was fine, but for a period of time, we couldn’t tell if we were live or not from our monitors, because the download disconnected. We have bought a wifi booster which we plan to try this week. The distance from our monitors and camera to the router is probably too great for the plan our hosts are providing for us.
Our plan is still to reopen on June 7th. We are waiting for confirmation and instructions from our landlords. We expect to have that early in the week. Please pray it will be possible to reopen on the 7th!
We will not be able to have regular Sunday School until the provincial emergency order is relaxed and the rules for distancing are rescinded. We have decided to go with a single morning service on Sundays, beginning at 10:30 am. Please remember to be there for the 10:30 am service and not by 11:00 am as before.
Our Jeremiah study has been rescheduled to Wednesday nights at 7:00 pm by livestream for now. Our Sunday night service will also continue to be livestreamed for now.
Again, pray for a full end to the pandemic. Pray for God’s will to be accomplished through all this.
April 1, 2020
Join us for our Wednesday night live stream at 7:00 pm on YouTube or Facebook Live
March 29, 2020
10:00 am: Join us on Youtube or Facebook Live for our Adult Sunday School live stream. We are studying Jeremiah. For the children please download our Making the Most out of COVID-19 booklet. Much thanks to Metro Baptist Church in Burnaby for this.
11:00 am: Join us again on Youtube or Facebook Live for our Morning Service live stream. This week’s title is “The Pardon of Prayer.” Our scripture is 1 John 1:5 – 10
Our church bulletin is available online here. Please check the date to make sure it’s current.
March 25, 2020
Join us for our Wednesday night live stream at 7:00 pm on Youtube or Facebook Live
March 22, 2020
Join us this Sunday, March 22, on Youtube or Facebook Live for our first livestream at 11:00 am Pacific. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we will be livestreaming our services until further notice. Tomorrow’s title is “The Provision of Prayer.” Our scripture is Philippians 4:10 – 19.
Our church bulletin is available online here.
COVID-19
COVID-19 is a novel (new) coronavirus that began infecting people in Wuhan, China. It is now spreading around the world very quickly, and governments are taking drastic measures to slow it down. At this time, gatherings of more than 50 people are prohibited in Canada.
However, here on the Sunshine Coast, the health authority has recommended that no more than 5 people get together at one time. For this reason, as good citizens, we are following their directive (Romans 13:1 – 6). We will not be meeting at the chapel until further notice.
Instead, we will be starting live streaming this Sunday, March 22 at 11:00 am, our usual morning service time. This is our first service this way, so there might be a few speed bumps.
Subscribe to our Youtube channel and/or follow us on Facebook and watch for our live stream. We will be starting as close to the normal time as we can. We plan to live stream Adult Sunday School next Sunday, with God’s help.
Thanks to Pastor Stephen Henderson from Harvest Baptist Church for sharing his article, “How to “ATTEND” a Livestream Church Service.”
For the children please download our Making the Most out of COVID-19 booklet. Much thanks to Metro Baptist Church in Burnaby for this. There are some really good resources for both children and adults in that little booklet.
We have made giving simpler for the church and you can now give via Interac e-Transfer®. The details are here. All giving is deposited directly into the church bank account.