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Our arrangement with Sonlight is going well. We currently pay $1000 per month for Sunday afternoons after 2:30 pm (Sonlight is almost always gone by 12:30 pm), Tuesday evenings in the sanctuary and Thursday evenings upstairs in Rooms 22 and 23 (we also have permission to use the foyer are some adjacent rooms for listening, but those are not reserved for our use). We do not have permission to use the Sanctuary on Thursdays. If we have additional needs, there may need to be additional fees.

We need to ask that people refrain from hanging out in stairwells, closed rooms, etc. Food and all open drinks needs to remain in the fellowship hall downstairs. There has been dirty plates and empty cups left in various places, including in the stairwells, the nursery, and the sanctuary, as reported to Sonlight on Monday morning. 

Wesley United Church is for sale, and I went to take a look and learn about the particulars - it will be sold by sealed bid, highest or any bid not necessarily accepted. A component of the bid would by to describe the bidder's plans for supporting and engaging with the community. The United Church has sold other buildings in Canada, and have a mandate to sell nearly 1000 buildings. SEND Canada (CNBC/SBC Canada) indicates that the United Church of Canada usually does not entertain purchases from conservative groups. Both Hillsdale Baptist and Faith Baptist own multiple buildings in Regina, but are operating as satellite churches.

Sonlight has asked whether we want to be involved with their outreach activities, and I went to several of their meetings earlier in the year, but have not continued over the summer. They have continued to invite us to their community BBQ, the speaker they brought in a couple weeks ago, and have talked about doing a joint service. It would be nice to have unlimited access to the rest of the building, or perhaps to engage with Sonlight on upkeep or renewing the sound system. With the removal of the artwork from the sanctuary, and the access we have currently, our proposal is to continue with our current agreement. 

If anyone has questions, suggestions, or feedback for sonlight, please speak with me and I'll pass them along or set up a meeting.

Teaching supplies includes video series, commentaries, and preaching tools, as well as Library Books, Hymnals, and Psalters. The Retained Supplies category includes things like Communion Trays, Crates, and similar items that become shared property, but which are deemed to be "Administrative". Consumable Supplies include coffee, paper plates, cups and disposable items, as well as grape juice and similar supplies that are used up and gone - and are also deemed to be "Administrative". Teaching supplies are deemed to be "Charitable" - supplies that are used in activities of our charity.

We currently use Subsplash as our Website, App, Messaging, Livestream, Church Management, and Financial platform. The pricing has gone up in October from about $190 per month to about $250 per month. That is 5-10% of our expenses. It does allow us to integrate all of our media more simply - Livestream, website, app all show up in one place. It also allows us to manage donations, although they retain a percentage of each donation. Giving by e-Transfer avoids those fees, and we have the flexibility to easily enter those donations to be included in the year-end charitable receipts. Due to the increase in costs, Rod is looking into other options. It is important that we have a unified system, though. When I consider finding a church, I like to learn about them beforehand, and appreciate being able to listen to a view sermons before visiting. We've had multiple guests join us and have been very encouraged by such visitors.

Second London Baptist Confession, 1.6: The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down or necessarily contained in the Holy Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelation of the Spirit, or traditions of men.

Biblical Church Membership is necessarily contained in the scriptures - holding all the biblical data together, the necessary conclusion is that local church membership is taught in the scriptures.

Our Membership policy:

Article I – Qualifications for Membership

Article II – Procedures for Acceptance into Membership

All candidates shall be considered for membership upon written or verbal request to an elder. Letters of recommendation from other churches shall be considered as statements of release from previous church memberships.

Upon acceptance of the request, the candidate shall meet with the elders, seeking to gain as much understanding as possible concerning the teachings and practices of this church.  The elders shall also ask questions, giving the candidate opportunity to articulate their faith in Jesus Christ and their desire to be members of this fellowship.  The candidate and the elders shall then proceed with the membership reception process only if both parties can do so without reservation.

The membership shall be notified of the membership candidates’ names at least three weeks prior to the proposed membership service.

If, during the evaluation period, an objection is brought to the elders by any member in good standing, the elders must investigate the allegation and withhold membership proceedings until the allegation has been cleared.

If there are no concerns prohibiting membership the candidate shall be presented to the church membership during a membership meeting or public worship service and will be formally recognized with the right hand of fellowship.

Floyd, Karen, William, Bethany Gadd

Alex, Maryn Tiganov

Shauna Casey

Jason, Sandi, Nesha, Xander, Zion, Malachi, Navae, Rylee, Mattias Funk

Chris, Liana, Reuben Goertzen.

Sulley, Oliver, Aralyn Winter

Matthew, Raney Denzin

Rod, Jo, Billy, Tommy, Johnny, Ruthy, Jimmy, Teddy, Elsy Amberson

Put forward for membership: Aaron Cross, Eldon and Tammy Winter.

Here are Five One Anothers that follow from membership (from Scott Hubbard, for Desiring God¹):

And here are six categories of responsibilities that follow from membership (from Matt Emadi, for 9Marks²)

¹ https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-art-of-one-anothering

² https://www.9marks.org/article/what-are-the-responsibilities-of-church-membership/

https://www.gracechurch.org/about/distinctives/church-membership

https://www.crossway.org/articles/10-things-you-should-know-about-church-membership/

https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/where-did-the-idea-of-church-membership-originate.html

Almost everything we do is for everyone in the church. The biblical model for discipleship is age-integration. Our focus will remain on keeping families intact, not on multiplying programs to cater to specific age groups. The elders will examine requests on a case-by-case basis. For the foreseeable future, there will not be a youth group, or children's church. 

Here are some helpful resources:

If you would like to discuss this topic further, please feel free to speak with us.

Everyone is encouraged to attend and participate in our mid-week Bible Study.

This is an example of examining things on a case-by-case basis. Karen is leading a mid-week ladies bible study. The request was to have a mid-day study that was open to ladies who wanted to attend. Because it is mid-day and mid-day, it should not interfere with family life. 

The Quiz Meet bible quizzing program is run through UB David & I'LL B Jonathan. Quiz Meet would not allow a group that was not affiliated with a church. This is another example of examining things on a case-by-case basis. 

Grace Reformed Baptist Church believes that God has given the responsibility for training children to parents.

This came up when we obtained insurance last November, and questions around church policies. “Safe Church” is a term for Abuse Prevention policies. This is more of a concern for schools, clubs, and churches that aspire to run many programs. In such situations, there is a need for processes to avoid abuse and allegations of abuse, or deal with such situations responsibly.

We don’t intend to run a lot of programs, but we can also benefit from having a “Safe Church” Policy. Rod is working on a draft policy, as time allows.

Preaching is being shared on a rotating basis between our two elders, Rod Amberson and Floyd Gadd. We started the year continuing our series of sermons on Thessalonians and then a short series in the Psalms has been followed by a series in Ezra and Nehemiah. At the end of November, after Nehemiah 10, we begin a series on the incarnation, using Isaiah 6-11 as a framework. In January, we'll complete Nehemiah and then move on to Hebrews. 

From time to time, as we did when Marshall Schettler preached from the Psalms one Sunday, we expect to draw from outside of our immediate congregation for pulpit supply. Our most likely sources will be personnel from Gospel of Grace Fellowship in Weyburn, Moose Mountain Reformed Baptist Church in Arcola, and Fellowship Baptist Church in Saskatoon. We look forward to the prospect, in time, of raising up competent preachers from within our own congregation.

Feedback is always welcome.

We understand the singing of the congregation to be a vital part of local church life. The scriptures call on us to sing to God, and to speak to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.

We are using the hymnal “Hymns of Grace” as our principal source for congregational song, though we do, from time to time, also use songs from other sources. We value the use of scriptural psalms, and a plan is underway to add copies of a Psalter to our resources for congregational use, to supplement the selections of psalms already present in our hymnal.

The pool of people who present lead congregational song is presently quite small. We look forward to expanding this group to include others. We elders place a great deal of value on leadership that is covenanted together and committed to "submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ". Since this is a role that involves public spiritual leadership, our normal practice will be to engage people who have expressed mutual commitment by aligning in covenant with GRBC.

At the present time our church is not designating a part of the offerings collected on an ongoing basis to the support of missionary activity. We would like to begin doing that in the near future.

Two potential recipients of missions giving that are being considered are Tim Killillay and Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary.

Aaron is well known to many at GRBC and has made it his stated intention that GRBC be his home church. He has attended here regularly. Rod is working with the board of directors at Bibles for Muslims to obtain Charitable Status. We will continue to pray for Aaron and his ministries, Good News Ambassadors and Bibles for Muslims.

The Killalley family is sent and supported by a local church in the USA for ministry in Peru. Tim is elder-qualified and has focused on training men from Peru for the work of ministry, through theological education and discipleship. The Killillays are currently active in planting and establishing a local church in Peru. The Killilllays are registered with a missionary-support organization in Canada, that makes it simple for GRBC to direct our giving to their support.

CBTS is a confessional seminary that focuses on training people where they are, through online courses and generous audit options. The dean is Sam Waldron. CBTS also publishes books, articles, and podcasts. Our support may include the benefit of discounts for our members to enroll in CBTS courses for credit. There would likely need to be arrangements made to be able to give to CBTS, since they are based in the USA.

We join with TMAI is prayer each year. Unfortunately, their material was held up at the border this year and did not arrive until the events were concluded.

Several books and videos have been purchased for the library and a list will be published on the website. There needs to be a method of marking and tracking borrows and returns. Expect this to be up and running by the end of the year.

We still have permission to access the GoGF electronic library. To access the GoGF e-library, go to http://weyburnchurch.com/member-login/library and enter the password, "login."

Open floor

This is Christ's church, subject to His word, and the witness of the Holy Spirit. Timing and details are in His hands and we trust Him with all things.

These meetings are to be a visible and tangible outworking of our commitment to be mutually submitted to each other. The Elders and Deacons will continue to report to the membership as a matter of stewardship and submission to the body of Christ expressed in this local church.

The elders seek to steward faithfully the resources of GRBC in the mundane administration of the church, as servants of Christ and of His church. Worship must always be foremost, and yet matters of where we meet and the economics and details of running the church also need to be cared for. The elders seek to lead with a humble attitude, therefore nothing is being done behind closed doors and questions are always welcome. Questions need not wait for the next congregational meeting.