News & Stories
Homeschool Group Going Strong
SHCOOP (SunRidge Homeschool Co-Op) is a weekly group of families that meets to do activities together. Just another way we show our commitment to the community and the NextGen! Keep it up Sunridge, you're making a difference! Learning is meant to be fun and sometimes...tasty! :)
Painting Party!
Painting Party! A big thank you to the small army of SunRidgers, small and tall, who helped transform the lobby and hallway of our church. It was a fun morning, which started at 4am for Adam Retzer, who came in to prep the space. Painting started at a more reasonable hour and went right into the evening. The Ridge Youth finished the job and we celebrated with pizza. Thanks again for making things happen SunRidge! We're grateful God has blessed us with this facility and we pray we would steward this property for His glory!
L.T. 💪
SunRidge, check out your Leadership Team of Elders! (Shout out also to Bernie who isn't shown here :) They meet once a month and do lots in-between meetings! Wondering what being an elder at SunRidge is all about? Here's a bit of info taken from the SunRidge Constitution..."The spiritual leadership of the church is entrusted to a team of leaders, described in the Bible as "Elders"; we refer to this group of Elders in our church as The Leadership Team. SunRidge has a leadership structure that is designed to lead this local church, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to bear fruit, prevail, and fulfill its God-given calling under the Great Commission. Our structure is meant to serve our vision, ultimately"Leading people to become passionately committed followers of Jesus."
It's no small thing to be on this team, especially during a time of leadership transition!
Church family, please be praying for this team!
Pray each member would be filled with the love and wisdom of God to lead our church and fulfill the important and beautiful role they have
Pray God would bless and protect their families
Pray they would be full of the hope of God as they lead through this unique season
Ladies Devos Through The Summer
Summer is often a time to change gears, and in a lot of cases that includes some much needed resting. While a lot of Sunridge programs take a break over the summer, we decided to “rest” without taking the break as ladies devos and I can say I’m so glad we did. This summer, Sunridge ladies have been meeting together Thursday mornings at various locations throughout West Kelowna. We have taken some extended time to meditate / “chew on” Psalm 23 together as we memorized it through the summer, as well as taking extra time to pray together for things that are weighing on our hearts and affecting our community. It has been such a rich time of community, encouraging one another, and lifting each other up in prayer. I am so grateful for each woman who was able to show up this summer! We are looking forward to shifting gears in the fall as we go back to our regular meetings of 9am on Friday mornings in the church lobby. We are an open group and all women are welcome to come attend on any Friday. We would love to see some new faces join us this fall. If you are interested but would like more information please reach out to me (Carla) here
OOSC Summer Camp
Summer camp is drawing to a close...
We have spent 6 glorious weeks together and it has been a blast (and exhausting)! The first session of the summer was "The Amazing Race, SunRidge" and the last session was "SunRidge Art Gallery".
Friday will be a bittersweet day as we say farewell to some of our OOSC kids for good (as they graduate into middle school), while others will be back with us in a few weeks for the start of a new semester.
Thank you, kids, for playing with us this summer!
Stand up! Sit down. Stand up! Sit down. Stand up! Sit down.
Stand up! Sit down. Stand up! Sit down. Stand up! Sit down. We had a good laugh last Sunday as our time of announcements unfolded into many rounds of standing up and quite a meaningful time of prayer! Kyle welcomed Stephanie Retzer to the stage to announce she was officially an elder! We stood and prayed! Then Kyle invited Mikaela up so we could say goodbye and pray for her as she moves to Ontario for school in Occupational Therapy. We stood and prayed! THEN Steve came up and had us stand again to pray for Kyle who was heading into surgery the next day. We stood and prayed! The rounds got a laugh but also, wow, so much richness in such a short time! This is the blessing of walking through life as a church family; we get to gather and pray to our Heavenly Father together for each other, through the ups and downs (literally ;)
Onward!
Last Sunday LT announced Wayne will continue to serve as the Transition Pastor for SunRidge! Wayne's contract was set to expire at the end of August and he has graciously agreed to extend it a further six months. The news was announced and met with lots of applause and cheering. This has been a wild season for our church family and we're so grateful for how God has provided for us. Please, please continue to pray God would bring to us a permanent Lead Pastor who loves the Lord with all their heart and is passionate to love our city in a way that shows them Jesus!
Church Games!
Last month after Soup Sunday (Salad & Sandwiches Sunday actually :) ), a number of our family went across to the park for a game of ultimate! Why let a Sunday afternoon go to waste when you can spend it with friends and have some fun right?
This Sunday afternoon we're doing the same again after lunch, so come out and join the fun! :)
Finishing another year of youth!
Another year of youth has wrapped up! We (the youth leaders) enjoyed a great time laughing about some funny memories from the year and took time to list all the ways we saw the provision of God! There were many "yay God!" toasts as we cheered with our RIDGE mugs for every awesome thing He did! Thank you SunRidge for supporting RIDGE!! We're so grateful to be a part of it!
Side note, always a satisfying way to end the year, we did a portable clean out. It is amazing what happens to a youth group room in just a few months 🤣 there was dancing, there was organizing, there were dead mice, there was old candy, there was Kyle's old braid (now displayed on a RIDGE trophy shelf), there was space made for a hopeful pool table!? We love this youth room, mess and all :)
If you feel called to serve in RIDGE youth, we'd love to talk! Give Kyle a shout and pray about what it could look like for you!
On the Move!
SRCC is on the move! You may have noticed some changes when you've arrived at the church these past few weeks. :) Yes, volunteers and staff have been busy inside and out cleaning up, organizing and prepping for the future! Thank you to all who have joined the efforts.
The outside of the church looks amazing guys and will only get better (stay tuned), huge thank you to the many volunteers who have been working hard on landscaping, organizing, designing, and lots more! - we're excitedly curious about what God will do in our church family!
Thank you God for your provision and your plans!
Family Day & Baptisms!
This past Sunday was an amazing time! From enjoying a time of worship and teaching in a great outdoor setting to celebrating public declarations of faith by some of our family members through baptism. Follow that with chowing down on bbq and then playing together - definitely a day to remember!
In fact, we had so much fun, that we want to keep at it. So plan to stick around church after the upcoming Soup Sunday (June 30) and we're gonna play a little b-ball, perhaps some ultimate frisbee - who knows what other fun we'll get up to? :) Looking forward to it!
RIDGE Retreat Two!!
RIDGE RETREAT TWO WAS AWESOME!!! We had a great mix of ridiculous and rich times. There was, of course, songs sung by party squawkers, a wrestling match in flour water, a traffic hold up caused by us driving a 6 person bike and getting stuck, a sleepover inside a fort, canned fish put in jello we ate as a competition consequence, and a screaming foot game. (Youth moments are hard to explain…) in addition to that greatness we had meaningful devos around a campfire, worship lead by Kyle and students, small group prayer, hot chocolate toasts and cheers to all the good things God did for us this past youth year, and lots of moments of joy!
Huge thanks to everyone who joined and helped to make it a thing!!!
Investing in Marriages
The Marriage Course finished its run for another season the end of April. There was strong attendance from beginning to end and great connections were made not just between couples but on the serving teams as well!
The Kitchen Clean Up Team shared many laughs and the young ladies who took care of the children will fondly remember their post-party karaoke sessions. :) We thank God for this season of bonding and look forward to next year.
Stay tuned for The Parenting Course, hosted in the style of The Marriage Course, coming to SunRidge in the Fall. See you there!
OOSC Spring Break
Spring Break Camp at OOSC is always a great time with the kids. This year we had more kids enrolled than ever thanks to the purchase of our new bus. The bus not only lets us pick up more kids but also lets us explore His amazing creation! Thank you, Sunridge, for your support of this wonderful ministry!
SHCOOP: Serving the Community & the NextGen...
SunRidge Homeschool Co-op (SHCOOP) has been meeting every Monday morning for the last few weeks and it has been a blast! We have a time of worship, a quiet craft, a DIY snack, and active playtime. So far the group is quite young, but we look forward to having children of all ages join us. We expect that SHCOOP will change and grow dramatically in the coming year. Watch out for updates as this ministry grows!
Our next meet up will be April 8.
More info: Jon@sunridge.org
The Baton Pass
Honouring the past and looking to the future...
Last Sunday we took some time as a church to honour Mike and Teresa for all the hard work and service they’ve done. 26+ years ago, God put it on their hearts to come do a work here in West Kelowna and as faithful servants they obeyed and Sunridge was born! Praise God for willing hearts and thank you Mike and Teresa for your faithfulness! The service was an awesome one where we took the time to celebrate God’s handiwork through them with prayer, worship, the giving of memorable gifts, sitting under Mike’s teaching one last time, and then a party afterwards. If you missed it, check it out on our YouTube channel. We also took the time to honour and celebrate the handing off of the “baton” to our new transitional pastor Wayne.
While it was a mix of sadness, laughing, wondering and joy all at the same time, we know that we follow a God who meets us in all those things and we look forward to where He leads us in the days/weeks/months/years to come! It’s fitting that as we start this next leg of the journey, Wayne will be pointing us to keep our “Eyes Fixed on Jesus” - New series starting Sunday.
Thank you again Mike and Teresa - may God give you a well deserved season of rest. Enjoy the journey going forward and where He leads. Much love.
Welcome Wayne Alguire! Transition Pastor starting March 1
Exploring God's Creation...
Every February, Out of School Care has two early dismissal days for MarJok, and Rose Valley Elementary Schools. On these days, we are given the opportunity to go on a trip with the kids. It is a fun opportunity to explore God's creation; here we are at Kalomoir Regional Park exploring the interesting rock formations in the area. We are so thankful for the ministry that we have at Out is School Care and your support Sunridge for these young ones!
Recently @ RIDGE
Recently at RIDGE we’ve dressed up and acted out a life-size mystery game, we’ve driven Herald (the church bus) over pumpkins backwards, we’ve done devos around a campfire, Eben ate a good portion of a pool noodle, we’ve played soccer with pylons on our face, and we’ve laughed a lot. There’s been some unhappy times… getting hit in the face with a soccer ball when you have a hard plastic cone on your nose is not awesome. But mostly it’s been awesome.
We’re working our way through the Bible Projects “How to Read the Bible” and we are all, leaders included, learning a lot about this amazing book!! We 100% recommend digging into their videos about the bible.
Thank you leaders and our trusty RIDGE Roadie for making these nights great and thank you SunRidge for supporting this crew! : )
A Body of Many Parts!
A Body of Many Parts! "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ."
~1 Corinthians 12:12
Our church family is wide and diverse, with many moving parts. Praise God for the multitude of gifts, passions and talents that are represented at SunRidge. Many parts of our church body operate behind the scenes in places like the kitchen, in prayer rooms or even behind a mop.
A few months ago, when Mei Ransom's work cut into her availability to clean the church, Adam Retzer expressed a keen interest in the job. Adam LOVES to clean and tithes his time and gifts to the church so that we can enjoy a clean facility on Sundays.
On behalf of SunRidge, we thank you Mei for your past dedication to the job, and to Adam for a heart to keep SunRidge clean!