On December 2, the Ladies Friday Morning Devotions Group had breakfast together at the church and took the time to “send" one of our beloved sisters on to a new assignment. Lisa has been a devoted part of this group for many years and her presence, personal words, and prayers will be so missed! The ladies brought verses and words of encouragement and affirmation, and we prayed over her! We also put together a gift “bin” so that Lisa has a gift to open every day from December 5 all the way to December 31 — to remind her of all of us at SunRidge who love her and are praying for her as she moves into a new season!!

The Call & The Send
Last Sunday was Shawn & Lisa Klassen's last Sunday with SunRidge before they go on to be a part of Kelowna Gospel Fellowship. Shawn has accepted as position as their lead pastor and will start there in the New Year! It was so good to hear from both Shawn and Lisa, about their time with the SunRidge church family for the past 8 years, and their calling to walk with another church family. We had a time of prayer for them, for KGF, and for SunRidge. While it is always sad to say "goodbye" it is so joyful to look back at our good memories together and to join in the joy of, as a church family, sending people to go and do the Lord's work! May God so bless Shawn, Lisa, and Mackenzie as they now go to serve our brothers and sisters at KGF!

Last Saturday, Emmanuel Church hosted Parenting in a Digital World. It was a collaboration between Westside Churches and their respective Family Ministry Pastors and was 5 months in the making. Cole Hubscher was the keynote speaker. Though attendance was less than anticipated, the response was enormous. Many parents came out of the session feeling more aware and equipped to take action at home. Thank you Cole, and all the local experts who contributed their knowledge and wisdom to this event! We are already looking forward to the next Parenting Lifeboat Session: Healthy Relationships, with Darlene Unrau.

A few weeks ago we finished BLESS. What a great series that was for adults and kids alike. Looking back, there were some cool lessons from Sunland that we enjoyed learning about. Here, the kids are learning what it was to Serve others the way Jesus did it: washing feet. Mind you, our feet aren't as dirty as people's feet used to be, so we had to make them dirty first :)

After our church gathering on Oct 30 we took time to celebrate SunRidge's 25th Anniversary! We enjoyed lunch and dessert together while listening to people share stories about how God has walked with them through church family at SunRidge. Such a huge thanks to everyone who made this gathering happen! Alsoooo... that time that Steve got us all clapping in anticipation of him rapping his story?!?!? So good 😂 God has been good to us these past 25 years, through the joyful, unsure, hilarious, difficult, and good times.

Praise the Lord!
I will thank the Lord with all my heart
as I meet with his godly people.
2 How amazing are the deeds of the Lord!
All who delight in him should ponder them.
3 Everything he does reveals his glory and majesty.
His righteousness never fails.
4 He causes us to remember his wonderful works.
How gracious and merciful is our Lord!

Psalms 111:1-4

SunRidge Family

We have been praying about God’s will to be done in regards to a candidating process Shawn and Lisa Klassen have been walking through with Kelowna Gospel Fellowship. We have prayed for God’s best for KGF, for the Klassen’s and for SunRidge. KGF has extended an offer to Shawn for the Lead Pastor Position and he has accepted. As a staff and leadership we are 100% behind Shawn & Lisa, blessing our dear friends to pursue the calling God has placed in front of them. Shawn and Lisa will begin their new position in January. Please pray for them, for KGF and for our church as well. The head of the Church is Christ and 1 Corinthians 12 says God has in the past and continues to place "the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.”

On behalf of the Leadership Team
Pastor Mike

Last week at youth we did devotions around a campfire! Devotions are reading the bible then writing about what it means and how it applies to our life. It’s so important to do this everyday to be connected in relationship with God!

We journal after reading using the acronym S.O.A.P.

Scripture: what bible verse stood out to you?

Observation: what is that verse actually saying?

Application: how does that verse apply to our lives?

Prayer: ask God to help you apply the scripture to your life

Sunridge Date Night! Once a month! Pizza, Movie, and Fun games!!! Drop off your kids, you and your love ones enjoy a date, dinner, reconnect… it’s our privilege to be here to support and care!!!

Isn't it amazing that we have a God who creates for us this gift called sabbath. Sabbath is a day of rest and delight in the Lord. It's a time to plan laughter and play! Every so often at youth we carve out a night just for this; play and delight! This past Wednesday we walked to Hudson to play grounders, a playground classic, and then walked to Hudson to get slushies. It's simple and joyful and we're so grateful to God for giving us the time and resources which allowed for us to hangout in this way :)

Such a great way to kick-off the ministry year with baptisms! Earlier in the day we began church by enjoying breakfast together. Thank you everyone for making this Sunday happen! We pray God would bless our church family with joyful, unified, rich times as we walk together in Christ through another year!

Recently, some of the local Chinese community reached out to our church family asking for baptism. As a result, we had the great pleasure of conducting a baptism class with these brothers and sisters and on Sunday, August 14th, seven of them took the important step of committing their lives to Christ through the symbol of baptism! What an honor it was to celebrate together. The weather was great; the Okanagan lake was a beautiful backdrop; God is so good. Praise his name! We will be sharing their video testimonies in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!