The Women's Retreat (Drumheller) has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. We anticipate rescheduling this event to take place in the fall of 2020. All registered attendees have been notified and should receive confirmation their registration fee has been refunded by March 11, 2020. Attendees are also responsible to cancel their hotel reservation for the weekend (Canalta Jurassic - 1-403-823-7700). Questions or concerns should be directed to Lisa Neudorf (lisa@communityofchrist.ca).

Work Week - April 27 thru May 2.  Breakfast each morning is at 8am.
 
Those who would like may arrive on the Sunday before BUT NOT BEFORE 5pm.
There is a retreat ending that day and we want to give the managers time to clean things up.  Questions may be forwarded to the campground manager Chris at samishislandcamp@gmail.com or Jim Fish at k7ncg@frontier.com.
 

 2020 
April 24-26          Nurturing Justice Retreat Samish Island
April 28-May 4    Samish Island Work Week
​
May 2-3               Creating Connection Facilitators Retreat Chilliwack
May 31-Jun 2      Nurturing Friends and Family Weekend Samish Island
May 15-17            Jan Kraybill Music Weekend - Vancouver
 
June 12-14           Spiritual Retreat Hills of Peace
June 3- July 3     Junior Camp Hills of Peace
 
July 4-9               Family Camp Hills of Peace
July 11-15             Jr. and Sr. High Camp Hills of Peace
July 18-25            Spectacular Graceland University
July 19-25            Camp Atsaken (12-14 yrs) Samish Island
July 25-Aug 1      Nurturing Community (Family Reunion) Samish Island
 
August 2-8          Camp Kimtah (15-18 yrs) Samish Island
August 9-13         Camp Mungai (8-11 yrs) Samish Island
Aug 16-21             Adult Reunion Samish Island
 
Sept 4-6            Canada West Mission Conference Chilliwack
September 7     Workshop with Joey Williams         
 
Sept 25-27         Men’s Retreat Hills of Peace
 
Oct                    BC Women's Retreat (tbc)
Oct 9-11             Climate Change Colloquy Samish Island
Oct 25-27         Nurturing Silence Retreat Samish Island
Dates are subject to change.
Please register early to avoid cancellation of your event www.cwm.events ​

A Statement on COVID-19 (Novel Coronavirus)
 
The Canada West Mission Centre has been following developments of the well-publicized COVID-19 (or Novel Coronavirus). This may be of concern to Community of Christ members due to the confirmation of cases in British Columbia and Washington State. No cases have yet been confirmed in Alberta, Saskatchewan or Manitoba.
 
There have been no advisories concerning gatherings of persons in any jurisdictions in the Canada West Mission Centre or in Washington State. We do not expect any impact on our planned retreats, youth camps, and family camps/reunions. We will monitor each jurisdiction in case any advisories are issued that may affect our event operations. However, you can expect at our events reinforcement of the directives from all health agencies on how best to protect ourselves against all respiratory illnesses including flu and COVID-19:

• Wash your hands often and well
• Avoid touching your face, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands.
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick
• Clean and disinfect surfaces that are frequently touched
• Stay at home and away from others if you are feeling ill
• When sick, cover your cough and sneezes and then wash your hands

(adapted from: Alberta Health Services website)
 
Current government information about the disease for each respective location can be found at these links:

• Vancouver Coastal Health
• Snohomish (Washington) Health District (the county closest to the Samish Campground with reported cases of COVID-19)
• Alberta Health Services
• Government of Saskatchewan
• Manitoba Public Health

 
--Steve Thompson
President, Canada West Mission Centre
 
 
 

Please remember that our registration policy has changed as of January 1, 2020
You must register and pay your registration fee 2 weeks prior to the event on Reggie at www.cwm.events.  As a general rule, late registrations will not be accepted, contact the camp director for more information.
Payments will no longer be accepted on site or at the door.  If you can't pay online, a mail in option will be given to you upon registration.
Financial assistance is available and should be requested first from your congregational financial officer, second from the Mission Centre Reggie@communityofchrist.ca 
We realize this is a big change from previous years. and appreciate your understanding.
If you have any questions please contact Lisa@communityofchrist.ca or Steve@communityofchrist.ca
​

The Canada West Mission Centre requires the services of an Administrative Assistant to the Mission Centre President. Responsibilities of this position will include such tasks as: 

• Manage communications for the mission centre including: 

• maintaining the mission centre website,  
• contributing to the mission centre Facebook page,  

• editing and publishing the weekly updates (“Weekly Wire”) and ensuring their distribution, 
• creating, or assisting others with the creation of, promotional materials for mission centre programs and events (for example, working with the Mission Conference Manager in creation of the conference program and promotional materials), 
• managing the mission centre’s electronic telephone system, 
• and other communications initiatives as might be considered from time to time. 

• Serve as a point of contact for the mission centre for members and friends seeking information about programs and services 

• Assist the mission centre president with creation and distribution of emails and other communications to Pastors and other key contacts in the mission centre. This includes maintaining lists of contact information for congregations. 
• Manage the clergy registration (i.e., marriage license) processes for all four provinces of the mission centre. 
• Serve as the mission centre Privacy Officer. 
• At the direction of the mission centre president take on planning and support roles for special events as may be required from time to time. 
• Maintain communications, as necessary, with the Canadian Community of Christ offices in Guelph, Ontario, and with World Church Headquarters in Independence, Missouri. Specific contacts will be developed as required. 

• Participate in monthly meetings of the Canada West Mission Centre Leadership Team and provide relevant support as needed or requested. 

Persons with the following skills and experience may be interested in this position: 

• Previous experience as an administrative assistant in a management office. 
• Reliable Internet service capable of supporting various electronic tools including video meeting technologies such as “Zoom.” 
• Demonstrable skills in Microsoft Office tools, especially Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook. Willingness to become familiar with other electronic tools will be beneficial. 

• Has Community of Christ Registered Youth Worker certification or is able to obtain it. 
• Useful but not required at outset: Reasonable familiarity with Community of Christ organizational structures. 

The Administrative Assistant is a part-time, contract position, paid an hourly rate on a monthly basis. Work time must be tracked and submitted to the Mission Centre President for approval and the Mission Centre Financial Officer for payment. 
Persons interested in this position are asked to submit a letter of application to the Mission Centre President, Steve Thompson, via email to: steve@communityofchrist.ca. The letter should include description of the applicant’s interest, work experience, and skills that could be brought to the position. 
Applications are to be submitted no later than midnight (BC time) Friday, February 21, 2020. Please submit your application at your earliest opportunity. This posting may close early if a sufficient number of qualified applications are received. 
 
 

February 15th is Kitchen Work Day at Samish Island Campground.   All are welcome to join us as we get our kitchen ready for our camping season.  9am - 4pm, and lunch will be provided.

​ This new year is bringing with it some change for the Canada West Mission Centre.
 
Over the past year and a half Debra Donohue has been fulfilling her long-standing duties of Administrative Assistant to the Mission Centre President and mission conference planning and management. In that time she has also taken on the addition of a new role as Creating Connection Director for British Columbia. This year Debra will be devoting herself full time to the Creating Connection Director position and will transition out of the Admin Assistant and mission conference responsibilities.
 
Debra and Steve have yet to work out the full details of this transition. Steve will take on many of the admin tasks until a successor is in place. Steve asks for your patience in the event of any “blips” in those tasks as we get a handle on all the tasks that may be involved. Detailed mission conference planning will be put on hold until a person is identified for that task.
 
A formal posting of responsibilities for the Admin Assistant is posted above. One person might fulfill both roles (as Debra has) or two persons might be appointed into the separate positions. Anyone who might be interested in either or both of these positions is invited to contact Steve. A timeline has not yet been established, but it would be good to have someone at least preparing to come into the admin position within a month or so.

Personal comments from Steve:
I cannot begin to thank Debra enough for the support she has provided to me in this position over the past five and a half years. She has represented the mission centre in that role very positively in her interactions with mission centre members and with other persons in other areas of the church, including church headquarters and the Canadian church offices. Her enthusiasm for mission conference has been amazing. These shoes will not be easy to fill.
 
As a Creating Connection Director Debra has done very well at introducing the concepts of the position to Canada West and to the BC congregations specifically. Her successes there are recognized by Kerry Richards in his role as Director of the Congregational Revitalization Program for Canada. Debra remains under the supervision of the Canada West Mission Centre while accepting guidance and direction from Kerry in the specifics of the Creating Connection initiative. Please join me in wishing Debra well in her continuing commitment to this work.

On Sunday January 26, 2020 Daniel Brown and his mother Susan Brown had their Confirmation at the Victoria Community of Christ.
It was a very meaningful service. Afterwards we had lunch and cake to welcome our new members, Daniel and Susan. Daniel played the organ for this service and as always he did a wonderful job. Both Daniel and Susan are special people that are so welcomed into our church community. Thank you to everyone for sharing this special service with us. A big thank you again to Joe Bouley for bringing his camera.    
​Sally Glasier.

The Canada West Mission staff would like to wish all of you  a Happy New Year.  

The CWM offices will be closed from December 24th until January 2nd

​Steve's new address
 
Steve Thompson
Canada West Mission Centre
7603 190 Street NW
Edmonton, Alberta  T5T 5H6
Canada
 
Phone numbers remain the same:
1-877-411-2632, ext. 1
1-780-904-4389  cell