A lot of great things have been happening around Bethel these days.  One of the most exciting is not even happening in the building, it is happening on the web at www.discoverbethel.com.  We are seeing more visitors than ever before checking out what Bethel has to offer.

So what are people tuning into see?  As you could probably guess, the most visited page on our website is our home page.  The newsletter garners the next most visits.  The pastor’s corner is next in popularity, and that is followed closely by people tuning into sermon podcasts.

One fairly recent improvement to our website has been to make our sermon podcasts available on iTunes where they can potentially have a broader distribution and will have fewer bugs when they are downloaded and played.   A future goal is to have a page for every ministry at Bethel so visitors can see all that Bethel has to offer.

In A Dream for Bethel we describe a day when “a team of talented technicians will have created and be maintaining a website that is second to none.” That is our long range goal.  We want to get our message out in more and more effective ways with the hope that people will come to know Jesus Christ and join us in “becoming like Christ and sharing Him with others.”

We hope you will continue to enjoy Bethel’s online presence.  (If you are not in the habit of visiting the site, be sure to stop in and check it out.)  If you want to be part of making Bethel’s web vision come true, contact web administrator Bekke Werkman at rebeccawerkman@live.co.uk. --Pastor Tom

For a second year in a row Bethelites will be gathering in their local communities to enjoy a barbeque with their Bethel neighbours this summer.  The Events Team has recruited over 20 host couples from around the region to organize these area gatherings.

We get together like this because barbeques are just plain fun, of course.  Who doesn’t love to enjoy hot dogs, burgers, or steaks with friends?  But these gatherings also serve an important purpose in the life of our church.  Consider the following:

• Believe it or not, some people attend Bethel Church, and live very close to one another geographically, are not even aware of it or have had very little opportunity to get to know one another.  These barbeques can deepen our sense of belonging to the Bethel community by establishing these relationships.  We may potentially see our neighbours more often than anyone else from Bethel; so now, each time we wave to one another in our neighbourhoods, or stop to say “hi” in the local Starbucks, we will be reminded of the bond we share.
• These barbeques create a nonthreatening environment for people new to Bethel, and people only peripherally connected with the community, to get to know others from the church.  This could open the door to their becoming even more involved.  
• These local gatherings increase the chance that our unchurched friends will get to know Jesus and be enfolded into the Bethel community.  Who better to introduce your unchurched neighbours to than your fellow Church members who live in your very community?  (You might consider inviting an unchurched friend to your local barbeque this year—contact your host to let them know you have a guest coming).
  

For all these reasons regional barbeques are a great idea.  Enjoy your local gathering.  If your name is not in the phone directory yet, be sure to sign up at the Welcome Center so the organizers know you want an invitation. –Pastor Tom

At Bethel we have made it our goal to be a vibrant church of prayer.  That is because there is an indissoluble link between prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit.

With this in mind, Bethel’s Managing Elders recently asked each of our church’s ministry leaders to work with their team to develop a prayer strategy for their ministry—in other words, to express in writing how their team plans to make prayer their number one priority.  Joanne Rozendaal, who has been gathering the responses, reports that over 20 Bethel ministries (the vast majority) have submitted their strategies so far!  The results are extremely exciting.  Let me share just a few highlights with you:

• The Managing Elders have committed to pray during each meeting for their work, and each Managing Elder has committed to pray during the week for their ministry and for the other members of the team.
• The Shepherding Elders have begun to hold a special prayer meeting each month specifically to pray for the needs of the congregation.
• The Youth Leaders meet a half an hour before each youth night to pray together.  They also try to find a way to exchange prayer requests and remember to pray for their own “tribe” of youth each week as well as the other leaders’ “tribes”.
• The Alpha Ministry had a dedicated prayer group praying off site during the week, and on sight during sessions.
• The Director and Assistant Director of Children’s Ministries spend 30 – 45 minutes each Tuesday praying for specific children, leaders, and the families they serve.
• Dove Taekwondo leaders plan to set aside one day to pray and fast before the upcoming season and each leader has committed to pray daily for the ministry.
• Church Events Team members, starting 10 days prior to each event, are reminded to pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, for willing hearts to serve, and for Jesus’ light to shine through them.  They also gather before each event to pray.
• The Love Bannerman ministry periodically gathers people to prayer walk through the Bannerman neighbourhood.  That ask God to bless the people who live in our church’s community as well as Bethel’s ministry to them.

I have not even mentioned that a dedicated group gathers each Wednesday morning to pray for Bethel and the world, and that a healing prayer ministry is being developed so that people can receive personal, in depth, prayer for issues they are facing. 

The prayer-fire that is burning in Bethel is a sign that God’s Spirit is at work here.  It makes me excited for the future, because I believe this outpouring of prayer is a prelude to the even greater things that God plans to do.  --Pastor Tom