East Gate Alliance offers free Christmas concert
“It’s just a nice evening with fellowship.”
Craig Macartney
Spur Ottawa Writer
East Gate Alliance Church is hosting a free concert featuring local worship artist Colin Bernard. The concert is taking place this Friday, December 18, starting at 7 p.m.
“We’re taking all the chairs out of the sanctuary and putting in some tables with candles, so it will look like a Bistro,” says Bernard. “The purpose is just to have a nice evening together with fellowship and to celebrate Christmas. It’s an opportunity to listen to some music, sing some Christmas tunes, meet some new people, and have a good time.”
Bernard says the Christmas Coffee House will have a relaxed atmosphere, complete with free coffee, apple cider, hot chocolate, and goodies.
“It’s going to be really fun. The first hour is music from my album and some new [music] we haven’t made public yet. The second hour we’re going to read the Christmas story and sing some carols.”
The Christmas Coffee House was not intended as a fundraiser, but Bernard says the church decided last minute to accept a free-will offering. The money raised will go to support a Syrian family they are sponsoring.
“When I heard about the Christmas Coffee House I thought it would be a natural opportunity,” explains Peter Hartgerink. “Initially this was completely separate from the refugee sponsorship, but it seems like a natural fit with Christmas because of the story of Joseph and Mary being displaced.”
Hartgerink is spearheading East Gate’s refugee sponsorship initiative, which is a partnership between the three churches that meet on the East Gate campus. The churches are sponsoring a Christian family who escaped Syria three years ago.
“It’s a father, mother, two daughters, and a grandmother. One of our church members met them on a mission trip to Jordan,” he explains.
“When everyone began talking about sponsoring refugees, I started praying about how to respond. The same day, my friend, who went on the mission trip, had to pull his car over to the side of the road because this family was on his heart so strongly. He called his wife and said, ‘I think we need to do something to help this family.’ She responded, ‘that’s funny, because Peter just emailed asking about the church sponsoring a refugee family.”
The churches are finalizing their resettlement plan. Hartgerink says the sponsorship process usually takes about six months, but because of the current climate, it could be much faster.
“We’re within a couple of weeks of formally applying to sponsor them,” he says. “We’ve been told there is every chance they will be accepted.”
Similar Articles
Ottawa’s post-COVID Church—what does it look like?
As society looks toward a post-pandemic world, Ottawa churches are beginning to reflect on the past two years and evaluate the lessons. To help understand the big picture of the Church in this city, Spur Ottawa connected with six pastors about their church’s challenges and take-aways […]
Pray Ottawa calls for a citywide day of prayer
Pray Ottawa is calling churches to mark this Sunday, September 13, as a citywide day of prayer. The event is called “Pathways to Victory”, in reference to the various ways people have been affected and the city’s need for God’s […]
ADAM calls out Ottawa’s young men
With sheets of rain falling all around, 50 young men huddled under a tarp. Rather than complaining, they were focused on hearty steaks and sharing stories of how they had experienced God that day. Despite being uncomfortable for most of their three-day retreat, the […]
Tapping into the Word
Bibles, beverages, and building bridges. Theology on Tap has mixed these three elements into a thirst-quenching cocktail which they serve the third Thursday of every month. The event welcome […]
Church quadruples in first year
An influx of Filipino immigration to Gatineau presents a strategic opportunity that one local church has seized upon. Last year, Jesus Is Lord Church (JIL) commissioned 27 of their members to plant a sister church in Gatineau. One year later, they have more […]
Free to believe. Free to speak?
The Metropolitan Bible Church (MET) is preparing to host their second freedom summit, an on-line conference to discuss the threat to religious freedom within Canada and internationally. “We want to highlight that while we are free to believe, our freedom to speak and act is being eroded […]