Sermons and SS Lessons are HERE Offerings Are still needed to cover expenses and can be made following the instructions Here Pastor Don Fisher Intern Pastor Tom Jasper		Welcome in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Aberdeen Baptist Church is the merger of the former Calvary Baptist Church of Aldergrove and the former Aldergrove Fellowship Baptist Church commencing 2018 02 11 legal change of name from AFBC 2018 06 01

As of Monday, the federal government has imposed further restrictions on meetings or assemblies in excess of 50 people. While we could perhaps have worked around that restriction by holding dual services at separate times or continuing small group ministries like bible study night and prayer meeting, the Prime Minister also urged the country to cancel all unnecessary meetings or assemblies of any size for the time being. We are to minimize our social contact as much as possible right now. In cooperation with that directive, Aberdeen Baptist will immediately suspend all in-person ministries until further notice.

What does this mean for us as a church moving forward? How long will such a suspension of activities take place? As you are likely aware from the constantly changing landscape of response to the virus, the world does not yet know the answers to these questions. Things will no doubt change, but right now we are being told that the "lock down" on public gatherings or assemblies will likely go until at least some time in May (around 8 weeks is the minimum estimate). It could be longer.

We are working on setting up a YOU TUBE channel dedicated to Aberdeen Baptist church, in order to allow some online encouragement in the word. We are newbies at this, so it may be a little simplistic and rudimentary at first. We hope to have a couple sermons up on the channel by Sunday (one by Pastor Tom and one by Pastor Don). We will send out an email by the weekend with further info on how this is progressing and any relevant links to locate the material.

As we progress, we would also like to post some short 5-10 minute topical videos. Some initial ideas are:

• Short readings and questions to continue Bible studies, where the membership can post their ideas to biblical questions taken from the readings. This would take a typical one hour bible study subject and break it up into multiple little 5 minutes segments each dealing with one issue or question.
• Encouragements in daily reading of the Scriptures. Many of you are following the daily bible reading plan distributed by the church just before the New Year. No doubt not everyone is precisely following it to the day, but we thought maybe we could post a thought or a blessing from a couple of the reading assignments each week.
• Another thought is simply to video a short segment called "Coffee pot theology" - This would be something like water fountain discussions at the workplace, but focussed on theology or current events as filtered through the lens of the believer. Just some short thoughts on biblical theologies and current events that commonly get tossed around by pastors or those who drop in at the church.

Tom and I will continue to be at the church most days, so individual meetings can still be worked out to sit down and encourage or counsel as needed. We want to be sensitive to the restrictions on contact, but just as some people will continue to head to the workplace, one-on-one meetings can still be arranged. You can also stop by the church if you would like to pray or drop in to say hi, or give of your offerings, but call or text first to make sure someone will be there.

Concerning offerings, I know it sounds bad for the pastor to bring this up. However, it is a concern for me as a believer, and perhaps you have had the same concern. The church can survive without our money. God will certainly get by without our money. But you and I need to give of our offerings as we exercise our faith on a weekly or monthly basis. If this virus is a component in the Lord's plan to bring about the end of the age ( a topic for a coffee pot theology segment), we certainly want to be careful not to fall asleep in our walk with the Lord, and giving regularly is an important part of that walk. We dare not lesson our practical steps of faith when the Bible repeatedly warns of a falling away as the end approaches, and encourages the believer to "Hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." We DO have online giving options available at this time, Click here for details and you can certainly call and stop by with your offering anytime one of us is at the church.

As things progress, no doubt some of our people will need a little assistance getting basic supplies or medications, or getting to certain appointments. Once organized, we would like to suggest an "adopt a senior" system where each of our people with a need for a little help or a visit from time-to-time is sponsored by another family within the church that can make regular contact. I am sure there will be more ideas as we move forward, but these are some of our initial thoughts.

Not everyone in the church has email, and there are some addresses I do not have. We would like to compile a more complete email list so we can advise everyone as we advance and begin to post online clips and encouragements.

Lord bless all. Keep your confidence in the Lord. Though we can not physically meet on a weekly basis, we are still the family of God and need to band together to encourage one another. Keep in contact through the plethora of electronic means available and let us know if there are needs out there we are unaware of.

In the love of Christ and as the family of God
Pastor Don (and Tom)