Inspiring ideas
DESTRUCTION WOOD BECOMES A DECORATION
After tornadoes devastated Ottawa neighbourhoods in 2018, churches jumped into action to help the community. A year later Arlington Woods Free Methodist Church, which lost its fellowship hall roof in the tornadoes, found a creative way to bless their neighbourhood out of the wreckage. With a donor’s help they gave more than 300 Christmas tree ornaments to homes around the church. Each ornament was handmade from white pines knocked down in the tornadoes and included a note of encouragement from the church. WWW.SPUROTTAWA.COM
AVOID GETTING STUCK ADJUSTING TO THE WEB
In the wake of Covid, ministries across the country scrambled to find ways to engage their communities, continue the work of the gospel and fundraise online. To ease the transition WayBase compiled a list of online optimization tools. WayBase is an online Canadian platform that helps Christians and ministries connect and collaborate. The optimization tools include ideas and programs (most of them free) to enable and increase giving, facilitate online community among members and improve church websites. They also include guides for streaming services and uploading videos. WWW.WAYBASE.COM
ROLLING OUT A NEW FOOD PROGRAM
Amid the pandemic The Ottawa Mission homeless shelter found a new way to increase access to the meals they provide to Ottawa’s poor. They now have a food truck which provides free food to those in need and operates five days a week. The truck enables the mission to distribute up to a hundred meals at a time and reach more areas outside the downtown core. WWW.OTTAWAMATTERS.COM
ONLINE DEVOTIONALS FROM CHURCH LEADERS
North Edmonton Alliance Church shares short devotionals online with each installment written by a different pastor or church leader. The diverse congregation offers services in three languages, so only about half the devotionals are written in English. Their devotional page includes a button allowing users to quickly filter the content by language. WWW.NEACHURCH.CA
Visit www.FaithToday.ca/InspiringIdeas for more. Does your church or organization have great ideas to share? Send an email to editor@FaithToday.ca.