WHy do we take a summer break?

We believe that we are a church that is called to pursue connection with God, each other (all believers, not just our own church), and our greater community. We are incredibly grateful for the rhythms that we have and the ways in which we are able to pursue each of those things, and encourage each other in those pursuits when we regularly meet together on Sunday mornings. We learned through COVID lockdowns that being able to meet together is a precious gift, and we rejoice whenever we are able to do so. We are also so grateful for our faith community here at Grand Valley, and appreciate the unique culture that we have when we meet together. Some of that uniqueness is tied into our Church values - that meeting Jesus matters, people matter, authenticity matters, trust matters, reconciliation matters, and stewardship matters.

Included in our value People Matter is the fact that we believe that God is calling us to love others and be intentional about the spiritual, physical, and emotional health of our volunteers and workers, and that people matter more than any service, program, or institution. We endeavour to honour that value by prioritizing relationships and practicing active compassion in our community and are exploring how the rhythms we follow as a group help us do that.

Last Summer, as we considered our values and vision, we felt that it was important to take an intentional time over the summer to practice the value that people matter and to take a break from our traditional services and concentrate on meeting in other ways that align with our priorities. We got some good feedback from the break last year, and think this will be a good practice to continue even when we have a pastor on staff. Last summer we also learned some lessons about what worked and what didn’t, and we’ve applied them to our approach to this summer.

Those changes will be seen in our decision to have less bonfires and spread them out a bit, to break for a little bit longer over the summer, and to encourage people to visit other churches together if they are available to do so. We will be sharing which churches we will be visiting each Sunday, and if you need a ride or are able to offer a ride to someone, please let Allie know by emailing office@mygrandvalley.ca.