Ministry News from the BCY Region
Warm Welcomes:
Rhys Fowler, Pastor of Discipleship and Families, New Life Community Baptist Church
Carol Ip, Pastor of English Ministries, Makarios Evangelical Church
Nate Schroeder, Youth Pastor, Summerland Baptist Church
Fond Farewells:
Thomas Chan, Lead Pastor, Grace Community Baptist Church
Alana Robinson, Executive Pastor, New Life Community Baptist Church
Pauline Sanderson, Associate Pastor, Hillside Baptist Church
Wayne Snider, Lead Pastor, First Baptist Church Nanaimo
Kalie Watt, Pastor of Spiritual Formation, Summerland Baptist Church
Lee Young, Lead Pastor, Summerland Baptist Church
The Goodness of God
By Matthew Fox
My wife, seven children, and I arrived at Comox Community Baptist Church just over four and a half years ago following God’s leading to settle in the Comox Valley. It is hard to believe how the time has flown and how things have changed. Our family has grown, and we find ourselves with only three children left at home. It’s a houseful when our children return with their friends, spouses, and significant others. As our family has changed, so has the church in many positive and encouraging ways.
2025 has been a significant year for our growing congregation. God seems to be moving in very significant ways in people’s lives in the congregation. In September, we had the amazing privilege of baptizing a single dad with two daughters whose tragedies in life have not stopped him from seeking and finding God. He walked into our church two years ago, wondering about faith, totally led by God, not knowing what to expect. Through relationships, discipleship, fellowship, and personal growth, his journey has been a demonstration of God’s miraculous transforming power.
Over the years, as we have grown, the Leadership and Elders of the church have recognized the need for small groups to help people connect and grow in their faith. It has been a struggle, to say the least, but this fall we find our church with four small groups, a condensed first-step course, and a serving group as well—what an answer to prayer. As a pastor, I marvel at how, in God’s perfect timing, He draws people and leaders to ministry where it is needed.
When I arrived in 2021, CCBC had just over twenty members in the congregation, along with some adherents. Over the past couple of years, we have continued to add a few members each year, but this November, we had the privilege of adding ten new members to the church! This is an issue that we have been pleading for God to increase. Some of these new members are stepping into leadership positions, and next year, we see that the trend will continue with a second group who will also be able to step into leadership.
One of the most significant shifts we have seen this past year was a sudden increase in people coming to the church with no previous connections. One Sunday morning, I had an amazing conversation with a young adult who was Jewish, and it was her first time ever in a church on a Sunday morning. She had been going through some difficulties in life, went online, and found some Messianic Jewish teachers. Through these teachings, she decided she needed to ask Jesus into her life. Not too much later she saw Jesus in a dream, and He told her to come to CCBC! For those who know a bit about my story, I had lived and volunteered in Israel for two years with my family before coming to CCBC, so there was an instant connection. Praise God! Thank you, Jesus, for bringing someone to our church through a dream.
In September, I began a series working through the book of James called “Living Wisdom.” I knew there were some challenging passages that we would work through, but as I worked through the book, I found myself learning and engaging in a unique way. It is hard to articulate, but it was one of those series that just seemed to fit with the timing of our congregation. As we neared the end of the series, I realized I was going to have to address the final second half of James 5, where it talks about healing, anointing with oil, and the laying on of hands. There have been different times where we have had our elders stay at the end of service to pray for people, or during communion we have had prayer stations, but this was different. We were going to do exactly as James taught and have a healing service with communion during the music portion followed by a message dealing with the challenges of healing theology. I am usually quite comfortable teaching, but boy, was I nervous this Sunday. What if nobody came forward for prayer? What if no one wanted healing? What if this wasn’t a “Baptist” regular practice?
As I closed out the message and invited the elders forward to pray, God moved beyond expectation. A lady who was at the church for the first time literally ran to the front for prayer. The seats started to empty as people headed to the front for prayer, and there were even some impromptu testimonies of healing in our congregation. After half an hour, I dismissed those who needed to go, and people still stayed, prayed, and engaged in fellowship. As I drove home that Sunday, it was all I could do to hold back the tears of joy of being able to be a part of God moving in people’s lives.
I’ve been involved in ministry, as a pastor, for over thirty years now and grew up in the church—and for myself, this has been a miraculous year. I realize seasons come and go, but despite the gloom and doom of our culture and many naysayers about the state of the church, God is not dead, and neither is His church. I am just grateful to play a small part in what God is doing and am in total awe of how God is drawing people to Himself.
Matthew Fox, Pastor, Comox Community Baptist Church
This regional newsletter is published quarterly within the CBWC’s monthly newsletter, Making Connections. Have a story idea? Email our senior writer, Hannah Hamm: hhamm@cbwc.ca.