Dear Jericho Ridge Family,
We began the transitional process nearly 18 months ago with a message of “Confident Hope” (Rom 15:13) for our church. These past few months, we have been reminded why the Apostle Paul, and us today, have such a deep-rooted confident hope in God. We have experienced the Lord healing our church and beginning to reignite the mission of Jericho Ridge: to “be [Christ’s] witnesses…to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
It's this mission that Jesus has called us to that reminds us why we exist as a church: “To cultivate disciples of Jesus who embody God’s love everywhere we go” (JRCC’s Core Purpose). In seeking to pursue this mission as a congregation, JRCC members determined at Vision Night 2024 that we can best accomplish this together with North Langley Community Church (NLCC) as a fourth campus of NLCC.
Last Sunday, March 9th, NLCC hosted a Special Congregational Meeting to discern the vision of our two churches merging together. NLCC members favourably affirmed the decision to merge together, and subsequently affirmed our new Campus Pastor, Ben Frederiksen. Pastor Ben has served as the Pastor of Care and Young Adults at NLCC for nearly 8 years and will begin to shift over to his new role as our Campus Pastor in the coming months. We are looking forward to making Pastor Ben, his wife Lillian, and their three daughters feel very welcome in this transition.
Last Monday, March 10th, JRCC gathered together for perhaps our final Transitional Meeting. During this time, we had the opportunity to meet Pastor Ben. We heard a bit about who he is and the vision that he has for our church family as we become a fourth campus of NLCC serving Jesus in our community. In case you were unable to join us on Monday evening, we have a previously recorded NLCC podcast of Lead Pastor Matthew Price sitting down with Pastor Ben in anticipation of him becoming the new Campus Pastor. You can check it out on YouTube (below) or listen on Spotify.
Jericho Ridge, these are exciting times! The Lord continues to graciously work among us (as he always has) to prepare us for a new season of ministry. Would you please continue to press in with prayer, asking the Lord how he wants you to engage with the preparations and launching of our new campus. We are planning for our first Willowbrook Campus Launch Team interest meeting in April (date TBD). Please prioritize these upcoming meetings and join us as we begin to explore what God has for our new church community. Now more than ever, we are thankful for the confident hope (Eph 1:18) we have as we continue to witness God working in us as a church for the purpose of bringing the gospel of Jesus to the lost and broken in our community.
Pastor Wally Nickel
