Mountainview Church has a number of outreach and mission projects we are passionate about. If you would like to support any of these programs, please contact us and we can let you know how to make that happen.
Our church was able to partner with Thrive to create an environment that supports growth in a faith based after school as well as summer program for kids. Through this ministry, we were able to grow closer as a community and form long-lasting friendships.
THRIVE KIDS- AN OUTREACH MINISTRY TO THE COMMUNITY
Each day after school at Mountainview Church, one may see groups of children playing outside with adults right alongside.
At Mountainview Church, kids are special. We provide an outreach ministry through our partnership with Thrive Kids Canada, a registered Christian charity which operates Thrive Kids care in partnership with churches.
Over a decade ago, a young Christian woman named Jennilee Greig responded to God’s nudging and began an out of school program with a difference. That difference is reflected in its mission statement:
“To provide safe and exciting out of school care where children THRIVE, through relational mentoring, interaction with nature and creative opportunities for personal growth of body, soul and spirit.”
THRIVE KIDS begins with a commitment to meet the needs of families and elementary age school children with quality programming that inspires children to interact with its Christian staff, whose goals are:
- To provide active, nature-based activities
- To provide programing that focuses on values and leadership development
- To mentor the children within spiritual values
- To inspire children and families to know Jesus in an organic, relational way
Over the years, THRIVE has grown to 4 BC locations (Kelowna (Mountainview), West Kelowna, Enderby and Salt Spring Island).
At Mountainview, we started our partnership as an outreach ministry to the north Glenmore community by providing THRIVE with the required space within our church facility on a cost recovery basis.
Our ministry was extended to provide prayer support for the staff, the children and the THRIVE KIDS families. We then began a practice of individual church members providing a nutritious snack one day each week. We also began inviting THRIVE kids and their families to our special community events (e.g. Shrove Tuesday pancake supper, summer BBQ, pumpkin patch outing and Christmas caroling). We have also hosted concert fundraisers and Mission Sundays on behalf of THRIVE KIDS CANADA and taken up special offerings to support their work.
In 2020, Thrive Kids relocated another Thrive location to Mountainview, and our church now hosts over 80 children daily!
With a goal of becoming a true multi-generational church, we are actively seeking ways to invite and integrate the THRIVE KIDS families into our every day church life. Most children who attend THRIVE KIDS after school programs and summer camps do not attend church. It is only at THRIVE that many hear Christmas and Easter stories for the first time. It’s the first time they have seen a Bible and the first time they hear the good news of Jesus’ love for them. Commencing in Fall 2021, Thrive staff have assumed responsibility for operating the children’s ministry program at Mountainview.
Even though many of the children never attend the Sunday morning church service, as they grow up we pray they will know they have a place in the body of Christ. To them, THRIVE is church. They go to church five days a week. THRIVE parents often share that when they drive by Mountainview on the weekends, their children say, “There’s my church!”
A snapshot of a child’s heart for Jesus:
One 6-year-old boy, raised by his Grandma, was taken quite enthusiastically with Christian themed stories. His host church was clearing out their books and left them on a table with a “for free” sign. The young boy saw this and stacked up almost 15 old books. When his Grandma came to pick him up she was astonished and puzzled, as her little grandson could not read.
“What in the world do you need all those books for?” she asked. He replied: “I don’t. They’re for you. They’re ABOUT JESUS.”
HE had chosen every book with Jesus in the title which was the only word he could read. Grandma nodded, smiled, and all the Jesus books went home with them.
THRIVE’S VISION
Jennilee Greig’s vision is for THRIVE out of school care to become a nationally recognized, not for profit organization, providing programs and systems ready to ensure a quick, efficient and successful start-up of the Thrive ministry when any Christian church desires that type of outreach to families. She wants Canada’s cities and towns to be saturated with THRIVES and, when families with children arrive in town, the first thing they do is look for a church with a THRIVE ministry. It’s about taking the massive opportunity of childcare and using it to reach and raise children in an environment that honors God and loves Jesus. This is a vital ministry in a society that is, sadly, moving away from its Christian roots.
For more information about THRIVE KIDS CANADA, please visit their website at www.thrivekidscanada.ca.