CHURCH NEWS
Pastor Anthony Kern holding the communion pack.
Virtual Communion Airdrie/Beiseker Church first online service
O
n Sabbath, April 11th, the Airdrie and Beiseker Churches celebrated their first online communion service. For one month, like many churches, Airdrie and Beiseker have been holding combined church services via the Zoom app. On this Sabbath, special communion packs, each with a small amount of grape juice and an embedded wafer in the top seal of the juice container, were used to carry out this service.
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Alberta Adventist News
JUNE 2020
Pastor Anthony Kern led out with Beiseker and Airdrie elders, Howard Hixt and Joel Adesina, who each offered a prayer over the emblems. According to Pastor Anthony, the idea for holding communion using these packs had been discussed while the churches were still open as a means of promoting good hygiene and social distancing. However, soon after the packs were ordered, the Alberta Government banned gatherings of over
50 people, thus forcing the online meetings instead. The church members were polled regarding their interest in a home version of communion, and their reply was a very enthusiastic “yes.” Over a twoweek period prior to the April 11th service, Pastor Anthony, with help from Beiseker’s head deacon, Ewalt Lang, delivered just over 100 packs to the church members’ doorsteps. “I remembered how my parents, who are part of a large Anabaptist church, once
