These “Christian” churches in British Columbia, Canada, refuse Christian compassion.
Approximately 150 churches in the Okanagan region of British Columbia, Canada, were contacted with a request for helpful information. The purpose of the request for helpful information from churches was to assist an innocently excommunicated and ostracised Christian single man from Sweden. Additionally, approximately 100 churches in the Vancouver region of British Columbia, Canada, were contacted with a similar letter.
The “Christian” churches in British Columbia proved to be far from pragmatically helpful. In fact, as evidenced in the responses below, “Christian” churches in British Columbia appear to be unloving and hypocritical – at best.
The attitudes reflected in these responses from churches in, or near, the Okanagan region of British Columbia, Canada, are not reflective of Jesus Christ. The attitudes of the pastors and priests of these churches are shamefully unchristian.
Torsten's letter to all churches in (and near) the Okanagan region in British Columbia, Canada:
Torsten’s Letter ---------------------------------------------------
(This is not Spam. I am a real person seeking real help. If you need to be unsubscribed from my plea, then please just reply to this email (torsten@nenzen.net) and request to be unsubscribed and I will promptly remove your address. Thanks.)
Churches in (near) Okanagan.
Dear Pastors and ministry leaders,
My name is Torsten. I am a never-married Christian single man who needs opportunities to meet, communicate and connect with other Christian singles within a church context. I hope to identify churches in the Okanagan region and beyond that will inform me of, and invite me to, connective church groups where Christian singles may attend.
I am seeking practical information (and an invitation) to when/where there are opportunities for single Christians to meet each other, such as in Singles Ministry groups, College & Career church groups, Young Adults church groups, University Ministry groups, church social gatherings, church sports gatherings etc.
What Christian connective social activities may I attend within your church? Is there an online link to a schedule of appropriate events within your church? Is it possible to subscribe to updates of suitable events in your church?
Are there occasions to meet and make friends with Christian singles in your church?
Best regards,
Torsten Nenzén
Current location: Vernon
Mobile: +1 604 7733775 (text messages only)
Email: torsten@nenzen.net
Skype: blessisrael
Personal website: nenzen.net
Responses from Okanagan churches ---------------------------------------------------
Responses from Okanagan churches:
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Park Drive Church (www.parkdrivechurch.ca) in Oliver:
Incoming telephone call from +1 250 535 0674, on April 15 at 16:11:
In spite of a perfectly clear instruction to only send text messages to my mobile number, the pastor of Park Drive Church chose to not respect this instruction and instead called my mobile telephone, and subsequently emptied the remaining $8 on my mobile account. The pastor requested to have his church emails removed from the distribution list. Those email addresses are: marcel@parkdrivechurch.ca, bart@parkdrivechurch.ca, peter@parkdrivechurch.ca, and admin@parkdrivechurch.ca. The pastor also attempted to refer me to Alexis Park Church in Vernon (www.alexisparkchurch.com); a church who consistently has chosen to not reply, in spite of one direct email to Alexis Park Church in December 2010.
From: torsten@nenzen.net
Sent: Tuesday, December 07, 2010 11:46 PM
Subject: the horizontal relationships
Alexis Park Church.
I am a Christian. I am single. I would like to meet other followers of Jesus Christ while I am here in Vernon. I'm in Vernon until Monday next week, and again from 18th January onwards for uncertain number of weeks/months. Are there meetings for singles? I see that you have life group ministries.
Regards, Torsten Nenzen
The pastor of Park Drive Church in Oliver also explained that both churches are associated with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada, and therefore they work together in referrals. The tone of conversation was good, but in assessment of the course of action, Park Drive Church did not offer to be part of the solution and did not invite, but only referred to a Vernon-church that so far has refused communication with me.
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Enderby Chapel (www.enderbychapel.com), Senior Pastor Scott Hemenway <pastorscott@uniserve.com> <pastorscott@enderbychapel.com>
From: Scott Hemenway
Sent: Friday, April 15, 2011 9:16 AM
Buddy, Please don’t send me anymore emails. If you do I will have to take action. Thanks! Scott Hemenway
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Grace Bible Church of Vernon (www.gbcvernon.ca), Office <office@gbcvernon.ca>
From: Grace Bible Church Office
Sent: Friday, April 15, 2011 8:46 AM
Please stop sending this to our church as we have received this for about two weeks, daily. Thank you. Pam
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Willow Park Church in Kelowna (www.willowparkchurch.com), Senior Leader Pastor Phil Collins <pcollins@willowparkchurch.com>
From: Phil Collins
Sent: Friday, April 15, 2011 6:28 AM
Unsubscribe.
Hi. I have forwarded your details to our young adults intern. Bless you. Michelle collins
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Sahali Fellowship in Kamloops (www.sahalifellowship.com), <sfchurch@shaw.ca>
From: Sahali Fellowship
Sent: Friday, April 15, 2011 9:47 AM
Please remove sfchurch@shaw.ca from your mailing list. Thank you
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Westgate Church in West Kelowna (http://westgatechurch.ca), Founding Pastor Richard Leibel<richard@westgatechurch.ca>
From: richard@westgatechurch.ca
Sent: Friday, April 15, 2011 1:56 AM
Thank you terd sten
Westgate Church in West Kelowna (http://westgatechurch.ca), Founding Pastor Richard Leibel<richard@westgatechurch.ca>
From: richard@westgatechurch.ca
Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2011 11:37 PM
Please remove me from your email
From: torsten@nenzen.net
Sent: Friday, April 15, 2011 3:31 AM
Subject: response
Dear Founding Pastor Richard Leibel of Westgate Church in West Kelowna,
Through your quite infantile innuendo, calling me “terd sten” with obvious reference to “turd”, you intended to demean my human dignity as something related to excrement. Your attitude is far from Christ. Your comment is a reflection of a secular and sinful heart.
Additionally, your first reply to my inquiry for helpful information is uncompassionate and hypocritical, in that you are unwilling to be helpful and benevolent. You appear to be a cold-hearted and loveless pastor - almost on par with the satanic Swedish pastors.
Best regards,
Torsten Nenzen
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Westgate Church in West Kelowna (http://westgatechurch.ca), Pastor Tammy Leibel <tammy@westgatechurch.ca>
From: tammy@westgatechurch.ca
Sent: Friday, April 15, 2011 12:19 AM
Hi Torsten. It is my understanding that you are in the 40-50+ age group. Our young adults is 29 yrs and under. Unfortunately we do not have an older "singles" group. I do recall that Kelowna had a "Christian Singles" group that was more targeted to your age however I'm unsure of how you could connect with them. Could you please remove me from your email list as I'm unable to assist you. Thank you.
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Oliver Alliance Church (www.oliveralliancechurch.com), Lead Pastor Jeremy Cook <j_cook@telus.net>
From: Jeremy Cook
Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2011 8:07 AM
Please unsubscribe me. Thank you.
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Enderby Evangelical Chapel (www.enderbychapel.com), Joan Reid <joanadmin@enderbychapel.com>
From: Joan Reid
Sent: Thursday, April 14, 2011 8:33 AM
Hello Torsten. Thank you for your many emails. I had not responded because we do not have a singles program at our church. You are welcome to drop by for a Sunday morning service if you like. Any Sunday at 10:30 AM. If you could remove us from your bulk mailing list that would be great. Thanks Torsten. Joan
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First Baptist Church in Kelowna (www.fbckelowna.com), Pastor Jack Borchert <fbcjack@shaw.ca>
From: fbcjack
Sent: Wednesday, April 13, 2011 8:49 AM
Hi Torsten, thank you for your inquiries. As you may notice on our website, our focus as a church tends to be with younger families and senior adults. Most of our young adults end up at the larger churches, like Trinity, Willowpark, Evangel and the House. You may want to focus your attention on the churches where there are young singles.
Please remove our address from your group mail outs - thanks. Blessings, Jack
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Grace Bible Church of Vernon (www.gbcvernon.ca), Pastor Greg Sumner <greg@gbcvernon.ca>
From: Greg Sumner
Sent: Tuesday, April 12, 2011 11:12 PM
Please take off mailiing list thankyou. Greg
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Mission Creek Alliance Church Kelowna (missioncreekalliance.com), Senior Pastor Meldon Lutzer <meldon@missioncreekalliance.com>
From: meldon@missioncreekalliance.com
Sent: Monday, April 11, 2011 9:14 AM
I am really tired of getting these emails!! If you are truely committed to getting into a church community, please stop sending emails! Get on your knees and ask Jesus to lead you to the church that you are to attend - and not for what YOU can get out of it, but where you can become part of the family. Quite looking for a church that will minister to YOUR needs, and see where you can use the God given gifts that He has given you, and COMMIT! Sorry if this seems rude but I am sick and tired of the consumeristic mindset that has infiltrated the church, and what I sense is at the heart of your email!! Pray, Go where Jesus leads you, and Commit!!
From: torsten@nenzen.net
To: meldon@missioncreekalliance.com
Sent: Monday, April 11, 2011 3:03 PM
Subject: response
Senior Pastor Meldon Lutzer of Kelowna Mission Creek Alliance Church,
In your response letter you demonstrate the mind and heart of a hypocritical, errantly presumptuous and self-centered pastor; restricted by a lack of knowledge of humanity and limited by a lack of relationship with the Holy Spirit. If you had a communicable relationship with the Holy Spirit then you would never had accused me of a consumeristic mindset. For this errant accusation I bind you to your words before God. Excepting that you repent from your written words before God, your errant accusation will remain as a sin between you and God.
Selfishly, you acknowledge that you feel sick and tired of receiving my plea for assistance; while you fail to recognise and empathise with a despairing life situation that can only be resolved through cooperation with God’s commandments and will. Spiritual problems have strictly spiritual solutions, while natural circumstances are only resolved through the manifestation of God’s will into the natural. For example, if a physically malnourished and hungry person pleads for food for the stomach, only a heartless and mindless fool would instruct the starving beggar to “Pray, Go where Jesus leads you, and Commit!!”.
What actually has infiltrated much of the church are in fact heretic priests that deviate from the authority of the Bible, and hypocritical and careerist pastors; pastors that at very best preach according to Scriptures and the Gospel as organisational directors, but lack love, compassion and care as true shepherds. The mortal stench of heartless and mindless hypocrisy of many contemporary church-pastors, in conjunction the corruptive heresies of liberal theology by many priests/pastors, destroy the credibility of the church.
Perhaps it is a too preliminary for a generalised denominational assessment, but at least it is noteworthy to point out that among the most hostile church staffs in the Okanagan have the Alliance Church (C&MA www.cmalliance.ca) as a common denominator.
Best regards,
Torsten Nenzen
Mission Creek Alliance Church Kelowna (missioncreekalliance.com), Senior Pastor Meldon Lutzer <meldon@missioncreekalliance.com>
From: meldon@missioncreekalliance.com
Sent: Monday, April 11, 2011 4:17 PM
I read over my response to you. I apologize for the frustration that came across in my email to you. For that I ask your forgiveness. I stand behind my response in that the best way for you to find a church to connect with is for you to personally check out the churches, pray, asking the Holy Spirit to lead you to the church that He wants you serve and be apart of. I trust that you will find a church that will help you in your pursuit of Jesus. MCA does not have a "singles" group. We have a young adults group, but it is mainly made up of those just out of highschool.
From: torsten@nenzen.net
To: meldon@missioncreekalliance.com
Sent: Monday, April 11, 2011 6:55 PM
Subject: response II
Senior Pastor Meldon Lutzer of Kelowna Mission Creek Alliance Church,
Thanks for a partial repentance. I hope that more elucidation from Scripture may lead even further in that direction.
There is no reason to “check out” a church whose pastors are so heartless or mindless that they either ignore or refuse my plea for informational assistance. In fact, contacting church-pastors through email is a reliable screening process. Many pastors essentially limit their roles to standing on platforms and preaching on people in pews; thereby talking the talk without really walking their talk. In other words; these pastors are pretenders of the Christian faith - or hypocrites. There is no need to visit such churches.
I advise you to thoughtfully consider these verses in the Bible:
James 2:13-20
Proverbs 3:27-28
Luke 10:25-37
Matthew 23:3
Luke 16:19-25
Best regards,
Torsten Nenzen
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Mission Creek Alliance Church Kelowna (missioncreekalliance.com) <office@missioncreekalliance.com>
From: Lorna Bohn
Sent: Monday, April 11, 2011 8:28 AM
Please discontinue these emails and remove our contact information from your database. Thank you. Lorna Bohn, Office Administrator, Mission Creek Alliance Church, 2091 Springfield Road, Kelowna, BC V1Y 7X1, 250.860.2427
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East Kootenay Lutheran Parish (http://www.eklutheran.ca) <pastorfraser@cyberlink.bc.ca>
From: Fraser
Sent: Monday, March 07, 2011 2:21 PM
Dear Torsten, Our congregation (in Cranbrook) is a small one and has no special activities for singles. The Alliance Church in our city is the only one that I know of with such a group. The leader is Mr. Gary Toyota. His phone number is 250-426-8645. Pastor Fraser Coltman
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Kamloops Vineyard Church (http://www.kamloopsvineyard.com) <kvcadmin@uniserve.com>
From: Grace Williams
Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2011 10:38 AM
Hi Torsten. We are a very small family oriented church in Kamloops so unfortunately are not able to offer opportunities to you. Blessings, Grace
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Trinity United Church in Vernon <info@unitedchurchvernon.com> <marga@junction.net>
From: Marg Alexis
Sent: Friday, March 04, 2011 10:45 AM
Please remove us from your email list. Trinity United Church, Vernon BC
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Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kelowna <celc1@telus.net>
From: Christ Ev. Lutheran Church Pastor
Sent: Friday, March 04, 2011 9:54 AM
Torsten; We have already replied to you, so kindly remove us from your email list. thank you, Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, Kelowna
From: torsten@nenzen.net
To: Christ Ev. Lutheran Church Pastor
Sent: Friday, March 04, 2011 10:29 AM
It is the first time ever that I receive a response from your church, according to my saved emails. Best regards, Torsten Nenzen
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Evangelical Covenant Churches (www.canadacovenantchurch.org/staff) <ccc1@mts.net>
From: Jeff Anderson
Sent: Friday, March 04, 2011 7:17 AM
Subject: Please unsubscribe - we do not have any congregations in the Okanagan area
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Westgate Church in West Kelowna (http://westgatechurch.ca), Young Adults Pastor Byron Leveck <byron@westgatechurch.ca>
From: byron@westgatechurch.ca
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2011 12:05 PM
Please unsubscribe me from your email list. I would recommend that you go to some of the churches in your area and find one that you really connect with. If you desire a church home, then God will lead you to the right one. Lots of really great churches in the Okanagan.
From: torsten@nenzen.net
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2011 4:24 PM
According to your own recommendation and rejecting words, therefore, your Westgate Church in Kelowna is neither a church that God would lead towards, nor a great church. However, your "church" is definitely within Okanagan - the region where I seek to connect with Christians.
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Calvary Community Church in Kamloops (http://calvarykamloops.com) <calvarykamloops@live.com>
From: Kamloops Calvary Community Church Website
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2011 11:55 AM
Hi, I would appreciate it if you would remove us from your list. If you would like to know more about our programs I would encourage you to look at our website or attend our church. Thank You.
From: torsten@nenzen.net
To: Kamloops Calvary Community Church Website
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2011 5:22 PM
I had looked at your church website prior to my letter to you, and I have now studied the pages on your church website. I had sought also from your church, however, a cooperative response and attitude.
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Revelstoke Alliance Church <churchoffice@revelstokealliance.com> <revalliance@telus.net>
From: Church Office
Sent: Monday, February 28, 2011 12:44 PM
You can remove us from your email. thank you
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Vernon Alliance Church: http://www.kyrkor.be/vernon-alliance-church.htm
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