19-Jun-2024: A long-overdue update has been made to the chapter and most group pages over the last few days.
This exercise has revealed that in spite of COVID having been "over" for some time, few groups are back to meeting exclusively in-person,
and most are still meeting virtually.
Whether or not in-person meetings increase as departments and agencies carry out more of their day-to-day tasks in the workplace and less working from home remains to be seen.
One benefit of meeting virtually has been that members of groups that may not have previously been viable when in-person meetings prevailed could join the online meetings of larger groups. This has been a challenge to website design assumptions, especially geographical proximity.
So in the latest update, Health and PHAC have been combined, while some smaller groups whose members have been joining some of the larger group meetings have retained their group
page. It was also discovered that some employee groups have changed addresses.
Another impetus for the update is the pending retirement of this webservant, who originated the PSCF website in 1998, has been retired from the public
service since 2008 and is currently dealing with some health issues. It's time for "new blood" and fresh ideas!
15-Feb-2024: Our brother Edward Ng at Stats Canada has requested that we point our members to the Easter Blood Drive taking place in Ottawa and other cities in March.
The idea is that Jesus shed His blood for us, and now it is our turn, in appreciation of His sacrifice.
Target period for donationing is Easter Week, March 23-30, 2024.
Instructions on who can donate, how to register and more on the need can be found on their website at
easterblooddrive.ca
03-Jan-2024: At the request of the webservant, Don Page (co-founder of the PSCF) has written a tribute to the Hon. Ian Shugart.
Don received help in this task from Diane Scharf, a founding member of the PSCF and the Parliament Hill group. Thank you, Don and Diane!
Read the tribute here.
25-Oct-2023: We mourn the passing of Senator Ian Shugart on this day in Ottawa.
Ian was a friend of the PSCF, someone you could call on for advice.
He was former Clerk of the Privy Council, and highly regarded for his wisdom.
He spoke at our Faith@Work Forum in 2007 on the topic "A Life of Faith in the Workplace:the Challenge of Personal Integrity and Pluralism".
You can listen to his talk here.
Read Ian's obituary here.
Read Ian's bio on the Senate of Canada website here.
Rest in peace, good and faithful servant!
17-Oct-2023: A page for the Canada Food Inspection Agency is now up.
22-feb-2023: Edward Ng of the Statcan PSCF group has hatched an idea to have Christians give blood near Easter, and it has been taken up by Love Ottawa
(One Way Ministries) and CHRI Radio. The target date is Holy Week, April 1 - 8.
We would love to see all chapters participate. A website has been set up to help promote the event - view it here.
11-nov-2022: At a recent meeting of PSCF group leaders Don Page mentioned that his friend and fellow co-founder Ray Robinson had published a memoir entitled "A Diplomat in Environmentalist's Clothing", and one of the chapters gave Ray's account of the founding of the PSCF. Subsequent to that meeting we received Ray's permission to post that chapter
on our website. A paragraph with a link to that chapter has been added to our "home" page.
We also welcome Wilma Eyang, new leader of the Global Affairs Canada group.
Finally, you are encouraged to check out and contribute to the Facebook group "Public Service Christian Fellowship (Canada)".
18-jul-2022: pages for Infrastructure Canada and Service Canada, GTA are now up.
12-jul-2022: We are happy to report on two new groups formed recently. One of our leaders transferred to Infrastructure Canada
and has started a group there; for the time being they will meet with the Global Affairs group.
The other is in the GTA, started by an employee of Service Canada, with members from ferderal, provincial and regional governments. Both groups are meeting online.
The chapter page for the Infrastructure Canada group is "up", the Service Canada page is in the works.
Praise the Lord!
28-jun-2022: A great time of fellowship, sharing and pizza took place on June 28 at the Laurentian Leadership Centre of Trinity Western University
on Metcalfe Street when PSCF co-founder Don Page and his wife hosted several group leaders. Don was the LLC's first director. It has been providing a
unique educational opportunity in the heart of Ottawa since the early 2000's. You can read more info on the LLC here.
At the end of the evening those present enjoyed a tour of the building, the former J.R. Booth mansion.
19-may-2022: Edmond Wega, DG of International Assistance Operations at Global Affairs was the featured speaker of One Way Ministries' series
"Living Out Our Faith in the Workplace" on April 26/22. Watch the episiode here.
01-apr-2022: Good news: The Parliament Hill Christian Fellowship is now under the care of Craig & Gail Docksteader.
They hope to begin in-person meetings again in late April.
21-feb-2022: It was a joy to connect today with a serving member of the RCMP who has also been a member of their prayer group over the
years, and to connect him with a new member seeking fellowship in that workplace. We look forward to hearing good things from them.
02-feb-2022:
The PSCF was well-represented at the Workplace Summit this past Wednesday.
The event was hosted by One Way Ministries' Workplace Network, and a number of our leaders were on the organizing team.
Over 200 attended the event, held online from 5-6 PM.
We were one of some half-dozen breakout groups following the "main event" as well. It was great to connect with some new folk, including employees of
Fisheries & Oceans Canada and the RCMP, and especially to find out that there's a group at FOC that's been meeting since 2019 - a page is now
up for their group (here). We were also blessed to have in attendance Dr. Don Page, one of the co-founders of the PSCF and Dianne Scharf, a mainstay in the
Parliament hill group. We look forward to Don joining us at future leaders meetings. For more information see our "forum" page.
20-oct-2021:
Webservant's note: the list of chapters has been integrated into the menubar. There's now a dropdown menu when you put your cursor over the word "chapters"
that lists the groups alphabetically. A list of groups can still be found on the "contact" page.
19-oct-2021:
We are encouraged to make contact with a group of Christians at the Bank of Canada who have been meeting monthly during COVID.
Read more here.
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19-Oct-2021:
We now have COVID updates for all nineteen groups (including the newly-listed group at the Bank of Canada), 15 of which are meeting or active and have confirmed
that four groups aren't meeting, although one of those is joining with another group (great on them!). Col.(Ret'd) Gerry Potter was one of three presenters at
the May "meeting" of the OWM Workplace Network, and he has graciously provided a report on the activities of the Military Christian Fellowship in 2020.
12-Apr-2021:
Most of you will by now have received information about One Way Ministries new Workplace Network -- "a place where you can engage with other
workplace leaders in Ottawa to deepen your faith, build authentic relationships in the workplace, and live out your faith and calling at work and in your other
spheres of influence". They've been hosting monthly webinars entitled "Taking your faith to work". Check them out on Facebook
here or their website here.
10-Mar-2021: God is good! Last week a member of the Health Canada group, Ernestina Francois, approached me (the webservant) asking if there was anything
she could help me with. She and I had a chat, and Ernestina is embarking on a quest to find out what's been happening (or not) in the various groups. So if
you're a group leader, expect to be contacted by her and be prepared to be encouraged and share the good news about your group. Blessings on you, Ernestina!
If you've got anything to share about your bible study in the federal public service, you can contact Ernestina at
ernestinafrancois@gmail.com.
29-Oct-2020: We're aware of two groups meeting via Zoom, Statistics Canada and Global Affairs Canada during the pandemic when a lot of personnel are working from home. Hoping to have more updates soon. Stay safe!
10-Apr-2020: In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, most goverment and public service employees are no doubt working from home. How has your group been affected? The Stats Canada fellowship have an email
going around to group members, keeping one another up on how things are going and taking prayer requests.
30-Mar-2020: Nicole Auclair has moved on from her position at the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), and Rebecca Lau has returned as contact for that group. Blessings on you in your new work, Nicole!
08-Dec-2019: design of pages for MCFC made consistent with other "chapter" pages.
05-Dec-2019: Five people have indicated willingness to form an "executive committee": Nana Amankwah (PHAC), Ron Gannon-Berg (RCMP), Don MacMillan (Industry Canada, ret'd),
Michel Savard (Statcan) and Gord Walford (Statcan, ret'd). There have been two meetings of the group. Gord has been named secretary of the executive committee. We hope to have
a meeting with other group leaders sometime "down the road".
19-Nov-2019: English and french chapter pages replaced with pages with pics of locations of individual groups (one exception, the MCFC)
18-Nov-2019: Experiment: added pics of the various groups' locations to the English "chapter" pages
16 & 17-Nov-2019: New website design launched, including
- a white background (easier to see) and a neutral grey border
- a rendering of the Centre Block of Parliament Hill in pencil with a coloured flag, and the PSCF simple outline cross with a red maple leaf superimposed on top.
- titles in English and French with the PSCF "motto" underneath
- one new page - this one!
14-Nov-2019: The first meeting of those who expressed an interest in being part of the executive was held at the offices of One Way Ministries, facilitated
by One Way's Gerry Organ. Participating were Ron Gannon-Berg (RCMP), Don MacMillan (Industy Canada, ret'd), Nana Amankwah (PHAC, by phone) and Gord Walford
(Statistics Canada, ret'd). Some of the points raised were: need for an improved website; need for a meeting of group leaders; some interest in holding another
"Faith@Work Forum" or providing other opportunities for fellowship and building one another up.
13-Nov-2019: An offer to host the website for free was received from one of the group leaders; this is being examined.
Oct-2019: response to the September poll produced 12 responses, enough money to cover the debt, pay the bills and a bit left over; also three
people showed interest in being part of the executive. There were indications that two others were willing to assist with the website.
06-Sep-2019: Poll sent out to 20+ leaders of groups inquiring of them
- Do you want the PSCF to continue as an organisation?
- Do you want the website to continue to link bible studies and prayer groups in the federal public service?
- Are you willing to participate in an executive?
- Would you be interested in taking over the administration of the website, or do you know anyone who would?
Along with the poll was a request for donations for 2019-20 fees related to the website and to cover some debts incurred by the webservant.