Thanks for visiting Jacob's Well online. As you explore these pages we want you to have a sense of what is happening in our community. We also hope you are able to discover more of what our life together is created from and where it is headed.
Jacob's Well is a non-profit organization in the downtown eastside of Vancouver, Canada. We have a unique approach to sharing life with residents of our neighbourhood, many of whom struggle with drug and alcohol addictions as well as mental illness. As you tour these pages we hope you will discover some of the beauty we have found here, and that even as it is changing us you will also be changed.
Our last newsletter of the year. We do hope you enjoy it. In this one Sharon introduces herself a little better and an article about some of the ways the Olympics are impacting our neighbourhood. As well try Jane’s cookie recipe and check out some great pictures of our friend Gustave. click on the link to check it out. December 09 newsletter
This workshop is a great way to learn about engaging your life with those on the margins of society and why this must be an expression of our life as followers of Christ.
Friday January 22nd Saturday January 23rd
7:00pm-10:00pm 10:00am-4:00pm
For more information and details on the workshop click here: Workshop details
The cost of the workshop is $20, please get your check or money in before January 6th to secure your spot. Checks can be made out to Jacob’s Well.
To register, please email workshop@jacobswell.ca or call 604-681-4898. Please contact us soon as places fill up quickly.
Our community has just returned from a week in the Okanagan. We went anticipating sunshine, veggies and fun. And we had plenty of fun and chopped plenty of veggies. Sunshine well… not so much!
For me, the week was an initiation into the Jacob’s Well community. It was exciting to enter into relationship each day with someone new while chopping onions or scraping peppers from the drying racks. As I connected with God’s creation, both in people and through food preparation, it felt like a homecoming. I am looking forward to growing these new relationships.
- Sharon Smith
The Jacob’s Well community is continuing to grow in new and exciting ways. Check out some of the changes in the July Newsletter
We are delighted to inform you that Sharon Smith has agreed to accept the call to become the new Executive Director of Jacob’s Well.
Sharon is originally from South Africa and brings a unique gift set to this position. She has had five years of clinical occupational therapy experience in hospital and community mental health care, as well as over ten years of experience in church leadership as pastor, mental health consultant, educator, preacher and volunteer. She is highly skilled in relational leadership, group facilitation, public speaking and community-based project development.
She also brings a very rich educational background with a BSc Occupational Therapy (honours) from the university of the Witwatersand Johannesburg, South Africa, a Masters of Christian Studies from Regent College Vancouver and a PhD Rehabilitation Sciences from UBC. Over the past five years Sharon has engaged in doctoral research in order to learn from the spiritual lives of people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Her PhD project, which she recently completed, represents the culmination of her experience at the crossing point of psychiatry and the Christian Church.
Sharon’s personal mission statement is: “I want to give my life to building up communities (spaces that foster a sense of belonging) where the spirituality of people living with mental illness can be both validated and supported.” (developed Feb.09)
Our Pender plot has taken some heavy loses this year from the Rats. The Potatoes, all the leafy greens, corn, squash and Carrots have have all been decimated; with Carrots and cucumbers being the latest victims. Beets and tomatoes are so far safe, but that’s what we though about the carrots. The Hastings Plot has only had a little damage from our fury nemeses. Below are a few pictures from some of the casualties. Please pray with us as we think to what we might plant next that might not be so tempting to the rats.
Our latest newsletter is uploaded and ready for your enjoyment. This one is full of spring and life! March 09 Newsletter
Rain Down Heaven is the latest musical offering to come out of our community, thanks to the songwriting gifts of Tom Wuest, accompanied by other Jacob’s Well members.
read the blurb below and enjoy two samples from the CD.
The thirteen songs on Rain Down Heaven are songs of longing, desperation, and hope, which draw from the voices and yearnings of a cast of biblical characters. Daniel prophesies to King Nebuchadnezzar that, though his dominion reaches to the ends of the earth, he must “come to know that Heaven rules.”
Mary, the young, pregnant mother of Jesus, sings a joyful adulation for the God who scatters the proud, brings the rulers down from their thrones, sends the rich away empty, lifts up the lowly and fills them with good things.
Zechariah and Isaiah speak of the ONE who will order His kingdom with justice and peace, who will suffer the sins of His people and bring healing. Luke and Paul suggest that Isaiah foresaw Jesus as the ONE who would reconcile all of creation to the Creator.
David and Solomon, in their psalms, proclaim the Savior as the ONE who will stand with the lowly and break their chains. Paul reminds us that the powers will be judged. Mark echoes Jesus’ first words and tells the story of the resurrection. John the Baptist recognizes Jesus as the Lamb of God who will take away the sins of the world.
Finally, in the last song, a song written for dear friends on the eve of their move away from Vancouver some years ago, several biblical texts are woven together to capture the deep and universal human longing to be rooted and known.
Break Their Chains
Rain Down Heaven
If you would like to obtain a copy of the CD please contact brasstrumpetpublishing@gmail.com or call 604-681-4898