Good-Bye

Dear Aylmer CR Church Family,

We love you. Aylmer CRC has been so good to us for the past 9 ½ years. We offer our sincerest thanks for your love and thank you for the ways you have forgiven us for our failings. We praise God from whom all blessings flow for we have surely felt a steady flow of love—encouragement, cards, gifts, visits, support, time away, hugs and prayers. We have felt God’s grace through the trials and experienced the power of your prayers. We are thankful to have been part of this church for the past decade. I’ve enjoyed great cooperation and fun with all of the staff and council over the years (Phil. 1:5).

As we prepare to leave Aylmer, I want to encourage you to continue to love one another deeply (1 Peter 1:22). Our mutual love for the Lord is bigger than any of our personal issues or problems. Life is too short to hold grudges and our place in the body of believers is too important to waste time alienated from one another or alienating one another. The body of Christ is diverse but united in Him. She is beautiful in her diversity (1 Cor.12). This church—and every other one—has growing pains. But better to have the growing pains than to have no growth.

I have grown through struggles in the past decade, grown to see how great God’s grace is (2 Cor.12:9). I’m thankful to God for His providence and grace. As we leave Aylmer, it is part of God’s plan for you to seek a new pastor. He may be very different from me. He may have some similarities. Whoever he is, remember that God sent him to you. Love him and his family as you have loved us.

Carry on the vision you have adopted. Support one another in fulfilling it. Love your neighbours as yourself. Show them the love of Christ. Let the community see how much this congregation loves Jesus and each other so that they want to know Jesus and be a part of this church (Mt. 5:16).

We are on the brink of a new year, the beginning of a new decade. Does it seem like ten years already since we were being warned about the potential problems with Y2K? Time goes quickly. But our time is in God’s hands. You can count on that. No matter where we live, we are united in Christ and continue to be part of His growing family.

Thank you once again for being such a blessing to our family in the formative years of most of our children. It has been a good thing to be part of this covenant community. We thank God for all you’ve done to shape us and our children into what God is calling us to be. Aylmer will always hold a special place in our hearts. God bless you!!

The deLanges—Pastor Rich, Patsy, Rachel, Adrian, Erik & Jessica

PS If you come to Edmonton, stop in for a visit.

Please post a good-bye note for Rev. deLange and his family in the comment section below. You must first click on the post title to view the comments section.