Visits to Some Assemblies inthe Canadian NW / USA
- David & Helen McKillen
- Oct 8
- 7 min read
Due to the Lord's purposes, in relocating us back to our home assembly (Kells, N.I.) in 2014, He has led us into an increasingly wider sphere of itinerant gospel and ministry. A 'theme' seems to be recurrent based on a few core elements: smaller assemblies, some growing weaker, and many far away in distance from neighbouring support. This applies well beyond the North American continent, but is particularly notable in the more remote regions of Canada and in parts of the U.S.A. as well.
Through a variety of circumstances, the Lord directed us to a ‘base’ in the ‘Westsyde Assembly’ in Kamloops, B.C. This has been our ‘home from home’ in Canada for many years, where we have had the joy of preaching the gospel often with Bryon Myers, Dave Richards, and others. The Lord has blessed in salvation and additions to the local testimony. In 2018, we were gifted the use of a second-hand RV, which is now 18 years old but still has relatively low kilometres. (We had travelled previously using the ‘Gospel Perpetuating Fund’ missionary car, always kindly loaned, into the northwestern parts of B.C.) Subsequently, we received various invitations to return and to travel more widely, and the RV has since granted a better and wider ease of movement.
We eventually, after various hindrances such as COVID–19, spent three months on the road in 2024; one continuous, planned circuit from Kamloops and back again, through four Provinces. We began with a week of ministry on ‘End Times’ in the ‘Westsyde Gospel Hall’, Kamloops, before departing.
Something which marked many of the meetings to follow was evident from the beginning: the willingness of believers, and those from other places, to come to the ‘Gospel Hall’ to hear the Word—possibly due to the reduction in midweek activities following COVID-19, 5-7 nights of assembly activity seemed appealing. (This highlights the value of consecutive – night by night – Bible teaching. In the present religious climate, even a building being ‘occupied’ every evening is not only a testimony, but can be an attraction.) On some evenings as in other places the percentage of attendees from outside the local assembly was well over 50%, many professing believers hungry for teaching and ‘midweek’ fellowship.
We continued south into WA State, U.S.A. (which is not located in Canada). Still, our destination was in response to a repeat invitation to visit a relatively isolated assembly in the state's interior. (The coastal plain in W.A. has numerous assemblies and some, such as Arlington, are still quite large). Okanogan, in the Okanagan Valley, draws several believers from both Omak and Okanogan towns. A lovely traditional clapboard Hall with just under double figures remembering the Lord. It was a joy to return and take Helen for the first time, appreciating the warmth of fellowship both in the assembly and in homes. It is again common for visitors to respond to invitations to attend. (One young couple who were observing the Lord's Day and attending all the meetings invited us to their home to discuss assembly things. We had highhopes for them, but at this time, it seems in a small community, the cost of "reproach" is still present. Pray for this dear couple.)
We learned that the daughter and granddaughter of one family asked for baptism just after we left and were later received into fellowship; other family members are still in need, so we rejoiced 'on our path-way' after leaving. Quite a few visitors joined for the closing Lord's Day, and 13 of us attended the Lord's Supper together.
We crossed over the Cascade mountains to Marysville to pay a quick visit to dear friends and preaching partners, Bryon and Joni Meyers. They cannot travel as they once did, but in their time, they visited many assemblies (and did Stampede outreach) in many parts of Canada and the US. After two nights midweek ministry in Arlington, we journeyed in a steady north-westerly direction – almost without stop – until we branched west off ‘R97’ and arrived at Terrace, close to the Alaskan border, and a few kilometres in from Prince Rupert on the coast. Terrace is still a logging and supply town; it has a good economy once you arrive, but it is 1,500 km from Vancouver by road.
The assembly has dwindled steadily over the years and has now (at the time of writing) only six in fellowship. Brother Bill McCullough, the oldest member, is now in his 101st year. He prays, with others, for the Lord to send at least a whole family to be added. Again, we had a long weekend of good meetings, with believers from the town supporting us nightly, and some unsaved individuals were also present, even at the Breaking of Bread. (Pray for one lady; her son is in fellowship, she is a widow, and she attends every meeting. We leave her with the Lord.) We backtracked 800k to ‘R97’ again and turned north, travelling across the Alberta boundary through Dawson Creek (where an assembly testimony once flourished but has now closed). The few remaining saints from Dawson, and Hythe, AB travel to Grande
Prairie for fellowship. This family from Dawson also has to contend with a time zone change in both directions to attend the Lord’s Supper. We had a weekend of a ‘short notice’ conference on Saturday and on the Lord’s Day with brother David Swan from the East Coast.
An alteration of plans took him and his wife away on Monday, but we continued for a full week through to the next Lord’s Day in gospel outreach in a rented room in Hythe, where Ron Swann, David’s brother and an elder in the assembly, lives. (Pray for a dear widower of 98 who came, through an invitation, to hear the gospel for the first time. He confessed that he ‘did not understand’ and returned a second night. We also leave him with the Lord.) We should have been in Fort McMurray the week following, but just as the 2016 fire prevented a visit, so did a smaller one on the west side of Wood Buffalo on this trip. (The Lord used the above circumstances – despite a fire close to our camping area – to allow these 9 nights of consecutive meetings to be held in the Grande Prairie district instead. Pray for the relatively isolated assembly in ‘Wood Buffalo’ Fort McMurray.)
Our overall ‘route’ was slightly rearranged due to us not being farther east than was
planned, but we took the opportunity to visit the saints in Edmonton and Calgary. The Lord blessed us with wonderful fellowship in Edmonton, particularly in the last meetings in the old Hall before demolition to make way for a new building. (Pray for the
renewed testimony in West Hillhurst). We had also promised a farming brother, David Flint, back in 2017 at the Kelowna Conference, that we would visit the tiny assembly in Paradise Valley on the Alberta Saskatchewan border when we were able.
This now allowed us to respond, and we enjoyed a little ‘farming activity’ with them, along with various meetings, including gospel, ministry, and children’s meetings after school. (Pray for this assembly, only a handful are in fellowship, yet they maintain a “lampstand” and convene a Fall Conference yearly. Some of the older generation of
‘circuit evangelists’ who supported these remote places have gone to be with the Lord. Not so many remain.)
We were due to turn west, after ten weeks, for the final weekend of meetings back in Kamloops, but brother James Ronald made contact and asked us if we would consider coming farther east to ‘Lawson Heights Gospel Hall’, Saskatoon, SK. We acquiesced, and we were glad we did: this time it was a larger assembly with a very lovely Hall, but the long weekend of meetings was marked by many believers from other gatherings coming to listen to the teaching concerning the assembly.
We got back onto ‘Highway 1’ and began our return loop through the lower Rockies to Kamloops, where we had a final weekend of gospel and ministry, before taking leave of our friends there. Our dear companions Ed and Sarah Stanyer from Kamloops met up with us in their own R.V. for part of our return journey. We said ‘Goodbye’ in the knowledge that Sarah was not well. (We were able, in God’s goodness, to re-route another later journey in December ’24 to visit the assembly and Ed and Sarah one time more. In January ’25, the Lord took Sarah home. Please pray for the assembly, which has lost a valued founding member, and remember brother Ed, who has been left at home by himself.)
Some of these assemblies – and others – we have been visiting over the past few years. Others we visited on this 10,000 km trip for the first time. All are needy to some degree, and in what is a “day of small things” those of us who meet in more urban or larger fellowships may not have grasped the remoteness which exists in parts of the world – assemblies which can be 1,000k apart – and we should be the more burdened, not just for small “lampstands”, but for the Lord to raise those who are willing to ‘go the extra mile’ to encourage and support. Helen and I value your prayers for our own wider movements, as the Lord directs, towards meeting the needs of saints in various parts of the world.
“Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the Word of the Lord, and see how they do.” (Acts 15:36)
written by David & Helen McKillen mdmckillen@gmail.com
