Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - October 19, 1997, Winnipeg, Manitoba Sunday free october a5 Phil free press Springs of living water congregation above worships As band and Singer perform at attendance at the Winnipeg Church has grown 600 per cent in three family focus filling pews churches try to relieve stress on modern Home by Keith Mcarthur staff reporter because his father was never around when he was a Bill Urovich says fam ily has become a Central part of his adult its so in that it played a big role in helping him choose his the 52yearold attends services at Springs of living the nondenominational Church is one of Winnipeg fastest growing places of and its popularity relates in Large part to the emphasis it puts on family living water runs a special super Church for kids As Well As a family Camp in the sum its pastor even runs workshops on How to use sex to improve Urovich says Hes attended other churches where Hes found an but not a needed stress on the although most of Canadas churches have experienced a marked decline in membership at conservative protestant churches has held or even increased these churches focus on family but they tend to define family in a fairly narrow and traditional living water has been around for 17 but since Leon Fontaine took Over As minister three years weekly attendance has jumped from about 300 to Many of the congregation come twice a week for a wednesday night service As Well As the traditional one on sunday if any body had told me 20 years ago that id be going to Church twice a id have said they were said 60yearold Gord who attended anglican and Catholic churches before settling on living membership has outgrown the Church marys Road since services have been held in a rented country club in we have More volunteers now than we used to have said who does his part by donning an Orange jacket to help find space in the parking lot for the 300 to 400 cars at each Fontaine said the Church has been successful by focusing on what people Are worried about family life and he teaches peo ple to put family ahead of work in their its amazing How theres a return to families these he were concerned about our Homes and our kids and raising them its this Fontaine that draws people to his its Only after those needs Are met that they Are ready to learn about he a sociologist at the University of Manitoba specializing in said that if family issues Are bringing people Back to it is because families Are under More stress than Ever stress has to be found in the because two people Are working their Butts he while some people turn to he others will turn to psychiatrists or alcohol to Deal with their Bruce the new minister at Calvary agrees that people Are feeling More stressed about their family they feel a he when it comes to there looking for Martin recently launched a series of television ads aimed at bringing people into the the ads focus on the family in one Martin stands in front of the Bank towers at Portage and main and urges people to invest in their families like they invest their each and ends with the tag Calvary Temple for you and your although Martin expects it will take time before the ads bring in new he said he has been pleased with attendance since he took Over in they worship on work too by Keith Mcarthur staff reporter its a work a but nearly people have crammed into the Transcona country club to worship three times a Springs of living water Church services Are broadcast locally on but the glitzy production bears More resemblance to a Rock video than to a traditional Church a stage juts out in the front of a Large five Fourmet Ehigh crosses loom behind a six piece band and a huge the congregation sings along to songs that take up the first the lyrics Are projected onto a Wall at the front of the but most people seem to already know the it is Catchy pop but the words Are one song sounds like a love but the focus of adoration is god i reach my hands towards you with All my heart adore you let me hear the whisper of your voice the gentle whisper of your at the Back of the a woman in her Early twenties stands eyes hands in the rocking slowly to the then pastor Leon Fontaine appears on the stage in suit and when the music the real performance let Healing through every part of this Fontaine it is him the people have come to let this depression flow from this body and let peace and understanding come in its holding the microphone in one he puts the other on the he god is so and the people believe but As much As a focus on family can be use Ful for a Church in attracting new it can also be the definition of a family is a hot topic Fontaine several men from his congregation attended the recent Promise keepers rally in washing like the Promise Fontaine teaches that a healthy Christian family is one United by a marriage Between a Man and a he also teaches that the husband must be the Leader of that similar teachings came under fire from women groups and win Nipges Gay and lesbian Community when Promise keepers held a rally Here in Fontaine argues that mans preordained role As Leader int unfair to just As the fact that men cant give birth to children int unfair to in most Homes where a Man leads in a new testament i have never found a woman to be he a Man has to Lead his Home like the Leader of a not the Leader of a though some churches with a narrow Defini Tion of family have been gaining others Are trying to fill their pews by broadening the Ramu conventional churches Are trying in their own conventional to respond to the changing definition of even living water member Bill from chs family defies the traditional although he has two children of his Dur ing the last 20 years he and his wife Janine have taken 55 Foster children into their Ramu said people May be turning to churches for their family concerns because of prag Matic reasons instead of spiritual if More people Are doing it turning to its probably because it is the easiest and most traditional and least expensive Way of dealing with the communist party official remembers better Days by Nick Martin staff reporter Bill Stewart is almost nostalgic for the Days when he would suspect the phone was tapped and a surveillance camera would snap surreptitious photos of the reporter and photographer coming to see him at communist being followed by the ramp or the Canadian Security intelligence ser vice Sis would be proof that the communist party of Canada is still a Force to be reckoned Stewart lamented yes i dont think they pay that much attention to us any sighed in Winnipeg to address a Din Ner at the ukrainian labour Temple last night marking the 80th anniversary of the october revolution and the 75th anniversary of the establishment of a communist press in there probably still is surveil its not As intense he i dont think we were Ever a threat to anybody in Active in the pc for five decades and a longtime member of the Cana Dian Central Stewart said most of the party strength now lies in Toronto the lower Mainland of British in the Coop Bookstore is and the communist party oper ates out of a Small unmarked House on Selkirk Avenue that carries a for Sale sign with a list Price of across the country As a we Are but its its mainly among Young people Young immigrants feeling the sting of we consider ourselves in Competition with the operating ideology of our objective is to build a humane communist party of Canada member Bill Stewart not As much among workers As wed there was a split in the communist party of Canada when the soviet Union broke up and its never really bounced Stewart they folded they closed the the print the Young communist they put the party out to then they Dis appeared into various organizations and Stewart said the left has a plethora of most of Little we consider ourselves in Competition with the operating ideology of our objective is to build a humane he capitalism is stronger than through the world Bank and the International monetary he most left Wing political Par ties such As the nip Only advocate a More humane version of Capi said China and Viet Nam Are the leading exam Ples of countries trying to achieve an Ideal socialist but there is no uni Versal Model of socialism that Canadian communists believe could be applied he socialism must be tailored to local conditions and Val the working class is left in a Posi Tion around the world where there Doest appear to be any alternative to it gives capitalism a Blank Cheque to step on the faces of workers All Over the Ken free press communist Stewart still believes an Ideal socialist state is ;