History
| Share


 
 

 Celebrating over 20 years!


City in Focus began in 1988 (incorporated November 23rd, 1988), as a chaplaincy to the marketplace with a single minister seeking to care for and connect the people of Vancouver. Twenty years later, City in Focus provides an umbrella for numerous thriving ministries and fosters the development of new organizations and initiatives, all while caring for and connecting an increasingly diverse community. Over all, City in Focus is committed to bringing input from a Christian faith perspective into the lives of the men and women of Vancouver.

Overview of City in Focus’ Mission

Pastoral

  • Counselling
  • Small Groups
  • Alpha Groups
  • Connecting people to local churches

Events

  • BC Leadership Prayer Breakfast – attended by over 1000 people annually
  • BC Student Forum – grown to over 200 student attendees per year
  • Canada Student Forum – a national version of the BC Student Forum, in its third year with 60 students attending
  • BC Weekend – Around 100 members of the business and non-profit communities gather for a weekend of building relationships
  • Vancouver Lunch – outreach opportunity operated in partnership with Alpha
  • City In Focus Breakfasts – monthly testimonials in its 15th year
  • Wallet Open Golf Tournament – raises over $20,000 per year to assist in sending inner-city or underprivileged kids to summer for 16 years
  • Men’s Night – Gathers young professionals for a time of fellowship, fun and encouragement

Philanthropy

  • Samaritan Fund – over $200,000 a year directed to local and international social needs
  • Major Donor Support – directs philanthropic giving to strategic individuals and key organizations making a difference in the community
  • A Few Ways to Christmas – encourages personal involvement with key organizations in Vancouver through almost ten thousand flyers distributed in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland
  • Building a database of research and relational contacts of not-for-profit organizations that meet social needs in Metro Vancouver

Major Initiatives

  • More Than Gold (Vancouver Whistler Games Network) – coordinates the activities of over 200 different churches and non-profit agencies before, during and after the 2010 Olympic Games, in areas ranging from Evangelism to Sustainability
  • The Homelessness and Housing Crisis – facilitates working relationships between philanthropists, government and social agencies to provide supportive housing to Vancouver’s homeless
  • A Christian philanthropic foundation – a work in progress. We are researching models for a local Christian foundation to address local social issues such as education, health, and homelessness. Thusfar, CIF has made two site visits in Pittsburgh and Fresno. The goal is to assist the city of Vancouver to tackle its social issues by encouraging a partnership between the Christian community and the philanthropic, political, bureaucratic and social structures of our city.

Networking

  • City In Focus Newsletter – letters on faith and issues of the work place are published bi-monthly (since 1992) and distributed to over 3000 contacts by email and post
  • Facilitate group events such as Asian Alpha Conference downtown ministry, East Van Urban Worker Groups and Native Christian Women retreats to provide opportunities for people to connect and organizations and society leaders to address personal, church or societal issues. 
  • Connect churches for joint ministry or projects


Incubation of ideas – a few examples

  • Alpha – CIF pioneered the very first Alpha in the Work Place and wrote the original training booklet on how to do it
  • MTG (VWGN) – CIF helped nurture this organization over a 4 year period before staff were hired
  • CIF helped Navigators staff build their Vancouver ministries
  • BC Student Forum began under CIF