And then there were three

The team grows

Author

Clay Bitner
July 18, 2025

It’s official, we now have 3 families from Saskatchewan who are a part of the Grace Edmonton plant! Earlier this month, we had the pleasure of welcoming the Friesen family to the neighbourhood (just down the block from the Bitners and the Klassens). They join us from our sending church, Grace Warman, and we’re excited to have them as part of the team.

There’s something significant about the number 3. Almost like it pictures something special about who God is. But in all seriousness, it really is a joy to have them close, and not even in the same city, but on the same street no less.

Mike and Denae, along with their 5 kids, have been a part of Grace Warman for the past few years, and when we moved out to Edmonton for the plant, they started having serious discussions about making the move to join us. 

After a few rounds of nearly successfully selling their house back in Saskatchewan, we were starting to wonder if they’d actually be able to sell their place and make the move. But with another down-to-the-wire miracle and some hard work by their lawyer, they were able to take possession of their new home on June 30th.

One of the first things our families did together after they moved in was to go to Fort Edmonton Park. It’s Canada’s largest outdoor history museum, and it’s a great way to get to know our new city by understanding its history.

The kids had a great time with the rides and the games, and for the rest of us history nerds, we got to explore and experience a taste of what life was like in Edmonton between the 1840s and 1920s.

Not only did it give us the opportunity to relax and enjoy time spent with each other, but it also allowed us to immerse ourselves in the story of this city. Walking through the re-creations of Edmonton’s past reminded us that this city is filled with stories of hope, hardship, courage, and resilience. And as God has called us here, we’re reminded that he’s chosen for us to be a part of this city’s story too, through this little church plant we call Grace Edmonton.

We believe that Jesus cares about Edmonton: its history, its people, and its future. And we want to be a faithful gospel-rooted presence and witness here for the sake of Jesus. Because it’s only through Jesus and His Kingdom that Edmonton and its citizens can experience the life that we all desire.

And so as we think about the city that was and the city that God is working on, it reminds me to ask you to pray for God to open doors and connections for us to build relationships and friendships with our neighbors and those in the city who don’t yet know Jesus.

On the church-plant front, we’ve been enjoying our weekly Bible studies, which have turned into a more intentional core-team training focus where we’re currently working through 1 Timothy to help everyone get on the same page in terms of understanding the how and the why behind our structure and methodology. We want this church to be built with a foundation on Jesus and his Word through the Scriptures, and since we plan on studying through books of the Bible once we start gathering on Sundays, we figured we might as well train the core team in the same way.

Over the past few weeks we’ve been looking at things like how Jesus must be the foundation of the church, what it means to be the household of God, and how we understand the different roles God has given us all as men and women in the church. This week we’ll be diving into the qualifications and expectations of Elders and Pastors. 

As the number of those joining us continues to grow, we’re finding it hard to fit everyone in our little house, which is an exciting problem to have. So by all accounts, this feels like we’re moving towards being able to hopefully launch a regular Sunday gathering by January of 2026.

Jared and I are actively looking for a space that could serve us well for Sundays, so if you have connections or insight that you think would be beneficial for us to know about, we’d love to hear from you. 

If you’re in Edmonton, or know someone who is, and you’d like to learn more about the church plant and how we do things, we’d love to have you join with the Bible study or we’d be happy to meet up for coffee as well. We currently meet on Friday evenings from 6:30-8:00pm. 

Additionally, over the next few weeks, Jared and I have the opportunity to preach on Sunday mornings at a few places, so if you’d like to join us to show your support or even just hear how we approach the Bible, we’ll be preaching at these places next:

We’re also planning for our next vision meeting to take place on Sunday, August 24, 2025 from 3-5pm at West Edmonton Baptist Church - so tell your friends and join us for a time of music, teaching, and Q&A as we dig into God’s word together again.

Thanks for praying for us. Thanks for sticking with us. We can’t wait to share more.

If you would like to contribute at all to any of our expenses or the ongoing cost of serving in these roles of missionary-church-planters, you can do so at https://graceyeg.com and click the “Connect” link on the top left.

If you'd like to read previous editions of the newsletter, you can do so here: https://graceyeg.beehiiv.com/

On behalf of our families,

Clay Bitner and Jared Klassen