Focus on the Family Magazine - June/July 2023

MINISTRY
spotlight
Highlighting one of
the many ministries
of <strong>Focus</strong> on the
Family Canada
With almost 40 per cent of the Canadian population living
in Ontario and another 27 per cent living in Quebec and the
Maritime provinces, the need to provide on-the-ground help
to families in Ontario and Eastern Canada is significant. For
over five years, <strong>Focus</strong> on the Family Canada has looked for
an appropriate location in Ontario to hold our retreat programs,
especially the Hope Restored marriage intensives.
In 2020 <strong>Focus</strong> on the Family Canada began a partnership
with Nestleton Waters Inn, located just east of Port Perry
and only an hour away from Toronto. A year later, the owners
asked if <strong>Focus</strong> Canada would be interested in purchasing
the property. After much prayer and discernment, <strong>Focus</strong>
on the Family Canada took possession of this property on
March 1, 2023.
This location is the third retreat centre for <strong>Focus</strong> on the
Family Canada and is renamed Kerith Waters, in keeping
with our other centres: Kerith Creek in Alberta and Kerith
Pines in Manitoba.
The name “Kerith” comes from 1 Kings 17 when the Lord
sent Elijah to the Kerith Ravine after he made a prophetic
declaration to the kingdom of Ahab. God knew Elijah’s calling
would consume his energy and leave him weary, so he
provided him times of rest, solitude and renewal. Like its
biblical namesake, Kerith Waters—like Kerith Creek and
Kerith Pines—values this stillness and provides care to those
who are weary.
Kerith Waters is a 96-acre rural farm with an inn that
includes seven suites, a two-bedroom carriage house, and
a separate suite for the on-site facility manager overlooking
a spring-fed pond. The location is within a two-hour drive
for more than nine million people. This makes it an ideal
location for hosting <strong>Focus</strong> on the Family Canada’s retreat
programs as it’s a quiet, peaceful location yet easily accessible
to a large group of people.
Right now, Hope Restored marriage intensives are being
held at Kerith Waters with plans to hold Kerith Ministry
Leader Retreats and Marriage Enrichment Retreats by the
fall of 2023.
Want to learn more? Visit <strong>Focus</strong>OnTheFamily.ca/
KerithOntario to see Wendy Kittlitz, Vice-President of
Counselling and Care at <strong>Focus</strong> on the Family Canada,
explain how this third retreat centre came to be.
“The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want. He makes me
lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.”
• PSALM 23:1-2 •
Visit <strong>Focus</strong>OnTheFamily.ca/
KerithOntario to learn more.
JUNE / JULY 2023 FOCUS ON THE FAMILY CANADA
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