Central Abbotsford

For our second installment of “Know Your CA Family”, I am asking questions of our own Joyce Janzen, who you might recognize from her regular service on the keyboard as part of our worship team. So, please get to know a member of your CA family!

1. What does your day-to-day life look like?

JOYCE: Well, I have three jobs, two of which are mostly part of my day-to-day. One is being a private music teacher, and that’s usually afternoons and evenings, although mornings is homeschool kids. It’s a wide range from beginners to advanced theory. Theory is my specialty, and so students from other teachers who are studying at an advanced level will come to me for advanced theory, and that’s what I really love to do. 

My second job is being registrar for a provincial music teachers’ organization, and that requires processing new members, renewing and updating members, and answering emails. So that’s the day-to-day. 

And then my third job is playing piano for Peace Lutheran Church on an almost weekly basis.

2. How did you come to faith in Jesus?

JOYCE: I grew up in a Christian home. Every time the church doors were open, we were there. And they were open quite often! My earliest recollections are that I wanted to belong to God. He put that desire in my heart from day one, so I would ask Jesus into my heart, but surely he would forget about me because I was so unimportant. I would repeat this over and over again. 

When I was nine, I went forward at an altar call, and my dad counselled me, and he gave me some verses to remember, especially Isaiah 43:1 – “Fear not…I have called you by your name.” You are mine. That helped me solidify my decision and gave some assurance that God had accepted me, and I didn’t have to worry that He would forget about me.

3. Has there been anyone (or more than one person) who has been a big influence on you in any aspect of your life?

JOYCE: I’ve had some really influential mentors in my music journey, who have pointed me in certain directions. I had a teacher in Bible school – Antionette van Kuik –  who asked me “what do you want to do with your music?”. And she put me on a trajectory to getting a degree and becoming a teacher. And that has shaped my whole life and career.

4. How long have you been attending Central Abbotsford?

JOYCE: Since it began, which was 2020.

5. Why did you first come to CA?

JOYCE: The first reason was its proximity to where I live, and also the opportunity to be part of a small beginning. 

We moved to BC at the end of 1982, and Northview started in 1980. And so when we began, Northview was a small congregation, about the size that we are now here at Central Abby, meeting at MEI. We drove across town, and passed a number of churches to go to Northview because it was, ironically now, a small church at that time. There, we made such important friend connections both in care group and people who came around us and were part of our faith journey at that time, which is super important.

6. Why have you stayed at CA?

JOYCE: Because here I found the same thing. Connection, a place to serve, a care group to be connected with, friends. And I love the model of a mix of livestream and in-person teaching. I think with it, we get a wide variety of excellent teaching from God’s word. 

7. What do you do for fun?

JOYCE: I ride a bike to stave off the effects of gravity on aging! I’m also an avid reader, especially sci-fi. I like to do puzzles and crosswords as well. 

8. Tell us a thing or two about you that might come as a surprise to others!

JOYCE: I left weights. It started as a result of an accident where I was driven into by a car on my bike, and I was launched and hit the road. And I walked away from it with the most minimal of injuries. But I started lifting to gain core strength and flexibility, and now have a lifting cage in my garage.

9. What is one question you have for me?

JOYCE: How is the marathon training going? 

ERIC: Well, as of now, it’s a little over a week until the Vancouver Marathon. And what I have learned, just in these last couple of weeks, as you taper down your weekly mileage in preparation for the race, is that your body starts hurting in places that haven’t hurt before, and even going out just for shorter runs can just feel like an absolute slog. And that has been the case. Apparently this is a known phenomenon for people running their first marathon, so reading that others have gone through the same thing has been something of a relief.

I also, the other night, had my first marathon anxiety dream, where I was running with 3 kilometres left, and then the pathway of the race diverted into some building that was like a combination mall/airport/convention centre. And the path wasn’t marked out and we were running into stairways and getting lost and could never finish the race. So it’s taking both a physical and mental toll on me, and causing me to question why I made this choice. 

So all that to say it’s going well.