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By Andrea Flexhaug
IT’S NOT certain where Anarchist Mountain got its
name, but one account claims it was named for Richard H. Sidley, a justice
of the peace and customs officer who settled near the mountainside town of
Bridesville in 1889.
Backroads Explorer, by
Murphy Shewchuk describes Sidley as “an Irishman of advanced
political views, [who] was often called an anarchist and finally relieved
of his government posts.”
Formerly a railroad town, Bridesville is pleasantly
surrounded by rolling hills and widespread ranching fields. One short
street runs through town, and at the northern end stands
Bridesville’s community hall.
Since late last year, on the final Sunday of every
month, some 30 cowboys and other ranch folk from the area have been
gathering at the hall to attend Sidley Mountain Cowboy Church.
The church came out of a need seen by Ed Brouwer, who
lives with his wife Judi on a nearby 160-acre cattle ranch. He originally
came to the nearby town of Osoyoos several years ago, to pastor a
Pentecostal church there.
“As we were pastoring the church . . . we saw a
real need up in Bridesville and the Rock Creek area – and we
started the cowboy church in Rock Creek,” he told BCCN.
Although Brouwer and the church in Osoyoos eventually
parted ways, he felt God still wanted him to pastor in the town
– so he opened a new church, The Gathering Place, at the local
community centre.
Meanwhile, the cowboy church he had started in Rock
Creek had closed – but, he emphasized, “our heart for the
neighbourhood didn’t close, of course.”
So the Brouwers, along with their son Casey, and with
support from pastor Keith Jones and his wife Lynne, reopened the cowboy
church, this time in Bridesville.
Sidley Mountain Cowboy Church’s first service was
last Christmas Eve, with more than 100 people showing up.
The Brouwers’ churches and ranch ministry are
under the auspices of Eagles Nest Ministries, a non-profit association
founded in 1981. The couple are credentialed through the International
Association of Ministries. Their purpose is to reach farmers, ranchers,
rodeo cowboys and others associated with the western lifestyle.
At the Cowboy Church, dress is casual, with local
ranchers and cowhands welcome to come to services in ranch attire, complete
with cowboy hats and boots.
“You can come in your blue jeans, or you can come
right off the ranch,” said Brouwer, adding that you don’t have
to be a cowboy to come to the church. The services cater to the cowboy
life, and in the summer months fellowships are held around campfires.
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At services, Brouwer says, “We do a lot of the
older choruses,” with strains of favourites such as ‘Because He
Lives’ emanating from the hall; and a couple from a nearby town
sometimes play guitar and sing country gospel. “I try to keep my
sermons cowboyish,” said Brouwer, and he notes as an example one
entitled ‘Branded for the Lord.’
Although the services currently take place only
monthly, Brouwer said, “We’re going to go to more – but
right now all the ranchers are busy with haying and with cattle.”
Something of a cowboy himself, Brouwer has been around
horses most of his life. He lists his interests as “preaching,
teaching, firefighting, cattle ranching, breaking horses.”
The pastor places great importance on the warmth of
friendship and fellowship among those attending the services.
“We’re big on relationships,” he emphasized.
Rather than sit in pews, the congregation sits around
tables. “We actually know what we look like,” he said
lightheartedly.
They do have praise and worship, but
Brouwer also invites people to interact while he is preaching.
“If somebody has a question, they’ll raise their hand and ask
the question; or if they have a comment, they can add to it.”
On the Brouwers’ own ranch land sits a chapel
topped by a steeple and bell, which seats 12. It is used for weddings, and
in the future they hope to build a church to house the cowboy congregation.
They have also received a generous $15,000 donation to build two cabins
there, to serve as a retreat where pastors and others can go to regroup.
“I pray that when I’m gone,” he
said, “people will be able to say, ‘You know what, the Brouwers
always encouraged us to be all that we could be.’
“So whether that’s Cowboy Church or whether
it’s The Gathering Place in Osoyoos, whether it’s feeding the
homeless, whatever it is . . . that we do whatever we do to the best of our
ability, as under the Lord.”
November 2008
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