The pastor of eight-year-old Teagan Batstone says his congregation is in shock after the little girl’s body was found in the trunk of a car Wednesday.
Teagan’s mother Lisa Batstone has been charged with second-degree murder in the death.
“It is the very last thing we could have imagined would have happened,” said Ellis Andre, a pastor at the White Rock Baptist Church.
The mother and daughter had been attending church regularly for about six years, Andre said, and Teagan was involved in a number of activities including musicals and Sunday school.
“She was involved in all of those things and always brought brightness,” he said. “She was a very loving, cheerful little girl.”
Since learning that Batstone was charged, the congregation has been left wondering if it could have done anything more to help the family.
“It is hard. We would be callous if we didn’t ask that question, ‘Could I have made a difference?’” he said. “But in reality when you step back and you look at an event as horrific as this one, how can you draw a line between this and any casual statement and any neglect of any sort, because it’s so extreme.”
The church brought in grief counsellors Sunday to help parents figure out what to tell their children about the tragic death.
Andre also held prayers during his service for Teagan, her friends and family, including her mother.
“She is a part of a congregation still,” Andre said of Lisa Batstone. “We won’t ditch her at all because it has got to be a community of grace. That’s how we exist.”
The church is holding a memorial service on Wednesday at 7 p.m. to celebrate Teagan’s life.
“We’ll think of those who are bereaved. We’ll try to place the whole thing in its wider Christian context,” Andre said.
With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Shannon Paterson
