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News & Announcements A Teen’s Involvement with the Church: Nicole Buffett, daughter of Rev. Neal and Beverly Buffett, and one of the Sunday School teachers at All Saints attended a ten-day church leadership conference this summer at Huron College in London, Ontario called “Ask and Imagine”. Nicole is also a youth delegate to Provincial Synod being held in Gander. (Parish of FortuneLamaline) Mission. Please pray for the Healing Mission to be held on Friday, October 16 – Sunday, October 18. Rev. Brian Candow will be the leader for the weekend. The theme for the weekend is “Prayer, Medicine, and Sacraments.” Also, a Women’s Quiet Day for all ladies was held on Saturday, September 19 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the chapel. Rev. Elizabeth Stewart, United Church
Minister, Windsor/Bishop Falls, will be our leader. Men’s Retreat Day. Holy Trinity is sponsoring a Retreat Day for men on Saturday, November 14 from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Rev. Perry Cooper will be the guest leader. The topic for the Retreat is “God and Masculinity: What’s Expected of Us?” (Parish of Holy Trinity, Grand Falls) Queen’s College Intern Judi Phillips will be in the Parish of New Hope for the next three months learning ministry. (Parish of New Hope) St. Martin’s Cathedral welcomes Mrs. Juanita Freeman for her internship session. The Biblical Studies program is continuing – all are welcome. Celebrations for the 50th Anniversary year will continue this fall – watch for
details. A big “Thank You” for all of the time and effort given by the St. Martin’s Cathedral family to help with the Diocesan Synod in April, the 50th Anniversary Celebration Weekend in May, the Provincial Synod and the Central NL Diocesan ACW Conference in September. (Parish of Gander) Bishop Cyrus Pitman wishes to announce that The Rev. Chris Snow, has been offered, and has accepted, a position in the Diocese of Niagara as Rector of Grace Church in Milton, Ontario. The Bishop has accepted his resignation as Rector of the Parish of St. Michael and All Angels, St. John’s. The tentative start date of this new position is November 1, 2009. (Parish of St. Michael & All Angels)
The City of Mount Pearl has responded favourably to our request to adopt the green space around us under its “Adopt-A-Park” program. This means that we will be responsible to keep it neat and tidy and to care for a part of the community beyond our immediate property. We are looking at the wooded area on the corner of Old Placentia Road and Richard Nolan Drive as far back as the walking trail behind the church. This effort is part of our Ministry Plan and we hope to hold our first clean-up of the area in early fall.” (Parish of the Good Shepherd, Mount Pearl) H1N1 (Swine Flu) precautions: At this moment there does not seem to be a serious outbreak of H1N1 Virus in the various areas of this Diocese. Nevertheless,
stewardship
The time is now! I begin with the words of Victor Hugo: The future has several names For the weak it is impossible For the faint hearted, it is unknown For the thoughtful and valiant, it is ideal That quote was contained in a presentation I made 9 years ago. It was a call to action to clergy and laity – a challenge to consider the benefits of planned giving to the Church. The bottom line: if we don’t encourage our faithful parishioners to get a will and leave something in that will for the church, someone else will. Mark my words, as a teacher I know used to say! The consequence: we will
have lost a marvellous opportunity to benefit our Church through a planned gift and worse still, we will have not encouraged a generous act of stewardship by one of our own. The time is now! As I have said repeatedly over the past 9 years, our parishioners have a choice as to where their charitable dollar will go. Belief in the mission of the Church and trust are two huge components. Here are some statistics from the Canadian Association of Gift Planners according to a recent poll: - Most Canadians (79%) feel they are familiar with charities, yet few have
we need to be aware of what is happening. If there is widespread concern in your parish or among persons at risk, you may decide to take action. This action may be education and awareness by placing information in your weekly bulletin, making announcements, and increasing the awareness of hand washing, particularly among Eucharistic Assistants. If the situation does indeed worsen, and infections spread, the Bishop may well have to issue further instructions. Such instructions would be implemented in consultation with the parishes, as well as with the other two Dioceses in Newfoundland and Labrador. However, in the meantime, take reasonable care and keep informed by checking the NL Government website. (Diocese of Eastern Newfoundland & Labrador)
a high degree of familiarity with them (17% very familiar). - A majority of Canadians (77%) trust charities, with 27 percent trusting them a lot. - Trust in charities has remained about the same since 2000. - Amongst those with only some, little, or no trust in charities, the most commonly cited reason for not having more trust in charities is uncertainty about where the money is really going (30%). - Of the ten types of charities asked about in the study, Canadians are most likely to trust hospitals a lot
or some (88%), followed by charities that focus on children/children’s activities (86%), health prevention/ health research (85%), education (80%), social services (77%), protection of animals (73%), and protection of the environment (72%). Churches (67%),and other places of worship (65%) are next, followed by charities that focus on the arts (63%) and international development (59%). These are some disturbing numbers. One would have thought that Churches would be number one on the list. So, what do we have to do? We must write our
Kevin Smith
Church’s mission. What are we all about? Why do we need money? Will these funds further God’s work or simply prop up our maintenance program? We must show that we are indeed all about God’s work and we are making a difference in this world. We must also talk about our work and why it is important and worthy of support. The leadership must lead the way personally – that is, ensure we have a will and that we have left a planned gift for our Church. The challenge is urgent! The task is large! But, the time is now. Please feel free to contact me to discuss your planned gift or your parish’s planned giving program.
Kevin Smith is the gift planning consultant for the Anglican Church of Canada. He can be contacted at (709) 739-5667 or by email k_smith@nf.sympatico.ca