2020 Annual Report

A N N U A L R E P O R T

porticocanada.ca

portico.cc/abm

C O N T E N T S

A Note From The Senior Pastor...........................................3 A Note From The Teaching Pastor....................................5 ABM Agenda....................................................................................8 Ends Dials...........................................................................................9 Mississauga Campus.................................................................12 Milton Campus..............................................................................14 Brampton Campus....................................................................16 Annual Survey........................................................................18, 20 PORTICO Staff...............................................................................21 Attendance.....................................................................................24 GROW & SERVE...........................................................................26 PORTICO Elders...........................................................................28 Giving Snapshot..........................................................................29 Balance Sheet...............................................................................30 Revenues & Expenses..............................................................31 2020-2021 Budget......................................................................34 Audited Financial Statements..........................................35 2019 ABM Minutes.....................................................................50 2020 Special Business Meeting Minutes...................54 Honouring The Past.................................................................56 2

A note from the Senior Pastor “The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.” (Psalm 37:23 NLT) God’s timing is never accidental. It can be confusing, at times even uncomfortable, but never accidental. I’m sure many of you can remember a time in your life when God moved you from jobs, cities, or homes and the timing seemed “off” in the moment. Sometimes His purposes are not clear to us in the moment and only become apparent when we get a few miles and a few years down the road—this is the best way to describe 2020 for our church and our world.

For PORTICO, we began 2020 with a leadership transition from Pastor Doug to myself, figuring this would probably be the most significant change we would experience all year. Little did we know that January would be the month with the most stability. February foreshadowed the month of March, which opened the world to the COVID-19 pandemic. I questioned—God, why did you send PORTICO into transition in a year of world crisis? The timing doesn’t make sense.

I still remember sitting in a meeting room with our executive team during the week of March 815, debating how big of an issue COVID-19 would turn out to be. Would it cost us a Sunday?

Maybe even two Sundays? It turned out that it would cost us 13 Sundays that we could not meet together in person and where individual households could only access Sunday morning services through PORTICO Online. As government regulations allowed for increased gathering sizes, we initiated Church at Home small groups. Also, we resumed on-site services, allowing a maximum gathering of 250 people sitting physically distant and wearing face masks.

We have learned about our lives, our world, and how God desires to connect with us during this season. And through it all, I have been reminded time and again that God’s timing is perfect. He would not have brought us into a leadership transition right before a pandemic if it were not part of His plan. Ten months into this, we still can’t see all His purposes yet, but we are starting to see what God has in store for PORTICO. During last Fall’s town hall meetings, Amanda and I shared that our heart is to see the church shift the focus from how we serve each other to serving people far from God. In this season, when church gatherings are limited, we found ways to reach out to our communities outside of regular church functions.

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Back in the spring, we had nearly 1000 people participate in our three webinars that dealt with issues that many were facing as we were in lockdown: How do I manage my money if I’m on CERB or have had wage restrictions?

What do I do when my mental health is suffering because of our new reality in COVID? How has God uniquely positioned me to step into areas of injustice and bring light and life to our world?

Our PORTICO Online services saw over 5000 people joining every weekend during March and April and continues to be a place where we make first connections with many new people interested in faith and church. Every week, people say “yes” to Jesus for the first time because of our tech team’s fantastic work to support this online campus.

We led out four food drives to support those who are accessing Peel area food banks. There are over three times as many families using food banks during COVID than in a regular year. As we facilitated these food drives, we raised more than 20,000 lbs of food, more than doubling our traditional efforts during the One Hope/Christmas season.

Community Faith Hubs is our new Fall initiative where people commit their home to be a place where the Bible is read and studied, and where prayer is happening throughout the community.

We also invite our neighbours to serve others as we collect food for local food banks.

And yet, this is just the beginning. We believe that in 2020/2021, we will make significant shifts to where the church’s sole focus is on our mission of “helping people find their way back to God.” We will always continue to meet together as a church. Still, our expression of service to our Lord and Saviour will be ever increasingly focused in places outside of our walls and inside the lives of the people who so desperately need to know the life and hope only found in Jesus.

I’m sure Esther had the same question in mind—God, why was I made Queen in the very moment that the Jewish people seemed destined for destruction? Her uncle put it so poignantly, “Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?” Esther 4:14. The elder board, Amanda, and I do not question why God put us into the seat of leadership for this season.

Our only question is—God, what will you have us do to go and make disciples in our world?

It is an honour to serve this amazing church that I have been family with since 2005. I cannot imagine life without you, especially during this pandemic. I love you, pray for you continually, and dream of the day when we all gather together again to celebrate what God has been doing through you and me in our communities.

Rick Carrol

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A note from the Teaching Pastor It was a little more than one year ago, that I shared the news with our church family, that Laura & I would be transitioning out of the role as the senior pastor, and embarking on a new role focused on teaching and missions. No one could have known or anticipated what we have encountered in the ensuing year. What a year it has been!

When we first joined PORTICO in 2001 (then known as Mississauga Gospel Temple), the Holy Spirit had imprinted a word from Isaiah on the hearts of the leadership team:

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:19 NIV) It was a new season for the church. We were blessed with growth, salvations, water baptisms, Spirit-baptisms, community outreach, missions partnerships, regional and international short-term-missions trips, facility expansion, new campuses, and the list goes on. The culmination of it all was hosting the church’s 50th Anniversary celebration in June 2019.

Last fall, as we prepared for the leadership transition, I was reflecting on the familiar words in Isaiah. We were once again heading into a new season with a new senior pastor and new opportunities to be embraced. What I could not have anticipated was the unfolding reality of two specific words spoken by Isaiah— “wilderness” and “wasteland.”

In many respects, these two words aptly characterize what most people have felt or experienced as a result of the global Covid pandemic. The aggregate impact of mandatory quarantine, social-distancing, face masks, work-from-home, closed borders, limited group sizes and safety bubbles have left tangible wilderness and wasteland imprints on our lives.

But God’s Word, doesn’t leave us to agonize over our situation; His word brings HOPE! There is a “way” forward in the wilderness; there are “streams” of refreshing in the wasteland. God’s promise is resolute— He will never leave us and never abandon us.

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As I prepare this written report for PORTICO’s 2020 Annual Business meeting, my heart is encouraged and my spirit is renewed. God’s blessing and favour upon our church has never wavered. This past year, in spite of the economic challenges associated with the pandemic, your generosity and faithfulness in giving has not only enabled us to meet our Kingdom Builders missions commitments, but we were able to bless our global missions partners with a very special Christmas in July financial gift. Many of our partners shared with us that this gift was extremely timely and enabled them to remain on mission. Your resolve to honour God with your whole lives, including your finances is impacting people all over the world.

Only eternity will reveal the whole story of how your commitment has changed people’s lives.

Laura & I, feel deeply privileged to continue serving our amazing church family. Although our role may have changed, our love for you and appreciation for our cherished relationship with you has not changed. We are excited for the new season ahead and couldn’t imagine sharing it with anyone other than our PORTICO church family.

In closing, we want to express our personal appreciation and support for our new senior pastor, Rick Carrol, his wife, Amanda, and their daughter, Hope. We consider it a personal privilege to support them in their new role and we humbly invite you to give them your full support.

Respectfully submitted,

Doug & Laura Rhind

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A B M A G E N D A

Call to Order Appointment of Recording Secretary Approval of the minutes of the 2019 Annual Business Meeting Affirmation of Elders 2019-2020 Year in review Financial Reports Elder Board Ownership Connection Vision Challenge Motions of Appreciation Adjournment 8

E N D S D I A L S

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On-site attendance declined 12% but ONLINE attendance increased 15% 82% of newcomers & prayer requests were followed up personally within 7 days 41% of attendees are part of a growth group

73% of attendees SERVE at PORTICO

Average Giving: $43.10 per person, per week

Sustainability: 5-Star Rating On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic as a result of the spread of COVID-19.

Since that time, the pandemic has impacted our attendance, serve, and generosity dials from March 8, 2020 onwards. In March 2020, the Church dramatically curtailed its operations in order to limit the exposure of the virus. As a result, any data provided between March 8, 2020 and June 30, 2020, reflects the temporary closure of all church campuses during that time.

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M I S S I S S A U G A

ATTENDANCE

PERSONAL FOLLOW-UP

SUSTAINABILITY

GROWTH GROUPS

SERVE

GENEROSITY

44.91 average giving (Q3) 12

M I L T O N

ATTENDANCE

PERSONAL FOLLOW-UP

SUSTAINABILITY

GROWTH GROUPS SERVE

GENEROSITY

43.89 average giving (Q3) 14

B R A M P T O N

ATTENDANCE

PERSONAL FOLLOW-UP

SUSTAINABILITY

GROWTH GROUPS SERVE

GENEROSITY

66.82 average giving(Q3) 16

A N N U A L S U R V E Y

597

271

responses

responses

2020

2019

AGE DEMOGRAPHICS

2020

2019 18

A N N U A L

STAGES OF LIFE

2020

S U R V E Y

2019

YEARS ATTENDING 2020 2019 WHAT HAS SIGNIFICANTLY IMPACTED YOUR SPIRITUAL GROWTH?

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P O R T I C O S T A F F 21

A T T E N D A N C E

Average attendance per week

ALL CHURCH

ONLINE

NEWCOMERS

YOUNG ADULTS

STUDENTS

KIDS

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G R O W & S E R V E

26

E L D E R S

Wade Steyn

Enn Martin Raymond Armah

Frances Davis

Lileath Claire Maril Varghese

Karina Santiago Chris Gill

Zari Gill

Anthony Chininea

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G I V I N G S N A P S H O T

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B A L A N C E S H E E T

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R E V E N U E S & E X P E N S E S 31

2020 REVENUE OVER EXPENSES = $621,981

2019 REVENUE OVER EXPENSES = $950,073

R E V E N U E S

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E X P E N S E S

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2 0 2 1 B U D G E T

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A U D I T E D F I N A N C I A L S T A T E M E N T S 35

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1814 Barbertown Rd, Mississauga 7585 Financial Dr, Brampton

45 Bruce St, Milton

2 0 1 9 A B M M I N U T E S 50

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S P E C I A L B U S I N E S S M E E T I N G M I N U T E S

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H O N O U R I N G T H E P A S T

2020

Rick Carrol 2020 -

porticocanada.ca 56