An
Intersection
Of
Faith
And Life
September 2016
Delve
1
Features
Musings: Churchology
Musings:Churchology 3 Communal Worship, part 1 8 ESL Café Resurrection? 19
Departments Resource Centre 12 Discipleship Ministries 16 Financial Update 21
Information Contact Information 22 Community Corner 23 Calendar 27 Cover & Design: Clement Lee Contributors: Garth Barron Marion Cameron Karen Cassel Greg Kay Suzanna Lai Jeremy Ranasinghe Gene Tempelmeyer Copy Editors: Greg Kay Suzanna Lai
Delve submissions are due on the LAST MONDAY of each month. To submit for the next issue of Delve, please email: delve@springgardenchurch.ca 2
When I started school in Canada in 1971 I expected it would be different from going to school in Tennessee where I had grown up. I expected to hear my new national anthem, and thoroughly enjoyed the feeling of adventure, of being someplace new. More novel, though, was hearing The Lord’s Prayer before the school announcements began. True, no one recited along with the disembodied intercom voice except for the teacher who mumbled a bit of it. It was almost shocking to hear prayer in a public school. Of course, it didn’t last much longer. Today’s Toronto student body would be no less shocked than I was. We watched the way Christendom ended: not with a bang, but a whimper. Christendom began when the emperor Constantine realized that for three centuries Rome had been unable to triumph over the church by killing us. So Constantine did the next best thing: He gave us the ability to rule as Rome ruled. Ironically, Rome offered the final temptation offered to Christ: “Again the Devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour. And he said to Him, ‘I will give you all these things if 3
You will fall down and worship me.’” We took the bait: hook, line and sinker. In short order Rome had finally succeeded in triumphing over the church by making us just as powerful and coercive as the emperors of old. The church which had faithfully witnessed to God’s rule of the world began to rule the world, herself. But even the church cannot rule the world without usurping God’s place. Before Constantine the church understood that earthly powers were defeated by Christ. After Constantine the church came to believe Christ’s reign required earthly powers. Empires rose and fell, movements came and went, schisms reshaped the church, but through nearly 1700 years Christendom weathered each transition. During the long years of Christendom the line between church and state blurred. We still possess remnants. We call her Queen Elizabeth, but in Canada her actual title is Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of Canada and of Her other realms and territories, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith. I still act as an agent of the state with ability to issue wedding banns and perform marriages. But by and large we can no longer assume that church and state are intertwined in Canada. The blurring of lines that marked Christendom inevitably changed the church’s sense of herself. We did not need the church to help us, as Christians, define how we would live differently from our surrounding culture beyond individual activities such as playing poker or smoking tobacco (for which we still pay what is commonly called “a sin tax”). Our culture confirmed and the state even imposed “Christian” values and convictions. The small town in which I grew up had a single movie theatre: the Marshall. They would bring in two movies every week: one would show Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday and on Wednesday the marque would change for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. But, of course, it would have been wrong to open on Sunday. It might be that a first sign of faltering Christendom was when the Marshall Theatre stayed open on a Sunday night for Dr. Zhivago. 4
In Christendom, it was more important that people “believe” than that they be incorporated into the church. The values one would learn in the church would not greatly differ from the values one would learn in school or on “Leave It to Beaver.” The church did not exist to provide a community that offered an alternative politic to the world, but as a place of private spirituality in which we could refine our own belief system in the security of a broadly Christian society. As western Christendom fragmented into a multitude of denominations, church became the place where we could work out the particularities of our faith. Did we hold a Presbyterian belief or a Baptist belief? “Freedom of religion” largely meant that we could hold a variety of private religious opinions without fighting one another with the kind of violence and bloodshed experienced in the decades immediately following the Reformation, but we could be assured that the wider community would support our broadly Christian belief system. Meanwhile, the church paid the piper by creating good and solid citizens “For God and King,” as if the two were indivisible. Patriotism became a Christian duty. The church too easily found herself the spokesperson for nationalistic causes and jingoistic war efforts. The church could not stand to the side and offer an objective critique to the state because the line between church and state had disappeared. The state was more than happy to allow the church to send chaplains to usher dying soldiers out of this world and into the next with an affirmation of heaven as the reward for personal belief and national allegiance. Much of what the church is meant to be and do became blurry in the fuzziness of Christendom. As we move out of Christendom the need for the church is, in a sense, stronger than when we were able to rely on the state to help make disciples. The theological study or doctrine of the church is called ecclesiology after the Greek word for “church”: ecclesia. As most of us don’t speak Greek perhaps we can just say what we mean and call it 5
Churchology. (This, of course, totally ignores the fact that “ology” is also Greek!) The demise of Christendom requires us to do some careful thinking about the meaning and purpose of the church. Not only must we know what we need and should expect from the church, we are now free to think about the church in its relation to state and culture in way we could not when we shared a symbiotic relationship with both. The church exists at the intersection of three spheres: God, “each other,” and the world. Churchology helps us navigate our relationship with each and all of these entities. How does a community of believing people living in a broken world experience and respond to God? How does a community of people who love God respond to the world and its authorities? How does our love for God and concern for the world change the way we form our community and our relationships with one another? What resources do we have for all of these tasks? This article is written as an introduction to several coming articles exploring Churchology for postChristendom. I hasten to clarify this is not to suggest that the divine idea of church has become something new. The essence of the church is not dictated by her context. But the context does determine how she experiences and expresses her essence in the current situation.
Christians for Christians. Theological conversation can easily get lost on a sea of technical language. While we want to make sure our words express as simply and directly as possible what we mean, it will be the case that much of this conversation will be unintelligible to one who is not a Christian. And that’s ok. We are called to be different, not out of religious eccentricity, but due to a core set of convictions and values that are not shaped by our culture. It might be that one of the most persistent remnants of Christendom is the assumption that one who is not a Christian can understand what is dearest to us without the help of the Holy Spirit. We are different. And that means sometimes we must have conversations with each other without worrying whether what we say is intelligible outside an experience of faith. So… let’s think together. What is the church? What makes a collection of spiritual people “the Church of Christ”? Do we need the church in order to know Christ, or can Christ be known apart from the church? Can we be saved without being incorporated into the true life of the church? Why baptism and communion? What is our proper relationship to civil governing authorities? When is patriotism idolatry? How does the church bear witness to God’s redeeming work in the world? That ought to give us enough to think about for a while! Gene Tempelmeyer
Those most aware of the opportunities and challenges of postChristendom are the most keen to carry on theological conversations in a way that is accessible to people without a great deal of Christian knowledge or theological insight. It should be fairly evident why this is a necessity. Nevertheless, transitional times call us to have some discourse by 6
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Communal Worship, part 1: Communal
In Spring Garden Church we have a picture of discipleship that reminds us that God calls us as whole people to live in a rhythmic balance of Loving God, Loving Each Other, Sharing God’s Story and Showing God’s Care. Part of that is regularly gathering together for communal worship which, though it is most easily and primarily categorized under “Loving God,” actually engages us, challenges us and sends us out in all four areas. Over the next few months I’d like to share with you how we think about and approach this thing called “communal worship” in Spring Garden. Here is a simple definition for these gathered times of worship: Communal worship is when God’s people gather together as a particular community for ENGAGEMENT in ROOTED and COMMUNAL worship, giving glory to God and witnessing to His Kingdom. In this article we will look at the ‘communal’ part of that definition. Often times gathered worship is called ‘corporate worship’, though in our culture the word ‘corporate’ is intrinsically tied into the 8
concept of corporation—a business model approach emphasising legal rights and duties. Although there is a component of corporation in the church (we ourselves are incorporated for tax and liability purposes, among other things), when we think about gathering together for worship, a healthier, broader and more biblically suitable metaphor for how we think and engage is that of communing and community. The Church (worldwide) and the church (local, us) is primarily a community centred around Christ rather than a business. Regardless of if we’re aware of it or not, the metaphors that drive our thinking drastically shape the ways we engage. If we come for corporation, consciously or unconsciously, our goals and desired results are measured by things like numbers (people, money and programs) and what we get from it (“am I getting what I deserve as a shareholder?”). Yes, as good stewards we do need to be aware of and wise with our God given resources of people, money and programs, but should how we measure worth and success be driven by these things? On the other hand, when we come for communion (communing with God, communing with others) and community (interrelationships driven by love, knowing that they are as much give as they are take) we are more open to measuring the value of gathering together by things like the glory of God, deepening unity between diverse people, everyone able to offer something of themselves, serving in their gifts, seeing signs of God’s Kingdom, etc. This is (at least in part) why I have chosen the word and metaphor of ‘communal’ when I speak about gathered worship. Because communal worship is just that, communal not individual, and because we are driven by a metaphor of interrelationship between God and us and us and one another, therefore what our worship looks like will look different than in other church communities. God draws us together as Spring Garden, a particular community of people. Although our gathered worship is rooted in more than ourselves and our own experience (we’ll talk about this next month), since our community, like all church communities, is made up of particular people (no other church in the world or history is made up of the same people!), 9
our gathered worship will reflect the nature of our gathered community. ◊ Our particular people • Communal worship is the lifting of the voices of the diverse particular people who make up the community, authentically bringing who we are into the gathered congregation. ◊ Our particular history • Our voice in worship is in the context of our shared history as Spring Garden Church, as Canadian Baptists, as part of the Church Catholic (worldwide and welcoming) around the world and throughout history. ◊ Our particular time and space • Our gathered worship is in the shared context of our location at Spring Garden and Kenneth Avenues in 2016 in a post-Christendom and post-modern culture. We believe it is important that communal worship is lifting the voice of our particular community, and so we value our gathered worship being led by and coming out of the people of the community. This is why on an average communion Sunday there are 27 Spring Gardeners involved in facilitating our worship, and usually no more than 2 of those are “professional” Pastors! To conclude, here is a list of all the various places where Spring Gardeners serve in worship ministry, helping us as a gathered community lift our voices together in communal worship. The People who facilitate and lead ◊ Worship bands • Musicians who are part of the community and committed to their team on an ongoing basis ◊ Worship Band Leaders and Planners • Musicians with gifts of leadership both musical and spiritual who plan and lead worship through music, speaking, prayer and scripture. ◊ Creative team • A team of artists who imagine and create art that helps draw us in and engage us in holistic worship 10
◊ Artists • Artists who are part of our community who share their artistry with us ◊ Communion preparation and cleanup • Individuals who bake bread, and prepare the bread and cups for when we gather around the Lord’s Table, and who also clean up afterwards. ◊ Prayers of the People leaders • People who lead us in prayers of intercession for our community, city, country and the world. ◊ Ushers • People who help facilitate our worship through offering our resources to God and who are available to help people in need. ◊ Greeters • People who are committed to helping us to be a welcoming community when we gather on Sunday mornings ◊ Scripture readers • People who read God’s scriptures to us in the gathered community ◊ Children and Youth blessing • Those who lead blessing the children and youth before they go to discipleship ministries designed for them. ◊ Sound and Projection • People with technical and listening skills who facilitate the ability for the community to participate in worship through running sound and screen projection. ◊ Song writers • Musicians within the community who write songs that help us lift our voice in worship If you are interested in being involved in any of these areas, please let me know! gregkay@springgardenchurch.ca
Greg Kay 11
Recomendations From The Resource Centre
Spring Garden’s online library catalog can be accessed at springgardenchurch.ca/library
If you know of books or DVDs that you’d like to recommend to the resource centre, please contact Karen Cassel karen.cassel@bell.net
Grace: more than we deserve, greater than we imagine, by Max Lucado
Books The longing in me, by Sheila Walsh Sheila Walsh has a simple message on the subject of your longings: Whether you know it or not, all you long for is God. The work of recognizing that may take a lifetime, but the result will be peace, patience, and freedom from the mistakes that have controlled your life. In The Longing in Me, Sheila tells the story of her first marriage--from the car accident that kicked it off to the silence that followed--and the parallels with her troubled childhood she should have spotted from a long way off. Closely guided by the story of King David, Sheila makes it clear that your longings are rooted in a need for God alone--and when it comes to filling that void, nothing else will ever do. You can tap the one fountain that will quench your deepest thirst. You can change the way you respond to life’s stresses. You can heal from the past and find joy today. Not someday. Today. 12
In Grace: More Than We Deserve, Greater Than We Imagine, Max Lucado calls readers back to consider the abundant richness of God’s offer. It’s an offer to live a changed life, a call to genuine transformation and the courage to see it through. Don’t let grace pass you by. When you let it in, it will rock your world, and change your heart. As believers in Christ, we claim to understand grace. From Sunday school to adulthood we’ve been taught that we’re saved by grace. We know the Bible verses and the sinner’s prayer, but have we really taken hold of it? Or rather, has it taken hold of us? Grace isn’t a nice idea. It’s not a song lyric, or a warm, fuzzy feeling. It’s the radical life of Christ lived in you. Grace gives you the freedom to love the unlovable, and forgive the unforgivable, because you know how much you’re loved, and know how much you’ve been forgiven.
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Prayer Room Training Every Sunday we have people scheduled to be available in our Prayer Room after worship. (The Prayer room is in the south west corner of the building, upper level.) The people scheduled there offer prayer ministry to those needing to work through something that arose in worship or to pray for some other need in life.
It will be Okay: trusting God through fear and change, By Lysa TerKeurst Growing up brings change, and change triggers fears. How do kids learn that in the midst of these uncomfortable times, they don’t have to be afraid? Little Seed and Little Fox are facing fears, changes, and brand new things. And they don’t like it one bit! Through this unlikely friendship, children will discover that no matter how new or fearful their circumstances, God is always with them. Just as Little Seed and Little Fox learn to trust that the Farmer is good and kind, children will also learn to trust God.
Our Lead Pastor will be offering a Training Refresher Seminar for all those involved in our Prayer Room Ministry. If you are, or would like to become, a member of this team you are required to participate in one of these scheduled sessions. Either on Sunday, September 25, at 11:45 am in the east lounge (please bring a bag lunch) OR Sunday, October 2, 8:30 am in the east lounge. If you are unable to make either of these times, please speak with Gene Tempelmeyer. We are always looking for people to join us in this important ministry. If you are interested in participating on this team, speak with Barrie Porter, one of our elders. His contact information is in our congregational directory and on one Delve’s back pages. Or you may speak with Gene Tempelmeyer, our Lead Pastor.
DVD Forever strong Best friends Rick and Lars become bitter rivals when Rick’s free-spirited lifestyle lands him in juvenile detention. But can a concerned counsellor and a national championship rugby coach recruit Rick for a new team---and a new direction? A stand-up-and-cheer film about loyalty, courage, and conviction. Based on actual events. 14
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Discipleship Ministries - Partnering with Families
email Jeremy (Jeremy.Ranasinghe@Springgardenchurch.ca) to be added onto the parent’s monthly email list, as well as visit our google calendar which has all our planned events.
SGC Youth
https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=sgbc.ca_ 3qlopl6inmm2enpm2ii15b7ih8%40group.calendar.google. com&ctz=America/Toronto
Sunday Morning Worship Gatherings: September 11th, 18, 25 - We will be having regular worship gatherings for youth in grades 6-12, after the gathering in the main sanctuary. Children and youth will continue their programs and worship gathering in their classrooms following the children’s blessing.
Youth Events: September 10th - Jr High BBQ: We will be having a BBQ for all the new and previous Jr High Youth (Grade 6-8) at Sam’s house. For address and details please email Jeremy (Jeremy.Ranasinghe@Springgardenchurch.ca) September 23rd- In House Youth Event: We want to start off our youth ministry year with a fun low key event on the 23rd in the church building. Cost: $5 (includes food) Time: 6:00pm-9:00pm
Fall Ministry Launch + BBQ- September 11th: We will be having our fall ministries launch with a BBQ as we start another new ministry year. There will be food, games and hanging out to get to know what our Discipleship Ministry has to offer. For more information please email Sam (samlee@springgardenchurch.ca) or Jeremy (Jeremy.Ranasinghe@Springgardenchurch.ca)
Staying Updated: To stay up to date on what is happening for your youth, please 16
Fall Youth Retreat: October 21st-23rd Last year SGC youth had our first fall youth retreat. We had an amazing time together building and taking part in community with one another. This year’s youth retreat will happen from October 21st-23rd. We ask that you encourage your youth to take part in this sleepover event as it helps to build solid relationships between all the youth and leaders. More details are to come, but if you are interested please contact Sam (samlee@springgardenchurch.ca) or Jeremy (Jeremy.Ranasinghe@ Springgardenchurch.ca)
SGC Kids Discipleship Ministry Teachers and Volunteers Orientation: All teachers and volunteers serving with the Discipleship Ministries in the new school year are required to attend an orientation session. You can pick ONE of the following sessions to attend: Sunday September 4th @ 9:00am Sunday September 4th @ 12:00pm Sunday September 11th @ 9:00am Pastries and Coffee will be provided for morning sessions, and lunch will be provided for the afternoon. For more information or details please contact Sam Lee (samlee@springgardenchurch.ca)
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Spring Kids Sunday Program: We will start our regular Sunday programs September 11th. Before bringing them into their age specific classes, children must be checked in electronically at our check in stations (2 upstairs at the Discipleship Ministry booth, and one downstairs near the youth lounge). Name stickers will be printed upon checking in. Parents will also be given a sticker with a code corresponding to their child’s name sticker. This must be presented to one of the teachers upon pick up. Name stickers also contain medical information such as allergies. If there is something that needs to be added to that please let us know and we will update it in our system. To register your child(ren) with us, please fill out our online form. Signing of forms will be done the following Sunday. https://docs.google.com/a/sgbc.ca/forms/d/1k4Z6DojCjBILv_e_ lfacNcG0_-UTxP1yjW9W059Gajs/edit
Faithful Fathers, Determined Daughters Workshop
You are the first significant man in your daughter’s life. How will you take that relaonship deeper? When: Saturday, October 22nd | 9:00 AM—12:00 PM Where: Tyndale campus | 3377 Bayview Avenue Admission: $45 per person Parking: $3 Speakers: Brian Russell, Provincial Coordinator, Dad Central Ontario, and his daughter, Jenna (BA Communicaons)
Learn More and Register: tyndale.ca/events/faithful-fathers-determined-daughters Quesons? Contact Amy Francis (afrancis@tyndale.ca)
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Tyndale Family Life Centre 3377 Bayview Avenue, Toronto
ESL Café Resurrection? About 8 years ago, a couple of Spring Garden members began a ministry they called The ESL Café. During the school year, on Tuesday evenings from 7:00 to 8:30 they provided an opportunity for students who wanted to improve their English skills to practice speaking, listening, and reading aloud in English. There was some grammar instruction, but the main focus was on conversation. Within a year, with minimal advertising, 10 to 15 students were typically coming, and there was a need for more facilitators. At this point I was invited to join, although I had no ESL training, so I decided to check it out, and ended up staying for over 6 years. I quickly found it very rewarding to see students growing in their confidence and facility in English. Most of the students were recent immigrants, primarily from mainland China, South Korea, and Iran, but from numerous other countries as well. They were eager to improve their English skills and to integrate more fully into Canadian society. Typically they were well educated, and in many cases had worked as doctors, nurses, teachers, accountants, etc. in their home countries. However, many were finding that their limited level of English skills was holding them back from employment and other opportunities in Canada. As a result, they appreciated the help that the ESL Café provided, and were quick to express their gratitude. Many of them particularly valued the social interaction with others outside their own ethnic group. Over the years the ESL Café had a number of different facilitators, but unfortunately over time most were unable to continue for one reason or another, so by 2015 I was the only one left. This created 19
two problems. First, it meant that if I was unable to be there on a given Tuesday evening, the ESL Café had to be cancelled. Perhaps more importantly, it meant that if there was a wide range of English facility among the students, the group couldn’t be split into two smaller groups to more effectively meet the needs of all. So reluctantly, at the end of December 2015, the decision was made to end the ESL Café, for the time being. Since then, the church office regularly receives inquiries about the ESL Café, so obviously the need for this ministry still exists. I would love to see the ESL Café resurrected, but that would require 2 or 3 people who would make a commitment to serve as facilitators on a regular basis, not necessarily every week, but most weeks. (The students need a fair amount of consistency to become comfortable and to develop relationships with the facilitators.) These facilitators don’t necessarily need a background in ESL, although that would be a help. Anyone who is a native English speaker could fill this role. The obvious question is: Are there 2 or 3 people in the Spring Garden Church community who would be willing to rise to this challenge? I sincerely hope that there are, and I am praying that the Holy Spirit will nudge those people to come forward. Will you join me in this prayer? And will you also pray that God would show you whether or not you are part of the answer to this prayer? The ESL Café is a practical way to show God’s love and care for others, so it’s a great way for us to express our values as a faith community. If you are interested in exploring this ministry, or would like to know more about it, please talk to me. Or you can contact Suzanna in the church office. Garth Barron
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Spring Garden Baptist Church Monthly Financial Update For: July 31st, 2016
/Week 2016 Budget
$530,000
Year To Date
Actual
$10,192 Budget
For 7 Months - July 31st, 2016 Donations & Other Income $245,706 $309,169 Expenses (321,051) (309,169) Cash Shortfall to Budget (75,345) Note: • We will need increased donations to meet our obligations • Donations to July 31st in 2015 were $252,097. We had expenses of $307,483 to July 31st, 2015. The main difference this year is roof repairs expense. 21
Leadership at Spring Garden
Elders
Pastoral Team Gene Tempelmeyer, Pastor Ext. 222 genetemp@springgardenchurch.ca Greg Kay, Worship and Mission Pastor Ext. 224 gregkay@springgardenchurch.ca Margaret Sutton, Pastoral Care/Seniors Ext. 226 margaretsutton@springgardenchurch.ca Sam Lee, Pastor of Discipleship, Ext. 227 samlee@springgardenchurch.ca Suzanna Lai, Church Office and Communications Manager Ext. 221 suzanna@springgardenchurch.ca Jeremy Ranasinghe, Discpleship Ministries Assistant jeremy.ranasinghe@springgardenchurch.ca
Deacons Marion Cameron marion.cameron@sympatico.ca Adora Chui adora.chui@sgbc.ca Lesley Daniels lesley.daniels@sgbc.ca Mary Ellen Hopkins (Interim Chair) mehopkins@sympatico.ca Gonzalo Librado gonzalo.librado@sgbc.ca Peggy Moore peggylouisemoore@gmail.com Esther Penner esther.penner@sgbc.ca Doug Wilson doug.willson191@gmail.com 22
416.491.8542 905.962.3897 416.806.5373 905.731.0492 416.229.2695 416.225.2406 416.227.1840 416.221.0450
Darlene Boyd darlene.boyd@gmail.com Cindie Chaise cindie.chaise@sgbc.ca Cheryl Chapman cheryl.chapman@live.ca Joanna James jo.april.james@gmail.com Barrie Porter barriep91@gmail.com Corinne Sutton-Smith blestfoods@aol.com
416.385.2483 647.345.2476 416.222.6963 647.928.0862 416.829.4210 647.704.7710
Spring Garden Church 112 Spring Garden Ave. Toronto ON M2N3G3
T 416.223.4593 F 416.223.6126 www.springgardenchurch.ca office@springgardenchurch.ca
Prayer Line 416.223.4038
Community Corner
Life around Spring Garden
Personal Care Item Donations for Neighborlink North York in September We will be collecting personal care item for Neighborlink North York in the month of September. Personal items are anything you might store in your bathroom. Collection boxes are available at the parking lot entrance.
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Neighborlink North York collaborates with churches in the Willowdale area to provide practical support such as transportation, shopping, visitation, household repairs, yard work, moving, information and referrals and much more to North York residents in need. For more info, please visit http://neighbourlink.org/index.html
Communal Worship Serving Needs Every Sunday when we gather together our communal worship is lead and facilitated by people in the community--that’s YOU! We have two major needs right now that we’d like you to prayerfully consider. 1) Sound Techs and Projectionists: in order for everyone to be able to engage together in worship we need people with technical and listening skills to run sound and control what goes on the screen. Training will be provided for anyone interested. 2) Greeters: We as Spring Garden greatly value being a welcoming people, and those who serve by greeting people at the doors, helping where help is needed, are our primary means of welcome, particularly for those who are visitors. If you have a heart for making people feel welcomed, this is a great and simple way to serve the visitor and the church body as a whole. If you are interested or have any questions, please contact Greg Kay gregkay@springgardenchurch.ca (416)223-4593 ext 224
Sunday Refreshment Help Needed We continue to need help of volunteers to prepare and serve Sunday Refreshments for the rest of the year and into 2017. This important ministry allows us to have meaningful fellowship after worship and get to know new friends. The 24
church will reimburse the cost of food you prepare or purchase. We can use the help of a team of people or individuals to join existing refreshment teams to assist with set up and cleanup. Rotation can be once a month, once every two months or only in months with a 5th Sunday. If you think you can lend us a hand and serve with other lovely Spring Gardeners, please contact Suzanna Lai (suzanna@ springgardenchurch.ca, 416-223-4593 x 221). She will be happy to give you more details, provide a training, and work with you to find a suitable team or rotation. Thank you.
Ride for Refuge Oct 1st Ride for Refuge is a family-friendly bicycling or walking fundraiser in support of 250+ charities serving displaced, vulnerable, and exploited people! It’s happening on Oct 1st this year at various locations across Canada, including Markham and Downtown Toronto. The Dale, one of the mission organizations that SGC support, is a charity partner participating in this event. For more details and to register, please visit https://canada.rideforrefuge.org/home
2016 Fall Ministry Launch + BBQ We are having our fall ministry launch on Sunday September 11. We will be commissioning and blessing all pastoral staff, ministry leaders, elders, deacons, volunteers, and teachers in discipleship ministries. Please be sure to join us for the blessing and BBQ after worship! On Sunday September 18, we will commission all Spring Gardeners into their places of vocation.
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EVERY STEP MAKES A DIFFERENCE
What’s Happening
Life in Spring Garden
Weekly Tuesdays 2:00 pm - Pastoral Team Meeting in Meeting Room Wednesdays 10:00 - 11:30am - Refresh Women’s Group in West Lounge (childcare provided): Starting Sept 14 7:00 - 9:00pm - Groove Dance Group in Basement Multipurpose Room
Join us on October 16, 2016, for the Scotiabank Charity Challenge! You can walk or run to raise funds that will make a lasting difference in the lives of refugees arriving in our city. Matthew House Toronto
Don’t do it alone! Make your own team and tell others about this important event.
Matthew_House
For more info on registering email run@matthewhouse.ca and visit www.matthewhouse.ca.
If you would like to receive a weekly email update on what’s happening in Spring Garden, please visit the SGC website (www.springgardenchurch.ca) and add your email at the bottom of our home page to subscribe to our weekly update
Matthew House Toronto is a community that supports refugee claimants. We provide settlement support, short and long-term housing, and bridges into the community.
This Month
Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon Charity Challenge for Matthew House Oct 16 To register to join the Matthew House Team, please go to Matthew House website: www.matthewhouse.ca 26
Thursdays 12:00pm - 2:00pm - Adult Bible Class in the East Lounge: Starting Thursday Sept 15 Sundays 9:00am - 10:00am - Morning Bible Study in Meeting Room: Starting Sept 11 9:00am - 10:am - ESL Bible Study in Basement Hallway: Starting Sept 4 10:00am - 11:30am - Sunday Morning Worship (communion on the first Sunday of the month)
September 4 & 11 - Discipleship Ministry Volunteer Training Sessions (pg.17) September 11 - Fall Ministry Launch/Commissioning of leaders and BBQ September 18 - Commissioning of congregants September 24 - Pastoral Team, deacons, and elders meeting September 25 & Oct 2 - Prayer Room Ministry Training (pg. 15) September 1 to 30 - Personal care item donation for Neighborlink 27 North York (pg. 23)
Our Values We believe in a humble God who came not to be served, but to serve. Therefore we engage in sacrificial and active service to those around us. We strive to be good stewards of God’s gifts and talents by serving one another in humility. We aspire to regard others as higher than ourselves, which liberates us to creatively take risks in serving others for God’s glory. We believe in a God of grace who came to save the world, not to condemn it. Therefore, as we are continuously receiving the gift of God’s grace, we seek to grow in that grace and extend it to others. We strive to define ourselves by what we are for, not what we are against. We believe in a God who knows us, and who desires to be known. Therefore we embrace a journey of faith that requires us to constantly strive for a personal, intimate and transformative knowledge of God. We strive to be led by God’s Spirit in supporting and encouraging one another in working out our faith. We believe in a creative God. Therefore we are open to expressing our faith in new and creative ways that reflect the beauty and complexity of our creator. We are called to use our creative gifts in worship and service as we engage with our world. We take joy in the diversity of gifts that allow us to delight God and participate in His ongoing story. We believe in a triune, relational God who calls us to come together as a diverse community of believers. Therefore, we want to walk together, supporting one another physically, emotionally and spiritually. We strive to be a welcoming, inclusive family that goes through the joys and the trials of life together, acknowledging that God uses this community to deepen and mature our faith. We believe in a God who loves this broken world and wants to reconcile us to Himself. Therefore we are commissioned by Christ to go out into the world, meeting the holistic needs of the local and global community. God calls us to participate in a redemptive work that he has already initiated; in humility, we will partner with others to work alongside and chase after Him. We believe in a God who is our center. Therefore where we are on the journey is less important than that we are moving towards a deeper relationship with Christ. We believe and participate in God’s redemptive work in all people, which gives us the freedom to come as we are, and to accept others as they are. We each are on a unique journey to become who God has created us to be. 28