SGC 2019 Annual Report

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Spring Garden Church

ANNUAL REPORT June 2019

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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.

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index Leadership Reports

Pastoral Reports Greg Kay 4 Sam Lee 6 Jeremy Ranasinghe 8 Lily Cheng 10 Deacons 12 Elders 14 Interim Management Committee 16

Loving God / Loving Others Communal Worship 5 Children and Youth Discipleship 8 Wednesday Refresh 17 Lunch Together & Bible Discussion 18 Sunday Morning Bible Study Group 19

Showing God’s Care / Sharing God’s Story

Christmas Care Packages 20 ESL Café 21 Spring Garden Initiative Team & Special Project 22 Lasagna Making for Single Moms 10 Easter Brunch & Egg Hunt 11 Single Moms Mother’s Day 11 Hallowe’en 22 Food Bank 22 The Drop Inn 22 Garden Team 22 Fight4Freedom 23

Vocational Missionaries 24

Stewardship / Admin Reports Church Clerk 32 Property Committee 33 FINANCE 34 IT/AV Committee 36 Resource Centre 37 Nominating Committee 38

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leadership

Pastoral Reports Greg Kay

Co-Lead Pastor

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’” Matthew 28:5-7 “He is going ahead of you into Galilee”. On the third day after Jesus’ death, this is the message that the angel of the Lord tells the women who have found the empty tomb. Over the past year God has used this verse to give me strength and hope. Though it is telling a narrative of an event that happened over 2000 years ago, I believe it also paints a picture of something that is true for us today—Jesus is going ahead of us and will meet us there, wherever ‘there’ is. Whether we’re going to a doctor’s appointment with uncertain results, Jesus is going ahead of you into the doctor’s office; going into a stressful meeting at work, Jesus is going ahead of you into the office.

Going into a season of transition, change and unknowns as a church, Jesus is going ahead of us.

This year has been a year of significant transition and change for us as a church family, and for us as pastors, staff, and our families (see Sam Lee’s report for more details in this regard). We’ve had a lot of ups and downs, unknowns and questions, celebrations and losses. And while it hasn’t always been easy, it has been really amazing to see firsthand some of the ways that God has been moving and leading; the ways he has not only gone ahead of us into this season, but the ways he has met us in the midst of it. Something that is consistently beautiful to experience are the times when the Leadership team of Elders, Deacons and Pastors get together to prayerfully discern the will of Christ, and to watch a room filled with different opinions and concerns come back from listening to God with a sense of peace, unity and hope.

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Communal Worship

For me personally a significant part of this transition time of course has been the change in my responsibilities, moving from responsibility over worship and mission to now being a co-lead pastor with Sam Lee during the interim, and handing over the mission portion of my work to Lily Cheng while still overseeing our worship gatherings.

As always, one of the greatest joys I have with our worship gatherings is seeing how so many Spring Gardeners are involved in leading and facilitating our times of worship and the way that God is using so many different people and gifts to glorify himself in our community. This past year we’ve had a team of three leaders—Colin Chapman, Anne Barron, and Jeremy Ranasinghe—planning and leading worship who consistently are able to weave music, prayers and scriptures in a way that helps draw us in and send us out in the Spirit to the glory of God. Working with the Creative Team—Erin Chapman, Sam Lee, Shannon Loewen (who recently stepped down), and our newest member Clem Lee—has also been a significant source of joy for me as they have given image and physicality to abstract themes of faith and life, drawing us into worship, and creating space and tools to meet with God in worship and through stations.

I’m also thankful for being able to work with the large group of gifted musicians who invest their time and musicality, serving God and the church, along with Prayers of the People leaders who lead us in interceding on behalf of the world, Jane McClean who schedules scripture readers and the readers who speak God’s scriptures over us every week, sound technicians and projectionists who humbly serve behind the scenes to enable us to worship together, Mike Lee and Maria Ma who prepare and clean up communion every month, Cheryl Chapman who makes our gluten-dairy-and-egg-free communion bread so that no one is excluded from receiving, and ushers who facilitate our ability to worship through giving. And this list doesn’t even mention all who serve to make Spring Garden a welcoming place on Sunday mornings through greeting, food preparation, serving and cleaning, etc.!

This is a beautiful piece that I’ll always value about Spring Garden, the way that worship is not simply a few professionals producing an event on a Sunday morning, but a group of Christ followers coming together, offering their time and their gifts, to glorify God together.

I am thankful for the opportunity that I have had to serve in and with this community of faith, and I look forward to what lies ahead, trusting that Jesus has already gone ahead to prepare the way.

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Sam Lee

Co-Lead Pastor

Change can be hard for many of us especially when things are going well. This has been true for us this year with the retirement of our two beloved pastors, Margaret Sutton and Gene Tempelmeyer. It has been my privilege to be a part of a team that included these two amazing people and I am thankful for their friendship and faithful service to God and to Spring Garden. After a little time away, Margaret has decided to be part of the congregation as a member.

This is one healthy sign that Spring Garden is a community that it’s pastors would want to be a part of even if they don’t work there anymore.

In reflecting on this past year, I am grateful to all those who were involved in our Discipleship Ministries. Each of you who served made this year possible.

Our ministry believes that it is in working together that we can build into our children and youth to a life long relationship with Jesus Christ. We know that this does not happen just through good programs but through all of you and your investment into the lives of our young people. Therefore, the first highlight I want to celebrate is our 40+ volunteers who have given of themselves to our young people. We truly believe that it is through your relationship with Christ and our young people that real community and discipleship happens. I can’t name all of you because there are so many of you but each of you bring your unique gifts and life story to our young people and for that I am grateful.

One of the main ways we want to serve our young people is by partnering with families. We believe that this partnership between the church and home is the most effective way of discipleship. Many of our parents serve in our Discipleship Ministries and make up a big chunk of our volunteer base. This is a sign that we do not drop off our children for others to disciple but that we are part of their growth in their relationship with Jesus. Intergenerational worship is another way in which we provide an opportunity for families to engage their children in discipleship. Studies show that intergenerational model of ministry is a key factor in helping young people in their discipleship. This year, we had three intergenerational worship gatherings. We want to continue to provide opportunities of partnership between the church and home where parents feel supported and equipped in their parenting.

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Some of the other highlights of this year are our summer day camp, our camping trip and youth group. Our summer day camps were filled to capacity this year.

The camp was a great way to build into the lives of our children and youth.

The children heard different stories from Christian adults and their “God stories.”

Some of our youth were hired as staff and other youth volunteered their time in making sure the camp ran well. Jeremy and Kaitlyn both did an amazing job of running the camp and for the relationships that were built through it. Our second annual camping trip was a great way to build relationships and to enjoy God’s creation together. Lastly, our youth group continues to be a place where our young people can learn about God and be in community. Please refer to Jeremy’s report for more details.

When reflecting back on this year and thinking through how we would all write our reports and organize it, it became clear that there were a lot of crossovers in terms of who would write on what. While sorting through who would report on what, it dawned on us that this “problem” was a good problem. It was an indicator that our ministries were not siloed but were a shared effort. Therefore, each ministry did not “belong” to one person but is shared by many. It is good problem to highlight that we are in this together.

I am thankful for Jeremy Ranasinghe who works with me to make sure everything in our ministry runs smoothly. He has been great in this time of transition in taking over the responsibilities of our Youth Ministry. He has many gifts and abilities that make him a great fit for this ministry. In this time of transition, Jeremy’s title has changed to Pastor of Children & Youth. Please continue to pray and support him as he takes on this new role. Our intern, Sarah Lander was a pleasure to work with for the past two years and we pray that she is having a great time this summer back in Newfoundland.

Change and transition can be hard. Yet through times of change and transition, we can take the time to listen to God. I am grateful that our leadership and our community has been intentional during this time to discern the will of God. It has been a great privilege for me to share the co-lead role with Greg Kay and have enjoyed working together in this new season. We are both thankful for the support that we have felt during this time of transition and the trust that the church has placed on us. I am also thankful for Dale Forder and Lily Cheng and for their contribution to the team and our ministry. Looking ahead, I continue to trust in God who has gone before us in leading us and who will continue to go ahead us guiding and directing us. May we as a community, continue to walk with Him as He leads. May we as community, continue to discern the will of God together in love.

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Jeremy Ranasinghe Children & Youth Pastor Youth Ministry

This year has been significant for a few reasons. The most obvious one is Gene’s retirement and the implementation of our Co-Lead model. With this transition, I’ve been given the opportunity to take on more responsibility, which meant a change in role from the Discipleship assistant to the Pastor of Children and Youth. I’m happy to say that the transition has been quite smooth. Though it was sad for us to have Sam move into a new role in our community, the youth continue to grow and are learning what it means to be followers of Jesus.

Our youth ministry is comprised of many moving parts. All of it is done to build into the lives of our youth both individually and communally. We have fun events to build and nurture healthy relationships with everyone involved (both leaders and youth). Our Life Groups help to foster the reality of us doing life together, while our serving events reveal the need for God’s love in a world that is in desperate need of it. When it comes to teaching, we incorporate elements of it into all aspects of the ministry, though it is more casual and in conversation.

However, there is more intentional teaching done on Sundays during our times of worship in the youth lounge.

It’s always tempting to find success in the growth we’ve had in numbers, but I don’t believe that alone defines what made this year special. What does mark this year are the series of fruitful events, which speak into the past years of our ministry. For instance, this year, I had the privilege of baptizing Lily Sider as she committed her life to following Jesus. As a youth group, we were able to celebrate this occasion with Lily. It also brought up the topic of baptism for other youth to think about as their own faith matures and develops.

One of the significant events this year was our bake sale. In partnering with Kaitlyn and her work with survivors of human trafficking, our group was able to raise close to $1000 for Fight4Freedom’s general fund. This enables their team to support and help women and men coming out of the sex trade establish healthier lifestyles and patterns. What was amazing for me to witness was the youth taking the lead on baking. Not being much of a baker myself, I was in awe watching the youth work together in creating baked goods to serve people God’s called us to love. I love this story because it speaks volumes to the potential youth have in not only making a difference but also being God’s hands and feet.

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Our Sr. High winter retreat is something that I remember fondly. Our speaker over the weekend focused on what it meant to be a follower of Jesus. In our small groups, we discussed this further and what was said by our boys was, they were willing to follow Jesus, but they don’t know how. This started us on a journey which we continued in our life groups. Our new focus is to find out “what does it mean/look like to be a follower of Jesus?” While we have not answered that question yet, we are well on our way.

Children’s Ministry

Our children’s ministry this year has been restructured to aid in the further discipling of our Children. We merged our toddlers and Pre-K group to a 2&3-Year-old group, as well, we have created space to make 3 groups for kids between grades 1-5 (1&2, 3, 4&5).

What makes our children’s ministry great are our volunteers. We have a wonderful group of people who are devoted to loving and discipling our children, so they know God’s love for them. Without fail, each week, I get to witness joy and happiness in a large number of children for being in a place that they are valued and cared for. We believe that teaching and information are important, but our focus is on the spiritual formation of the children. Our desire is in 20 years from now, (when our children are no longer children) that they can reflect and look back at their time with us, and remember the love their leaders had for them.

This year I witnessed our volunteers create beautiful memories with our children while also embodying God’s love for them in every interaction.

I am very grateful to God for this church and the ministry that I am part of. It has been a great year and I look forward to more great things in our community as we continue to serve God and His people.

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Lily Cheng

Community & Missions Pastor

It’s hard for me to believe I have only been here a little over 3 months.

I am grateful for the warm welcome my family and I have received. My kids feel very much at home whenever they are at Spring Garden. I am also grateful for the trust and support I have received to pilot some new initiatives. Here are some of the things that have happened these past 3 months:

Lasagna Making for Single Moms

Lasagna making as a way of showing God’s care has become a tradition at Spring Garden. For the past 2 years lasagnas went to ex-offenders, however, the person who bridged to that ministry had departed. It was then decided the lasagnas would be given out to single moms at our Single Moms Mother’s Day Banquet as a gift they could bring home and cook for their kids along with brownies. The generosity and initiative of our congregation was amazing as people donated all the ingredients that were needed. The lasagna making was a lot of fun with little kids helping to decorate the brownies and we had a good mix of people who are newer to our community and those who have been with us a long time.

Community Easter Brunch & Egg Hunt

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This year we opened up our Easter Brunch and Egg Hunt to invite families from the North York Moms community. It was the first time we had to prepare a brunch for over 200 people. Thankfully we had a dedicated core team including Opal Fuller, Esther Penner, Martin Dewar and Lyndzie Critch. The team laboured sacrificially all weekend to prepare, serve and clean up after the brunch. We are also grateful for Victoria and Cliff Shipmaker who arrived extra early to help out.

Due to our desire to reduce waste, we did not use disposable tableware which added considerable time to our volunteer team.

Our guests were appreciative of the brunch, one of whom mentioned it was their first time to enter a church. People loved the creative centerpieces that were designed and made by Carrie Wright. We also received compliments on how well organized the Easter egg hunt went. We must thank Monica Kay and Kate Moore for this as they helped to ensure there was order in the chaos. We are also grateful for the suggestion to release the kids by age to go and find eggs.

It was a beautiful sight to see dozens of children climbing and crawling amidst our pews to find treats.

Single Moms Mother’s Day

One of the words that God has given me for this season at Spring Garden is the word “conduit.” This word really describes what happened at our Single Moms Mother’s Day Banquet. We were able to raise $2000 from our surrounding community as well as gift donations that allowed us to spoil 36 single moms with a break from their kids (thank you childcare volunteers), spa services (including manicures, make-up touch ups, massage and henna), a “shopping” area with free gifts for all our guests, professional photo, a banquet dinner and a magic show with their kids. One mom said the brownies and lasagna we gave them on their way out was the icing on the icing on the cake!

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The Deacon’s Board Report from Lesley Daniels

The Board of Deacons is elected by Members of the Spring Garden congregation to oversee “the administrative and temporal affairs of the Church”.

We meet on the second Tuesday of each month to discuss various matters of church business related to the annual operating budget, the church property, staffing and personnel issues, church ministries and missions, and membership.

This year, the Board of Deacons was made up of: Sam Chaise (Finance), Adora Chui (Vice Chair and Membership), Lesley Daniels (Chair), Martin Dewar (Community Life – social events), Joanne Laing (Mission and Worship), Shannon Loewen (Discipleship), Peggy Moore (Property), Esther Penner (Secretary and Community Life – coffee hour), and Doug Willson (Adult Ministries).

This year, in addition to matters pertaining to the everyday operations of the church, the Deacons spent much of our time focused on overseeing the church’s transition through Gene Tempelmeyer’s retirement. In early Fall, we received a report from the ‘Navigation Team’ (made up of Deacons, Elders, and congregants) that had been tasked with assessing the needs of our church and community, discerning God’s call on the church for our next season, and considering various approaches to structure and staffing to live out this call. The church leaders met soon after receiving the Navigation Team’s report and, after a time of discernment, agreed to establish a 3-person Transition Committee responsible for filling the role(s) of transition pastor(s) until August 2019 or until a permanent pastoral hiring was complete.

After several months of prayerful discernment, this Committee presented a proposal to the church leadership in late November that would see Greg Kay and Sam Lee move into a position of shared leadership for the interim period, with each having responsibility for other areas of ministry within the church.

Believing that this was God’s direction for Spring Garden in the interim (and, we hoped, for the longer term), the leadership then worked to develop an ‘Interim Staffing Configuration’ model that will be in place through October 2019. At least until then, an ‘Interim Management Committee’ (comprised of an Elder, three Deacons, and our co-lead pastors) is responsible for assisting with the church’s management through the transition period and evaluating the co-leadership model in terms of its long-term potential. The IMC has been in regular communication with leadership and with the congregation and will be recommending next steps

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at the end of September 2019. While we feel the loss of Gene’s leadership and the unique gifts he shared with Spring Garden, we have been excited by God’s leading over the past year and by the strong sense of unity and peace he has brought to the leadership team.

As a Board, we have also continued to look at matters related to budget (including consideration of special projects or expenses outside of our approved annual budget), existing and proposed ministries, our role in local and global mission initiatives, maintenance of and upgrades to our property, and staffing and personnel matters. Regarding the latter, we approved the hiring of Dale Forder as Church Office and Communications Administrator last November and Lily Cheng as (Interim) Community and Missions Pastor; we also approved an increase in Jeremy Ranasinghe’s hours, and offered our support of his upcoming ordination. As I wrote last year, I’m sure I speak for all Deacons when I say that it has been a very full and rewarding year for us as a Board. It is a joy to serve alongside one another and to care for the church in this way.

In closing, I’d like to thank the Deacons who, along with me, will be finishing their 3-year terms this June: Adora Chui, Esther Penner, and Doug Willson. (Thanks also to Peggy Moore who has agreed to extend her term by one year in order to provide some continuity to the Board through the interim period.) Thank you for your faithful service, for your thoughtful contributions, and for your prayerful presence on the Board. It has been a privilege to serve alongside you.

Please continue to pray for the Deacons as they move forward together in managing the church resources. May God grant them discernment, wisdom, unity, and joy as they serve.

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Elders

Report from Garth Barron As Elders at Spring Garden Church, we are entrusted to pray for the church, offer spiritual advice, and provide support and accountability to the Lead Pastor(s) and to others in the church body, while living as disciples of Christ. We feel honoured to serve the congregation and our Pastoral Team in this way.

Prayer is at the heart of what we do. The Elders organize the prayer team in the Prayer Room each Sunday after the worship service. The prayer team consists of Elders and other experienced members of the congregation, and they are available at that time to pray for anyone who would like prayer. The Elders are also privileged to pray for people during the week, by request. If you would like prayer about something, please go to the Prayer Room after worship, or talk with one of the Elders during the coffee time, or contact one of us. Our contact information can be found in Delve.

We provide support and accountability to meeting, about once a month. We also are member in the intervening weeks to pray them. We thank God for each of them and community.

the Lead Pastor(s) in our Elders’ in contact with each Pastoral Team for their needs and to encourage the many ways they bless our faith

Over the past year much of our focus has been on the pastoral transition resulting from Gene Tempelmeyer’s retirement. We are grateful for Gene’s desire and concern to make this transition as smooth and painless as possible for the congregation. To that end we have worked with the Deacons and Pastoral Team to discern the way forward. We’ve seen how the Lord has led us to an interim model that we hope will be viable on a long-term basis. We continue to seek further discernment regarding this.

We are grateful to God for everyone at Spring Garden and use our meetings to pray and to discern how God is moving in our congregation and where we as a church might more closely align with the Spirit.

We give thanks to God for his faithfulness, his protection, and his guidance. May his Spirit continue to guide us, to protect us, and to enable us to receive his wisdom and his grace.

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Interim Management Committee

Report from Sam Chaise

The Interim Management Committee (IMC) is a temporary (December 15, 2018 to Fall 2019) subcommittee of the Deacon’s Board, which was established to guide SGC during the “interim” period, i.e. the time between the retirement of Gene Tempelmeyer and the establishment of a new, permanent pastoral team. After Gene announced his retirement, the SGC leadership went into a period of conversation and prayer to discern how to move forward. What emerged was a desire to experiment with a “Co-Lead Pastor” model, where the responsibilities of the Lead Pastor are shared by two people, Greg Kay and Sam Lee. Because this is a new staff structure, and the roles are new for Sam and Greg, it seemed wise to establish this on a temporary basis, but with a sense of hopeful anticipation that God may be leading us in this direction on a permanent basis.

Specific tasks that the IMC has undertaken include: • Assist with further definition of staff roles and responsibilities • Assist with the hiring of Temporary Pastoral Staff • Establish the 2019 budget for interim staffing and management • Communications and updates to Spring Garden on the transition • Act as a sounding board to Greg Kay and Sam Lee • Ensure that the experiences of, and feedback from the Spring Garden congregation is monitored and considered. To do this we have established a set of criteria to monitor the health of Spring Garden’s mission. We did a “Baseline Survey” in April that will be repeated in the Fall, and we held a “Feedback Café” in May, both of which were designed to seek feedback.

We anticipate that in the Fall we will assess the strengths and weakness of this model, and recommend next steps to the SGC leadership and to the congregation.

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Loving God & Loving Others Wednesday Refresh Report by Tania Salituro

Last fall 2018, we uncovered blessings in the Book of Mark. In Nov./Dec, Pastor Gene taught us about 6 inspirational women of the Bible. Thank-you Pastor, and Blessed Retirement! 2019 began with Faith Holwyn sharing some “Groups of Hope” sessions. Next, we followed a 6 week Bible study on self-control! We’ve also been blessed by special speakers, including, Kaitlyn of “Fight for Freedom”, Kimberley of “Empowered Living Inc.” and Beverly who shared her testimony.

We are ending this season with readings from the Passion and Susan leading us in an ‘Andy Stanley’ study on Wisdom. We enjoy sharing food from the many cultures represented in our group and find our celebratory potlucks a fun, relaxed way for fellowship.

What is it? “It provides a safe space for learning about the Bible, and how it applies to our everyday lives, in a caring environment. The group is always evolving, often with persons new to Christianity, or new to (or temporarily in) Canada. Its been gratifying to see our numbers steadily growing in the last few years with new faces and returnees. “Wednesday Refresh,” formerly “Wednesday Women” has been running about 40 years and its purpose has remained the same – to support and grow one another in the name of Christ.

When? Please join us on Wednesdays at 10:15 to 11:30 am in the upstairs lounge. *Refresh” runs Wednesdays from mid Sept to mid June (with the occasional special summer event). *Join our distribution list by emailing Beverly Holtzman email: holtzb@rogers.com . And if you cannot join, please pass this on to whom you feel would benefit from fellowship on a Wednesday morning. Word of mouth is our most successful advertisement.

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Lunch Together & Bible Discussion(aka The Thursday Bunch) Report by Victoria Shipmaker

This has been a year of change! We started our year with Pastor Margaret Sutton as our leader and enjoyed the last Garden Party she would host in July.

Margaret continued to lead us until October when it was time to celebrate her retirement. It was definitely the end of an era for us and we transitioned by having Pastor Gene lead us in a Bible series on women of the Bible. In January Victoria Shipmaker became our facilitator and we began a series on Prayer, followed by Proverbs then the death and resurrection through the eyes of Judas, Peter and Thomas. As part of our transition we have decided to change the “marketing” of The Thursday Bunch to make it more accessible for those in the community. Our first hour has been a time of eating lunch and discussing what is going on in our lives...there is always lots of laughter. This is a great opportunity for those living or working near the church to join us to make some friends and/ or practice their English.

We have called this Lunch Together as the main idea is eating and chatting. The second hour is centred on Bible discussion.

With a bit of groundwork in the context of the passage and some tools used to discern what the author wanted to express we share our perspectives and how the Word applies to us as individuals and as a church. We don’t always agree and we don’t always have answers! One new change is that we will continue to meet throughout the summer and we are starting with a review of the book of Ephesians and plan to study Henri Nouwen’s book The Life of the Beloved.

Please keep us in mind if you meet people who are looking for a place to connect and/or read the Bible together. All are welcome to drop in for the full two hours or for whichever part appeals to them. Thank-you to Margaret for all she has done in teaching and caring for us!

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Sunday Morning Bible Study Group Report from Garth Barron

Your word is a light to my feet and a lamp on my path – Psalm 119:105 Now in its eleventh year, the Sunday Morning Bible Study Group is a small but dedicated group of people who meet at 9 AM each Sunday. The group is always open to anyone who would like to join us.

Since last September we’ve been reading through the Gospel of Matthew. (We also took a brief look at what the Bible says about angels!)

Our goal is to understand what scripture would have meant to its original readers, and then think about how it applies to us today. We also want to see each passage in its wider context, and to get the big picture of the Bible’s story.

To this end we do a verse by verse study of a biblical book. Participants are encouraged to feel very free to share different views, thoughts and opinions and to respect other perspectives. We want not just to know the scriptures, but to help each other to live by them.

When we are close to finishing a particular book, we normally decide as a group which book(s) will be our next project. We don’t meet during July and August, but would be happy to have others join us for a new start in September!

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Showing God’s Care & Sharing God’s Story

Christmas Care Packages Report from Kaitlyn Ranasinghe

This year at Christmas, Spring partnered with Fight4Freedom to provide Christmas gifts for survivors of sex trafficking. Together we collected 21 gift bags which were shared with survivors from London to Ottawa. It was so amazing to see how something as simple as a Christmas gift made the holidays for the women that we work with. One of our staff even said, “She loved her gifts. She was almost like a little girl on Christmas morning opening them.” Thank you for bringing God’s love and care to survivors of human trafficking this Christmas.

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ESL Café

Garth Barron, Facilitator The ESL Café exists to give newcomers to Canada an opportunity to practice speaking English and engaging in conversation with others. On Wednesday evenings from 7:00 to 8:30 students gather in the east lounge to practice and improve their English, and to make new friends. The time is spent in discussions on a wide variety of topics, in reading exercises, as well as occasional grammar instruction.

Our numbers vary considerably, with from 2 to 8 students coming out on a given week, depending especially on the weather. If you know someone who might benefit from an opportunity to practice their English speaking and listening skills, please let them know about the ESL Café.

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Spring Garden Initiative Team & Special Project Report from Victoria Shipmaker

Wow! Spring Gardeners engaged in our communities showing God’s care in many ways in the past year! From June 2018 to February 2019 we had some of our “traditional” opportunities along with two new ones.

Our traditional projects included:

Hallowe’en - Jesse James and others set up our popular Halloween spot

with hot chocolate, candy and conversation! Our neighbours have become more bold in chatting with us. For some this is their first Halloween in Canada and we are asked lots of questions!

Thanksgiving Pies - pies were donated to be given to those who may not have much to share at Thanksgiving. These were donated to the Gateway (http:// thegateway.ca).

Food Bank

United Church.

- we collected food for our local food bank located at Lansing

The Drop Inn - as part of our Light of the World celebration we set up a drop box for donations for The Drop Inn and also were able to discuss the needs of our community with those who are unfamiliar with the challenges of those living in our area.

Garden Team

- this was the second year working on our garden. The purpose of the garden is twofold: we hope to show God’s care by creating a space for the neighbourhood to come and join us as we grow vegetables for the underhoused in our community. At the same time we hope to learn to share God’s love with one another as we practice being a community made up of all people.

This year we planted our garden mostly from seeds which was a bit of a learning curve to learn how to thin out the plants and to determine when our harvests might be expected. We provided a great amount of fresh food for the Drop Inn while we learned to work as a team. We also designed part of the garden for our neighbours to pick from and included herbs for snipping.

One of our challenges were how to be welcoming to our neighbours but at the same time address the dog owner who was not cleaning up after their dog! We successfully navigated being a team that shared our abilities and was able to engage a few neighbours in conversation. We hope that like Hallowe’en night our neighbours will become more bold in coming and eventually joining our team.

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Morale Mail - we needed to take a break from Angel Tree as they weren’t able to keep up with the demand. Thank-you to those who engaged with Angel Tree outside of our lead. Morale Mail was a new way to share God’s care. This entailed filling a box with items that male and female soldiers could use in their field of operation. The response was overwhelming! Over 50 boxes were filled and we heard great feedback about some of the discussions we hoped would be had over the cost of war, Christ as peacemaker and how to care for those who may be engaged with something we personally disagree with. The Toronto Military Family Centre felt very loved by our efforts and ensured the boxes were sent to soldiers all over the world. We can’t thank you all enough for the enthusiasm and care you took for this project!

Fight4Freedom

- as part of our engagement with community this year one of our team went with Kaitlyn Ranasinghe of Fight4Freedom on a walk around the neighbourhood to talk about sex trafficking in our communities. It was eye opening and certainly gave us a desire to bring the rest of the church into the conversation. The request was to bring small items that could be given as gifts when the volunteers visit women and men working in the spa industry.

The other option was to provide a Christmas gift that could be given to those who have left the industry and making a new life for themselves with the help of Fight4Freedom volunteers. Again the church response was generous especially as this came immediately after our Morale Mail project. We were pleased that conversations and education could be shared with family while also doing a little Christmas shopping!

Thank-you for all of the support you have shown whether by words of encouragement, sharing of ideas and engaging in the specific activities!

Submitted: Victoria Shipmaker on behalf of Rodway Daniels and Greg Kay.

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Vocational Missionaries Reports from Youth Unlimited

We, your “YU Missionaries”, want to express our heartfelt thanks for your ongoing support of the work of Youth Unlimited across the GTA. Your faithfulness in coming alongside us, praying for us, encouraging us, and supporting us financially fills us with gratitude, hope, and perseverance.

Our heartbeat remains firm – seeing transformed youth transform our city. Thank you for making a difference in the lives of thousands of young people. To learn more about that difference, we’d love for you to check out impact.yugta.ca.

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Monica Kay,

LAUNCH Director

Dear Spring Garden,

Thank you so much for your prayer and support this past fiscal year. LAUNCH is a leadership development program of Youth Unlimited (TYFC). We pour into young leaders between the ages of 14-25, helping them to grow spiritually, in character and in leadership. In the last year we have been able to inspire and equip around 2000 young people with our Workshops, and we have had 15 students go through our Gr. 11 accredited Leadership Course, as well as a handful of young leaders in our LAUNCH Equip Program (this program is for those who have an idea to make a difference but are not interested or in the age bracket for the course). Every person in the program has a coach who meets with them and helps them grow, offers insights, encouragement, accountability and a listening ear. We are thankful for the 30 volunteer coaches we currently have - but are in need of more if you are interested and think this might be a good ministry fit for you!

This year, students’ community projects have varied from a conference for young women and moms that focused on social media issues, creating a clothing brand where the proceeds help street involved youth, fundraising for a missions trip, making scrunchies that help “bunchies” of young women who are meeting to study God’s Word and then help others as well, and so on. These young leaders are so inspiring! Thank you for helping me, and LAUNCH pour into the next generation! To find out more go to: 321launch.ca. Thanks again. (below: 15 students completed our for credit Grade 11 Leadership Class. Photos are them sharing their learnings and their community impact projects! An amazing day!)

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Clement Lee,

Jane-Finch Community Director

Thank you Spring Garden for your ongoing support of Youth Unlimited! For those of you who don’t know me, I am the Jane & Finch community director. My role is to support and grow the staff and ministries that YU is involved with in the Jane & Finch community.

In Jane & Finch, we have been blessed with the privilege of piloting the BECC (Brothers Empowering Community Change) internship program. For the past year and a half we’ve had three young men from priority neighbourhoods walking alongside our staff, learning the ins and outs of ministry. Though it has been challenging at times, it’s been amazing to see these interns naturally connect to the youth of our community, leading talks and guiding participants during program times. Most encouraging of all, this internship program has deepened our interns passion for Christ and for ministry!

Our interns have been positive role models that the youth of Jane & Finch can readily relate to. As a result of this, our soccer, basketball and after school clubs have all seen an uptick in numbers. The internship wraps up in November and we are hoping that one or two of these interns will explore the possibility of joining YU as full fledged staff!

Thank you again for all your support Spring Garden family!

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Scott Moore,

Executive Director

Kathy Webb,

Administrative Assistant

The emphasis of the past year at Youth Unlimited was an unfolding discernment process to guide the next four years of our ministry. This resulted in our new strategic pathway, “Making Space” – guiding us to lean more deeply into serving vulnerable youth, accompanying youth with mental health challenges, fostering integration of young people into lifelong faith communities, and living out our 5 Gauges of Transformation. It was a privilege to guide this process and I am truly excited for what God has in store for YU. I’m so grateful for our SGC family who are an integral part of the transformative movement of YU across the city.

Thank you for partnering with me in my work with Youth Unlimited. I recently reached 15 years of serving as an administrative assistant with YU, and I am so grateful to you, my Spring Garden family, for your faithful support over these many years! It is truly a privilege to serve the leadership team and field staff at YU, and to be part of seeing transformation in the lives of so many young people in the GTA.

John Wilkinson, and Strategist

Executive Coach

I continue to enjoy my role as a resource to our ED, Scott Moore, and to our YU Board, as well as being the Shepherd for our Central Services Team (18 staff). In addition, I have been seconded to our National Office to be a resource to the EDs and Boards of Chapters in Ontario and Quebec.

I am also the Senior Advisor to our National Director. I am thankful for these opportunities to serve as they fit well with my many years of experience within YFC. Bless you for standing by me in prayer, support, and encouragement.

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Other Vocational Missionaries

Report from Becki Lee (AIA)

I continue to serve with Athletes in Action (AIA), the sports ministry of Power to Change. As a ministry it is our desire to make Christ known through the language and love of sport. I work in the campus division of AIA, helping university athletes know Jesus and make Him known in the sports world and beyond. I am excited to be back working full-time on my local campus at the University of Guelph (U of G). My new role this past year is the Hub Director at the University of Guelph.

This means I oversee a team of two other staff and our AIA ministry of athletes at the U of G. We have seen tremendous growth within the ministry at the U of G this year, and I am thankful for how the Lord has prepared me for this role in this season.

We have many not-yet-Christian athletes who are firmly rooted in our community and learning what it means to follow Jesus. I am thankful for answered prayer with regards to me settling in to life in Guelph (I have been here for just a year and a half, having moved from Saskatoon). Please pray for my leadership and management as our staff team continues to grow and for managing all the individual facets of a growing ministry. Please also pray that we would see new student leaders raised up for the future, as well as seekers putting their faith in Christ. Thanks!

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Report from Ron and Dalia Fairbanks (GEM)

Ron and Dalia Fairbanks continue to raise up and support missionaries going to the mission field with Greater Europe Mission (GEM). We are involved in the recruitment, appointment, training and preparing, supervision and encouragement of GEM Canada short term teams, interns, and mid/long term missionaries. We also develop partnerships with schools, churches and other organizations that seek to reach Europe for Christ. For more information check out: http://www. gemission.ca They also do this with MissionPREP which serves many mission agencies training people from across Canada and the USA. Check it out at http://www. missionprep.ca MissionPREP is a Canadian based organization committed to enhancing the long-term effectiveness of Christians serving in cross-cultural mission. We offer interactive training programs for the whole family in three areas: cross-cultural life & ministry (IMPACT), language acquisition strategies (PLANTS), and debriefing the missionary experience (RE-VIEW). Please pray as we are heavily involved in these intensive trainings starting June 2 - July 19, 2019.

Prayer is a vital part to all that we do, so Ron now coordinates the Missions Mobilizers Day of Prayer for Southern Ontario. We also continue coordinating the Marriage Encounter with Christ: We have been training a new national Portuguese team on the Island of Terceira in the Azores. July 29- Aug. 9, 2019 is the next one.

Thanks once again for your financial and prayer involvement in these different ministries as we seek to engage people with the Gospel both locally as well as globally.

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Report from Faith Holwyn (CBM)

I am retired from doing the Groups of Hope actively but was asked to facilitate a workshop in the fall in Toronto and to lead a conference for 55 women in Winnipeg in October. God continues to use the program in many places around the world and it is available in 10 languages now with interest in having it translated into Arabic.

Report from Jen Chrystman (Omfmail) “Canada” was the only word I understood as the Eritrean refugee continued a cell phone conversation. What a joy to welcome 6 young men to shelter in our OMF guest home and find safety and peace. They are answers to the recent prayer, “Lord who do you want us to serve this month?” Past answers have included a Korean couple suddenly removed from China, groups of mission candidates en route to SE Asia and the Middle East and international directors in town for meetings.

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Thanks to the Spring Garden community, after 24 years of ministry in the Philippines my role as mission guest home manager here in Toronto continues to support God’s heart for the nations and for those who GO as well as those who SEND, LEARN or PRAY or WELCOME. There are so many ways to join God in sharing the good news of Jesus in all its fullness.

Kaitlyn Ranasinghe (Fight4Freedom)

Over the past year I have been working to support survivors of sex trafficking across Ontario. I recently moved into a new role as the Director of Survivor Care where I now provide supervision, support and direction for a team of staff and volunteers to support survivors of sex trafficking across Canada through mentorship, therapy, workshops, and case management. This year, Fight4Freedom we have hosted a number of volunteer training sessions and our annual conference at Spring. I am beyond grateful for the love and support of our community. Thank you for being part of this ministry with me!

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Stewardship & Admin Church Clerk

June 2018 – May 2019

BIRTHS

Sept 25, 2018 Ronen to Herbert and Elizabeth Gnanaraja Mar 29, 2019 Dakota Star Fuller Stummer, granddaughter to Opal Fuller

DEDICATIONS None

BAPTISMS

June 10, 2018 Michael Wen | July 2018, Ava Ghorbani | Nov 25, 2018, Lily Sider | Nov 25, 2018, Jeff McGee | Nov 25, 2018, Meghan Burns | Nov 25, 2018, Colin Chapman | Jan 20, 2019, Colin Hui | Jan 20, 2019, Kathy Webb Feb 17, 2019, Dorothy Ward | Feb 17, 2019, Ramtin Salini

NEW MEMBERS

Monica Kim | Kaitlyn Ranasinghe | Jeff McGee | Ubirajara da Silva | Ayla da Silva | Cliff Shipmaker | Mary Ellen Belzile | Michel Belzile | Elizabeth Reynolds | Ben Reynolds | Mary Simpkins | Meghan Valentine | Carl Anderson | Thelma Anderson | Thelma had wished for her and Carl to become members together, but sadly, she passed away before this could happen. We want to acknowledge her desire for membership at Spring Garden, and recognize her for being an active part of our community for many years.

MARRIAGES

July 6, 2018, Jeremy Ranasinghe and Kaitlyn Williams Sept 15, 2018, Colin Hui and Cynthia Lee

MEMBERS TRANSFERRED OUT Colleen Stevens

DEATHS None

Respectfully submitted, Karen Cassel, Church Clerk

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At the time of this report

135

active me mb e rs

Property Committee (June 2018 to June 2019)

The Property Committee is mandated to keep the building and grounds of Spring Garden Church and the house at 106 Spring Garden Avenue in good repair. It is important that anyone entering the church perceives our building as a warm and hospitable place to enter and to use.

A large number of repair and upkeep tasks have kept the committee occupied during the year. This takes time, energy and dedication and our committee has worked hard to keep this workload in check. In November, a review of the Property committee tasks and workload was held. The task load was more widely spread to avoid undue pressure on certain members of the committee and to allow pastoral staff to have names to call in emergencies instead of dealing with the problem themselves.

Thanks to Fazil Mohammed and his crew from Moe’s cleaning for keeping floors, windows and furniture clean and for dealing with some of the regular repairs.

Thanks also to Neil Bickerton for his work on maintaining our walls with paint touchups and plaster/drywall repairs. Thanks to Esther Penner, Cherryl Chapman, Joanne Laing, Opal Fuller and Peggy Moore for their work in maintaining clean and organized kitchens. Thanks should also go to Cherryl Murdoch and Peggy Yang for their great work on maintaining the gardens.

From June 2017 to June 2018, the committee has completed the following projects: 1. New shingles for the office roof area and a flat roof repair 2. Major drain repair for the 106 house 3. Replacement of 8 door closers and various door repairs 4. Electrical improvements to the Youth Room 5. Many other small tasks too numerous to mention Respectfully submitted, Your Property Committee Neil Bickerton, Wes Chapman (Chair), Don Hopkins, Jeff McGee, Peggy Moore (Deacon), Cheryl Murdoch, Esther Penner, James Wright, Peggy Yang

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FINANCE

Report from Geoffrey Moore (Treasurer)

2018 Financial Results 2018 Budget – Operations, Mission and Property

$569,096

Actual Cash Receipts for Operation, Mission & Property

$581,750

Actual Expenditures in 2018 (includes Capital Exp.)

$603,356

Net Cash Position at 12/31/18

$170,340

2018 Budget to Actual 2019 2018 Budget

2018 Actual

Increase 2019 Budget

A. Operations

479,774

458,923

20,851

483,680

B. Missions

78,072

69,438

8,634

72,142

C. Operations

11,250

10,004

1,246

12,500

538,365

30,731

568,322

57,584

5,784

55,860

480,781

36,515

512,462

Sub-Total 569,096 C. Property

51,800

Net Budget 517,296

Caring & Sharing Fund

The C&S Fund helps those people related to the Spring Garden family who are in a time of need.

Donations to the C&S in 2018 were $9,943 and expenditures were $11,434.

The Cash Balance at December 31, 2018 in the C&S Fund was $5,791.

Audited Financial Statements be released in June 2019.

Note

– have been completed for 2018 and will

In 2015, Marion Cameron took over the Vice Treasurer’s duties that George Vanderwerf looked after for 15 years. Updated computer programs have been installed. Marion is continuing to do an outstanding job and handles all of the accounting functions.

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Count Teams

We have 4 Count Teams headed up by Darlene Boyd to ensure that offerings are counted weekly without any delay!

Historical Budgets vs. Actual Receipts (includes property revenue).

2011

2012

2013

2014

BUDGET

BUDGET

BUDGET

BUDGET

$576,000

$581,000

$555,800

$524,480

$576,900

$530,000

$503,000

$522,532

ACTUAL

ACTUAL

2015

2016

BUDGET

BUDGET

$510,800

ACTUAL

2017 BUDGET

$559,197

$560,600

$548,957

$583,193

$525,000 ACTUAL

ACTUAL

ACTUAL

ACTUAL

2018

2019

BUDGET

BUDGET

$569,096

$568,322

$558,757

TBA

ACTUAL

ACTUAL

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IT/AV Committee

Collaborators: Colin Chapman, Wes Chapman, Kevin Lai, Sam Lee The IT/AV Department continued to upgrade some AV and computer equipment this past year. We meet at least once a year to discuss, recommend and coordinate the technical aspects of supporting church ministry.

We replaced some microphone cables, replaced a broken headset microphone and got a proper dust cover for the new digital mixer. Colin and Brandon also helped mount the QSC speakers to the wall in the Youth Lounge.

Videoconferencing capabilities were added to the boardroom with the addition of a dedicated mini computer and webcam to the mobile LED screen.

We continued to expand the SGC-Guest wifi access points and added coverage for the Youth Lounge in the basement. We added a voucher system to the SGCGuest wifi so guests and members can access the high speed Internet, without overwhelming the network infrastructure for the church office. The SGC-Private, and SGC-Wifi access points are reserved for church infrastructure and office use.

For the summer of 2018, we hired a summer intern who helped us set up the check-in system with RockRMS. Alec Macri also did a great job redesigning the public “springgardenchurch.ca” website on Squarespace. We’re hoping to get him back for the summer of 2019 to continue working on expanding the capabilities of RockRMS as a church management software. An SSL certificate was purchased and installed for our “net.sgbc.ca” private domain in preparation for secure electronic communications.

As a committee, we discussed and considered hiring a third party IT support person, as Kevin was getting busier juggling his other commitments. The funds did not allow for a dedicated third party computer person. However, we were happy to learn that Dale Forder was hired for the Office Manager role, as his expertise in computers and media design has been invaluable to the IT/AV Department.

In the past, most of our support from the AV team, and digital or print media designs were done by our wonderful church volunteers. However, this means also we rely on volunteers to help troubleshoot technical issues for the office staff when problems arise. If anyone is interested in serving in this area of IT, AV, or media arts, please let us know! We need more help in managing the day-to-day issues that arise, designing and publishing media, as well as special projects.

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Resource Centre Report from Karen Cassel

The Resource Centre provides books, videos, and DVDs for general Christian growth, study, and leisure. The library resources are provided to speak to the needs and events that are taking place in the wider church life. Reading materials are an invaluable resource for personal and spiritual growth. We are able to offer important resources that cannot be found in the public library system.

We are so fortunate to have a book budget and have the ability to purchase books to meet our objectives, and to support the teachings we enjoy each Sunday.

There is a monthly feature in Delve that gives a synopsis of books and DVD’s recently added, and/or supports the messages of that month.

The library has a subscription to Christianity Today, available for borrowing on the same terms as the books.

Over the past year, some of the new titles added include: • Between Heaven and mirth, by James Martin • Sensible Shoes series of 4 books by Sharon Garlough Brown • Letters to the church by Francis Chan • The Rock, the road and the rabbi by Kathie Lee Gifford Did you know that the Resource Centre is online, and you can look up and request books from the church website. Go to: http://springgardenchurch.ca Click on Resources, Library This will take you directly to a search screen where you can input your search terms (title, author, subject, etc.) to discover what is available in the library.

You can submit a request for a book, and it will be emailed to me.

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Nominating Committee Report Deacons (3 year term) Current Deacons

Finishing Year

Adora Chui

2019

Lesley Daniels

2019

Doug Willson

2019

Esther Penner

2019

Peggy Moore

2019

Shannon Loewen

2020

Sam Chaise

2020

Joanne Laing

2020

Martin Dewar

2021

Nominees Peggy Moore

2020

Michel Belzile

2022

Krysten Cameron

2022

Jeff McGee

2022

Monica Kim

2022

Elders (3 year term) Current Elders

Finishing Year

Cheryl Chapman

2019

Joanna James

2019

Darlene Boyd

2020

Brad Sider

2020

Garth Barron

2020

Nominees

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Anne Barron

2022

Koon Wah Leung

2022

Clem Lee

2022

Officers (1 year term) Position Moderator

Krysten Cameron

Vice-Moderator

Jane McClean

Treasurer

Geoff Moore

Vice-Treasurer

Marion Cameron

Clerk

Karen Cassel

Nominees Moderator

Jane McClean

Vice-Moderator

Mike Penner

Treasurer

Geoff Moore

Vice-Treasurer

Marion Cameron

Clerk

Karen Cassel

Nominating Committee Members (2 year term) Current Members

Finishing Year

Anne Barron

2019

Esther Penner

2019

Lesley Daniels

2019

Monica Kay

2019

Brad Sider

2020

Jin Lee

2020

Nominees Esther Penner

2020

Kevin Lai

2021

Cliff Shipmaker

2021

Kathy Webb

2021

We extend our thanks to those who have served and those who continue to serve our church.

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Editor & Designer Dale Forder

Copy Editors Greg Kay Karen Cassel

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