Look up at the ceiling of our church sanctuary and you will see the hull of a ship. Blow out the stained glass windows and that’s where the oars go. The pews are the galley where we row together into the future God is carrying us toward. Ours is neither a pleasure craft nor a cruise ship, but an expeditionary vessel. We are traveling through seas no one has ever sailed before; we are following Jesus through uncharted territory.
And so we must pause from time to time to get our bearings. The Diocese recently released its annual statistics of how our more than 200 ships (aka parishes) are faring. I was heartened by the following statistics re: St. Clement’s:
The quantitative statistics are encouraging - even more so the qualitative. For this is what learning to follow Jesus Christ looks like:
Outreach - sustaining one of the largest, most effective, and most generous outreach ministries in the entire Diocese (e.g., Wednesday Community Lunch, Lenten series, support for refugees and incarcerated people)
Pastoral Care - journeying with countless households through physical and mental illness, relationship struggles, grief, and loss in order to find hope and meaning
Children & Youth - launching our Youth choral scholarship program and investing in full-time Nursery, Children, and Youth ministries
Church at Home - planting a thriving online church that became one of the most innovative and engaging online worship experience in the Diocese
Website and Communications - investing in a brand new website, Communications Missioner, and professional-grade audio-visual equipment for live-streaming
In-person Worship - welcoming people back to our historic building to once again encounter God’s sacraments of bread, wine, baptism, confirmation, and marriage
Small Groups - developing small groups as a vehicle for prayer, study, and belonging
Truth & Reconciliation - learning more deeply what it means to be in right relationship with First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples and communities through parish-wide reading, discussion, and prayer
Fellowship - deepening new and existing relationships through a new Getting Connected series and the return of in-person coffee hour
Partnerships - entering into new and renewed strategic partnerships with neighbourhood organizations (e.g., St. Clement’s School, Canadian Children’s Opera Chorus, Cycle Toronto)
We are St. Clement’s: a community where everybody rows. As we journey toward the horizon line of 2022, we move with expectancy and hope into the future God is preparing anew. The pandemic has been hard and continues to adversely affect our financial offerings. We face a year to date Operating Deficit (as reported monthly in The Anchor), which we really want to eliminate over the next six weeks. To discover all the ways that you can give, please visit: https://www.stclementsto.ca/donate Your generosity supports vibrant ministry now and makes transformation possible for the next seven generations of those who follow. Thank you. Yours truly in Christ,
The Rev. Andrew Federle Rector, St. Clement’s Church, Toronto