Parkdale Update – After further discussions this past winter and spring, the Bonar Parkdale Presbyterian Church board approved us to rent their church on Sunday afternoons for the foreseeable future. Beginning the first Sunday in May, we have moved our worship service, Sunday School, and youth ministry events to Parkdale. The move has meant the loss of some families and the addition of others from the immediate neighborhood.
Internship Ministries this Past Summer – We had a dozen interns over this last year whom we brought into an intentional program of coaching and ministry skill development in some specific focus.
• Guatemala missions trip – One couple led a team of 10 adults and children to Guatemala for our yearly outreach there, serving alongside an orphanage partner, and also the Alliance Church in Santiago. A highlight of the trip was a training event for dozens of adult Sunday School and children’s workers on how to teach the gospel to children. This was followed by a family outreach event for their community at which our Children’s Pastor, Leslie Shillinglaw shared the gospel with many families and children.
• Community Outreach – Another couple developed relationships among international families in their building, living intentionally with a view to discipling people in faith in Christ. This couple hopes to go overseas with the Alliance soon.
• Street-involved People – Two men learned to serve among street-involved people in our Community Night outreach. One of these men is now speaking with Global Ministries with a view to hopefully going overseas with the Alliance later.
• Pastoral – Another intern has left engineering and entered seminary with a view to pastoral ministry as a result of our Hearing God seminar and then the internship. He began to clearly hear the call of God which the internship only served to ratify. He also helped to lead an Alpha Program last fall.
Ministry Training this Coming Year – Our efforts at providing a pathway for adults desiring to grow in spiritual lives and in ministry skills have been greatly served by The Re-build Centre, our training school for ministry volunteers and those preparing for future vocational ministry. The Internship Program launches again this September offering training and mentoring in the following ministries:
• Compassionate Ministries among the street-involved community in Queen West
• Youth & Children’s Ministry outreach among youth from Tibetans, Vietnamese, Muslims in Parkdale
• Young Adult and Young Offender Missional Community in the Jane & Finch community
• Church Pastoral Ministry training with families and youth in the communities in and near Parkdale
• Intercultural Ministry training for those reaching out to immigrant and refugee families, children
• Marketplace Ministry training among those in workplace settings in downtown Toronto
Community Youth – This summer we, once again, ran a soccer league for children and youth. There were 12 teams, all coached by young adults from our church. At the wind up there were probably 300 people present, parents and children, hearing the good news of the love of God for them. Some of these same soccer families came to church this last Sunday.
Faithful Partners in Ministry – We are thankful for the continued partnership and commitment of many to give to the Re-build Project to raise funds needed to buy a building. We have over $1 million in investments in the bank earmarked for a building purchase when God opens that door, as well as another half-million in pledges. We will need much more than that when the time to buy comes, so more is needed.
We are also so thankful for the continued support of church teams who come and serve in various downtown ministries alongside us, including caring for the street-involved community and the urban poor.
Bill Dyck, Pastor