The Church of St. Paul the Apostle, Rexdale
2182 Kipling Avenue
Etobicoke, Ontario
M9W 4K9 Parish Profile
"St. Paul the Apostle, Rexdale exists to honour God, and to enable questioning, open- minded people to discover for themselves the significance of Jesus Christ."
March 8, 2016 2
Table of Contents
Executive Summary...... 3
1. Worship, Liturgy and Music ...... 3
2. Learning and Spiritual Nurture and Development...... 5
3. Mutual Support and Fellowship...... 6
4. Pastoral Care...... 7
5. Human, Physical and Financial Resources...... 7
6. Our Neighbourhood and Our Mission Field...... 11
7. Outreach and Evangelism...... 11
8. Present Reality and Future Vision...... 12
9. Our New Priest...... 13
10. Appendices...... 14
Appendix 1 Graph showing average weekly attendance over the past 5 yrs...... 14
Appendix 2 Audited Financial Statements for the year ended Dec. 31, 2015 ...... 15
Appendix 3 2016 Budget Summary...... 17
Appendix 4 Statistics supporting Our Neighbourhood and our Mission Field...... 18
Appendix 5 Parish Focus Group - Dec.13, 2015...... 19
The Church of St. Paul the Apostle, Rexdale - Parish Profile, March 8, 2016 3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Our future vision for St. Paul's includes a vibrant congregation, witnessing, living and sharing God's Word. A parish that offers, in addition to Sunday services, other forms of worship, thriving children and youth programs, seniors' and singles' programs, couples programs, outreach and ecumenical work with other denominations and community organizations and the finances and volunteers to maintain it all.
We see ministry as a shared responsibility between clergy and laity. We are looking for a consultative and collaborative spiritual leader with strong preaching skills, who can reach out to and engage parishioners and community as well as appreciate our challenges and help us develop strategies for the future.
We are open to the many opportunities around us based on our location, demographics around the church, dedication of our members, willingness to be open to different ways of being church and new directions where God may be leading us.
Our immediate goals include a focus on children and youth ministry, rebuilding our choir and planning for a stewardship campaign.
1. WORSHIP, LITURGY AND MUSIC
Worship At The Church of St. Paul the Apostle we offer worship services each Sunday in the main sanctuary, as follows. The Book of Alternative Services (BAS) is used exclusively: o ‘Said’ Eucharist at 9:00 am (BAS) Typical attendance is 20 -30 people. o ‘Sung’ Eucharist at 10:30 am (BAS) Typical attendance is 60-125 people. Services are also held at local nursing and long term care homes once a month. The services are supported by parishioners as greeters, servers, readers, chalice bearers and members of the Chancel Guild.
Special Services:
World Day of Prayer: The Anglican Church Women participate in the ecumenical World Day of Prayer Service which is held annually on the first Friday of March. The other participants are from 6 area Catholic, United, Baptist, Presbyterian and Salvation Army churches.
Lenten Services: Ash Wednesday - Eucharist at 7:00 pm, ashes, average attendance 20-30. Palm Sunday - services of Eucharist at 9:00 am and 10:30 am, average attendance 40 and 100 respectively. Holy Thursday - Eucharist at 7:00 pm, stripping of the altar, average attendance 10-15. Good Friday – Readings and Music service, average attendance 65.
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Easter Sunday - services of Eucharist at 9:00 am and 10:30 am, average attendance 40 and 170 respectively.
Quiet Morning A morning of prayer, music and reflection called "A Quiet Morning with the Lord." on the Saturday before Palm Sunday. Also time for making palm crosses for Palm Sunday and for distribution to nursing homes in the area. Average attendance 25 to 30.
Remembrance Day The Remembrance Service, on the Sunday closest to Remembrance Day. Eucharist and reflection time to pin a poppy on the Remembrance Wreath and to place a carnation at the Altar.
Blue Christmas On Blue Christmas, we remember loved ones who have passed on with a special service and ritual of placing blue bulbs on a Christmas Tree at the foot of the altar. Average attendance 36 at 9 am and 71 at 10:30 am.
Christmas On Christmas Eve, two services are generally held - over the past 2 years, there's been one service at 7:30 p.m., average attendance 100 to 105. On Christmas Day, Eucharist at 10:00 am, average attendance 35.
New Year's Eve Service Eucharist at 10:30 pm, attendance 2015 was 80.
Music Music at The Church of St Paul the Apostle is highly valued and an integral part of our services. It is always highly rated by our parishioners and we're in the process of rebuilding our choir. We are fortunate to have an experienced music director/organist for over 17 years. Instruments consist of an organ and a piano and steel pans, all of which are in the main church, and are played at the Sunday 10:30am service. The Steel Pan Band, plays on special occasions. On occasion, the music is supplemented with invited additional instrumentalists (e.g. piano and cello) or vocal soloists for special services.
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2. Learning and Spiritual Nurture and Development
The learning and spiritual nurture and development at St. Paul’s has been held in both informal and unstructured ways. Though we do not have a lot of adolescents in our congregation, there are opportunities for those who we do have to grow. During the past 3 years, the learning, spiritual development and nurture opportunities of our congregation are as follows:
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Children: The children of St. Paul’s have had the chance to be part of their own Sunday school, facilitated by one or more members of the church. They also take part during the regular worship services. Baptisms are as required. Parents wanting their children baptized meet regularly with the Lay Pastoral Assistant.
Adolescents: there are many roles in the church for the adolescents for example; serving at the altar. Adolescents also take part during the regular church/ worship services. Confirmation classes for those who want to participate in confirmation are as required. St. Paul's follows the " Making Disciples" curriculum and a 13 week mentoring programme for Confirmation.
Young Adults: There are leadership/participation options for them, for example; in music, altar serving, lector readings, chancel guild, and as greeters.
Adults who are active members: They take part in Bible study groups, fund raising church events, outreach ministry, community involvement. There's also a Book Club at St. Paul's, members look forward to their discussions.
The Alongsiders Prayer Group offers prayer and support for members of the congregation, relatives, friends and the community. There's a locked Prayer Request Box where prayer requests can be made anonymously. The box is checked regularly and confidentiality is maintained amongst the members of the group, unless otherwise requested.
There's also an email prayer circle where general prayers are circulated weekly.
Members of the parish are comfortable when it comes to sharing their faith and their walk with God.
3. Mutual Support & Fellowship
Newcomers are welcomed at the door by members of our greeting team. They are presented with the bulletin for the service, a hymnal and are seated. They are also greeted by the congregation during the sharing of the Peace. During the announcements, visitors are welcomed and invited to participate to the extent that they are comfortable.
Mutual support and fellowship are major components in the life of our parish. This does not occur through structured events but happens because of the genuine love and care that the congregation has for each other. In addition to our many committees and focus groups, we are blessed to have a great planning team. The planning team organizes many events throughout the year that give us opportunities for fellowship with our church members as well as members of the community. Some of the planned events this past year included the following: Dinner/Dance – March 28, 2015 Fashion Show and Spaghetti Lunch – May 31, 2015 Canada Day BBQ – June 28, 2015
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Dinner/Dance – September 19, 2015 Christmas Bazaar & Bake Sale – November 14, 2015 Christmas Dinner/ Live Auction/ Carol Singing – December 5, 2015 Our parishioners fellowship during coffee hour after the 10:30 am service at the back of the gathering area. There is also opportunity for members to celebrate birthdays by sharing a cake with the congregation during coffee hour if they choose.
4. Pastoral Care
Pastoral Care is provided by the Incumbent and the Lay Pastoral Assistant, supported by parishioners who help with hospital and home visits.
Until Dec. 2015, most of the pastoral visits were made by the Lay Pastoral Assistant, some by the Incumbent directly. In December our Lay Pastoral Assistant resigned after many years of service.
The incumbent helps bereaved families with funeral arrangements and provides grief ministry.
Altar flowers are delivered to shut ins after Sunday service as appropriate.
The Lay Pastoral Assistant is responsible for regular visits to parishioners at home, in hospital and in long term care facilities. St. Paul's visits 4 area long term care facilities regularly and 2 others occasionally. St. Paul's is in the process of restarting monthly services at the 4 long term care facilities.
5. Human, Physical and Finances
In terms of Human Resources, the following are paid positions:
Full time Incumbent Music Director - available for 10:30 am Sunday and Special Services, 1 1/2 hrs. per week. Part Time Parish Administrator - 8 to 16 hrs. per week Lay Pastoral Associate/ Program Coordinator responsible for sourcing grants, community outreach in addition to lay pastoral duties. The expansion of this role beyond what was previously volunteer Lay Pastoral duties, requires it to be a grant dependent position. Part time Cleaner - 8 to 10 hrs. per week.
St. Paul's has an innovative, committed administrative structure that provides effective governance of the Parish. Clergy and Wardens are assisted by volunteers on the Advisory Board and key committees.
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Physical
St. Paul's was built in 1954. The church is equipped with a ramp to the front door. The Parish Hall on the lower level is accessed via stairs from the inside or from ground level externally.
Required inspections have been maintained and whilst some repairs are in the future, the building is generally in good shape. Currently, there is a drive to complete the roof replacement. To date approximately $ 18,500 of the $25,000 required has been raised.
The church's parking lot provides ample parking and should the need arises, there's additional parking at nearby schools.
The Parish Hall is used for receptions - church related and private, Christmas Bazaar and church related group events and functions as well as community groups such as the Girl Guides and two Alcoholics Anonymous groups.
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There are 2 meeting rooms, 1 in the office and the other more widely used, is referred to as Room C.
The kitchen is well equipped with 2 electric ranges, 1 commercial dishwasher and a chest freezer.
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St. Paul's Rectory is located at 15 Barwell Crescent within a 10 min. drive from the Church. The Rectory is a 3 bedroom bungalow with a finished basement which includes a family room and an additional bedroom.
Financial
There are currently 155 families, 237 individuals, of which 211 are adults on the Parish List. There are 198 envelopes and only 4 preauthorized givers - another opportunity.
For the year ending 2015, the budget for income from plate offerings was exceeded, however there was a short fall overall due to other areas of the budget.
The following is a financial snapshot of 2015.
Total Income $130,471
Total Expenses $140,706
Deficit $10, 234
The deficit was covered from our Memorial Fund which is one of the purposes of the Memorial Fund. For the future, St. Paul's plans to embark on a Stewardship Campaign with the hope of increasing income.
The following can be found in the Appendices:
Appendix 1 Graph showing average weekly attendance over the past 5 years.
Appendix 2 Audited Financial Statements for the year ended Dec. 31, 2015
Appendix 3 2016 Budget Summary
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6. Our Neighbourhood and our Mission Field
Rexdale is a diverse North Etobicoke, west of Toronto neighbourhood with a population of just over 117, 000. The area is known for a high number of manufacturing, trades, agricultural and natural resources companies. St. Paul's is located within walking distance of elementary and secondary schools, parks, libraries, a long term care facility, social service agencies and shopping areas. Humber College/ University of Guelph campus is within a 10 min drive, York University within a 25 min drive. There are other places of worship - such as Baptist and Catholic churches, a Salvation Army temple and a Mosque on the same street....a great opportunity for ecumenical work. St.Paul's is conveniently located on Kipling Avenue, a direct transit route to the subway. The location is also close to major highways like the 401, Hwy 27, and 407.
The worshipping congregation of St. Paul's has changed over the years.
There are many opportunities for ministry at St. Paul's. From the census, there're 9,925 persons listed as unchurched in North Etobicoke. That's an opportunity for our mission field, for fresh expressions of church to reach some of those persons and to share God's word. There are high numbers of youth in the area ...opportunities for youth activities that could attract some of the youth. Within the areas designated as priority neighbourhoods, there are people who need help, physically, financially and spiritually. In every aspect, our major challenge to mission work will be finding volunteers.
7. Outreach and Evangelism
The Church of St. Paul the Apostle has a caring, welcoming congregation with a long history of outreach services in the community. This aspect of our church life has declined in recent years for a number of reasons: the advancing age of the congregation some of the older parishioners no longer drive many in the congregation live in other municipalities there are less funds to support some of the worthy local charities Members of the congregation support Faithworks. The Alongsiders Prayer Group also reaches out to the community through their prayers.
St. Paul's maintains a small Food Bank, items are donated by parishioners and are available to other parishioners as well as community members who may come to our doors.
Outreach at St. Paul's has been done primarily through the Anglican Church Women. Some of our members are also active on boards that provide programs and services to the people of northern Etobicoke. In addition some parishioners are now actively involved in planning support for soon-to-be arriving Syrian refugees.
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8. Present Reality and Future Vision
Our present reality is similar to that of many other churches - regardless of their denomination. Declining numbers due to aging, health, mobility and transportation problems, members who have passed on, moved away, a change in the demographics around the church. We keep a close eye on finances in order to maintain ministry and property. We are currently raising funds to complete the replacement of our roof and will review accessibility needs in the future.
St. Paul's is a parish that has been designated by the Diocese as strategic. The Diocese uses the term to assess viability based on the strength of the parish and its resources - parishes that are strategically located, have a mission and vision, can and do make a significant difference in their community, however, they need more resources. Our potential is great. As mentioned before, the number of unchurched people in the area, recent immigrants, youth all represent opportunities. The statistics from Appendix 4 provide a wealth of information that can be used to help our plan of action. We are one of two Anglican churches located east of Hwy 27, south of Steeles Ave. and relatively close to the Finch Avenue corridor, a densely populated area that will soon see a light rail transit, LRT system being built to improve east- west ease of transportation. St. Paul's is a short bus ride to and from Finch Avenue. The Diocese will be starting a Chaplaincy at York University, St. Paul's is within a reasonable distance from York. We believe that could be another opportunity for student ministry. The formation of our Steel Pan Band a few years ago was a parish attraction and continues to uplift parishioners. Music is important to St. Paul's and we're rebuilding our choir and music ministry. The comments from our Parish Focus Group, Appendix 5 offers a glimpse of our parishioners' hopes and dreams for St. Paul's.
Natural Church Development
In 2013, we completed our first survey. The results identified Relevance, Pastoral Care and Intimacy as areas for improvement. In 2014, the repeat survey showed significant improvements in the areas mentioned above and identified Loving Relationships and Empowering Leadership as the next areas of focus. The slogan - " Sharing the Love of Christ Whenever, Wherever, However, Whoever " was created. Further NCD work was put on hold during 2015.
Lay Anointing Ministry
A number of parishioners have expressed interest in a Lay Anointers' Ministry. The possibility will be further explored with the new incumbent.
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9. Our New Priest
St. Paul's is a welcoming, caring, multi cultural, intergenerational parish, with a deep faith in God and a casual liturgical style. We recognize our challenges and know that we can and we want to do more in our parish and in our community.
We are seeking a priest who is:
Charismatic - ability to preach a thought provoking, inspirational sermon.
Inclusive - will reach out to and engage our community from children and youth to university students to regular members to shut ins needing pastoral care.
Visionary - with the ability to appreciate our challenges and help us create opportunities and strategies for the future including a stewardship plan.
Our new priest will:
provide leadership on religious matters be a leader who is consultative, collaborative and encourages co-operative relationships between parish groups, other denominations and the community support the importance and value of music in our worship be open to other forms of worship and ways of being church participate in pastoral care be open to family ministries including children and youth embrace the value of all aspects of stewardship in the parish will encourage and develop qualities of discipleship within the parish by motivating, communicating with, teaching and developing parishioners to live out their baptismal vows be a link to diocesan and national levels of the church
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10. Appendices
Appendix 1 Graph showing average weekly attendance over the past 5 years.
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Appendix 2 Audited Financial Statements for the year ended Dec. 31, 2015
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Appendix 3 2016 Budget Summary
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Appendix 4 Statistics supporting Our Neighbourhood and our Mission Field
Etobicoke North Total Male Female
Population 117, 600 57, 460 60,140
Religion
Buddhist 1,865 880 985
Christian 60,035 28,215 31,820
Anglican 2,425 1,185 1,245
Baptist 1,205 570 635
Catholic 31,955 15,405 16,550
Christian Orthodox 1,885 885 1,000
Lutheran 330 125 205
Pentecostal 4,810 2,000 2,810
Presbyterian 1,330 630 695
United Church 1,475 675 800
Other Christian 14,615 6,730 7,885
Hindu 16,775 8,520 8,250
Jewish 130 85 40
Muslim 16,555 7,980 8,575
Sikh 10,345 5,275 5,065
Other religions 455 210 245
No religious affiliation 9,925
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Appendix 5 - Parish Focus Group - Dec. 13, 2015
Q# 1- RECALL A TIME WHEN YOU FELT MOST ALIVE, MOST INVOLVED SPIRITUALLY TOUCHED , SPIRITUALLY TOUCHED OR MOST EXCITED
Active in church activities (Bazar) Key life moments (wedding) Cultural dinners AD Bd Steel pan Church school Mass choir Craft group Working in pastoral care Joining altar guild Black History Sense of community Just being part of a group Different churches getting together Activities in the park
Q#2- What would you like to see more of at St Paul’s
Sunday School Choir Trained servers Youth reading Transportation for members More social events Celebrating more “Saint” days Different service times Get to know names Baptism and Wedding prep Father’s Day activities Youth based events
Q#3- How might we be in touch with the needs of the community?
Evangelism Visiting youth shelter Visiting seniors home Hearing Psalms Leading by example Outreach
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Web site Communication box Introducing /welcoming Knocking door to door Supporting food bank
Q# 4- What do you see as the strengths of St Paul’s
Men of St Paul’s Family Pastoral care People friendly / inclusive Diversity Location – visible Ample parking Reach out to others Strong leadership team Good fellowship
Q # 5- If God gave you 3 wishes for your parish, what would they be?
More people Younger families Music Sunday School Better and more communication (phone / email/ Anglican/Guardian ) More social interaction Debt free Mid week service More Lenten services Capital fund for building improvements Visionary leadership Youth programs Growth in church and faith Volunteers
The Church of St. Paul the Apostle, Rexdale - Parish Profile, March 8, 2016