Parish Profile for St. George's Church Place Du Canada, Montréal Québec
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Parish Profile for St. George’s Church Place du Canada, Montréal Québec, Canada Updated : February 2th, 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 OUR SEARCH OBJECTIVES 3 OUR MISSION STATEMENT 4 OUR HISTORY 6 THE AREA IN WHICH WE CARRY OUT OUR MINISTRY 8 OUR RESOURCES 9 APPENDIX A: CONTACT INFORMATION 10 APPENDIX B: PARISH LIFE and CURRENT PRACTICES 11 A. Worship and Liturgy 11 B. The Music Program: 11 C. Christian Education Program 11 D. Pastoral Ministry 11 E. Spiritual Development and Renewal 12 F. Stewardship 12 G. Use of church and hall for liturgical, social and community purposes 13 1. Sunday Services 13 2. Midweek Services 13 3. Other Parish Activities (church and hall) 13 H. Allocation of pastoral resources in the past year 13 APPENDIX C: FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 15 APPENDIX D: CONGREGATIONAL STATISTICS 17 Page 2 of 17 OUR SEARCH OBJECTIVES St. George’s Anglican Church is searching for a pastor who will grow its Christian Community spiritually and in terms of the number of its members and its missions. The Incumbent1 must have a conversational knowledge of French. He2 must also be willing to make a commitment to become fully functional in French within a year (the Corporation will financially support this endeavour). He will have a proven record in the area of spiritual and membership revival. He must be an inspirational leader who knows how motivate Church members to get actively involved in the parish. The ideal candidate will be experienced, highly energetic and highly skilled in communications, mastering social media among other things. He will have the flexibility to deal with mature conservative Christians and various ethnicities while appealing to a younger generation of new members. He must have some experience in a parish located in a large urban setting, with all the constituencies such a location involves. The candidate who will be selected must be comfortable with the following planned allocation of his/her time: Spiritual matters Pastoral care of members and non members 30 % Worship and worship preparation 20 % Reading, study, prayer 10 % Local service and evangelism (personally and via committees) 5 % Temporal matters Leadership and staff meetings 15 % Growing our Christian Community 10 % Building‐related issues 5 % Community involvements (Diocesan committees, Deanery meetings, 5% National or Provincial committees and meetings) 100.0% Improvement of French proficiency (if required) +10% The community recognizes that a healthy church can only be achieved through healthy leadership. The corporation is therefore open to any request for the Incumbent (and indeed, from all its staff members) to improve quality of life at St. George’s. 1 Although St. George’s constitution calls for an Incumbent to lead the community, the leading priest has traditionally been given the title of Rector. In this document, both terms have been used as synonyms. 2 The pronoun « He » is used throughout this document to refer to both male and female candidates. Page 3 of 17 OUR MISSION « To know Christ and to make Him known » « Connaître le Christ et Le faire connaître » To actively witness to the love and hope that is given to each of us as we open our hearts and minds to God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and to share this wholeheartedly with those who live, work and study in downtown Montreal. A. Our goals 1. Community Growth through relevancy to the proximate community The community has resolved to undertake a concerted effort to attract new members to the church. Our communication methods will require serious attention. Modern methods, including the use of Web pages, Facebook presence, and any other form of electronic communication must be considered. 2. Worship & Christian Education The congregation wishes to increase the effectiveness of the worship services and the education program. To that end, goals have been set to increase the use of French, vary sermon presentation methods and topics, establish more home study programs as well as a Christian education group to co‐ordinate events. 3. Extending our Mission & Outreach By helping people cope with the challenges in their lives, the church will have greater relevance within the community. In order to attain this goal, we plan to host dinners for the homeless, better coordinate with our seniors and shut‐ins, support ecumenical initiatives, organise lecture series and continue with our practice of holding special Sunday services for people who were baptized, confirmed or received as well as married during the year. 4. Preservation of our Patrimony We plan to redesign and repurpose the existing property while maintaining the heritage status and style of the building. This involves the sale of the Parish Hall and a redesign of the worship space. Restoration projects that have been ongoing over the past several years will be continued. 5. Achieving a balanced budget St. George’s has good financial and property management, healthy endowments, the ability to garner public grants, and a strong Investment Council. Building on this, work will now focus on Page 4 of 17 developing transparency of communications, and consistency of stewardship practice within the parish. This will enable us to support and sustain our ministries through consistency and generosity in stewardship and fund raising. Despite repeated communications to that effect, the congregation has not yet shown signs of being sufficiently sensitized to the impact of spending more than it contributes to the ongoing costs of operating this church. An improvement will be required to the financial practices of the church. Novel fundraising methods and renewed efforts are needed to improve and increase our intake of funds. An annual pledge campaign is already in place but the community of the church needs to look for new sources of revenue. Page 5 of 17 OUR HISTORY The original St. George's Church opened on June 30, 1843. St. George’s was the second Anglican congregation in Montreal. The church was originally situated on Notre‐Dame Street (then Saint Joseph Street) and Saint David's Lane, just outside the city of Montreal's walls and was built to accommodate the overflow of parishioners from Christ Church Cathedral. The congregation of St. George's continued to grow as the city expanded westward. A fire pushed the congregation to CHRONOLOGY choose the site of the current church, at the corner of Peel Street and De la Gauchetière Street, which had previously been a Jewish cemetery from 1775 to 1854. The “new” church building was designed by Montreal architect William Tutin Thomas and retained only the pulpit from the original building. 1842 – Establishment of the Anglican parish of St. George’s on Saint- At the time of construction, the area was considered to be Joseph St, in the Faubourg des suburban and became fashionable as part of the “Golden Récollets area Square Mile’’, with the parish reflecting the demographics 1866 – Decision to move the church to of the area. As this happened, the city evolved in the its current site vicinity with residences giving place to commercial 1867 – Current site was acquired facilities and office buildings. Today, the few remaining green spaces and some of the commercial land is giving 1868 – Inauguration of the current way to residential towers, bringing back a living church community in the neighbourhood of the church. 1873-1874 – Construction of the rectory and of the previous parish hall The parish has always considered mission and social 1901 – Installation of 10 Harrington bells responsibility to be important. St. George’s supported many of the mission societies established before and after 1946 – Sale of the North portion of the Confederation. The parish also helped in establishing the land to the Ford Hotel Company first YMCA in North America as well as planting five and demolition of the Rectory daughter churches. and of the previous parish hall 1947-1948 – Construction of the current St. George’s had a social worker starting in the 1880’s who parish hall (Western Annex) was responsible for the welfare of parishioners and others. 1984 – Rental of the second story of The women of the parish were instrumental in helping to the parish hall to a day care found the Montreal Council of Women, hospital auxiliaries, concern support for the Northern church, etc. Our Church is suffering the same declining attendance as many other 1990 – Designation of the church as a Canadian Historical Site by the Christian communities. However, those that remain are federal government active, engaged and hopeful for the future. In recent years, the parishes of St. Jude and of the Advent merged with St. George's. Page 6 of 17 The new Rector of St. George’s will be call to write the next page of history in our community. Page 7 of 17 THE AREA IN WHICH WE CARRY OUT OUR MINISTRY St. George’s Church is located in the downtown business district of Montreal. Few people in our current membership come from the immediate vicinity and some very active members drive as many as 110 km to attend services and participate in church activities. At this time, office buildings, entertainment facilities (the Bell Centre), large hotels (Marriott and Sheraton) and public transportation (Windsor regional train station) dominate the surroundings. At present, St. George’s can be considered a destination church to a large extent. But the immediate area where the church is located is undergoing drastic changes with condo towers housing hundred of new households being erected within a few blocks around the church. Despite the high number of people in the immediate vicinity, the Church has not attracted either the business crowd nor the homeless people that are all around. The membership of the church has declined by approximately 10% in the last 5 years and we see the residential redevelopment of the immediate area as an opportunity to grow our membership again.