A Gift for Our Partners at Evangel Hall

Luke reminds Bible readers in Acts 20 of Jesus’ words ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’ and how happy are we to live out of this truth again and again!

Did you know? This past June at our Congregational Meeting, our congregation voted to give $100,000 from our operating surplus to a cause that would support vulnerable persons and those most severely impacted by the pandemic. 

With this direction, in the last few months our Session, Trustees, and staff spent time in discussion, prayer, and consideration of where these funds should land and last month they came to a decision: $100,000 will be given to support our partner organization, Evangel Hall Mission (ehm) in their work to support and empower those living in poverty in our city. On Monday, December 12, a handful of our staff and leaders are heading down to ehm to visit with ehm staff and present this gift. 

There are so many reasons we’re excited to support ehm with these funds and here are three we want to highlight: 

1. We’ve been together in ministry since ehm began.
   Knox has been a partner with ehm since its establishment in 1913. It was Knox elder, John Wanless, who donated the land of the original location and our congregation has provided financial and program support from the start. What a gift it continues to be to see God’s grace and care in the work of ehm unfold over time!

2. We’re so grateful for ehm’s recent support.
   Over the past few years, ehm staff have been a huge asset to us as we enlisted their help to review our past community outreach programming and to provide insight and best practices for shaping our new ministry to support single moms and caregivers with young children. As we find our footing in our new outreach ministry this season, ehm will continue to support us by providing workshops, training, and guidance to establish healthy spiritual care processes and effective volunteer management. We are especially looking forward to the opportunity our leaders will have in the winter to take in ehm’s training on trauma-informed pastoral care.

3. A fit for our strategic mission priorities.
   Ehm’s focus on alleviating poverty in our city compliments our newly established strategic mission priorities to focus our missional efforts and finances in part toward justice and mercy ministry. We’re glad to focus our efforts with clarity and excited to see how God will move as we live into the activities we sense the Spirit leading us.

As we extend this financial gift to Evangel Hall, we want to also extend a big thank you to members of our congregation for inspiring this act of generosity and for all those who voted a hearty ‘yes!’ to give generously of the gifts God has given our church family to steward.

To learn more about Evangel Hall Mission you can visit evangelhall.ca. And stay tuned for more information about executive director, Ainsley Chapman, visiting us one Sunday in January to meet, mingle, and field any questions about what’s happening at the mission this season. 

With joy and gratitude, 

Knox Session, Trustees, & Staff