Pastoral Staff Notes: June 2021
Rev. Nick, Associate Minister
Four new members recently joined our church, James, Arel, Suzan, and Lynne. We’re looking forward to a few more members and perhaps a baptism on the horizon.
After the pastoral staff retreat, the staff have identified key priorities for the fall which include clear volunteer training and support processes, as well as reestablishing a simple discipleship pathway as people come into our community.
We’re excited about beginning in-person + livestream services at 11am and hope you will join us as you feel safe to do so. The afternoon worship service is likely to resume when restrictions are loosened enough to allow for the kind of community participation in worship that was identified as important within that community.
Brandon Davis, Interim Worship Coordinator
Camera install is done! Glad to be able to continue this way of welcoming nto our services those in our church's community who can’t come into the building. (Huge thank you to Tom Affleck, Donovan Stewart, and especially Chris Mudiappahpillai for their parts in facilitating this project).
Looking forward to welcoming Temeka Williams as the worship pastor on July 5th
(or if this comes out after July 5th, changed to the appropriate tense..)
Looking to welcome new volunteers into the AV and Worship Team ministries. Please reach out to brandon@knoxtoronto.org for more information if interested.
Gratitude to all of our volunteers on the worship leader, worship, and AV teams.
Pr. Frances, Interim Children’s Ministry Director
Summer Discipleship packages were dropped off to 20 families in early June. These included colouring and activity pages that pair with our in-service Kids Moments, a book for families to encourage conversations and faith formation at home, a few craft supplies and treats! If you didn't get one, and would like one please contact frances@knoxtoronto.org.
Camp has begun! Some of our Knox Staff have led the camp team through a couple weeks of training and mentoring. We have an amazing team of youth and young adults leading our campers through fun, games, crafts, and Bible stories as they explore the Truth that God Keeps His Promises! Please pray for our camp team, campers, and share about online camp with those who might be looking for a way to connect their kids for a couple hours this summer. More info can be found at knoxcamps.ca
As we slowly return to in-person worship we will not be starting up kids programming at this time. However, we want you and your kids to feel welcome to come and participate in worship together with our church community. We have set up tables for families with activities and quiet toys to help keep your kids engaged and busy during the service (toys are cleaned and sanitized between services). Please feel free to bring snacks for your kids if you join us in-person, kids are the only ones allowed to remove their masks to snack. We have spaces set up for you to go to if you find your child needs a break from the service. Please reach out to me if you have any questions or concerns. What we are able to do, will continue to shift and change as we begin to gather in-person again.
Pr. Nestor, Local & Global Mission
The Internationals Ministry will be concluding its ministry activities for the summer season. Both the IM Sunday Bible Study and Monday ESL classes will pause starting this last week of June and will resume on September. The ministry team will continue to connect individually with participants though to maintain the relationship. A significant number of participants are in their countries of origin and the continued connection will be a significant resource for them as they wait for the ministry activities to resume. We would like to thank the following volunteers for their heart of service: for the IM Bible Study- Elaine Chin (Program Coordinator), Matthew Bodkin, Sarah Stewart, and Colin and Rachel McCordic, Garry White. For the ESL—Garry White (Program Coordinator), Lorna Hutchinson, Karen Williams, Margery Campbell, Matthew Engel, Brenda Brouwer, Arel Ortiz, Matthew Quinn, Zack Quinn, Barb DeWit, Kimiko, Shimokawa!
The ESL and Sunday Bible Study need more teachers and facilitators! The ministries are ways that we present the gospel to participants who come from all over the world. As the number has significantly increased, we are looking forward to a more robust ministry engagement starting September. Do email Pastor Nestor Abdon (nestor@knoxtoronto.org) if you have the skills in teaching or facilitating. If you are interested but feel that you don’t have sufficient skills in teaching, we will provide training to equip you in effectively ministering to internationals.
The KWM Committee will take a pause in its regular monthly meetings this summer. But this doesn’t mean that mission engagements will pause as well! The Committee will now start receiving and reviewing the application forms for mission support based on the new Strategic Missions Framework. The next quarterly Missionary Gathering will also take on the last week of August. We invite you to join in mission prayer and fellowship. Stay tuned for more details!
