The Uxbridge Poverty Coalition was formed last June when St. Paul’s incumbent, the Rev. Canon Mark Kinghan, Beverly Northeast of the Salvation Army, and Mona Emond, executive director of North House, invited local residents to examine the issue of poverty in the community. North House, which provides a range of housing supports in the townships of Brock, Uxbridge and Scugog, is one of the diocese’s FaithWorks ministry partners.

“We wanted to invite people to see what poverty looks like in Uxbridge, and dispel some of the myths around it,” said Canon Kinghan, noting that Uxbridge is a relatively affluent town where it is easy to think of poverty and homelessness as an urban problem. “What homelessness looks like here is someone sleeping on a friend’s couch, or a family with kids moving into a grandparent’s apartment and trying to make ends meet between Ontario Works and the grandparent’s pension.”

Jessica Barbuto, a community outreach and housing support worker with North House, developed the three-hour exercise based on a similar “Homeless Maze” activity in Oshawa. Participants met upstairs in the church to be assigned the scenario of a particular person living in poverty, each with a checklist of needs related to that individual scenario. They then went down to the basement, where representatives of different organizations, including North House, the local Ontario Works office, the Boys and Girls Club, and the local food bank, were stationed at tables around the parish hall. Each participant had to visit the tables to obtain the supports listed on their checklists. Sometimes, after standing in line waiting to reach one table, participants would be directed to another agency – and have to wait in its line – to obtain another service (such as ID) before coming back to the original table. When the exercise closed, some people were still standing in line.

“The whole point of the exercise is to make you frustrated at the process,” says Ms. Emond, noting that in real life, the “maze” is complicated by the distance between the service organizations, the lack of public transportation options in the region, and limited accessibility. She would like to hold a Poverty Maze in the summer that would actually involve going between the offices of the various agencies, but noted it would take much longer than three hours.

The exercise concluded with a debriefing session back in the church nave, during which participants related their sense of frustration as well as the anxiety and indignity they felt waiting in line and sharing their story over and over. For some, it hit close to home – making them realize that in only slightly different circumstances, they could find themselves in a situation much like the scenario they played out.

In addition to building empathy on the part of local residents, politicians, media and police, Ms. Emond remarked that the Poverty Maze was valuable in bringing the various support organizations together. “Some organizations didn’t have a clear idea of the services and supports available from other agencies before this exercise. The networking and connections formed through participating in the Maze create a synergy that will help us make better referrals and work together as part of a bigger team.”

She wants to build coalitions in the other communities served by North House, and to introduce the Poverty Maze there as well. The first meeting of the Scugog Poverty Coalition was scheduled for Feb. 12 at Church of the Ascension, Port Perry.

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The festival evolved from a friendly cricket encounter in 2016 between St. Thomas a Becket, Erin Mills South and St. Peter, Erindale. It is now one of the most fun and engaging community events on the diocesan calendar. Last year’s gathering, attended by Bishop Jenny Andison and Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, saw nine Anglican churches fielding 10 teams. At the recent Bishop’s Levee at St. James Cathedral, Bishop Andison highlighted the importance of community engagement events such as this in letting our light shine and works glorify.

With more than half of the GTA’s population born outside of Canada, the importance of globally popular sports such as cricket has been recognized by policy makers in schools and municipalities. The annual cricket festival was built with the objective of providing opportunities for Anglicans from the GTA’s diverse communities to get to know each other as a church community and build relationships, enjoy food, fun and good Christian fellowship. There are opportunities for women, men, children from all ages, seasoned cricket players as well as absolute beginners as festival uses modified rules with the objective of giving all players a chance to bowl, bat and field.

The following churches took part in last year’s event: St. Thomas a Becket, Erin Mills South, St. Peter, Erindale, Trinity Church, Streetsville, Holy Family, Heart Lake in Brampton, St. Joseph of Nazareth, Bramalea, St. James the Apostle, Brampton, St. Jude, Brampton, Christ Church, Brampton and St Bede, Scarborough.

Ranil Mendis, ODT, is a member of the Anglican Church Cricket Festival Committee. If you are interested in playing as an individual or as a team, email him at rmendis1@gmail.com.

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People are encouraged to bring their broken items from home, and volunteers with expertise will be on hand to repair them. Anything broken is welcome, including toasters, lamps, hair dryers, clothes, bikes, toys and crockery.

St. John’s and PHFTF hope the event will help reduce waste. “We throw away piles of stuff in Canada, even things that practically have nothing wrong with them and could easily be used again after a simple repair,” says Penny Nutbrown, the church’s Sunday School teacher and organizer of the event. “Unfortunately, many people have forgotten that they can have things repaired. Repair Café wants to change all that.”

Repair Café is also meant to put neighbours in touch with each other and to discover that know-how and practical skills can be found close to home, she says. “If you repair a bike or a pair of trousers with an unfamiliar neighbour, you look at that person in a different light the next time you run into them on the street. Jointly making repairs can lead to pleasant contacts in the neighborhood.” Repairs can save money and resources and can help minimize CO2 emissions, she adds.

The Repair Café concept arose in the Netherlands in 2009. The Repair Café Foundation provides support to local groups around the world wishing to start their own Repair Café. The foundation also supports the Repair Café in Port Hope.

St. John’s and PHFTF have high hopes for the first Repair Café in Northumberland County. If all goes well, it may become a seasonal event. The event on Feb. 22 is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will be held at St. John’s parish hall, 33 Pine St., Port Hope.

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In May, 2019, our iconic mission building in the Port of Toronto was demolished to make way for a service road to the Cinespace/Netflix studios at the former Warehouse 51 building. In October, we were able to lease new space at Warehouse 52, and we can move in once the flooring has been replaced – but don’t ask me how long I’ve been waiting!

This year will see some big changes at Toronto’s port. There will be more cargo ships coming to Pier 51. The usual complement of “sugar ships” will begin arriving at Redpath’s “Sugar Dock” in early April. We continue to need Ship Visitor Volunteers at both Pier 51 and the Sugar Dock. For those interested, there are online courses and on-site training available. The most important thing to know about being a Ship Visitor Volunteer is that you have to be able to climb up a three- or four-storey gangway (staircase) between the dock and the deck!

If you aren’t able to climb the heights, there is another option. Great Lakes Cruising has caught the attention of Royal Viking, whose two passenger ships will be dedicated to the lakes and will begin sailing in 2021. In the meantime, there will be more cruise ships in and out of Toronto this year, beginning in May. While we are often limited by security reasons from boarding the cruise ships, we will begin operating a “stationary station” at the end of the gangway this spring to assist the ships’ crews. This is a role for volunteers who are unable to climb a gangway but might be available, with a vehicle, to help a crew member get some quick shopping done. The turnaround for cruise ships can be just a few hours and their crews have a very limited amount of time to get a lot done. This is a ministry of presence, which is a very important role for us.

In the Port of Oshawa, we have a dedicated group of volunteers at our Terry Finlay Seafarers Centre. They are knowledgable and hard working and continue to humble me whenever we get together. We are hoping to add to our complement of volunteers this spring and summer. They help in so many ways, including visiting the ships, keeping the station open in the afternoons and evenings, and driving seafarers into town. Unlike Toronto, whose docks are located downtown, Oshawa’s port is isolated from the town itself, so our volunteers spend a lot of time driving the incoming seafarers to the local shopping malls for groceries, to exchange money, and for general shopping.

Of course, just to be able to talk to someone is often what the seafarers need the most, to get help and support. Being good listeners is often the best role we play.

 To volunteer for the mission in either Toronto or Oshawa, contact the Rev. Judith Altree at glutenfreepriest@me.com. The Mission to Seafarers Southern Ontario also operates in Hamilton

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Indigenous activist Cathy Tsong Deh Kwe is part of the Giwaabamin Street Patrol, which means “I see you” in Anishnabemowin. She reminded attendees of the importance of truly seeing the person in need when they notice a homeless person on the street. As we remember each person who has died, may our eyes also be opened to see those who are still alive and in need of shelter, support, and love, she said.

After the memorial, participants, led by street nurse Cathy Crowe, marched to City Hall where they read the full list of 1,000 names and presented a petition signed more than 25,000 people urging the city to create 2,000 shelter beds and prioritize affordable housing. Participants then staged a “die-in” in front of the mayor’s office, among 1,000 cut-outs representing each homeless life lost.

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Flemingdon Park Ministry (FPM) is a Canon 29 ministry of the Diocese of Toronto. We are a boots-on-the-ground gospel mission in one of Toronto’s most diverse neighbourhoods, and we live out the promises made in our baptism in a tangible way. We serve and love all of God’s people, we clothe the naked and feed the hungry, and we seek justice and the well-being of all of God’s people and God’s creation in all we do.

As ED, my primary responsibilities are visioning and program planning, human resources and offering leadership to our small staff team, fundraising and grant writing, as well as pastoral and spiritual care. Despite the fact that each of the seven staff members have various roles, we truly operate as a team. Each of us will pitch in as needed and I would never ask the staff to do something that I myself would not do. I keep rubber shoes under my desk so when the toilet gets plugged and overflows, as it always does in an old building open to the public, I go in and clean up. It’s all part of what is in our ordination vows – “and to carry out other duties as assigned.”

FPM’s mission is to fight food insecurity and the barriers of social isolation, and we do that through various projects and programs. We have some new programming for seniors and others for health and wellness that will bring people together and out of the isolation of their apartments. But I am most excited for our urban farm and market project, The Common Table. It launched in 2017 and in 2019 we became a fully functioning urban farm with over 32 beds, producing almost 3,000kg of fresh vegetables. This year we are launching The Common Table Learning Hub. We will be offering new programs as well as a couple of weeks of kids’ camp, all geared around urban farming, ways to grow your own food, nutrition, and maybe even a little cooking.  There will also be new discipleship opportunities as we explore the themes of growing, planting and feeding in the scriptures.

Another exciting endeavour we are undertaking at FPM is providing leadership and oversight of the community gardens in Flemingdon Park. The city wanted to plow the 72 plots under because they were becoming unmanageable and unkempt. We were able to convince the city to give us a shot and the garden plots were saved. These urban farmers will be able to continue to grow their own food! We are currently putting together a resident-led steering committee, but FPM will continue to walk alongside the residents to offer help in grant applications, administrative work and conflict resolution. But the farmers will self-govern. Very exciting!

The best part of my job is the people. People from all over the world walk through our doors – refugees, new immigrants, asylum seekers and folks who have lived here for generations. We hear their stories and learn first-hand what is happening beyond our Canadian borders. Our community is made up of Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Atheists, and Agnostics, just to name a few. We strive to find our common ground and not dwell on our differences. One Muslim brother described Jesus as “the soul of God” and to me, that’s simply beautiful and ever so close to incarnation. This too is the best part of my job at FPM.

The hardest part of my job is dealing with hurt and fear. When Islamophobia rears its ugly head, especially after some event that has hit the news, the people here hurt. They are afraid. They isolate themselves further. This is why we strive for our common ground when it comes to faith and remind our friends and neighbours that we are all God’s children. We are all made in God’s image. We want people to know that they are loved and that they gain a sense of hope and belonging.

I came to FPM in 2016. My prayer was to serve a community where I would get my hands dirty as we lived out our gospel call. I had no idea that it would lead me to literally getting my hands dirty in farm work, but it has truly been a blessing to serve here. And this is what keeps me here.  How we live out our baptismal promises and my call to service in my ordination is grounding and tangible. Many of my Sundays are spent preaching at different churches and I do miss being part of a regular worshipping community, but I’m hoping to find a home base very soon.

I have lived and worked around the GTA my whole life. I was raised in the Pentecostal Church but began worshipping in an Anglican church when I was about to be married in 1990. This is where I first learned of God’s unconditional love. From the pulpit of an Anglican church, I first heard of God’s unconditional love for me. I was blown away. I had always thought I had to be perfect and to earn God’s love but there it was. God loved me with all of my faults and foibles. In 2006, I was ordained a priest and have served in the Diocese of Toronto since that day. The journey between the years of 1990 and 2006 is a very long story but one filled with joy, uncertainty as well as affirmation as I discerned the call to ordained ministry. I am so very grateful to mentors and friends who walked alongside me during that time.

Without sounding too pious and uber-spiritual, five years from now I hope to still be serving in a capacity in which God has called me. As far as FPM goes, when I do leave this posting, I hope to leave a thriving mission that is financially sound with a solid and hopeful future that the next director can just take, put their own mark on it and make it soar. FPM is a beacon of God’s light and I am confident that the next director will make it shine even brighter.

My favourite passage (from scripture) by far is John 4 and the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. The story is so layered with cultural and gender divides and yet Jesus breaks through all of that and speaks directly to the heart of the woman. He shouldn’t have been there talking to a woman, and she was only there at that time of day because she was an outcast in her community. She was a sinner. She was “one of those women” and yet Jesus tells her exactly who he is! It’s an amazing story. Here the outcast of her community becomes the evangelist. Jesus redeems her reputation with her community but more than that…he redeems her very being. I just love it.

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Attending the Christmas Lessons and Carols service at a nearby parish on the last Sunday of Advent is a tradition my daughters and I have had for many years. This year, as always, I made sure I set out with my offering ready to be put on the plate.

But as we walked to the church, I realized that, for many of those years, my offering had been the same: twenty dollars. There is inflation every year and my income had increased, but I was still “stuck” on twenty dollars. One crisp bill. Simple. Straightforward. Convenient.

On our way, we passed a bank machine. I decided to stop and withdraw some cash. And when it came time for passing the plate, I offered more than my usual amount. My annual Lessons and Carols offering had become “unstuck.”

“Sticky numbers” is the topic of this guest column on stewardship – the suggestion being that sometimes in our charitable donations we get “stuck” at a certain amount, even when our circumstances have changed.

Cash donations are prone to getting stuck. Whether it’s a ten, a twenty, a fifty or even a hundred- dollar bill, it is easy to get into the habit or not to go to the trouble of adding a second bill, or some loonies and toonies. For years, I gave twenty dollars at Lessons and Carols. Period. But the Bank of Inflation calculator (a very useful website!) tells me that, with inflation, that twenty dollars should be more like twenty-five dollars now.

And the same holds true for pre-authorized givings. Most parishes encourage their donors to use pre-authorized giving because it is more convenient and efficient, and also because it assures a steady stream of income, even when folks are not in the pews. This is all well and good. But it is easy for the amount of our monthly donation to get stuck and not take into account inflation or any change in our circumstances.

Even a “status quo” parish budget is going to increase year over year. The Diocese of Toronto encourages parishes, as good employers, to increase compensation for clergy and lay employees each year by at least the cost of living. Utility bills, maintenance costs, repairs – all these costs creep up, and if our offerings to support our parish’s ministries get “stuck,” it becomes harder for parishes to make ends meet. And if a parish is looking to step up its ministry, “stuck” givings make it even more of a challenge.

How can we “unstick” our givings?

Awareness is the first step – asking ourselves if we have reconsidered our charitable-giving level recently and adjusted it according to changes in our income. (And, yes, there are times when income may decrease, and we need to consider reducing our givings.)

For parishes that use pre-authorized giving (which is, hopefully, every parish!), making it easy and efficient for donors to change their givings is key. Why not send out an email with a link to a form every December or in early January? The more complicated the process of changing the monthly amount, the less likely it is that a donor will respond. Similarly, a thank-you letter to donors who use envelopes and an invitation for them to consider their pledge for the upcoming year is a way to discourage sticky numbers.

And cash. We increasingly live in a cashless society. Visitors, prospective newcomers and occasional parishioners are less and less likely to carry cash with them when they come to church. Some parishes are now offering alternatives – the capacity for on-site credit card donations, a link to Canada Helps, even a custom-designed app for giving. All these strategies make it easier for donors to choose the appropriate amount of a gift.

I’m glad there was a bank machine between my house and those lessons and carols. It felt good to get “unstuck.”

The Rev. Canon David Harrison was invited to write this column by The Steward’s regular columnist, Peter Misiaszek, the diocese’s director of Stewardship Development.

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The latest set of demographic statistics for the Anglican Church of Canada have recently been issued, including the projection that the last Canadian Anglican will turn out the lights in 2040. With that projection, some feel it is now time to turn down the sheets and plump the pillows of the deathbed.

I am not going to spend time here unpacking these statistics in detail, nor argue that the numbers presented should not cause serious concern or grief. I firmly believe that the Anglican tradition is a theologically robust and personally life-giving vehicle for historic Christianity and that its death would represent a significant loss for the Body of Christ and its witness here in Canada. In this season of Lent, I am neither optimistic nor pessimistic, as I believe Christians have a sacred obligation to adopt a posture of hope towards the future; and in light of that posture of hope, I offer some observations.

What concerns me most urgently, as a bishop, is spiritual growth, or what we used to call sanctification. Are people growing in devotion to Jesus? Are their lives increasingly marked by holiness, prayer and sacrifice? Of course, such things cannot be plotted on a graph, yet we must acknowledge that if someone is maturing in their Christian faith, it will naturally lead to loving, culturally sensitive and effective evangelism. In my own experience of parish ministry, when the piety of a congregation was being intentionally challenged and nourished, numerical growth usually followed.

Second, the Christian Church has always been one generation away from extinction, and so each generation (with ours being no different) needs to ask itself afresh, “How are we going to share, with people who have never heard it – starting with our own children and grandchildren – the good news that we have come to know in Jesus Christ?” We have been in a catechetical crisis in our Church for several generations now, and the chickens have come home to roost. And so there has never been a more critical time to be equipping Christian parents to form living faith at home with their children, and for clergy to take the lead in creating opportunities for lay people to be deeply discipled – either through ready-made programs, one-on-one discipleship, rules of life, or small group ministry.

Third, we need a revival in our prayer lives, both personally and in our parishes. Even a cursory glance through Church history will reveal the key role that prayer has played in bringing about revival and renewal in different generations. Prayer is not a program, it costs nothing in the parish budget, and the new believer and seasoned veteran alike may enthusiastically participate. If every ounce of energy that we (myself included) spend fretting about institutional decline was spent instead on our knees, I wonder where we would find ourselves.

Fourth, we must keep an eye on vocations to the religious life, the diaconate and the priesthood. Whenever I have the privilege of officiating at an ordination, I remind the congregation that this ordination is a sign of hope for the Church. For as long as our Heavenly Father keeps raising up faithful women and men to serve in the Church, then God still has work for our branch of the catholic Church to accomplish. There may come a time when God no longer chooses to use the Anglican Church of Canada for God’s glory and purposes, but until and unless there are no more ordinations, that time is not upon us. We must be intentional in encouraging a diverse range of people in our parishes to consider such a vocation.

And finally, there are gifts hidden in the decline, if we have eyes to see them. As resources become scarcer, we are being pushed into local and national ecumenical collaboration and dialogue in a fresh way. Surely this delights God. If our own numerical decline means that we decide to get serious about reclaiming our apostolic calling to be missionaries to our culture and encourage church planting, fresh expressions of church, and reshaping our parishes for mission, then it’s about time. If these statistics light a fire under us to keep re-imagining ministry in our neighborhoods in fresh and creative ways beyond the traditional parish model, then excellent. And if the decline means that we are more ready to acknowledge our own sinfulness (personally and institutionally) and come to God in great humility and repentance, asking to be led forward by the Holy Spirit, then bring on the bracing statistics!

While our diocese will presumably (not discounting the possibility of God bringing revival) be smaller in the coming years, if we are smaller but better formed in the “faith which was once delivered” (Jude 3) then we can still be used for God’s transforming purposes for many generations to come. Small, diverse and well-discipled congregations may well lead the renewal of the Anglican Church that my grandchildren, God willing, could be a part of.

While the reports of our death may be premature and exaggerated, our calling remains exactly the same: to proclaim the good news of Easter in season and out, to the glory of God.

Adapted from an article by Bishop Andison published in The Living Church in December 2019.

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In Year A of our liturgical rhythm, these are the characters that accompany us through the season of Lent. Their encounters with Jesus are a foretaste of what is to come on Easter Day. And these encounters would surely challenge their understanding of life, of themselves and of God. Questions like, who am I now, where am I going, what is my purpose, must have bubbled to the surface in these moments of change. We too ask these questions when striving to understand our place, our call, our vocation in this life.

We have four children in university and one in Grade 10. The number of occupants in our home expands and contracts throughout the year. At Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter and during summer vacation, the number of pairs of shoes at the front door grows, as does the grocery bill. During the school term, it’s nice and quiet. We enjoy both times of plenty and times of calm. Our children are not only attending to scholastics, expanding their horizons, learning to live away from home – they are also striving to discover their own place, purpose and vocations.

When I was their age, I didn’t have a clear idea of what I wanted to do when I grew up. I had an inkling in about Grade 7 that priesthood might be for me, but that’s not something you talk about with your friends at that age. I kept it close. In Grade 12, we filled out a career aptitude test that would make recommendations for occupations to pursue. My classmates received recommendations to be lawyers, doctors, nuclear physicists, politicians and teachers. Me, I was told to consider being a bricklayer or a tugboat captain. What? That didn’t make much sense to me. Not to say that there is something wrong with being a bricklayer or a tugboat captain – these are worthy occupations. It’s just that to that point in my life I had spent no time in construction and barely a moment in a boat.

I went off to university to study biology because it was my highest mark in high school. I loved the sciences and imagined that by doing more in-depth education, something would stick. By third year, I knew that biology and chemistry, while interesting to me, were not my passions. All my friends were falling in love with their courses and finding their way, and I was losing mine. I tried environmental studies, economics, political science and even French history.

The turning point came through listening. I listened to friends and family who knew me well. I listened to my heart, my hunger, and I listened for God. By third year of my undergrad, I was praying again, a practice that I had left behind when I had left home. On a very cold winter night, I looked out my bedroom window upon the snowy and windswept field that reflected the state of my soul, and I prayed… Loving God, I have no idea what I am supposed to do, please, please, please…help me. That was a turning point for me. Through a series of serendipitous moments, I found myself going back to the idea of ordained ministry. This is the calling that makes my heart sing.

When I think about it now, that high school aptitude test did get it right. I spend much of my ministry tugging, pulling and guiding the Church that I serve to find secure passage, open water and safe harbour, like a tugboat captain. Laying down visions and dreams, mixing the mortar with prayer and faith to bind, to strengthen and build the Kingdom of God day after day after day, like a bricklayer, fills me with hope.

Jesus chose fishers and tax collectors, carpenters and tentmakers. He moved Nicodemus, the woman from Samaria, the man born blind and Lazarus to a deeper life of faith. And Jesus calls you and me through our baptism to use the gifts that God has given us to make more than a living. We are called to bring life to others, no matter what our vocation.

You may be one like many others wrestling with the idea of ordained ministry. Listen. Listen to your heart, listen to your hunger. Listen to those who know you well. Listen for God.

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