COUNCIL

COMMITTEE REPORTS for the January Meeting of Council

Pastoral Care Ministry

Number of Hours:  48

Number of Visits: 29 

Number of Phone Calls/Emails: 20

Number of Meetings:  2

December Blessings and Sorrows

Visits included the following situations and spiritual/pastoral issues:

• Learning about the careers and families of congregational members

• The support of members in my ministry

• The encouragement and support of M & P

• Listening to the faith journeys of members and their experiences at other churches

• The joy of getting together with family during the holiday season

• Singing carols with Residents in LTC

• Attending the Richmond Woods Service with Joshua

• Chronic pain

• Slowness in healing

• The arduous journey of dementia and the worry of caregivers

• The pain of psychological breakdown and struggles to survive in the community

• The myriad of issues found in the aging process

• Broken relationships

• Cancer diagnoses

• Losing family members​

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Staff Report

Prepared by:

Rev. Dr. Joshua Lawrence

            As all will most likely attest, December was quite busy. Apart from the usual extra services/events, we collectively said our goodbyes to a saint of FSA: John Janes Eberhard. We also provided additional care and support for the Eberhard family and many others that have sought connection and nurture with us. That said, I enter 2025 both grateful and excited about what we have done and what we will do in the coming year.

            Presently, we are figuring out ways to consistently meet at least once per month. To be clear, we all meet several times per week, informally and rarely all at once. The return to greater consistency of in-person team meetings should help us to remain on the same page. Our first of 2025 is Tuesday, January 21st, at 11 a.m. Present will be Kathryn Skelly, Chris Fischer, Annie Jannaway, and myself. Christina Lindsay remains in a position of having to juggle a full-time workload at another job, in addition to her responsibilities as Children’s Program Coordinator at FSA. She tries to be present whenever possible.

            One item that remains a work in progress is the scheduling process, since we have so many groups in rental agreements with FSA. While we are grateful for the potential partnerships as well as the revenue it brings, we are ever mindful of the difficulties it poses as it concerns the more organic, spontaneous meetings/events that sometimes occur in any organization.

            Though the Lenten season is later this year, Chris Fischer and I have built out a theme and opportunity for collaboration in a Good Friday Service this year. We are sending out invitations to the Woodfield United Churches (Metropolitan, Colborne, and Dundas St.) in the next day or so. In keeping with our desire for greater partnerships, Chris Fischer has both special guests and music for the month of February, which personally has me very excited for our worship services.

            A collective effort, Treblemakers remains both a joy and major responsibility, since the numbers have grown a bit. Also, some of the kids needing additional supports to be fully present for the program. Over the next several months, the programming staff hope to figure out a smoother way to address needs and not burn individuals out, whose efforts are already herculean.

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Outreach Report

• The Knowles Fund was discussed.  $3500 will be disbursed to Ark Aid  and ELUCO early in 2025 because both of these social service agencies are in dire need of funds.  We were sorry to hear that Nancy Howard’s hours have been reduced to half time as a result of funding shortfall. 

• Over $300 from the Christmas Eve Service was sent to Indwell

• We are planning an M&S Sunday.

• There was discussion about the future of the White Squirrel Golf Tournament after 18 years.  There were not  many golfers last year and we are lacking planning personnel to carry this forward.

• A 4th member of our Afghani family arrived.  They are anxious for their parents to join them.

• Pat Pettit will replace Barb Dalrymple as a Council rep.  Jan Hendry will continue to share this position with Pat.

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