ST MATTHEW’S ANGLICAN CHURCH

ANNUAL REPORTS FOR 2008

February 1, 2009

Table of Contents

St. Matthew’s Reports

1. Rectors’ and Wardens’

2. Financial

3. Reconfiguring Committee

4. Altar Guild and Flower Fund

5. Sunday School

6. Music

7. Crossed Hands Refugee Committee

8. Community Based Language Training

9. St. Matthew’s Maryland Community Ministry

Our scripture is full of people on the move: Abraham leaving his homeland and living as a "wandering Aramean;" the Hebrew people journeying for 40 years in the wilderness as they were shaped into the people of God ready for the promised land; Jesus wandering, teaching, healing, sharing the good news in Galilee and Judah; and finally, Paul proclaiming the resurrected Christ in towns throughout the Roman Empire. St.Matthew’s is clearly on a journey and like every journey we know our starting place but are unclear on its ending place. We can only thrive in such ambiguity if God is our compass. Maintaining our spiritual centre becomes more critical than the details of the journey itself. I believe that God is shaping us to be ready for a future here in West Central Winnipeg, yet the shape of that presence is not yet clearly defined. It is an exciting, challenging, faith filled time for St.Matthew’s. I am thankful for the assurance of God’s leadership.

Worship is at the heart of our community life. This year we have had the gift of wonderful lay preaching: Gail Schnabl, Meagan Peasgood, David Ball, Catharine Johannson, Bob Clarkson; and a team offering prayers for healing 1^st and 3^rd Sundays of every month. Our teams of readers, intercessors, eucharistic administrators, lay leaders, and hospitality hosts make our worship truly the work of whole community. It was a gift to welcome our National Indigenous Bishop: Mark MacDonald to our parish. Gordon Jackson produced two chancel dramas: in the spring ~ The Rag Man; and in the fall: Thanksgiving. Our new Lenten Banners were a welcome addition, thanks to Ellen Cook and David Ball. Thanks to Carla Chandler and a sewing morning, the choir has new two-sided choir stoles. Our morning services have been brightened by the leadership of our younger parishioners the first Sunday of each month.

In addition to our regular morning services, St.Matthew’s hosts an ongoing Centering Prayer Circle every Wednesday late afternoon. The Reverend Honor Waithe coordinated a Healing Service Sunday evening June 22nd and this fall David Ball helped to offer a parish quiet evening retreat with prayers, the labyrinth, and a simple supper. In the spring St.Matthew’s also continued the series of Norman Habel’s "Song of Creation" liturgies for each of 4 months. Although the liturgies required quite a bit of preparation, the evenings were rich with meaning and fellowship.

Program:

The parish engaged in a six-part series of parish consultations around reconfiguring our church and our Saturday exploration of other worship spaces. In addition, St.Matthew’s hosted two successful inter-parish evening workshops around the Winnipeg Art Gallery’s exhibition of the St.John’s Bible Project. In the fall, we had two Circles of Understanding: one on "Hunger in Haiti" that was a collaboration with visiting Haitian guests of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank; and the second on "the Healing and Reconciliation Process – Nationally and Locally." During Lent, the Wednesday Bible Study studied Rowan William’s "The Dwelling of the Light: Praying with Icons of Christ;" and Gordon Jackson and Rob Walker hosted an excellent 5 part film series Wednesday evenings. Our church year finished with our biannual focus on stewardship.

St.Matthew’s hosted a fall Pancake Brunch, a June picnic for the Sunday School after our McGee garden service, and a neighbourhood Christmas turkey feast. Each event allowed us to get to know each other and our neighbourhood better. We were delighted to welcome Professor Chris Holmes as a ministry student placement at St.Matthew’s. It has also been a gift to support two of our parishioners: Gwen McAllister and Rob Walker, in their discernment process for ordination. It is a great opportunity to be part of raising up and shaping leaders in our church.

An important part of St.Matthew’s ministry is to be part of the life transitions of its members and friends. St.Matthew’s celebrated 8 baptisms, 5 of which were from one extended family: Gabrielle McKay; Mitchel Sainnawap-Pulido; and Rachel Cook Pilipchuk, and from the Henderson family: Ian Greene; brothers: Jacoby Greene and Andre Henderson; and twin sisters: Alexis and Alannah Henderson. Bishop Don Phillips confirmed Akech Mayuom; Quyen Tran, Rob Kristjansson, Elizabeth Atem on June 1^st. St.Matthew’s participated in 3 weddings: Darren Redhead and Rita Parenteau; Josh Wiens and Mya Wheeler; Chris Taylor and Kelly Dolphin. Along with these celebrations of new life and relationship, we also supported the family and friends of Frances Mobsby, Hilda Miles, Anna Farkas, Patrick Dunn, Anne Peeling, and Joyce McLetchie in their final good-byes, as well as at a anniversary memorial for Keithly Williams.

Partnerships:

Much of St.Matthew’s mission and ministry is accomplished with partners. Developing and sustaining those partnerships adds tremendously to the richness of our community.

• Our partnership with Grain of Wheat is growing over time through shared worship [twice a year] and shared projects like our Christmas Feast.
• Our partnership with Emmanuel Mission offers us a way to be in relationship with newcomers to Canada from Sudan. In addition to opportunities to share worship, St.Matthew’s supported the processes required to secure the Reverend Rueben Garang’s 2 year leave of absence. It was with real pleasure and gratitude that we welcomed the Reverend July Ayuen as the non-stipendary priest for Emmanuel Mission. May 14^th was a day to celebrate Abraham Monybuny Chuol’s ordination to the vocational diaconate. Cathy was delighted to be the Cathedral preacher on that occasion. Finally, our relationships with Emmanuel Mission were significantly deepened and expanded over the course of a two week Vacation Bible School this summer with the girls and boys of the Mission. St.George’s Crescentwood provided the necessary funds and the Diocese provided the program and leader. St.Matthew’s organized the food, supplies and volunteers: both programmatic and drivers.
• Our partnership with the Centre for Christian Studies continued as St.Matthew’s hosted the Spring learning circle and their annual service of celebration. It is a gift to participate in the Centre’s programs and to support their students.
• Finally, in partnership with both St.Matthew’s Maryland Community Ministry and the West Central Community Program, 4 of the garbage bins on McGee were painted and stenciled.

Cathy’s ministry beyond St.Matthew’s:

On behalf of St.Matthew’s, Cathy has participated in a variety of committees and speaking/teaching engagements. Within 641 St.Matthew’s, she sits on the boards of St.Matthew’s Maryland Community Ministry and the West Central Community Program. With the Diocese, she serves on the Diocesan Discernment Group on Ordained Ministry, the Clergy Development committee, a committee to plan a forum on the formation of leadership for the diocese, and is regional dean for Winnipeg Central. She participates on the Justice and Peace Committee and in the Clergy Book Study. Over the past year, she offered prayers at the 25^th anniversary celebrations of both Lion’s Place and of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. She was a speaker at 4 conferences: "Take & Eat" at Providence College; Kings University College in Edmonton; Manitoba Food Charter’s "Growing Local" conference and an Anglican Fellowship of Prayer "Prayer in Action" Conference here in Winnipeg. She co-facilitated a Centre for Christian Studies’ retreat week: "Sturdy Hope" in Toronto with Ted Dodd, and presented a day long workshop on "Faith as if Food Matters" for the Episcopal Church at Cornell and a seminar at the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University in Ithaca New York. It was an active, stimulating and diverse set of commitments that both enriches and stretches the ministry at St.Matthew’s.

None of this would be possible without the wardens, vestry, volunteers and tremendous support of Brenda McKenzie, Sam Taylor, David Matiop, and Suss. St.Matthew’s is an extraordinary community. It is, in Martin Luther King’s sense, "a beloved community." God has blessed us richly in our journey.

Although we had conditional approval of our Proposal Development Funding (PDF) application from Manitoba Housing and Renewal Corporation in the fall of 2007, it took until February 2008 for the funds to be released. We were unable to continue to use the services of the lawyer who helped us to accomplish this: Gregory Martin, as his fees were too high.

Cohlmeyer Architects Ltd. were hired to create the design for the redevelopment of the sanctuary and upper floors of St. Matthew’s to include affordable housing and dedicated worship and gathering space for the parish. The design of the residential and parish components proceeded from separate but complementary contracts.

The parish planning process for our new space included 6 parish consultations with the architects [Steve Cohlmeyer and Lindsay Oster]: December 2, 2007, January 13, February 10, March 9, April 6 and June 10, 2008. Five of the consultations were held after service on Sunday for maximum participation and the sixth was an all parish circle over supper held instead of our June vestry meeting. In addition, on Saturday March 29^th a small group of parishioners [7, 8] toured three other churches to learn about their space: Precious Blood Catholic Church; Crossways in Common and First Lutheran Church. Twenty one parishioners attended the June 10^th consultation. At that meeting, nineteen people filled out evaluation forms and all 19 responded ‘yes’ to "do you think we should continue in the overall direction we are moving in [housing, church & plaza]." There were no negative responses. Seventeen voted to strike a fundraising committee and begin to work on a plan to raise $450,000 for the church and plaza. There were questions raised about the timing of an "official congregational meeting" and concerns about assuming a mortgage of any significant size. The artist’s rendering of the concept developed is attached.

While the architects were doing the necessary building code analyses, engineer consultations, unit design and a quantity cost survey, a committee was struck of St. Matthew’s and Grain of Wheat people interested in visioning and overseeing the management of the completed residential complex. A summary of their work is attached. Because of a variety of personnel changes at the architectural firm, a draft of the final report of the project was delayed and only presented in September. The estimated construction cost of the project [18 residential units; atrium and church space] was $5.2 million [with additional soft costs]. Of that $1.6 million of the total costs were assigned to the church. Because this was felt to be well beyond anything financially feasible or sensible, the architects agreed to look at the building and financial implications of removing a dedicated worship space entirely from the plans. Without a dedicated church space, 8 more 2 bedroom units could be added without significant change in the total cost of the project. Yet this change would provide more capital and operating income for the project. In November, Cohlmeyer Architecture Ltd submitted their "Design Development and Technical Review Report" with supplemental reports from Arencon Inc on code compliance and a Class C Estimate of construction costs by Hanscomb Ltd. Marty Maykut of StreetSide Development Corp; Gerry Dyck of Capstone Construction Ltd; and Gerry Humphreys of Milestone Project Management were then consulted for their opinions on whether there were other ways to approach the project that would lower the construction cost to make it more feasible but not compromise the integrity of the project. Marty Maykut thought the cost projections realistic. Gerry Dyck could see some opportunities for cost savings. Gerry Humphreys is currently in discussion with the architects to identify construction alternatives that might make the project financially feasible.

At year’s end,

1. The project as currently designed is not financially feasible.
2. Alternate approaches are being explored.
3. St. Matthew’s remains committed to dedicated worship space in 641 St. Matthews, but it is clear that this will need to be considerably more modest in scope than in the original design.
4. St. Matthew’s recognizes that even if the ownership and management of 641 St. Matthews is shared with St. Matthew’s Non-profit Housing Corporation, it will continue to own and manage the lower level.
5. As soon as a financially feasible and responsible business plan can be developed, the congregation and Diocese of Rupert’s Land will be asked for its formal permission to proceed.

This work is the result of many dedicated volunteers, including: Bob Clarkson, Caryn Douglas, Roger Gateson, Marvin Hamm, Don Miedema, Ken Murdoch, Ingrid Peters Derry, Gail Schnabl, Tony Schweitzer, Helmut Epp, Catharine Johannsson, Peggy Abbott, Kerry Callan, Noelle Campbell, Rob Kristjansson, Carla Chandler and Melanie Unrau; with professional advice offered by Tim Krahn and Peter Kidd on geothermal possibilities, and Derrick Maclean on fund raising. This collective effort represents a tremendous asset for the project and indirectly a sign of the good will and interest that there is for this project.

Respectfully submitted: Bob Clarkson, Gail Schnabl and Cathy Campbell

The Altar Guild consists of 7 dedicated ladies of St. Matthew’s Church. The members of the Guild have a very good working relationship. Mary Dent is responsible for purchasing supplies and is willing to help out wherever help is needed. Pat Boyd takes care of the laundering of the linens making sure that clean linen is always available for all occasions. Lynne Corbin, Lorna Howell, Gwen McAllister, Catharine Johannson and Beryl Taylor prepares the Altar for Sunday services, and cleaning up after, special thanks to Bob Clarkson, John Clarkson, Mervin Corbin and Sam Taylor for all their help with the heavy lifting and decorating the church for special services.

Pat Boyd is also responsible for the flowers that are placed on the altar every Sunday in memory of loved ones. The names appear in the bulletin and are included in our Sunday service intercessions. Pat keeps in touch with the donors by phone and mail. Currently there are 30 donors. If you would like to participate in the Flower Donor Fund, please speak to Pat Boyd.

The Guild would like to offer thanks to our Rector, Cathy Campbell for all her help, leadership and commitment.

Respectfully Submitted,

Beryl Taylor and

Pat Boyd, FDF Coordinator.

For the late winter and spring sessions of Sunday School, we continued to use the "Piece by Piece" curriculum, written by an Anglican lay leader from Ontario who teaches in the school system there. It does not follow the lectionary, but is based on themes that are 5 or 6 weeks in length. One of the highlights of the spring was our Seder meal, where we were able to look at Jesus’s last supper and the traditions that come from our Jewish history.

We had a wonderful group of children whose numbers could range from 4 or 5 to 15. And we were blessed with a wonderful group of teachers including Peggy Abbott, Meagan Peasgood, Kinola Williams, Carla Chandler and Gail Schnabl.

In June I [Tamsin] resigned as Sunday School Coordinator after 8 very enjoyable years. I have been very inspired by and learned many things from all of the teachers, children, and families who have blessed our church school with their presence.

September – December 2008 ~ Coordinator: Karen Cook

This fall St.Matthew’s started a new approach for Sunday School and faith formation for our children. The approach has 4 components:

1. The first Sunday of each month the children remain with congregation and the regular worship service is adapted to be more child friendly and family focused. This gives all of us a regular time to be all together.
2. Week 2 and 3 of each month we tried the workshop rotation method for Sunday School where 2 teacher volunteers prepare a lesson around the same theme, but using different approaches [drama, story telling, crafts, etc.]. The teachers use the same lesson twice: the first week for the younger children and the second Sunday for the older children. However with our irregular and generally smaller attendance all the students have been together each Sunday and so only 1 teacher [sometimes with a support person] is present.
3. The 4^th Sunday all the children are together and the focus is prayer and music.
4. In December we also had a half day Saturday workshop to prepare for our Christmas pageant. We hope that a couple of these special 2 hour Saturday workshops will happen in the spring.

This fall was a little chaotic as we lived into our new approach. We are thankful for the contributions of Pat Boyd, David Ball and Suss to our music program and to the teachers who have participated: Ellen Cook, Peggy Abbott, Kinola Williams and myself [Karen Cook]. We focused on the wilderness experience of the Hebrew people and the story of Jonah. In December we focused on our Christmas pageant. . The children created a tableau using the words of David Bouchard’s "An Aboriginal Carol" with Moses Beaver’s images as the backdrop.

I [Karen] am delighted to be able to work our children, their families and our volunteer teachers. It is a gift to help our children grow in their faith and presence in St.Matthew’s

GIVEN BY Süss

It has been a year of transition for the musicians and the choir and all things musically related this year at St. Matthew's.

PERSONELL

With the departure of Meagan Peasgood, and her partner/husband/tenor Dan Peasgood, not only have we lost the leadership and energy of Meagan, we have also lost two powerful musicians, as Meagan's step down from the position of music leader has accompanied their absence from regular participation in St. Matthews.

The choir has stumbled along under my direction with that reduced power. With the sustained efforts of John Clarkson and Mervin Corbin, we have managed to have at least 2 voices singing at all times. Other participants on a regular and appreciated basis have included Lorna Howell, David Ball, Mya Wiens, Carla Chandler, Alana Phillips, and Charles Saville. The voices and presence of those who have come occasionally were certainly appreciated. Currently Lorna Howell is taking a personal break, which she assures us is not permanent. We welcome her return when she is ready, and look forward to that day. Certainly she still sings in the congregation, and that in itself is appreciated and heard.

Other new developments included moving to a situation where the choir and the congregation are led in song by the keyboardist. This has been a challenge to sing, play and lead simultaneously, and I hope that my work has improved in a satisfactory manner.

This year also saw more music being played on the pipe organ, after St. Matthews encouraged and helped me to acquire pipe organ lessons from musician-about-town Dietrich Bartel. Gordon Throp assures me that some days on the pipe organ are better than others, and I continue to get positive feedback from the organ playing.

For a few special occasions this year, specifically Remembrance Day, the Welcoming Christmas evening and Christmas Eve, St. Matthew's contracted the services of a trumpet player, Phillip Collins. The trumpet in the St. Matthew's space is a full sound, and it was good to share the sound making with a new colleague.

MUSICAL SELECTIONS

The music selection committee consists now of the Reverend Cathy Campbell and me, Süss. We meet up to twice a month to select the new service music for the season, and to select the weekly hymns. We look for a combination of new songs and of songs familiar to the congregation; we seek to provide St. Matthews with songs that contain a theology that makes sense for our congregation, what we believe to be sound theology that is compatible with St. Matthew's reasons for doing things in general. We seek to maintain space in song for Cree to be sung whenever possible, where Cathy and I, as English speakers, notice Cree lyrics in the hymnal. This advent season the psalms were canted while the congregation and choir provided a musical soundbed. Its potential was great, and I believe it would be worth trying again. Another new musical adventure in advent was the processional song, which consisted of a chant sung as a musical soundbed with a melody sung overtop by the congregation and choir. It was fun to work together on creating new sounds.

The Welcoming Christmas Music program saw members of the St. Matthew's community come out in full force to share their artistic personhood with the community. St.Matthew’s choir, supplemented with Sharon Clarkson and Marilyn Boyd, successfully offered a challenging modal composition to the lyrics of "Mothering God, You Gave Me Birth". Raven Thundersky's three daughters participated in singing "Silent Night" and Kakeka danced a hoop dance. Rachel Cook gave a violin offering. How exciting to see the children grow in skill and courage. And Quyen played some challenging pieces on the violin with my accompaniment. We were joined by Hyacinth from Shiloh Apostolic and Dinka community choir from Emmanual Mission.

APPRECIATIONs

I must take this opportunity to express the gratitude that I feel towards a few key people for a few different reasons:

• There are some folks in the congregation that I feel gratitude for, for their encouragement to me, for their support and kindness in general. I hope that our exchanges reflect my feelings for you, and that you can feel my love as I feel yours.
• In addition, there are folks whose work with the music at St. Matthew's is so appreciated. Thanks to Pat Boyd for standing in on the piano when the children of St. Matthew's performed a musical selection with me, as well as to Pat Boyd for working with the children to learn the song we sang together at Baptism Sunday.
• I appreciate the presence of John Clarkson, whose consistent presence on time for choir rehearsals has been such a gift. Without his presence, sense of humour and support I might have despaired at the occasional low turnouts for choir.
• I also appreciate the enthusiasm, loving nature and musical support of David Ball, as well as his offerings of drum and guitar.
• I also have cherished the support and cheerful spirit of Cathy Campbell, who encourages me, gives me praise, and shares with me the ups and downs of this life in serving others. Without her encouragement and energy, it would not be possible for me to be at St. Matthews at all.
• Carla Chandler’s gift of creativity and sewing expertise has allowed the creation of new choir stoles. Without her this wonderful addition of colour and renewal would not have been possible.
• I am grateful to Reinhold Pauls for being willing to act in solidarity with St. Matthews as well as to continue in relationship to St. Matthew’s generally, as well as specifically. In support of the music at St. Matthew's, he has played willing for occasional services that I can not attend.

Thank you very much to all who have made this year a success..

BUDGET

Since the musical leadership duties that I have been performing have increased, my wage has also increased, to reflect the day of service leadership that I provide, as well as the meetings that are required to plan the music. Thanks to Bob Clarkson and others for accepting and granting my reasonable requests.

GOALS

I will continue to accept that people will feel welcome to sing from the pews or with those who sit with the choir and don the robes. I have not done any recruiting, as I believe that singing from the congregation is as important from the pew as from the robed choir. If anyone feels that another person would like encouragement to sing in the choir, please do it yourself and encourage them to come to choir rehearsal on Sunday mornings at 9:30. All are welcome to come to the morning rehearsal and then to sing with the choir.

During the year 2008, the Refugee Committee continued to be active welcoming and supporting refugees and raising funds. We maintain casual contact with the Kabba family who arrived from Liberia in 2005.

We submitted 4 new applications for family-linked sponsorships for refugees from Somalia and Eritrea; all have family members residing in Winnipeg. Our Committee continues to get many requests for family-linked sponsorships and we now have a long waiting list which means we will have difficulty meeting many of these requests. We continue to encourage other Anglican churches to take on some of these family-linked sponsorships but have not been able to convince any other parishes to join with us in a formal or informal way. (St. Matthew’s and St. Paul’s are joint sponsors of the current committee.) During 2008 we became aware of a Somalian woman who had fled to Saudi Arabia and now lives on her own with 4 small children. We are working with a local Somalian family to sponsor this woman and to raise the necessary funds to support her when she arrives. One newcomer family arrived in November and have settled in well and we anticipate at least one other individual to arrive soon. Two applications were refused. At year end we had 39 applications pending (38 family-linked; 1 full). We thank all of you for your continued prayers, support and contributions.

We held one fundraising event this year (Bingo Bowling in April) because of the time committed to the application process.

Committee Members: Kathy Flemington (Chair), Sheryl Bennett, Grace Johnson, Gerri Morgan and Gail Schnabl.

Bank Balance December 31,2007 $ 16.108.65

Less Donation not receieved $500.00

Actual Opening Bank Balance December 31,2007 $ 15,608.65

Donations Grain of Wheat Church $ 750.00

St Matthews 275.00

St Paul’s 835.00

Fundraising Bowling $ 1,331.56

Interest 13.26

Total Funds Available $ 18 813.47

Refugee Support (Kabba Family) $ 296.19

2 GIC’s purchased in Sept / 08 $ 15,000.00

Bank Balance December 31,2008 $ 3,517.28

Respectfully submitted: Gail Schnabl

Coordinator: Sheryl Bennett

An English program designed for new Canadian women living in our community was started in September. The program is funded by Manitoba Labour and Immigration and St.Matthew’s is the sponsoring agency. It is especially designed for immigrant women who can not attend school full time to learn english because they have young children. Classes are held three mornings a week in the lower level of St. Matthews. Two teachers help the 25 students from 10 different countries to read, write & speak english. As well the ladies learn about Canadian culture, shopping, banking, nutrition and other subjects that will help them adjust to life in Winnipeg. The classes have taken trips to Safeway to learn money and meal planning, reading label and to the Forks to experience getting around on city buses. A christmas tea was planned for them by the bible study group and the students sang english carols for us in return. While the mothers are in class a child minding program is available to look after their children. There is usually 15-20 children each class. The child minders are local women trained at the West Central Women's Resource Centre. Winnipeg Harvest generously donates nutritious snack for the children. Both the women and the children enjoy their mornings out and are eager to learn. Visitors are always welcome. Feel free to drop in anytime to play with children and meet the mothers and help them feel part of our community.

Grounded in God’s love, St. Matthew’s-Maryland Community Ministry builds community well-being; works for justice; and nurtures hope within individuals and families in West Central Winnipeg. This neighbourhood ministry is a partnership of St. Mathew’s Anglican Church and Winnipeg Presbytery of the United Church of Canada.

We have been blessed with the presence of fourth-year nursing students who are learning with us about the health needs in our community. Between Sept. 2008-July 2009, 6 nursing students (2 per term) will be among us as learners and leaders. One of the students started The Men’s Room (a drop-in) which has done cooking together and has been learning how to use minimal resources and still eat healthfully.

Last summer we were again successful in acquiring an Urban Green Team Grant from the Provincial Government to hire three young people. Once again, the Green Team, Marika Olynyk, Jessica Aliaga-Labun, Kevin McLean and Charity Jandrew, under the leadership of Fiona Muldrew worked with the community to plant and care for our community gardens and organized a summer children’s program. The participating children took part in gardening, cooking and craft activities, as well as a range of field trips.

Some of our statistics include: