Moments with Bishop Mary
/New Video series: Reflections, Insights and Wisdom straight from the heart of Bishop Mary
Bishop Mary Moments
New Video Series "Moments with Bishop Mary"
/Moments with Bishop Mary - A new video series launching Friday, May 29th 2020!
Beer and Bible Study Wednesday Nights
/Bring a glass of beer (or water or juice or a cup of tea or a glass of wine!) and your Bible and plunge into a spirited discussion. We’ll take a topical approach to the Bible and focus on how the scriptures apply to our daily lives during and beyond COVID-19.
Beyond the Plate: financial generosity in the age of COVID-19. with Neil Mancor
/Neil’s guest this week on Beyond the Plate
(Thursday May 28th 10 am)
is Paul C Nazareth, VP Education & Development for the Canadian Association of Gift Planners. A vibrant speaker, he has his finger on the pulse of the financial and philanthropic environment in which now confronts Churches and charities as they seek to navigate their way towards greater fruitfulness. Join us, as always with your questions and comments on Facebook Live.
#beyondtheplate
#congregationaldevelopment
#anglicanmtl
#mtlanglican
Neil Mancor
View the Final Episode of Live with Lee-Ann Now with Dean Bertrand Olivier!
/After 150 episodes, and countless laughs, teaching, learning and sharing we are putting an end to our Tuesday morning series. We are grateful to all of the guests who have graced us with their time and talent and to those who have been building and pioneering this digital community with us.
Onwards and Upwards!
#livewithleeann
Is your church Wal-Mart ready? Blog by Neil Mancor
/
Is your church Wal-Mart ready?
I love going to Wal-Mart. I admit it. Very different from going to Costco, of course. Wal-Mart stores promise so much abundance at low prices. And of course the ubiquitous Wal-Mart greeter at the door ready to receive each customer with all the warmth they can muster. It’s not quite Canadian to be too friendly in that toothy wide-smiling kind of way, but they do their best. It’s not quite Anglican either, but we do our best too.
During this time of forced enclosure, our churches have valiantly kept going with services and times to gather for virtual coffee (or beer!) all online. Many of us have become much better at staging services online as we get the hang of camera angles, Zoom links and Facebook live. The time will come when we will be able to meet in person again. It may well be quite some time until we can gather together as we once did which means that our gatherings will be different. Things like exchanging the Peace, taking Eucharist and even corporate singing will probably be modified for some time to come.
But with that comes an important pivot we all need to think about making: from Wal-Mart ready to true hospitality. Don’t get me wrong, greeting people warmly at the door is important. Welcome is much more than just a nice smile: it is about the whole experience of a guest at your church from when they enter the door, how they are enabled to participate in the service to the way they are cared for during coffee. It includes your website and Facebook page and the information they convey. Welcome needs to be warm and genuine, but not overwhelming for those who want to slip and try your church on for size, so to speak. If you are offering people envelopes and signing them up for the sanctuary guild on their first visit you are being too welcoming! But welcome is not the same thing as hospitality and the community it can foster.
Because here is the pivot. In COVID-19, event-based fundraising events have been impossible. But what are we really doing with these events? Often we are inviting people into our buildings for the purpose of entertaining them, gaining some revenue and hoping they like us. I think we need to look at that and question how much we want to continue entertaining people. Because I don’t really see Jesus engaging in entertainment-evangelism. Jesus took the risk of eating and drinking with people. That way he could get to know them and they could get to know him. That is how community is formed and grows.
So perhaps being Wal-Mart ready is not the whole thing. Maybe the pivot we all need to think about is how we can eat and drink with outcasts and those society calls sinners. Rather than entertaining people, the ministry we can all do is to connect with people as they are and form bonds of friendship and watch true community grow.
Neil Mancor (Congregational Development Coordinator, Anglican Diocese of Montreal)
New! Friday Morning Webinar series on Engaging with Children and Youth Online
/Friday Morning Webinar series: Engaging with Children and Youth Online, May-June 2020
Session 1. May 22nd 10 am-11:30 approx
Lee-Ann Matthews: Coordinator of Digital Communications + Youth Ministry Projects, Diocese of Montreal
a. Overview of digital ministry strategies for children and youth - webinar
b. May 29th - Group discussion to follow up listen, network and support on the topic 10-10:45 am
Session 2. June 5th 10 am-11:30 approx
The Rev Deborah Noonan: Associate Priest for Christian Formation, St. George’s Anglican Church
a. Exploring digital ministry as it applies to the unique needs of children and families (with speaker Rev. Deborah Noonan, conversation facilitated by Lee-Ann Matthews )
b. June 12th - Group discussion to follow up, listen, network and support on the topic 10-10:45 am
The Rev. Debbie Noonan is an Associate Priest for Christian Formation at St. George's Place du Canada where she leads and supports ministry with children and youth. Over the past 10 years she has served churches in Quebec, the UK and in the U.S and has developed a passion for helping families grow in faith together.
Session 3. June 19th 10 am-11:30 approx
The Rev. Hilary Bogart- Winkler: Director of Pastoral Studies at Montreal Diocesan Theological College
a. Exploring digital ministry as it applies to the unique needs of youth (speaker Rev. Hilary Bogart- Winkler, conversation facilitated by Lee-Ann Matthews )
b. June 26th - Group discussion to follow up, listen, network and support on the topic 10-10:45 am
A Message of Encouragement from Bishop Mary!
/Spring has sprung and we will get through this together!
Here is a short uplifting message perfect for this Spring day! thanks to our Bishop Mary Irwin-Gibson - Enjoy
