Friday, April 30, 2010

N.B. Please make sure to read the special report on the proposal for future staffing at St. Andrew's Church under section (1) Notice of Congregational Meeting - Sunday May 2, 2010

1)  Notice of Congregational Meeting - Sunday, May 2nd:

Please plan to attend a special Congregational Meeting in the Great Hall immediately following the morning worship service on Sunday, May 2nd.  The meeting has been called to consider a proposal from the Session to search for a full-time Associate Minister. 

A detailed proposal has been prepared by a committee of Session, and will form the basis for our discussions at the congregational meeting.  Please download a copy of the proposal by visiting

 www.standrewstoronto.org/proposal.pdf

2) Road Closures:  Sunday, May 2nd:

    - There will be rolling street closures on Yonge Street from Castlefield Ave. (north of Eglinton Ave.) to Richmond Street between 7:45 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. due to the Sporting Life 10K run.  Portions of Richmond Street, Peter Street, Front Street, Bathurst Street and Fort York Blvd. will also be affected.

      - The westbound Gardiner Expressway will be closed from Royal York to west of Kipling.

      - There will be road closures on Hoskin Avenue from St. George Street to Queen’s Park Crescent, Queen’s Park Circle from Bloor Street West to College Street, and Wellesley Street West from Queen’s Park Crescent West to Bay Street. between  8:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. for the 2010 Ontario Police Memorial Ceremony of Remembrance.

 For up-to-date information, please visit the city of Toronto website

 www.toronto.ca/transportation/events.htm and click on "street events".  For expressway closures, please visit

 www.toronto.ca/transportation/road_info/index.htm.

3)  Ontario Prayer Breakfast - May 12th

On Wednesday May 12, 2010, the 41^st Annual Ontario Prayer Breakfast will take place at the Royal York Hotel from 7:15 – 9:00 am.  Each year, this event welcomes over 600 members of the Christian community who work in downtown Toronto, from a wide variety of denominational and theological backgrounds.  As well, the elected representatives from the Ontario Legislature are invited to attend and participate.  In addition to a time of fellowship and music, a keynote speaker is invited to offer reflections on the role that faith has played in their life and work.  This year, the keynote speaker year will be The Honourable David C. Onley, Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.

Tickets for the breakfast are $45.  Last year, St. Andrew’s arranged to have a table at the breakfast, and we would be interested in making the same arrangement.  If you would like to participate in this event, please contact the church office at info@standrewstoronto.org  If you would like to participate in this event but are not able to pay the full $45, please contact the church office and special arrangements can be made.  All are welcome.

 
For more information, please visit www.ontarioprayerbreakfast.com

4)   Special Ascension Eve Service - May 12

A special worship service on the evening before Ascension Day will be held on Wednesday, May 12th at 7:30 p.m. at Yorkminster Park Baptist Church, 1585 Yonge St.  Rev. Ingram will be the guest preacher.  Participants and choirs from four churches in the Yonge & St. Clair area will be joining together for this service.  Everyone is welcome!

5)   New Members' Information Meeting - May 13th

Everyone who is interested in becoming a member of St. Andrew's Church is invited to attend an information meeting on Thursday, May 13th at 7 p.m. in the Board Room.  For more information, please contact Rev. Ingram or Judy Neal in the church office.  New members will be received into the congregation during the worship service on Sunday, May 30th.

6) Lay Readers:

Reading the scriptures in worship services is an important way to serve.  If you would like to participate in this way, please contact our Lay Readers Coordinator, Ruth Darling, at jdarling131@cogeco.ca.  We especially wish to invite young people and new members to consider being Lay Readers. 

7)  Catalyst - New Electronic Version

In the interest of environmental stewardship and lowering our production and printing costs, we will now be issuing an electronic version!  Hard copies will still be available for those who prefer them, but we do encourage you to sign up for the new electronic version if possible.  The next issue of the Catalyst will be distributed on May 16th.  To receive your Catalyst by email, please send an email to catalyst@standrewstoronto.org by May 11th.   Please include your name in the body of the email in case your email address doesn't include your name.

8)  CD Recordings of Supper Seminars

The seminars led by the Rev. Dr. Emily Bisset were extremely well received.  CD recordings of the seminars will be placed in the church library (in the Board Room) soon, and are also available for purchase from the church office.  CDs are $5 each or $10 for a set of all 3 seminars.  Order forms will be available at Coffee Hour on Sunday.  You may also place an order by calling Judy Neal in the church office at 416-593-5600 ext. 220.

9)  Volunteer Interest Survey

Be sure to look for the Volunteer Interest Survey form coming in the May issue of Catalyst.  You'll have an opportunity to tell us which skills, talents and activities you'd like to contribute to which volunteer programs at St. Andrew's.  The information in your completed survey will become part of a central inventory that organizers can tap when help is needed.  This newly created database will also enrich the experience of volunteering by better matching your preferences with meaningful activities and projects of interest to you.

10)  Volunteers needed for 2010 Doors Open - Saturday, May 29th

On Saturday, May 29th, St. Andrew's will participate for the third year in this annual City of Toronto cultural event.  In 2009 approximately 1,300 visitors enjoyed and photographed our beautiful sanctuary.  Some of them had the opportunity to listen to our accomplished Dan Bickle, Director of Music, playing our treasured Karl Wilhelm organ.

If you are available to volunteer for this event, please contact Sue Goodwin at susangoodwin@earthlink.net.  We will enclose with Sunday's worship service bulletin a flyer that contains a form on which you may indicate your availability. 

11)  Presbyterians Sharing:  TAIWAN

Our gifts to Presbyterians Sharing support Louise Gamble as she teaches English to students at Tam Kang High School, a private Christian school in Tamsui, Taiwan. Tam Kang seeks to present a strong Christian image to all of its students. It has been developing a strong English language program, and many of the senior students can converse easily in English. Louise teaches conversation classes to several grades, as well as some Biblical courses to senior classes and teachers at the school. She writes, “My Bible classes for teachers are quite popular. Participants have doubled this semester. Curiosity is growing, and I am always surprised and stimulated and challenged by the questions of those who haven’t read the Bible.”

12)  Online donations

We are pleased to announce that donations to the Church, and to ministries such as the 'Out of the Cold' programme, can be made online.  To learn more, please click on the button below!