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Elder Update

Read updates from the Elders of Redemption.

Q2, 2022

Hello Redemption!

 

There are many exciting things to share and happenings to report to report to you looking back at Q2 of 2022. We do this with genuine hearts of gratitude and praise to our great Saviour and exalted Lord Jesus Christ himself!

 

Church Constitution

The Redemption Bible Chapel St. Thomas constitution has been recently revised and updated by the Elders. This is a major document which helps to guide us in our daily congregation life and strategic ministry plans. Feel free to view it here.

Deacons

A brand new board of Deacons has been established and is about to be officially installed. The Elders have interviewed each candidate individually for the position of Deacon. We are anticipating much more being accomplished in our facility, on our properly, and through benevolence as the Deacon board takes on these items.

Members

We have received more church attenders into official church membership. This process is done through a formal application and then an interview with an Elder couple. It is so encouraging to hear the testimonies of how people have come to repentance and to place their personal faith in Jesus Christ. If you are interested in becoming a church member, the process starts by filling out this application.

Guest Preachers

Several men have preached while Pastor Jake Klassen was on medical leave and then transitioning gradually back to full ministerial load. The congregation has been blessed through the ministry of God’s precious Word. We are in a wonderful expository sermon series currently through the Gospel of Mark. All of our previous sermons can be found on our YouTube channel here.

Elders & Staff

A prospective addition to the Elder Team is in the works. The current Elders have prayed, interview, evaluated, and planned on this very crucial matter of adding more spiritual leaders to this local church body.

The two latest church staff personnel have been able to increase their ministry time, with Thomas Fisher coming on at 75% and Cody Unger increasing to two days a week. We want to thank Redemption Bible Chapel, London for their generous financial support in making this possible.

Ministries

A new outreach to seniors at Royal Oak Seniors Living residence has just begun with many people from our church family showing interest in joining this ministry. This is a monthly mid-week service at the seniors home that the staff at the seniors’ home have invited us to.

Small groups are taking a break from regular meetings over the summer months. Over this past year, we have had five groups (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday). A stronger sense of spiritual fellowship and keen fervency are emerging as a result of this vital discipleship ministry. If you are interested in joining a small group, you can register for the wait list here.

Plans are now underway to appoint three Trustees for the congregation and to recruit four people to facilitate an upcoming pre-service Sunday prayer time. This will be open for anyone to come and participate. This will be launching in September.

Many ministries are expanding in various ways under God’s good hand of blessing. We have been able to open the Grade 4-5 room in our Kids’ Ministry and more people are joining the worship teams (both at Youth and on Sunday morning) to help lead us in praise and proclamation.

If you are interested in signing up to serve in any ministry at Redemption, please fill out this form!

Financial Update

We are thankful for the giving trend that we have been seeing in the congregation throughout 2022. Weekly giving in the second quartre is increasing. the staff and ministry leaders have been limiting expenditures to align with our income.

To the end of May, approximately $30 000 of budgeted expenditures have not been made. It is the desire and prayer of the elders that as a congregation we meet our total budget requirements independent of any other source of income.

Total Budget requirement, 2022                                   $486 114*

Total Projected Income, 2022                                       $438 074**

Current estimated shortfall for 2022 is $48 040 (or $925 per week).

Please note that these numbers do not include support received from Redemption London that is earmarked for salaries.

*The budget presented at the annual meeting was increased by $20 000 to help towards the costs of increasing hours for Thomas Fisher and Cody Unger.

**The projected income amount is based on giving trends up to May 31, 2022 and does not include income from other sources outside of donations.

 

We are meeting and greeting new faces every single Sunday in this local “gospel lighthouse” and “spiritual embassy”. We do thank the Lord Jesus Christ, for He is building His Church, just as He said He would (Matt. 16:18). Let us praise His name together for He deserves all the glory!

 

On behalf of the Elders of Redemption Bible Chapel St. Thomas,

John Scorgie, Secretary
Henry de Waal, Chairman

Q3 2021

There have been many exciting changes happening here at Redemption Bible Chapel – St. Thomas since our last update. 

 

Pastor Jake has completed a practical and powerful sermon series entitled, “Who We Are” in late August and through September. Feel free to take a listen to this series online. 

 

Small groups also started up in September using “pulpit curriculum” as the basis for group discussions. Lively discussion, open sharing of prayer requests, and fervent intercession for one another are taking place.

 

From a staffing perspective, we were happy to bring on a new staff member. Thomas Fisher has started his role as the Director of Youth Ministry and has assembled a team of leaders to help with this area of service. 

 

Current ministries within the church are:

 

  • Kids’ Ministry (Nursery and JK – Grade 1). We were able to open our next room (JK – Grade 1) in September. This runs during the Sunday morning service. 
  • We have almost 60 youth who have registered for youth ministry and gather together on Tuesdays to worship, learn from the Word, and participate in small groups. Currently, the youth ministry is going through the book of Genesis.
  • Soul Care Ministry. After a prayerful and in-depth interview process, the elder board has identified Cody Unger to head up the development of a soul care ministry at RBC St Thomas. We are thankful that Cody Unger has started a residency with Hope Oakville in their Soul Care Ministry. This will allow Cody to see how a Soul Care ministry runs within the context of a local church and provide essential resources and training. We ask that you be in prayer for Cody as he commits time to this. Also pray with us as we look to continue developing this essential ministry at this church.

 

We are having a Step 1 class – a helpful introduction to the staff, elders, and ministries at Redemption –that will be presented on Sunday, October 17 after the morning service by the staff and elder team. Those wanting to know more about our church or who are interested in becoming members are welcome to attend. Lunch will be provided.

 

Please register in advance here. 

 

On August 31, 2021, the elders of Redemption Bible Chapel – London released us from their authority and care. Redemption Bible Chapel – St. Thomas is now fully independent from their leadership and is being cared for solely by our own elders.

 

We have been blessed to add John Scorgie to our elder team, and we will be interviewing another potential candidate shortly.

 

We are thankful for the ways that God has been moving and growing us here at Redemption St. Thomas. We ask that you join with us in both prayer and praise for our church. 

 

Some ways that you can be praying with us are:

 

  • Volunteers: We are so thankful for all that they sacrifice to allow our ministries to run. Pray for them as they disciple our children and youth. Pray that God would be working mightily in their lives and that they would seek to glorify God in their serving here at the church. 
  • Elders: Pray for the elders for wisdom and humility as they seek to lead in a Biblical direction that would glorify God and fulfill our vision of reaching, discipling, and sending.
  • Staff: Pray for our staff as they oversee the day-to-day operations of the church.
  • Church Body: Pray for our church body. Pray that Christ would be evident among us and we would seek to encourage and build up one another in the faith. 
  • Gospel Impact: Pray that we would all seek to share the gospel within our community. Pray for opportunities to witness to those around us.

 

Sincerely,

 

The Elder Team at Redemption Bible Chapel St. Thomas 

 

Jake Klassen 

 

Henry de Waal 

 

Will Ong 

 

John Scorgie 

Q1 2021

Twenty-twenty has been a year like no other. With all the restrictions, limitations, and adjustments there is a very real sense of disconnection. We are all feeling it. But God uses all things for His glory.

 

God is revealing that he will and is building his church. As we look at what God has done in the past year, we hope to be able to provide you with some encouragement and motivation to join with us as we seek to fulfill the Great Commission in the spirit of the Great Commandment.

 

Financial Update

 

  • We are thankful for God’s continued provision financially through the faithful giving of His church in 2020.
  • As many of you know, Redemption Bible Chapel London has graciously agreed to supplement our income as part of the transition process. We praise God that we did not need to use this in 2020.
  • For 2021, our annual budget is around $400 000 with a weekly donation need of $7 700.
  • As a reminder, if you want to give online please reach out to Natalie Paterson at natalie@rbcstthomas.ca to get that set up.
  • Copies of the 2020 Financial statement are available at the office.

 

Facility Update

 

  • Bernie Adamache is our new Property Manager and has been working to maintain and update the building. We also want to thank the many people that have been in and out of the church working on updating multiple areas of our facility over the past year.
  • Some updates include: Additional updates to the kid’s ministry area, completing some unfinished rooms, replacing toilets and sinks, transitioning the gym to a multi-purpose room, adding sound paneling to the kid’s area and worship centre, and continuing the improvement of the front lobby.

 

Mission / Vision

 

  • One thing that has become clear to us is that unless we as a church are clear and intentional about what our mission as a church is and the vision on how to get there, we will be in danger of becoming inward focused and forget the purpose for which we exist.
  • Our mission as a church as commanded by Jesus is, “To fulfill the Great Commission in the spirit of the Great Commandment.”
  • The vision by which we can accomplish this is simple: Reaching | Discipling | Sending

 

Transitional Elements

 

  • Membership Update – 2020: Over the past year, we saw 6 people close their membership and 22 new memberships open.
  • One of the ways that we are seeing God moving here at RBC St. Thomas is how God is bringing people to the church. A typical snapshot of our demographics on a Sunday morning consists of 27.6% former GFC, 26.8% former RBC London, and 45.6% from other sources. This is not including the people who are regularly watching our online service.
  • We officially became a GCC member church on June 22, 2020.
  • We are in the process of updating some of the former GFC ministries specifically under the office of Deacon. We have completed the Board of Deacon Mandate and the Treasurer / Assistant Treasurer Mandate. We are working on the Benevolence Mandate.

 

Kids’ Ministry

 

  • Kid’s ministry is currently running ages 0 – 4 in the first service with an average of 6 – 10 kids and 3 workers.
  • We are now looking to expand to the older children’s areas, and we require more volunteers for this ministry. We plan to not start until we have the adequate number of volunteers needed to run a 4- week schedule.
  • The purpose of this is to make sure that the volunteers are not serving to the point of burnout. This allows us to maintain a vibrant and healthy vision of reaching, discipling, and sending.

 

Youth Ministry

 

  • We are in the process of assessing a youth director.
  • Youth ministry will look like our Sunday morning service: worship and the word coupled with small groups for the intentional purpose of discipleship.

 

Prayer Ministry

 

  • Currently, we have intentional prayer happening in small groups, Sunday mornings, and our quarterly praise & prayer nights.
  • We are looking to develop a prayer ministry with a team that is committed to intentional prayer. This would include praying through the week for requests received, and praying during the service for the service, our community, and the church.

 

Soul Care

 

  • As the church grows, it becomes progressively difficult to provide adequate soul care solely through church leadership.
  • We are in the very beginning stages of working with Hope Oakville to develop a soul care ministry within the church that would be led by certified biblical soul care providers.
  • We ask that you join us in prayer as we look to develop this essential ministry.

 

Elders

 

  • We praise God that Will Ong has officially joined us as an Elder here at Redemption St. Thomas.
  • We are in the process of assessing two additional men for the position of elder.
  • In keeping with our constitution, elders have the option every two years to renew or step down from
    the position of elder. Neil Banman has decided to resign as an elder at the end of March 2021. We are extremely thankful for Neil’s faithful service over the past four years.
Q4 2020

CHURCH TESTIMONY

 

  • We need to begin with a word of gratitude. We are so thankful for the spirit of humility, kindness and servitude that we are seeing within the church. There are many volunteers who serve faithfully and joyfully on a weekly basis. In spite of everything that has happened in the world this year, we continue to see people volunteer in varying ways so that God might be glorified.
  • We are grateful that we have been able to continue to gather for in-person services since June 14, 2020.
  • We have received regular feedback that the church is being blessed by the preaching of God’s Word. We are truly thankful to our faithful God for this blessing.
  • We recognize there are differing viewpoints within our own church and in the community regarding COVID and the government’s response. We thank the Lord for the opportunity he has given us to show our community that despite our individual convictions we do not need to be divided. We desire to reveal to the community that the Lord is sufficient to sustain and uphold us through all seasons.

 

MINISTRIES

 

KID’S MINISTRY

 

  • We have been able to start to reopen our children’s ministry.
  • We have offered Nursery and Toddlers (ages 0 -3) since mid-November during the first service.
  • We are thankful for the volunteers who make this ministry run.
  • We are currently working on getting the next age room (JK – Grade 1) up and running.
  • The goal is to have this before the end of January 2021.
  • Please consider if this ministry may be a place where you may be able to bring glory to God.
  • Pray also for strength and encouragement for those who serve in this ministry and Kim Unger as she directs this vital ministry.

 

YOUTH

 

  • We are planning on starting our youth program in Q1 of 2021.
  • Please be in prayer for our leaders, staff and volunteers as they start planning and training to get this ministry up and running.

 

 

ELDERS

 

  • We have been in the process of identifying men that are qualified for eldership within our congregation.
  • These men are currently going through the rigorous application process for eldership and the elder team will be conducting evaluations.

 

 

TWO SERVICES

 

  • We have implemented two services (9 AM & 11:15 AM) since the start of in-person services in June 2020.
  • With the current 30% gathering limit for places of worship that is implemented by the province of Ontario, this allows us room for everyone who wishes to attend.
  • We are presently looking ahead, thinking through and assessing post-covid church services as to whether we would return to a single service or continue with two services. Pray that we as elders would be filled with wisdom as we consider this matter.

 

FINANCIAL UPDATE

 

  • We are so grateful for your tremendous generosity and continued giving throughout 2020.
  • Our average donations since returning to in-person services has increased by 7% to what the average donations were before the COVID shutdown in March.
  • Our goal for 2021 is to be financially independent from Redemption London. London is still available and willing to help if the need arises.
  • Copies of our 2019 financial statements are available to those who would like a copy. To receive a copy please contact info@rbcstthomas.ca.
Q3 2020

RE-OPENING PLAN

 

  • June 14, 2020 was the first opportunity to meet again in-person. Government and health unit restrictions have limited places of worship to 30% building capacity. We are thankful for our staff who had a plan ready to execute which enabled us to open right away.
  • We would also like to thank our serving teams (worship, ushers, custodial) without whom we would not have been able to re-open the building.
  • Our staff continue to assess, evaluate, and adjust plans on both a daily and weekly basis as new information is released by our government.
  • Implementing two services on Sunday allows us to safely accommodate all people into an in-person service while maintaining proper social and physical distancing measures.
  • As things evolve, please continue to pray. Our staff is currently assessing our next steps which include the proper time and protocol to reopen our children’s ministry.

 

CHURCH MINISTRIES

 

  • The shutdown curtailed our momentum of establishing the needed ministries of the church. We are picking up steam again and moving ahead.
  • We are currently assessing the ministry teams we had in place prior to our transition including our benevolence ministry team, our board of deacons, and our missions’ team. Our desire is to see what these ministries will look like in our present structure.
  • Although we are limited as to the different ministries that can operate at this time, we would encourage you to consider your giftings and abilities and in which ministries you can bring glory to God.
  • We are working towards strengthening our children’s ministry. God loves children, and we want to minister to them and teach them of their need of our beautiful Saviour. This is a great ministry through which God is glorified. Even though it is not running at this time, we would like to encourage you to already consider volunteering so that when we are able to open, we will have a strong and healthy volunteer base for the children’s ministry.
  • We are working towards implementing additional small groups in hopes of having them ready for the fall kick off. If you are not in a small group, we would like to encourage you to prepare to become involved in one this coming fall. If you have not applied to be in a small group, please do so on our website.
  • We are excited to announce that Steve Waugh will be serving as our small groups’ director. We praise God for Steve and his heart for our small group ministry.
  • We are still praying and looking for a youth director and volunteers. Please join us in prayer as we continue to seek a youth director. To start a youth ministry this coming fall, we would need to have a director over the summer to work out and plan the fall ministry.
  • Once we have our kids, youth, and mixed small group ministries established and flourishing, we will start working on our men’s and women’s ministries.

 

GCC AFFILIATION

 

  • We are happy to announce that as of June 17, 2020, the Great Commission Collective Canada board (GCC) voted unanimously to approve the acceptance of Redemption Bible Chapel – St Thomas as a part of the GCC.
  • A few distinctions of GCC are:
    • It is not a denomination or a franchise that promotes a particular brand.
    • It does not function as a top-down hierarchy of church control, but influences through relationship.
    • Its member churches are autonomous in governing themselves.
    • It is intentional in assisting churches to plant churches and strengthen leaders.
  • We are grateful to Redemption Bible Chapel – London, the leadership of Norm Millar, the RBCL elders, Karen Plantt, and the many staff who have given so much in helping us get to where we are. Glory to God. May God continue to build his church and make us effective in displaying the glory of God in St Thomas as we labour to bring the gospel to our community.

 

FINANCIAL UPDATE

 

  • We are so grateful for your generous and continued giving in this season. We thank God for your heart. By your generous donations, you are a vital part of the work of God.
  • Over the lockdown, the weekly giving only reduced by seven percent. With the reduction in some of our operating expenses, we are still on track to meet our budget with the help that we are receiving from Redemption London.
  • We are grateful for the very kind and generous financial assistance from Redemption London because of whom we were able to do some renovations and updates throughout our building.
  • RBCL is also committed to assisting us financially through 2020-2021 should it be necessary.
  • Our desire, Lord willing, is that the Lord would grow this church and use our church so that we would not need the financial assistance for Redemption London for the time they have committed. Let us be faithful in what God is calling us to.
  • Copies of our financial statements are available to those who would like a copy. To receive a copy please contact info@rbcstthomas.ca.

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