Annual Report 2022

ANNUAL REPORT 2022

PART I: LOOKING BACK

PART II: LOOKING AHEAD

PART I:

LOOKING BACK

Rector’s Report

Canon David Short

After 30 years as your Rector, I am so glad to testify to the constant goodness, grace, and mercy of our God and Father. It is a privilege to see God’s grace at work, to hear his word of truth, to see Christ changing us by his Spirit, and to be stretched in our faith as we seek to follow in the footsteps of our Lord Jesus.

We have been pruned through COVID and we are not the same community coming out as we were going in. There is loss in this and fresh joy. Aware that it is not yet safe for some to join us, we no longer take for granted the ability to enjoy the blessings of God in each other’s presence. As you read this report you will see that from youth retreats to GriefShare groups, from the Father’s Day picnic to women’s breakfasts, from growth in Sunday school to growing older in grace, from Evensong to laser tag, from Introducing Jesus to Introducing St. John’s to Introducing Anglicanism, from home groups to Bible Camp, from catechism to beach parties, from Sundae Sundays to the youth choir, the grace of God is most powerfully at work among us.

God has kept us during the transitions of 2022. Dan Gifford was consecrated Bishop in the Anglican Network in Canada (ANiC) and we have welcomed new staff, including Jordan Senner as our new Vicar. Despite the snow and economic weather, we received record donations in November and December 2022, for which we give thanks to God.

In 2022, I had the privilege of serving on the ANiC Ordination Task Force, as well as helping with the creation of the ANiC Seminary called Packer College. In May, Bron and I spoke to the BC Mennonite Brethren pastors and wives conference. In November, we had our first in-person national Synod for ANiC in Ottawa, and I led the clergy day on the Gospel and weakness. In October, a group of us joined other pastors in the Rockies for a Preaching Refresher, and I intend to help lead two more this year.

In 2023 and beyond, how do we best respond to the grace of God?

There is so much opportunity and need. And there is so much resistance to God’s grace in us and around us. We will continue to search for a new building to call a church home (and a midweek ministry space). There are three strategic priorities we believe God has for us in this season of our life together.

Priority #1: to be a sending church.

The gospel is about how God sent his Son to reveal his grace and save us. It is ironic that the seed of the idea for sending out a group from St. John’s to plant a church came during COVID. At a time of missional weakness, God has been moving us forward. We are committed to supporting the King’s Cross church plant—led by Jeremy Graham and Joel Strecker—for the next three years. This is part of what it means to be a sending church.

Priority #3: to re-learn and practice Christian hospitality.

The gospel reveals God’s hospitality to us through the death and resurrection of his Son, welcoming us into his presence. Christian hospitality is not gourmet entertainment, which may be more about control and self-promotion than love. It is simply pursuing the love of strangers in response to God’s grace. It shifts the focus from programmes and events to real people and relationships. It is not charity or even kindness so much as cultivating a way of life that embodies the gospel.

Priority #2: to be a receiving church.

We pray weekly for God’s grace to be revealed in the terrible circumstances of many around the world. Among the most acute needs today is the overwhelming reality of 100 million refugees fleeing conflict, violence, human rights violations, and persecution. 16 members of the Akhtari family escaped Afghanistan in 2021 and now face daily threats, intimidation, and persecution. We have committed to receive them, as God has received us in Christ.

Christian hospitality may involve having others into our homes, but it is more than that. It is the attitude of heart that makes room for strangers, and each of us do that in different ways. COVID has left us with an epidemic of loneliness, and while the purpose of Christian hospitality is not necessarily evangelism, it is where real faith is often shown and shared, which makes it good for us and for others. It means being creative, practical, taking initiative, and starting simply.

All we do is based on the overflow of God’s grace to us. In all the changes and chances of this life, God remains constant, the same yesterday and today and forever.

- Canon David Short

“Christian hospitality is cultivating a way of life that embodies the gospel.”

Trustees’ Report

As we look back on 2022, the Trustees are filled with praise to God our Father for His provision and protection of St. John’s Vancouver Church. It has been very encouraging to see how St. John’s continues to make, grow, and send forth disciples of Jesus Christ.

Positioning ourselves as a Sending and Welcoming church seems to have been a theme of last year. We wonderfully sent Dan Gifford to his appointment as Bishop of the Anglican Network in Canada and delightfully welcomed Jordan Senner in as our new Vicar. This transition has brought new energy and yet a continued sense of familiarity with strong leadership and teaching. This year saw a transition in leadership, as we welcomed new Ministry Directors for Women’s Ministry (Lorna Ashworth) and Youth Ministry (Mark Ashworth).

Preparations to launch King’s Cross church plant in 2023 are well underway. This past year the church plant has been growing in numbers, building momentum and working through many logistics. Trustees have been engaged with the impacts this will have on St. John’s membership, both in terms of leadership and resources. Although we will see staff and members move over to the church plant, we are blessed by the opportunity this brings both as a sending church and in welcoming new members to St. John’s. Chris Ley, our Director of Evangelism and Outreach, has integrated a clear pathway for how we welcome, engage, and keep newcomers and connect with non-Christians in our community. We are encouraged by the number of new people who join us each Sunday and how they are welcomed and connected.

Trustees are responsible for upholding the long-term strategic health of the Church and overseeing the overall direction. The Trustees priorities continue to focus on evangelism, growing our congregational composition; specifically in the 20-40yr olds, building back up our community life, and continued progress on our search for property. Missions continue to be a strong part of St. John’s and in 2023 we will continue our commitment to supporting refugee families, welcoming and financially supporting their transition to Canada.

In 2022, Trustees implemented a new Trustee Nomination discernment process, providing clearer guidance to the congregation on the process and discernment of nominations for new Trustees. This year we sought nominations for 2-3 new Trustees, as we bid farewell to Ewan Wilding and I (Joanne Sawatzky) who both reached the end of our allowable terms. We are especially thankful to Ewan for his faithful commitment to David Short, supporting David with a servant heart as Rector’s Warden.

Finally, your faithful commitment to St. John’s is made evident in your generosity towards the gospel work that God is leading us into. We give praise to God for the ways He has worked among us to provide for St. John’s needs financially in 2022. We put our trust in God’s ever-faithful and gracious hands as we seek to be a community of contrast, gripped by the gospel of God’s grace, sharing Christ with our city and beyond.

Blessings,

On behalf of the Trustees of St. John’s Vancouver Anglican Church, Joanne Sawatzky People’s Warden

PROCLAMATION

Gospel Proclamation

We began with a series in Genesis, which was a wonderful way to start the year. What do you do when things feel destabilized? You rely on your foundations. What an encouragement to hear that the world is not an accident, and that our God is supreme and sovereign.

Genesis took us through to Holy Week (which was brilliant as usual). For Easter Sunday, we decided to look at a particular character in the Easter story that normally doesn’t get much attention – Thomas. John 20 is an encouraging story for all of us who struggle with belief. We learnt how, despite Thomas’ unbelief, Jesus doesn’t abandon him, but seeks him out, and deals so graciously with him.

Next came a deep dive into Philippians, which reminded us that the gospel creates a particular type of community marked by supernatural unity, as people live out the gospel. Again, a great message for us living in such a fractured world.

We began summer with a series based on the vision statement of St John’s, as it’s reflected in 1 Peter. The heart of our vision is that we become people gripped by the gospel of grace. It was a very helpful follow up to Philippians, as 1 Peter helped us see how a gospel-centered life produces a community of contrast, and prepares us to be ambassadors for Christ in our city.

The second half of summer was taken up with our family services, which mirror what the children learnt at Vacation Bible School. It was a chaotic joy to have the children with us for the whole service. This year the theme was ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’. We learnt that faith gives us eyes to see a new vision of reality, and why the promises of God are worth more than everything else.

For our Fall term, we studied the first half of Mark’s action-packed Gospel - which answers the question ‘Who is Jesus?’culminating in Peter’s world-shattering response, ‘you are the Christ!.’ Mark’s conspicuous love for Jesus is so evident in every paragraph, as he describes from eyewitness accounts the Christ of power and compassion.

Our calendar year finished (and the church year began!) with an Advent series focussing on the second coming of Christ. It was a great encouragement to remember that the same baby who was born in a stable now rules in heaven with the Father, and will come again to bring an end to this world, and usher in a time where all tears will be washed away and all evil banished. A wonderful end to a message for an unsettled world.

What’s in store for preaching in 2023?

We are still sketching it out, but I can tell you that, after finishing the second half of Mark’s gospel, we will dive into the tricky and deeply challenging world of the minor prophets, followed by a series looking at what it means to be on mission for Jesus.

Rev. Aaron Roberts

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As I reflect on the Bible teaching in 2022, the Scripture we studied seemed particularly relevant given how unsettled the world felt.

Evangelism

Evangelism, or sharing Christ with our city, is often explained with gardening imagery in the gospels. Jesus speaks of a sower going out to sow the Word of God all over the world. He speaks elsewhere of the harvest being plentiful but the labourers few; and implores us therefore to pray for the Lord to provide more labourers. He speaks of God pruning those he loves so that they might bear more fruit.

I have seen all of these images come to fruition over the past 12 months, and I look forward to new initiatives to see further fruit in the year ahead.

For most of 2022, my effort and energy was dedicated toward ensuring the seed sown landed on good soil. To this end, many new initiatives and ministries were developed for visitors and newcomers to St. John’s to grow in the gospel and be integrated into our church family.

Introducing St. John’s (formerly Newcomer Sessions) ran three times in 2022, introducing new people to our church, our vision, our beliefs and helping them get connected with various ministries. Introducing Anglicanism, a new course, ran twice in 2022, helping people understand the emphases of our church tradition and

specifically how liturgical worship forms us in Christ. At the end of November we celebrated our first New Member Sunday, formally welcoming our newest church members into our fellowship and praying for God to bless them.

Seeds of the gospel were also sown in 2022. Come and See, a brief evening course to come and discover meaning, truth and hope in Jesus, ran twice in January with incredible testimonies of people coming to faith or returning to the Lord. Introducing Jesus ran online after Easter, sharing and discussing who Jesus is and why he came from Mark’s gospel.

The Lord provided labourers in 2022 as well, with many parishioners coming forward to offer their encouragement, support or service to see the work of sharing Christ with our city grow in our church. A brief seminar was held in June called Shine as Lights, centred around practical ways to share Christ with our neighbours. Additionally, an organic lay-led ministry to seek out and connect with visitors at Sunday services was started with great support and dedication. All of these works the Lord has used to reap a harvest. People have been saved in 2022 because of the work God’s Holy Spirit has done through our church and our community.

Looking ahead to 2023, I hope to continue to run the various Sunday ministries to adequately welcome new people and ensure they are growing in their faith upon good soil. But this year I really hope to find new opportunities and initiatives to sow seeds of faith in our neighbours and friends through parish-wide gatherings, summer picnics and community events. I also hope to further equip all of us to do the work of ministry through teaching (such as the Love Your Neighbour Seminars) so that the body of Christ may be built up as we are a community of contrast gripped by the gospel of grace, striving to share Christ with our city.

- Rev. Chris Ley

Production

2022 was a year of re-establishment for our ministry.

Last year, COVID lockdowns came to an end, allowing in-person ministry to rebuild. We were finally able to facilitate our first post-COVID retreats, Bible Camp, worship nights, youth ministry, funerals for loved ones, and more. We also invested more into team discipleship, hosting vision nights and barbecues, and we had an amazing time attending Worship Central Conference together. All of this has helped us build good rhythms into our team life, after a challenging and demanding season of COVID. Getting back into “normal” ministry life has allowed us to fine-tune how we serve, implementing important lessons learned over the past few years. Altogether, the past year has helped us better understand how to do ministry well.

The production team oversees the technical aspects of all St. John’s ministries, events, and services. This includes audio, video, lighting, and live-streaming.

Intergenerational growth

One particular highlight from 2022 is how our team has grown intergenerationally. We went from a group aged predominantly between 25-85, to gaining five new volunteers who were children aged 9-12. This was exciting for a number of reasons, not the least of which is answered prayer for children to grow in the gifts God has given them to edify the church. We’ve loved seeing our team care for one another, old and young alike. We are grateful to God for this answer to prayer.

Looking ahead to 2023, we are praying for the following things:

• That more youth and young adults would find friendship, encouragement, and empowerment on our team.

• That we could establish more connections to small groups and mentorship for volunteers.

• That we’d continue to discern the Lord’s guiding voice.

• We are grateful for the ongoing opportunities to Serve God Well, Disciple People, and Celebrate Creativity at St. John’s.

- Merial Bull

Music

& David Poon

Music and liturgy had a year of transition in 2022, with many elements returning from hibernation.

We celebrated our first year back with exclusively live music (goodbye, virtual choir!), including Ash Wednesday, Holy Week, and Ascension Day liturgies that had been online-only since the start of pandemic restrictions. We were blessed by the dedication of our volunteer musicians as they supplied countless hours of service in band and choir. We witnessed our collective need and desire for worship through record numbers at our December carol services.

But the goal was never to recover some sort of pre-pandemic level of worship; it was to praise God—better and wider, joyfully and prayerfully. We equipped our young musicians to lead a ‘Youth Takeover’ service and started a youth choir in the fall to bridge the generational gap in our talented volunteers. We cross-pollinated our music resources, sharing traditional, contemporary, and youth-oriented idioms across our services.

Despite the growth, we had setbacks. We forwent our Remembrance Day concert for yet another year. We lost several longtime choir members due to chronic illness, moving away, family care, and death. Yet even then, it was an improvement over the previous year: at least we could sing for funerals and fellowship in-person with those in mourning.

Change and growth continues through 2023. We look forward to welcoming new musicians into our bands and choirs. (Do you know anyone?) Plans are set to record original music written for our evening service. More ‘Youth Takeover’ services are being prepared. Our special services are being revisited to ensure we maximise our outreach while maintaining sacredness and beauty in liturgy and song.

Music ministry at St John’s has ample room for growth, and there is no limit to our joy in singing praises together to God.

- Terry Fullerton & David Poon

FORMATION

Children’s Ministry

2022 was a year of growth for St. John’s Kids.

This is evident in the community that is developing among our families and the joy that is present each week as we welcome our youngest brothers and sisters in Christ to worship and grow in him.

Some highlights include our Summer Bible Camp and Family Services, which were inspired by John Bunyan’s classic story, the Pilgrim’s Progress. Bible Camp is a unique time when people from all generations of our Church come together to welcome kids from within and outside our community and share the good news of Jesus in fun and creative ways.

In the Fall we welcomed new lay leaders to our team, prioritized hospitality, and changed how we structure classes for our youngest kids. These changes helped us create spaces where our kids can grow in their knowledge and love of God. We also welcomed Christine Huh to our staff team as the Evening Service Kids Coordinator. Christine has been an answer to prayer and has already brought stability, growth, and renewed vision to our Evening Service ministry.

The last highlight was our Christmas Eve Family service, which was almost entirely led by children and youth, including a Christmas play starring the kids of St. John’s. We also had an hour of Christmas crafts, goodies, and joyous fellowship before the service. It was a fantastic evening which already has us looking forward to Christmas Eve 2023!

In 2023, we will have new programs and projects around pastoral care for children and families, new classes in the evening service, and another year of Sunday School and special events and services. We would appreciate your prayers and support as God continues his good work in the kids and families of St. John’s and our wider community.

- Will Gray

Youth Ministry

I spent the first half of the year as a parent on the sidelines, watching Steven and the youth ministry exiting the pandemic, and joining the ‘All In’ as the speaker in May.

During summer 2022 I met the leaders and put on a few fun summer events, getting to know the youth and leaders. Then in September we made a few changes to balance the faithful Bible teaching with fun and growing friendships on Fridays. We started teaching on Jonah and followed with an advent series from Isaiah and the gospels. We regularly get 50 youth, something that has been fairly consistent this year, but we long to grow and reach more youth.

On Sundays we started a senior group on Sunday mornings alongside the junior youth group, regularly seeing 25 youth in the morning (15 junior and 10 senior). Sunday evenings lacked youth support and so we started a group that now meets after the evening service, (8-10 youth).

This year I have been keen to get the youth serving: Summer bible club, ‘Youth takeover’ services, and during the monthly youth gatherings, puppets and music as well as acolytes, readers and prayers.

In December we took 35 on a Junior Youth retreat to Kawkawa whilst the Senior Youth enjoyed laser tag at the Laser Dome.

Coming up in 2023:

We have a Senior retreat in February, a youth mini mission to Victoria in March, and the All-In Retreat in May, as well as the usual gathering on Fridays and Sundays. The grade 12 girls have a retreat with their parents, the grade 12 boys meet fortnightly for donuts and discipleship. We look forward to the return of Kathy in the summer knowing that Lorna steps down at Easter and there are several gaps on Fridays particularly with the girl’s groups.

- Rev. Mark Ashworth

Ekklesia College Fellowship

We moved to a new home, sojourned to the Sunshine Coast for a retreat, celebrated Christmas with a progressive dinner, and launched a new servant team! After years of meeting on campus and in other churches, Isobel Austin offered her basement suite. Since meeting there, Ekklesia has felt intimate and become a place of rest. During our Wednesday nights, we share food, our lives, and study Mark’s gospel. Lorna Ashworth and I led the students in the Bible studies.

In addition to our weekly meetings, we also went on a retreat to the Sunshine Coast. Once again, the St. John’s congregation blessed us; this time it was Craig Mitton who lent us his place. Our theme was “Encountering Jesus,” and we looked at several passages in the Gospel of John. We spent Saturday night sharing and praying for one another, and as several students mentioned to me later, it was a very rich time to build friendships, feel a sense of belonging

in Christ, and grow in scripture. Wrapping up the year with a progressive Christmas party was great fun! Three different Ekklesians hosted, and at each house we had a different course: appetizers, dinner, and dessert.

Looking forward to this spring, we’re doing another retreat; this time the theme will be “following Jesus,” and we’ll look at sections of the Sermon on the Mount. We’re also launching a servant team. The vision for this team is to see Ekklesians grow in grace. Once a month we’ll gather to pray for the Ekklesia, equip one another for a life of discipleship, and plan for future events (i.e. worship nights, retreats, social events etc). Please partner with us by praying for our Weekly Gatherings, upcoming retreat, and this new servant team.

- Willie Shain-Ross

2022 was a year of transition for Ekklesia.

Small Groups

The first word that comes to mind as I reflect on the last twelve months of ministry in small groups at St. John’s is “faithfulness.”

God has been faithful to us, and we are growing together because of his faithfulness. I see this faithfulness expressed in the weekly gathering of our groups, where brothers and sisters in Christ - across generations and cultures - convene to study Scripture and care for each other. I see this faithfulness expressed in the consistent commitment that our group leaders make to serve and oversee their respective groups.

In spite of all of the challenges, groups have weathered the storms of life well, and are living testimonies of God’s faithfulness. I am so grateful to have been part of this ministry for the last several years.

Looking forward, I will start to step back from my role at St. John’s in order to fully commit to serving in the church plant. That transition is firmly in the wise hands of our vicar Jordan, for which I am grateful.

With that said, there are two things that I am looking forward to in small groups this year: First is the opportunity for new small groups to gather this spring. We have parishioners coming from all over Metro Vancouver for Sunday worship, making it possible to get more connected at St. John’s in your very own neighbourhood. If you’re not part of a small group, I would encourage you to prayerfully considering joining one!

Second is the ways in which our groups will continue to grow by the power of the Spirit to be Christ’s presence in their neighbourhoods. Being the church means being consecrated for participation in God’s mission to redeem his people, and our neighbourhoods are an excellent context for that.

- Rev. Joel Strecker

Women’s Ministry

My first year at St. John’s has brought innumerable introductions and a delight to see just how many sisters in Christ long to be immersed in the Word of God. As with all ministries, there was a certain amount of navigating required, as together, we emerged from the Covid hangover.

The longstanding ministry of Women at 10 resumed in person at the church, with some exceptions. Positively, the new world of Zoom has meant that two online groups have continued, facilitating Bible studies for women who would otherwise be unable to attend in person. On the other hand, two groups are meeting off-site as there is limited space available at OAC.

New initiatives are always exciting but the resumption of pre-existing, fruitful discipleship ministries was a priority for me, including Women’s Breakfasts and the Women’s Retreat (upcoming in April 2023). Another priority was to provide a Bible study option for women not available during the day and otherwise not connected with Community Groups. These studies began last September and take place on the first three Thursdays of the month during term time.

I enjoy attending both the 10am and 6pm services and look forward to facilitating the building of relationships between these two groups of women represented through prayer, sung worship, bible study and social outreach events.

Looking ahead, it is essential for growth and sustainability that a committed team of volunteers is found to assist in the administration of ongoing and upcoming ministry opportunities, and this must include evangelism, discipleship and relevant, social engagement. Secondly, identifying and training new leaders will be a marked asset for women’s ministry and St. John’s more widely. Women’s ministry cannot stand alone and collaborative working with the wonderful, wider staff team is both exciting and vital.

- Lorna Ashworth

Men’s Ministry

At St. John’s, we are blessed to have many opportunities to meet with others to study the Bible. Among these are a number of men’s Bible studies, including 3 groups that meet every Tuesday evening at OAC.

We follow the study guides provided by the church which correspond to the weekly sermon series. It has been a great blessing to see men committed to weekly study and prayer coming to a deeper knowledge and experience of God’s love and His desire for service in His kingdom. We have been greatly challenged by the gospel of Mark studies over this past year and in our prayers together are seeking for God to lead us further into practical daily service in His kingdom.

Early in 2022 we said farewell to Dan Gifford as he took up his role as Bishop of our diocese. Although sad that Dan is no longer able to be with us on a weekly basis, we are very thankful for his many years of leadership in the men’s ministry. In the year ahead we hope to have 1 or 2 events that bring together men of our church for fellowship, teaching and prayer. In January we were blessed to have David Short with us for an overview of the second half of Mark’s gospel and were joined for that session by members of several men’s bible study groups at SJV. Our Tuesday evening groups are always open to new joiners and if you are looking for a weekly Bible study, please get in touch through the SJV website or by e-mail to ewan@sjvan.org.

- Ewan Wilding

Catechism

As basic training for the Christian life, catechism simply means “teaching.”

Catechism is a systematic and Scriptural way of fulfilling Jesus’ great commission: that as we go out making disciples and baptizing, we also teach others to obey all that he commanded. In Catechism, we learn what Christians believe, how they belong to Christ, and how they can grow in becoming like Christ.

In 2022 Catechism offered this teaching for three groups of people:

1. Newcomers and new believers: Catechism is how we orient people for a fruitful life in Christ. This year, we partnered with the welcoming and evangelism ministries of St. John’s to encourage all those “new” with us to take the opportunity for formation in Christ and preparation for baptism.

2. Youth: Catechism is how we help our young people grow into a mature adult faith. Our eight month youth confirmation course offered a chance to affirm the promises made at their baptism in confirmation and an invitation to fully own their faith and serve their church intentionally. In May, Bishop Dan joyfully confirmed 13 youth and 3 adults that had completed catechism. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.

3. Equipping Members: Many members of our parish haven’t had a past opportunity for serious and systematic equipping in the Christian faith.

We see Catechism as an excellent foundation for serving, leadership, and mission within our congregation.

For 2023, we will put the finishing touches on our annual Catechism curriculum, developed over many years. This course runs in three terms, and is designed to provide an opportunity for the slow, intentional formation in Christ everyone needs. Our goal is that everyone in the church would have a chance to complete Catechism. There is a clear hunger and appreciation for this work within our congregation, and we are thankful to the many lay catechists and catechists in training that make it possible.

- Rev. Ben Roberts

MISSION

Pastoral Care

care

The apostle Paul once prayed three times that the Lord would remove a thorn in his flesh. His ailment and adversity wasn’t a physical puncture but a weakening wound. When we share our injury or ailment with others, the spiritual gifts of care come out.

Primary Care

Small groups including households, Bible studies, morning prayer, compline, Evensong and Sunday school are primary care places. Often the need for care is disclosed and discovered when friends perceive and people join together in primary attentive Christ-centred care.

Secondary Care

These secondary places take pastoring to the next level. Sometimes we want our difficult or despairing thoughts, feelings, behaviors and beliefs held by others more deeply and confidentially. This continues to

take place with equipped leaders on staff, in prayer teams at Sunday services, by prayer triplets in Bible studies, home-administrated Communion, and sometimes in private with a trusted professional confidant who holds your story.

Tertiary Care

This kind of pastoral care is more durative, specialized and frequent. At SJV we address this care need with the ministries of baptism, pre-marriage, marriage, divorce, unwanted sexual behaviors, aging, funerals, and grief.

Highlights of the past year

Highlights this past year included teaching for our aging with Maxine Hancock and Paul Stevens, midweek Holy Communion for the vulnerable, and a renewed Expecting Emmanuel service. We also give thanks to Manya Egerton for 10+ years of leading the Sunday service prayer teams, and welcome David Avren the new ministry coordinator. Prayer is the most distinctively Christian pastoral care ministry that no professional advisor, physician or counselor can deliver. Therefore, prayer ministry will be a special focus in 2023 as we grow in the sufficiency of God’s grace.

Pastoral

ministry is about growing in the sufficiency of God’s grace; both for and through us.

- Rev. James Wagner & Margaret Wilson

Refugee Outreach

Highlights and Reflections from 2022

The ministry with refugees in 2022 has been rich and eventful in the present and full of work and discernment towards future projects.

After two years of patient waiting and prayer, on March 8, 2022, we welcomed our sponsored refugees Madelyn and her son Amir at the Vancouver airport. Their sponsorship was initiated through connections involving St. John’s congregation members including Andrew McKenzie, and Jack and Irena Tippett. Madelyn and Amir’s arrival triggered our year of financial support, during which many congregation members have been directly involved in walking with them. We are privileged to have both as active members in our fellowship at St. John’s. Amir is serving as a member of the Refugee Committee.

An important part of our ministry is the annual support of a refugee claimant family through our Community of Welcome group in partnership with Journey Home Community. In 2022, we have supported an Afghan family, Abdul and Salma, and their two young boys. Early in the year, they passed their refugee hearing, and they have been settling well.

As our program grows, it has involved more and more members of St. John’s who have been generous with their time, skills, and financial support through donations to the Refugee Fund. We are thankful as God leads us as a church family to welcome refugees. Finally, I should mention that through the General Budget, we have continued annual donations to two Christian-based organizations - Kinbrace Refugee Housing and Support, and Journey Home Community.

- Owen Underhill

Missions

The Gospel mission work of St. John’s continue in 2022 with three major missions partners:

In Cambodia, Ratanak continued to rescue Cambodians from modern day slavery by expanding their human trafficking prevention program and working with the Cambodian government to repatriate trafficked citizens. We give thanks to God that 30 years of Ratanak’s work was honoured by our own Canadian government in the Senate in September.

In India, Helping Point continued to minister to 2,000 Dalit students daily at St. Simons school, Jhola Children’s Home, day care centres and churches. We expect Bidyuta Singh, Executive Director, to visit St. John’s in May.

For Malawi, although St. John’s suspended funding in 2018, we remain in communication with our friends in the Diocese of the Upper Shire. A change of leadership is underway and there is significant movement towards reconciliation within their diocese.

In November, St. John’s commissioned Andrew Buchanan as a missionary and sent him to Japan. As he started his missionary career, another missionary reached a milestone. In October, Sharyn Thomson returned from West Africa after almost 36 years of Bible translation work in that region. She will transition to new and exciting work in Canada.

In 2023, St. John’s will send a group of youth on a short-term mission to Victoria. We also look forward to missionaries visiting in person, including Jeremy and Krista Curry from Nepal with their five children.

It is a blessing to St. John’s to partner with missionaries and see the Gospel proclaimed in remote villages in Nepal, to Syrian and Uyghur refugees in Turkey, and to seafarers in Vancouver. African students in Tunisia are trained to reach the 10/40 window, and students in our local universities are discipled to follow Jesus. The Good News of Jesus Christ leavens the nations (Matthew 13:33) to bring in His reign for His glory.

- Irene Canton

Artizo

As you know, It’s not always easy being a training church. St. John’s has invested in training future ministers for more than two decades and has certainly counted the cost. This means making space for our apprentices to learn, to practice and to fail. It means lending out the time of your excellent staff for mentorship and instruction. And it means a lot of waiting - while we look for where and how God might send and grow the seed that’s been scattered. It’s not always easy being a training church, but it does bear immense fruit for Gospel ministry. In other words, it’s worth it.

In 2022 we graduated Josh Drury and welcomed three new apprentices: Ryan Spear, Jacob Vandiver, and Andrew Hochhalter. Will Gray, Richard Sandlin, and Fiona Lee continued as our year II apprentices. All six have shown great growth and gratitude for their ministry opportunities. Each apprentice is also an enthusiastic Artizo advocate, actively sharing about the program and encouraging friends to apply. Artizo’s supporters received a dose of the same during the November “Meet the Apprentice” evening. It was an amazing evening, full of encouragement to see the next generation so clear about Christ and so articulate.

Looking forward to 2023, we continue to focus on providing the best possible training for our apprentices and expanding our training capacity. It’s been wonderful to partner with two other Vancouver churches, St. Peter’s and St. Timothy’s, over the last year to begin testing how this might work. Based on this experience, we are developing new initiatives for expanding our training capacity and building deeper partnerships with other training churches locally and nationally.

I’m continually thankful for the investment St. John’s makes in training, and the fruit God brings from it. Please continue to pray for Artizo and the apprentices who are pursuing ministry training. This is what Jesus commanded us to do. Though it’s not easy, it’s definitely worth it.

- Rev. Ben Roberts

Being a training church bears immense fruit for Gospel ministry.

Staff List

Full Time

Merial Bull

Micah Eaton

Krista Friebel

Sam Hindmarsh

Terry Fullerton

Jeremy Graham

Chris Ley

Mark Ashworth

Aaron Roberts

Ben Roberts

Willie Shain-Ross

David Short

Joel Strecker

James Wagner

Lorna Ashworth

Jordan Senner

Part Time

Isaac Bull

Will Gray

Melissa Ley

Marion Maxwell

David Poon

Kathy Shain-Ross

Emma Song-Carillo

Margaret Wilson

Christine Huh

Finished

Janelle Stutheit

Jan Hobbis

Steven McDougald

Dan Gifford

Celebrations & Lamentations

Baptisms

Angelina Wu

Cameron Tsang

Daniel MacKenzie

Micah Gray

Philip Bagshaw

Hazel Shain-Ross

Weddings

Alisa Li & Changsung Lim

Deaths

Marjorie Knight

Maureen Bennet

Shirley Simms

William Fairbank

You have turned my mourning into dancing. You have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness!

Psalm 30:11

FINANCIAL

Treasurer’s Report

In 2022 we’ve come out of the pandemic and returned to full ministry, we’ve experienced significant staffing changes, and we’ve seen amazing growth in children’s and other ministries. The trustees are also very grateful for and encouraged by the generosity of the congregation since, as mentioned, November and December saw record donations.

I’ve been very blessed to be a part of and a witness to all that God is doing in this community as He continues to lead and transform us through a period of great transition.

We are very blessed to have ended the year with a small excess of revenue over expenses of $18,000. While offerings for 2022 were $2.26 million, about $78,000 short of the budget, there were also significant savings in the budget, leading to the excess. We are so grateful to end the year with a General Fund surplus of $495,000. The trustees are also very thankful for the wonderful staff who have worked extremely hard for God’s Kingdom through challenging times and have faithfully and effectively managed the resources given them to balance the budget.

It was a challenging year for our investments. It’s very rare that there is a sell-off in both the equities and bond markets at the same time, as we have experienced this past year. We’ve ended the year with an unrealized loss on investments of $355,000, which was partially offset by investment income of $115,000. The good news is, thanks to the investment gains over the prior years, the Bequest Fund is still positive. We have not lost any of the principal invested, and still have a 3% gain since the beginning of the investment fund.

Looking ahead, we pray that God will continue to bless and transform us as we follow His call to be a sending and receiving church. We look forward to supporting the King’s Cross church plant and pray that through them many in their community will come to know and love Jesus. We look forward to receiving and loving the Akhtari family as Jesus receives and loves us. You can financially support these Gospel initiatives by donating to the King’s Cross Church Plant and Refugee fund on the St. John’s website.

The 2023 operating budget will be a little lower than in 2022, primarily due to staffing changes related to the church plant. The budgeted offerings are $2.2 mil and the expense budget is $2.7 mil. The draw from the Bequest Fund will be $456,000, also slightly lower.

- Eli Sullivan

2022 FINANCIAL REPORT

Excess (Deficiency) of Revenue Over Expenses from

SUMMARY OF FUND ACCOUNTS AS OF DEC 31, 2022

The 2022 Financial Management Report is a simplified management version of the general operating receipts and disbursements from our General Fund for the year 2022 and has been summarized based on the Audited Financial Statements of St. John’s Vancouver Church for the year ended December 31, 2022 – copies of which are available under separate cover.

PART II:

LOOKING AHEAD

Refugee Outreach

That project was the 16-member Akhtari family who fled Afghanistan in 2021 due to persecution of Christians, and the Taliban taking power.

This large family is now in Tajikistan, where they have been under threat of deportation, and have little future. The Akhtari family is related to our first sponsorship family – Farhad, Homa and their two children. With God’s help, we were able to find a way to apply to Canadian Immigration to bring all 16 as part of the government’s Afghan refugee commitment. This is a large commitment, and we thank the Trustees for approving the proposal. The sponsorship quickly received first stage approval, and the family has been contacted for an interview in early February. We continue to pray that final approvals will be expedited, which would mean a likely arrival in just a few months.

We are also very thankful that one of our earlier sponsorship projects is imminently moving forward - the Alshamsi family who fled Syria due to violent persecution, and is now in Lebanon. This is the family of a UBC student Shaza, who discovered our refugee outreach program on the Church’s website, and appealed to us for support. Recently, the family was contacted for an interview and medical appointments. We expect that we will welcome them in Vancouver in the first half of 2023.

We will be inviting support of various kinds for these refugee projects in 2023.

The Refugee Committee prayed and planned throughout 2022 about whether it might be possible to take on a large sponsorship project...

Owen Underhill Jonathan Baylis

Church Plant

What does it take to grow a healthy tomato plant from seed? Soil, water, light, heat, and careful tending over weeks and months.

A greenhouse is the ideal place to grow a seed into a plant that will continue to grow and thrive outdoors, bearing much fruit. In the same way, a sending church like St. John’s is an ideal community to grow a church plant seedling into a new congregation ready to thrive and grow.

This past year, St. John’s has acted as the greenhouse for King’s Cross Church as we’ve gathered and grown a team of 45 children, youth, and adults so far under the leadership of Jeremy Graham and Joel Strecker. As we look back, we give thanks for the Lord’s kindness to us in gathering an enthusiastic, missionally minded, loving community willing to take a risk and join us in this adventure.

In the spring and summer our team met regularly for training, discussion and prayer on topics ranging from: what is the church to what is the gospel? We discovered new ways to think about evangelism and outreach and mapped our neighbourhoods to discover who our neighbours are and how God is already at work in their midst. And always there was food. Hospitality is right at the centre of our life together.

In the fall, we multiplied into three neighbourhood-based community groups meeting weekly for meals, laughter, celebrating milestones, Bible study and prayer. Indeed, the Holy Spirit has us growing deeper and wider even as he prepares us to be sent out in the coming months. Additional monthly gatherings at a rented community centre space allowed us to cultivate an invitational culture, inviting newcomers to hear our vision for King’s Cross alongside activities like pumpkin carving, cookie decorating and delicious potluck suppers.

We continue to wait on the Lord to provide a Sunday worship space for us. To date, we’ve explored over 120 potential sites and are now in the final stages of choosing a location that will best fulfill our mission, vision, and values. By the time you read

this, it’s very possible that our Sunday service location will have been announced! Most importantly, God has used this season of waiting and trusting as his gracious means of growing our dependence on him for all things through prayer. Prayer is the heartbeat of church planting!

As we look forward to our spring launch, we are grateful to God for St. John’s role as a sending church. Sending means sacrifice. Sending is risky. Yet we worship and serve a God who sends – and who doesn’t send us alone. We’re reminded of the picture in Revelation 1:12-20 of Jesus Christ in the midst of his Church, ruling, guiding, and protecting. Truly, he is the gardener who will transplant our seedling out of the greenhouse and into our new home!

As a sending church, how can you support King’s Cross?

Pray with us – receive our monthly prayer email by emailing joel@sjvan.org.

Join our launch team – reach out to jeremy@sjvan.org to find out more about the mission and vision of King’s Cross and to visit our community.

Give to King’s Cross – tax-deductible donations to the church plant are now possible through St. John’s at stjohnsvancouver.org/give.

Rev. Jeremy Graham

“Sending means sacrifice. Sending is risky. Yet we worship and serve a God who sends – and who doesn’t send us alone.”

2023 BUDGET

Prayers:

This is a space for you to write prayers for each of the church ministries.

To be grateful is to recognize the love of God in everything He has given us — and He has given us everything. Every breath we draw is a gift of His love, every moment of existence is a grace, for it brings with it immense graces from Him.

–Thomas Merton

Ekklesia College Fellowship Women

Men Pastoral Care

Refugee Outreach

Catechism Refugees Missions

Artizo

Church Budget