My Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I wanted to keep you up to date with some ongoing and upcoming happenings here at St. George’s. I can not highlight all the great activities that we are doing here, but please feel free to ask Sue Graham, office@stgeorgesgeorgetown.com, to put you on the emailing list for our weekly e-bulletin.

I also must admit that I completely forgot to let everyone know about the fact that we welcomed Pat Klaus to St. George’s in September.

I am soooo sorry, Pat!

Pat is a theological student at Trinity College and will be doing her intern placement at St. George’s until Christmas. Please welcome her and keep Pat in your prayer as she spends the next few months walking along side us, and with us (and extra prayers because she has to put up with ME as her supervisor).

Bazaar: November 7th, 10am – 2pm
The Bazaar is fast approaching. I am always amazed and grateful at how many folks help and support our yearly bazaar. One of the highlights and “signature items” of our Bazaar has been our cookie trays. We invite everyone who would like to help with our cookie trays to bake us up a tray or two of your fanciest (nut-free) holiday cookies or squares and drop it by the church on the Thursday night (6-9pm) or Friday morning (9am-noon). Our Coordinators are Marilyn Pope and Linda Reaume if you need any information about any of the great things we have at our bazaar or if you would like to help out. I hope you come and check out the Christmas, Country Kitchen, White Elephant, Sewing, Baking, Used Book, Toy’s and Baby’s, Jewelry, and Used Book Tables. You can even stay for Lunch!

Bell Ringing: Encouraging Better Stewardship of the Earth
St. George’s was invited to join with other churches around the world in raising awareness about the important upcoming UN World Climate meeting. 350.org, invited us to ring the church bells 350 times on Saturday October 24th as symbolic support for their call for world leaders to set a goal of keeping atmospheric CO2 levels at or below 350 parts per million. We did and I posted here about that earlier.

Bishop’s Vision: Your Opportunity to Chat
Bishop Michael Bird had asked for the opportunity to come and visit our area to have the opportunity to speak with us about his vision for the Diocese of Niagara. Bishop Bird was at St. Stephen’s, Hornby and all five of the local Anglican parishes, including St. George’s were invited to attend and speak with him. I was very encouraged that so many people from St. George’s came to here and speak with the Bishop. Our recent changes in our ministry with the Contemporary worship service at 11:15, monthly Messy Church gatherings, an improved focus on our ministry to our baptismal families, and our STEAM conversation with the other four Anglican makes St. George’s an excellent partner with the Bishop in helping his vision become a reality for our diocese. Here is a link to a copy (in pdf format) of the Bishop’s vision as it was presented to synod last November.

Helping in our Community
Now not steal away any of the thunder of our church’s bazaar on November 7th but that morning is also the day the local Christian churches have set aside for the fall version of our spring Community Unity clean up. Volunteers are welcomed to help form small teams to go to people’s homes and help them with their fall clean up. Contact me if you are interested in helping or if you know someone who would benefit from the help. There is also a sign-up sheet available in the church lobby. The meeting point on the 7th is the Georgetown Alliance Church @ 8:30 am until about noon and please bring rakes, garden gloves and other small garden tools.

Also, I would like to thank everyone who brought non-perishable food items to church on Thanksgiving Sunday and I invite you to continue to support our local food bank, The Georgetown Bread Basket. It is operated completely by volunteers from within the community and, as a member of the Ontario Association of Food Banks, it collects and distributes non-perishable food to needy families and individuals in our community at no cost to them. The Bread Basket is open Wednesday and Saturday mornings from 9 am – Noon and is located at 55 Sinclair Avenue, Unit 22. For information about volunteering or about how to receive food please call 905-873-3368.

mEssY ChUrcH and a VBS reunion
Our latest Messy Church gathering was a great success, as we invited all the families that participated in our summer VBS program. 34 adults and children made crafts, sang, and talked about the many ways that we think about who Jesus is. All that fun and fellowship ended, as always with a meal. Messy Church is the 2nd Wednesday of every month from 5pm to 7pm. Thanks to The Rev’d Nancy Rowe, her team of helpers, and everyone who came out.

Thanks for your prayers and your continued financial support that allows the ministry at St. George’s to continue to do all the good things it does to proclaim Christ in your lives and in the lives of our community!

Peace,
Rob