How to Make an Advent Wreath

By Blog, Christian Education Archive,

As we think about Advent, we often think about waiting. We’re just hanging around. Waiting for something important that hasn’t quite happened yet. And, if we wait long enough, it will happen. And it will be great!

If we’re entirely honest with ourselves, we sometimes feel like Advent is season designed to fill time and space until we get to the real event – Christmas.

The Christian year begins four Sundays prior to Christmas Day. It’s seems a bit odd, why don’t we start with the main event? After all, Advent just sits there as a non-season kind of season, or at least a pre-season. It feels like the games that are played before the real season of baseball or hockey actually begins. They are nice enough, they just don’t count, so why have them at all?

Let me just say, “Advent counts!”

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On The Way to Bethlehem: An Advent Devotional Booklet to Download

By Blog, Christian Education Archive, , ,

I want to share with you this year’s Advent Devotional booklet entitled On the Way to Bethlehem.

Starting on Sunday, November 29, 2020 this simply laid out devotional guide will help you begin your journey to Bethlehem. Over the four weeks of Advent you will read wonder-filled stories from scripture that will have you walking with the prophet Isaiah, Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and the Magi, until you finally reach Bethlehem. There, on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day you will hear the story of the birth of Jesus and gather with those you have been walking with to witness this special gift of God.

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The Coming Tidal Wave of Pastoral Departures

By Blog, Congregational Development Archive

by Laura Stephens-Reed, Clergy & Congregational Coach (www.laurastephensreed.com)

reprinted with the permission of the author

[Note: when I originally posted this piece on my blog, I realized that few ministers would feel free to share it themselves. If it resonates, I hope that judicatory leaders, laypeople, and others who support you might have passed it along on your behalf.]

There are many ways I could describe the past six months, but I’m going with “revealing.” The pandemic has clarified systemic issues related to a broken healthcare system, racial inequities, lack of leadership at almost every level (governmental and denominational), and inefficient infrastructure for responding to crises. Specifically, though, I am thinking about how all the shifts prompted by Covid-19 have uncovered how unsustainable ministry is for so many pastors in their current contexts.

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Re-opening, and Possibly Re-closing, Presbyterian Churches

By Blog, Congregational Development Archive,

by Fred Stewart, General Presbyter with the Presbytery of West Toronto

I have had the opportunity to speak to many of you about your reopening plans for your church buildings. Sessions have created a variety of strategies largely based on the different circumstances of their congregations.  A lot of planning and debate has accompanied these strategies. As a result, some congregations have already opened for worship with protocols in place. Some are planning on opening soon. Some are waiting for what they consider a safer time.

However, the last week and a bit have significantly changed the risk factors in many parts of Canada, especially in the neighbourhoods of some of our churches.

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The Election of Elders During Covid-19 Restrictions

By Blog, Congregational Development Archive,

The election of elders is an important aspect of our congregational life, and is one we don’t want to put on hold until we can return fully to our church buildings. As the pandemic has continued from weeks to months a number of people have asked me how they might undertake the election of elders in these times. It is helpful to know that the process of holding an election is relatively easy to adapt, however the actual act of ordination becomes a little more complicated.

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Setting Up a Google or Bitmoji Classroom

By Blog, Christian Education Archive

Tonight I will be presenting a workshop on how to use Google Classroom as a hybrid model for Sunday school delivery. As this is the website I use, I am uploading the following so I can demonstrate Google Classroom for the participants and also deliver a handout easily for them. Thus, this really isn’t an article, but instead a means of my making the material available for them. Thank you for your forgiveness if you receive an email from this article. I shall actually write an article on this topic next week, so come back then for the extra content. Blessings, Tori



Setting-Up-a-Google-Classroom handout Download

Please Pass the Faith: How Grandparents Can Best Pass Their Faith on to Their Grandchildren

By Blog, Christian Education Archive,

“My granddaughter loves going to church. We’re all there together; three generations sitting in the pew – It make me the happiest grandparent I can be. My kids are doing a great job, but I often wonder if it’s all up to them. What should I be doing to pass on my faith to my grandchildren?”

“My children no longer go to church, and don’t want to have anything to do it. I bring my grandchildren to Sunday school as often as I can and I tell them the stories of Jesus. I am so sad my grown children have walked away from the church and I don’t want to fail with my grandchildren.”

In my job serving as Regional Minister for Faith Formation I get asked a lot of questions by grandparents; grandparents who come alongside their adult children sharing their faith with their grandchildren, grandparents who rarely get to see their grandchildren, and grandparents who grieve their adult children’s leaving church and deeply desire that their grandchildren know Jesus. Regardless of circumstances, these grandparents all want to know how they can best pass their faith on to their grandchildren. It’s a wonderful question, and one I have a few answers for, for them and for you.

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New Limits on Gatherings for Ontario (Updated Sept. 19)

By Blog, Congregational Development Archive

Greetings friends,

You may have already heard that the province of Ontario has rolled back gathering limits to ten people for indoor social gatherings and 25 people for outdoor social gatherings. The entire article regarding these changes can be found here: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/premier-ontario-cases-covid-sept19-1.5731049

We are writing to clarify that this does not apply to congregational worship. We have received an announcement from the Anglican Diocese of Toronto which clarifies this. It says: “It is important to note that the government announcement regarding unmonitored personal social gatherings does not apply to churches. Worship services will continue to be at 30% capacity.”  

We realize this is all a moving target these days, so please know that we will endeavour to pass on what we learn ASAP.

Blessings, JP and Tori

The Trouble With Technology

By Blog, Congregational Development Archive, Uncategorized, ,

Last week I received an article from a colleague entitled The Coming Tidal Wave of Pastoral Departures by Laura Stephens-Reed. The article can be found here and I commend it to your reading: https://tinyurl.com/y66f5gea

There is much to learn in the article, but one paragraph in particular stood out:

“Prior to the pandemic, a significant number of my clergy coachees and colleagues were working under unrealistic expectations, whether those came from their congregations or from their own internal “shoulds.” And then, mid-Lent, they had to change the ways they did nearly everything – and fast. They became not just preachers but tech experts with all that entails: recording, editing, sound mixing, lighting, inviting people to and teaching them how to participate in and managing online meetings, exploring the most accessible social media platforms, and monitoring cyber security.”

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