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Worship Space Renovations
During the first half of 2009, under the leadership of Pat Bowen, ARC continued to seek input on potential changes to the nave. In May, there was a parish discussion concerning two key elements to future changes: the central communion table and that we all worship together in the nave. Also at this discussion, there was a presentation on the use of chairs instead of pews. Four chairs were ordered for the congregation to see the possibilities. All recognized that, because of limited funds, we could not proceed with any costly renovation activity.

Pat initiated a major tidy up of the nave and a fix up of the children's area at the back of the church. By year end, the children's area was more attractive and children-friendly.

Gay Richardson took over as chair of ARC in the summer of 2009. ARC extended its thanks to Pat for her excellent leadership over the course of two-and-a-half years.

There was impetus to move forward with changes to the nave when it was determined that the carpeting on the nave floor presented a safety hazard. In the summer, the nave floor carpet was removed, exposing the hardwood floor. After considerable discussion about the least costly and most effective way to finish the floor for use over the next few years, the Building Committee recommended that the exposed wood floor be temporarily covered with vinyl tile and this was done in the fall of 2009.

Based on input from the congregation, ARC reached the following conclusions regarding future changes to the nave:

• The organ will remain where it is and the view of the east window will remain. Funds are required for an organ console.
• The present wood walls will remain unchanged (i.e. the brick on the walls will not be exposed).
• The acoustics and a newly-designed entrance will be addressed at a later date when finances permit.

In the fall of 2009, ARC made a proposal to the congregation to move forward with changes to the nave in stages. ARC proposed removing the carpeted platform at the head of the nave and the first 5 rows of pews, thereby allowing the community of St John's (congregation, choir and clergy) to worship together in the nave around a central communion table. On November 8 there was a parish consultation on this proposal and an opportunity to receive written input. ARC prepared a summary of the comments received as well as a series of questions and answers in response to this input.

On December 8, 2009, at a Special Vestry meeting, Vestry approved the proposed changes at a cost not to exceed $28,000, with this funding to come from the estate of the late Doreen Gurney. Work began in early January, with an expected completion within the month.

Columbarium
At the same Special Vestry, the congregation approved exploring the possibility of building a columbarium somewhere at St John's. ARC will be surveying members of the congregation in 2010 to determine the level of interest and if such a proposal is financially viable. If the results of this work are positive, ARC will return to the congregation for further discussion as to location, etc.

Long Term Planning
During 2009, ARC undertook responsibility for long-term planning for major capital expenditures for St John's. ARC was a natural choice for this role since a number of potential future major expenditures relate to the worship space, and these expenditures need to be considered within the total picture of necessary major capital repairs. Future essential capital repairs include new roofs on the Parish Hall and the church and the continuation of major repairs to the bell tower. Future work needs to consider how we can improve our environmental footprint and the challenges of maintaining such an old building. An equipment reserve fund needs to be established and priorities set for additional changes to the nave including the narthex and a new church entrance (e.g. the front entrance is extremely draughty). Longer-term capital requirements total close to one million dollars; significant planning is required to fund this. Bill Broughton agreed to chair a sub-committee of ARC, called the Facilities Planning (FP) sub-committee and will establish a close liaison with the Stewardship Committee and the Building Committee. The FP will assess the needs, and recommend a list of priorities.

Committee members
Both Pat and I thank the members of ARC for their continued commitment to our work. Some have been members of the committee since a Nave Committee was established in 2001. This committee evolved into ARC and renovations of the rest of the church took priority. We are finally tackling renovations to the worship space, the original mandate of the committee. Committee members are: Pat Bowen, Bill Broughton, Ann Chaplin, Jim Cummings, Wanda Dillabough, Joan Dolphin, Sue Evans, Dana Fisher, John Gallienne, Gordon Johnston, Diana Lize, Catherine Malone (secretary), Wendy McCutcheon, Gay Richardson (chair), Connie Snelgrove and Hans Stenman. While everyone on the committee has made very valuable contributions, very special thanks are due to Hans Stenman for the countless hours of work he has given to designing, costing, contracting, and overseeing the work being done in the nave.

With increased funding available the Building Committee has had a busy year in 2009.

Committee members, consisting of Gay Richardson, Bob Green, Glen Robinson, Glenn Calder, Jim Cummings, Naomi Kabougi and our custodians Karen Grant and Roger Cloutier, met 8 times during the year on the first Thursday of every month except for the summer period.

Major works undertaken and completed this year covered the following:

• Replacement of decayed wood fascias and soffits and painting of all wood work on the Elgin St side of the church.
• Painting of the Somerset St corridor and administrative offices
• Installation of a new ceiling and lights in the Somerset St. corridor
• Painting and upgrade the Youth lounge located in the basement
• Replacement of posts and perimeter beams supporting the ramp from Elgin St.
• Replacement of the deteriorated carpet with vinyl composite tile in the aisles of the nave
• Installation of security cameras in the garage area owned by St Johns
• Replacement of the obsolete smoke detector system protecting the nave area by a more sensitive and up to date detector and the replacement of 11 obsolete fire extinguishers.
• Installation of a snow fence and electric heating along the low slope roof on Somerset St
• Installation of an upgraded sound system in the Nave
• Upgrade of the exterior exhaust system for the gas fired domestic hot water tank.

The total cost for the above items was approximately $38,000 with another $9.600 spent on miscellaneous capital items for a total of expenditure this year of $47,600.

This total is $6,600 more than the budget allocated to Capital Building Projects. The overun is due to the unanticipated need to repair the Elgin St ramp and the need to replace the carpet in the nave.

My thanks to all the committee members for their diligent and helpful service over the past year. Their assistance is greatly appreciated.

Many, many thanks to Roger Cooper for all his work as envelope secretary and as a counter. For much of last year Roger, John Nesbitt, and Laura Miller counted each week. Thanks to them as a great team. I filled in when needed as did Bryan Wannop.

This year Laura will count for the timbering, and I am grateful that Myra Clowes has returned to count after an absence of many years. John Nesbitt and Bryan Wanop are away until mid-March. We could use two new volunteers!

Three of us meet Monday mornings at 9 a.m. for one to one-and-a-half hours. We list envelopes and additional givings for PAR users and count the loose collection. We record rent cheese and revenue from concerts and special events as well as Loblaw's gift cards. We count the weekly takings from the community shop. If your interested, please speak with me or the Rector.

For the 14 years from 1994 to 2008 I enjoyed worshipping at St. John's. I have served as your envelope secretary from 2000 onwards. As many of you know, Pamela and I have recently chosen to move over to worship at St. Michael and all Angels. The year 2009 is my last year in service hers as envelope secretary and as a counter on Monday mornings.

It is encouraging to see continued use of the PAR system as a way of contributing to the Church. The resulting regular income assists greatly in financial management. I would like to see more of that. There is however one caveat. People need to remember that the PAR contribution is monthly and should represent at least 4 weeks worth of donations. I other words, if you give $50.00 per month through PAR this represents less than $10.00 per week.

The Hearts and Hands campaign period ends in 2010. Paula MacPherson your new envelope secretary has access to all my records and can call upon me for assistance with that if required. All of you that pledged to support Hearts and Hands will have received a statement along with your annual tax receipt and contribution statement.

I would like to thank you all, for the opportunity that you have given to me, to serve God in this Church community. This was, for me, such a meaningful and wonderful way to use the skills that God has given me.

The members of Parish Council, drawn from a cross-section of the parish, meet monthly to reflect on the mission and ministries of the parish, and to offer advice to Corporation. Additionally, operating as "vestry between vestries", Parish Council oversees expenditures, to ensure that budgetary limits are respected, and changes approved, if necessary.

Some Parish Council members assume additional duties. Joan Dolphin, Vicki Milnes, Ian Culbert and Albert Klein attended diocesan Synod in October. Others help out on Sunday morning by serving as Duty Wardens: Bob Green, Ian Culbert, Sharon Burrowes, and Randy Lalonde. Thanks to them all. While in the past one of the churchwardens has usually chaired meetings of Parish Council, last year Ian Culbert served as Chair, and did an excellent job of maintaining order and keeping to our schedule. He has been a very fine Chair.

Thanks are due to those who will be completing their terms on Parish Council at the annual meeting. In addition to myself, they are: Bob Green, Sharon Burrows, Randy Lalonde, Sally Andrews and Sue Evans. Earlier last year David Whitbread, Linda Lord and Albert Klein stepped down.

The stewardship committee launched a stewardship ministry program in the fall of 2009 to give the St. John's family an opportunity to reflect and pray over our parish mission, to think about which ministries are important to us and to consider what we can do to support and invest in these ministries through our time and talent and our treasure.

To this end, a stewardship package was developed outlining our ministries. It was distributed to the congregation with a Time and Talent Worksheet, a Financial Offering and Pledge Worksheet, and a Proportional Giving Table. Three potluck events were held in the fall to provide the opportunity learn more about the package and our ministries as well as to take a tour of our facilities. Approximately 140 people attended these events.

Our Stewardship Commitment Sunday took place on November 29, 2009, and people were asked to return their time and talent sheets and financial commitments at that time. As a result of our Stewardship Ministry and the Christmas appeal, and thanks to the generosity and faithfulness of our community, St. John's ended the year in a positive financial position going into 2010.

Our parish website, now in its 13th year, continues to grow in both size and the number of visitors we receive. In 2009 we received an average of 2866 visits each month representing a 5 % increase over last year. Our most popular pages continue to be our weekly bulletin and our audio sermons.

We attempt to serve two quite different communities through our website. The most important community is our own members who check the site regularly to see what is happening in the parish. The second community is visitors from outside the parish who have heard about St Johns and want more information on our many activities and ministries. Well over half our visitors continue to come from outside Canada.

This past summer Gordon and David worked on an alternative design for the site attempting to overcome the many complaints we have received about the left hand "menu" system. We hope to implement this new design in 2010 - time permitting.