"The life of stewardship is an on-going process of integration whereby we relate our whole person to the whole action of God. The life of stewardship calls us to unity of purpose: the seeking of the wholeness of human life in communion with God. By acknowledging our dependence on God for all of life, we are called to regard both material things and human capacities not as private possessions or as personal property, but as God's gift."

Sunday, 20 February 2005, will mark the Official Launch of our Hearts and Hands in Action Campaign, to raise the funds required for the renovation of the basement and The Well. Monica Patten and Ross Hammond will speak to you directly during the service.

The Campaign Leadership Team of fourteen people is in place, a campaign theme has been chosen, and with help from many, a campaign logo will be unveiled today. The logo is symbolic of much that is so valued by all of us in this St John's community - the spirit of God that works through the hands of so many, that flows through all our hearts as we reach out to our community and that is with us as we worship and work in this building, our Church. The logo has been inspired by those who worked to communicate their feelings about St Johns in the making of the "Speaking in the Air" Memory Quilt. So we hope it will carry meaning to you, as you contemplate your role in this campaign.

The Hearts and Hands Campaign is now ready to begin reaching out to you. Fellow parishioners who have volunteered as campaign visitors will begin phoning this week to ask to meet with you in your home or another place of your choice. The purpose of the meetings will be to explain the campaign goals, answer any questions you might have, and to ask you to consider a donation. We hope that you will be receptive to them when they call.

If you would like to participate as a visitor, please be in touch with Melodie Conlon (569-0778), Monica Patten (728-6819) or Ross Hammond (233-8635).

We have launched a board that will chart the Hearts and Hands Campaign's progress in the church. You will find this at the ramp side of the Nave and it will allow us all to watch the progress of the Campaign.

As we enjoy the first warmth of spring, the Hearts and Hands Campaign has been enjoying the generous hearts of many. As of March 25th, we have had responses from parishioners with pledges totaling close to $290,000. Of this, in-hand donations tally close to $67,000. This early response has given our campaign a wonderful start, thanks to those who have made generous decisions and done so quickly. It is very encouraging for all of us engaged in the campaign and for those just beginning to contemplate their capacity to give.

Fifty visits have now taken place and visitors continue to enjoy these visits. Some early hesitation to "talk about money" has been replaced with enthusiasm about the wonderful occasions to talk and get to know each other better. The information kits left with those visited have been found to be helpful.

Next week there will be training sessions for an additional 25 volunteer visitors and this will lead to many more visits over the next short while.

This week we will launch in the church a board that will chart the Hearts and Hands Campaign's progress. You will find this at the ramp side of the Nave and it will allow us all to watch the progress of the Campaign.

If you would like to participate as a visitor, please be in touch with Melodie Conlon (569-0778), Monica Patten (728-6819) or Ross Hammond (233-8635).

We offer thanks for the great blessings offered to this campaign, both in time spent by many volunteers and in generous giving by those who have got our campaign off to a great start.

The Lord "hath made us and not we ourselves" (Ps.100.3, KJV). So the church has in itself nothing to boast about. It is simply a community trying to live in the realization that the entire creation depends on God's self-giving. Through the cross the church learns that life is a gift and that to live is to give.
Transformation Document Number 14,
The Church of St John the Evangelist

As we pass by the Church's excavated foundation on Somerset St. this morning, the reality of the work we will fund through the Hearts and Hands Campaign becomes quite clear. The Well will re-open in its temporary quarters at Bell Street United Church next week, and at the end of the service today we invite you down to view the "old" space one last time, so we can compare it with the "new" space in the fall.

Today, on "Campaign Sunday," we are celebrating our community and its wonderful energy and dedication. In the first two months of the campaign, our enthusiastic volunteers have visited 105 families in the parish. From these visits, we have received pledges totaling close to $400,000, and more pledges are on their way. This marks the half-way point to meeting our objective and we thank all who have responded so generously. These results give us great encouragement as we move into the last ten weeks of the campaign.

At the same time, we recognize that the second half of any great endeavour can be challenging. Many more visits will be made over the coming weeks as we strive to reach our goal. Your positive response to these visits will ensure the ultimate success of our campaign. We are very grateful to the many volunteers who have come forward to join the visitors' team, and for the time they have given to be trained to do this. The visits continue to be excellent opportunities for people to get together and share ideas and concerns far beyond the campaign itself, reinforcing the bonds we have in our community.

Over the next while, we hope to have a small display area at the back of the church for visitors who might be interested in our campaign. As well, we will prepare a sign for our billboard explaining our construction site, and inviting gifts. We invite you to share any other ideas you might have about outreach possibilities with Monica Patten, Ross Hammond or Martha Nixon.

At this point in our history it is important for us to remember that we are building on the foundations established long before us and working together with an energy generated from beyond us so that God's love might flow through us to those around us.
Ross Hammond
Homily, Sunday May 1, 2005

As we begin the thirteenth week of the campaign, Hearts and Hands visitors continue to contact parishioners and ask for expressions of interest in visits. Have you been called yet? If not, you will be, and when this happens, we do hope that you will welcome visitors, either to your home or a place of your choosing. These visits are important to let you know the details of the campaign, to discuss how can you help and to enjoy getting to know your fellow parishioners just a little bit better.

Our campaign continues to benefit from the generous gifts of many - this week we place another heart on our campaign chart with $481,170 pledged. We give thanks to those of you who have taken your decisions and moved us a good direction toward our goal. We do hope that all those contacted will give prayerful consideration to helping us to meet our goal of $750,000 by the end of June.

The construction work is moving quickly, and the excavation of the crypt is a very visible reminder of the work that is underway. It is very exciting to see the project actually in progress, and to ensure we can manage all we need to do, we ask for your help.

We are grateful to so many who continue to work at making this campaign a success and pray that we may have divine guidance with all that is ahead of us.

The reality of Christian community is grounded in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit: in the healing and forgiveness given by the Spirit and in the celebration and witness enabled by the Spirit. The Christian community is a gifted community which exhibits the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:23). It is these qualities which are to characterize the church's common life and shared ministry, not only in its worship and prayer, in its ethical pronouncements and social action, but in the way it order and structures its total life.
By Inagrace Dietterich
from the Center Letter, Dec 1990

The Hearts and Hands Campaign has been moving steadily towards its goal. The response to visits continues to be very encouraging. We hope to keep this momentum going as visits continue over the next few weeks, in order to meet our target by the end of June. We are most optimistic that this will happen, and we ask all who have not yet made a decision to prayerfully consider the support they can offer and respond as soon as possible.

Since our goal is to give everyone in the Parish an opportunity to participate in the campaign, we are also initiating a phone/mail program to reach those who have not yet been contacted about Hearts and Hands.

We will soon begin phoning these parishioners to discuss the campaign, following up on a letter inviting them to participate in whatever way possible. If a visit is preferred to a phone conversation, this can be arranged. A team of phone volunteers has been recruited and trained to begin this phase of the campaign, and we hope you will welcome these phone callers.

Another heart will go up on the progress chart today, signaling a pledged amount of $547,000. It is with grateful hearts that we place this amount on the board, and with thanks to all who have helped us to achieve this.

A new pamphlet has been written to invite friends of St John the Evangelist who are not parishioners to consider becoming donors to our campaign. If you have any links to possible donors, please pick up a pamphlet at the back of the church, and share it with as many people as possible.

Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of your has received.
1 Peter 4:10

As we move into the heart of the summer, the Hearts and Hands in Action campaign is happy to report that our visits to parishioners have been essentially completed - more than 280 visits have occurred. This is a truly wonderful accomplishment, and thanks are due to those who visited and those who received visitors.

It is clear we are now in the "dash to the finish line". As we near close to our goal of $750,000. We have pledges totaling $630,000 as of June 28. The generosity of so many who have brought us to this level is very much appreciated. To meet our goal, it becomes very important that the 100 outstanding decisions about pledging be made without delay. Please make your pledge now, before you head out for some summer fun.

Pledging now will ensure we do not disturb your summer with follow-up calls. This will in fact be our focus over the next while, and summer activity will be to made gentle nudges for those yet to give an answer to our request for support for the campaign. In the summer bulletins, we will track our progress as pledges are received.

As the active phase of the Hearts and Hands Campaign winds down, it is with grateful hearts that we celebrate the success of the campaign and give thanks to God for the service and leadership of so many in our church, and for the generous hearts and hands that have made this campaign a remarkable experience for all of us.     Thank you.

I have tried to keep things in my hands and lost them all, but what I have given into God's hands I still possess.
Martin Luther

As we move into the fall season at St John's, the Hearts and Hands Campaign heads into the home stretch. We give thanks for the many pledges and gifts that have been offered - we now are over the $690,000 mark, very close to our goal of $750,000, but not quite there.

Over the summer, activity has slowed, as many have turned their attention to those lovely summer activities. Now, however, we will need to make one final effort to meet our target and close off the active part of the campaign before Thanksgiving. Our visitors and campaigners will be contacting those of you with pending pledges and asking for your response. We do hope to hear positively for the over 40 parishioners who have indicated an interest in pledging. Please make the time to consider your capacity to pledge.

We have initiated requests to a number of our corporate partners - those who work with us in the neighbourhood, or who have been active in providing services or goods to us recently or over the years. We are hopeful that some of these requests will result in donations that will also help us reach our target. Our contractor for the renovations, Mr. Sean Lundy has donated a new gas oven to The Well - a wonderful gift.

As reported last week by ARC, the renovations are proceeding well, on time and on budget. Soon we will all be able to tour the renovated space in our basement, and we will be amazed to see what our efforts have produced - it is truly transformed. Let's make the final effort to meet our target to cover these worthwhile costs.

In early November, we will join as a strong faith community to celebrate the return of the women of The Well, and to ask God's blessing for this renewed space in our Church building. Some of us have already enjoyed this fresh, new space as we lunched together to welcome newcomers to the church last Sunday. It was joyous.

What a tangible witness to the generous hearts and hands of so many! The transformation of our basement space is very exciting and we should be very proud of the commitment made by so many of us to ensure this happens.

The Hearts and Hands Campaign Leadership Committee, led by Monica Patten and Ross Hammond, met for the last time on October 19th. Chris Hobbs of DVA Navion presented his overview of the highlights of the campaign. These included: meeting the goal of $700,000 to be raised in the Parish while the additional $50,000 sought from the community is still to be fully collected. As of this week, over $712,342,000 has been pledged, of which $204,536 has been received. To meet our goal, close to 50 volunteers visited over 275 church households between January and June. A small amount of follow-up may be needed following initial contacts or visits, but this is largely with our potential corporate donors - contractors for the renovation or those with whom we do regular business.

As we organize ourselves to monitor the pledges made and to track developments over the next five years, a Continuation Committee will be set up to manage this process. Some of the members of the Hearts and Hands Committee will volunteer to be part of this group, to ensure continuity. Members of the Committee will be announced shortly.

DVA Navion's role in the campaign was considered a key to our success and we very much appreciated the leadership of Chris Hobbs. His presence at our Church over many months made him a trusted and well-liked member of the St John's team. In submitting a final report, Chris wrote " In our view, the campaign has been a tremendous success and despite the fact that there is more work to be done, a great deal of effort, enthusiasm, friendship and faith were the main reasons for the success of the campaign."

There will be opportunities to again thank everyone who worked so hard on the Hearts and Hand Campaign, including the clergy, the Leadership team and Team Captains, the volunteer visitors and the many willing donors - at the Parish Supper on November 26th. As we turn the page to a new chapter, we give thanks to God for the spirit which moved among us, bringing us the capability to bring a vision and a dream to fruition.

As of October 31, we reached over $722,000 in donations and pledges. The Leadership Team is delighted to announce that Bill Teron has generously pledged $30,000 to our campaign which brings us over our goal of $750,000. This makes our dedication service today an occasion to be especially thankful for the gifts and blessings that this project will bring to St John's and The Well.

As you know, St John's has been working in partnership with Bill and Chris Teron for well over two years in the development of the parking lot. They have now shown their commitment to the work of St John's and to affordable housing in three ways: by paying a higher than market purchase price for the land, by reducing the purchase price of a unit for moderate income households to make the purchase more affordable (with their contribution valued at about $260,000), and finally by a $30,000 donation to our renovations in support of St John's and The Well.

Many thanks as well to our other corporate donors: Sean Lundy of Lundy Construction for the donation of a new gas stove and to Quadrant Engineering, Judy Faulkner of Faulkner Real Estate, and Drycore Electric (2002) Inc for financial donations to our Hearts and Hands Campaign.

Our special thanks to all those who have worked on our basement renovations: the consultants, the construction manager and general contractor, sub-contractors and construction workers. In particular, St John's would like to thank three key people responsible for the work: Tom Blood, Architect (Thomas E. Blood Architect) Sean Lundy, Construction Manager (M.P. Lundy Construction) Mark Schneider, Construction Superintendent (M.P. Lundy Construction)

Finally, today, St John's formally expresses its appreciation to Hans Stenman, who has worked on behalf of St John's and The Well to ensure that the project stayed within budget and that construction decisions reflected the best interests of both St John's and The Well. For the past six months, this has been a more or less full time job for Hans. His expertise, dedication and attention to detail have been key factors to the successful completion of the renovation.