“It was a common message at the Life and Mission Agency’s November meeting: The national church must change how it thinks about mission, or risk losing touch with congregations.” (Presbyterian Record, January 2009). At the level of the congregation, we too have had to rethink the way we do mission.
For many years now, I have served on the mission committee at Fallingbrook, Scarborough, Ont. Fallingbrook has a small congregation, which has been blessed with generous givers who year after year meet their approved amount for Presbyterians Sharing and support a number of special projects that the mission committee puts forward.
The mission committee had a desire to work on greening the church. This is an area of much concern and discussion in the popular press. Should the church assume the role of leader, not that of bystander? We consider that mission means “doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God.” Considering the disastrous effects of global warming on the poor of the world, any plans to lessen the carbon footprint of the rich world must certainly fall into the scope of Christian mission. Moreover, stewardship of the earth has always been a part of Christian theology.
With this in mind, many of our new projects had to do with the environment. In March, we held the first-ever Earth Hour service, using materials from the peace and justice agency KAIROS. This gave us a kick start for our mission project through Lent, which came about in a serendipitous way. In 2005, I had visited Malawi with a group led by Karen Plater, then with Presbyterian World Service and Development. Rev. Gord Timbers, minister at Unionville, was also on that trip. I noticed on the Unionville website that they (also a small congregation) were raising money to build a new well for Chigodi Women’s Centre in Malawi. Gord and I had first-hand knowledge of Chigodi (giving us that personal connection that the LMA also stressed as important). A new idea was born. Why not partner with Unionville (and also First Church, Kamloops) to provide clean water? Fallingbrook’s fundraising netted more than $1,500 and along with the other churches involved, a new well was dug for Chigodi. PWS&D provided the conduit through which the monies reached Malawi.
As part of our own local commitment to water issues, it was at this time that session passed a motion to stop providing bottled water at church functions and to discourage its use by members and renters.
Our second environmental focus became land. Again we went to PWS&D—this time looking at their Something Extra projects—and found the perfect fit. From May to September, thanks to the generosity of the congregation, enough money ($3,400) was raised to keep an agricultural resource centre open for three months in one of the countries where PWS&D has partners.
To end our anniversary project and as our local focus, the mission committee had a 100-mile dinner in September. As well as enjoying a delicious meal and time of fellowship, we were able to reflect on our connection to the land and to farmers and sustainability here in Southern Ontario.
These projects about water and land were new and over and above the congregation’s continued support of our local food bank in a nearby United church. As well as ongoing collections of non-perishables, and as a testament to our commitment to ecumenical initiatives, we budget $100 a month to the food bank’s support, and six members of our congregation volunteer each week to sort and serve. At the beginning of the Advent season for the past 15 years, a small group goes door to door in our local community to collect additional donations of foodstuffs for the food bank.
Another ecumenical connection over the years has been Fallingbrook’s participation in the East End Refugee Committee, whose members come from churches in the Beaches area of Toronto. This year, as in the past, people were able to help out through donations of clothing and furniture to new refugee families. Our choir was also involved in a major fundraiser for the work of the committee.
We also have monthly sandwich makings during coffee hour, which are then delivered to Evangel Hall. We also support Evangel Hall through collection of toiletries, and during Advent we put up a sock and mitten line and collect donations to help the people who come to the Hall in the winter.
For the past several years at Christmas, we have collected health kits, school kits, AIDS kits and relief kits for the Mennonite Central Committee, which are then given as gifts to the poor of the world.
Also as part of Advent, the mission committee promoted the purchase of PWS&D cards and Gifts Of Change from the catalogue. This was an extension of the greening of Fallingbrook as it promoted the idea of a simpler, less consumer-oriented Christmas.
At Fallingbrook, in the face of an aging congregation and smaller numbers we have been forced to rethink mission. Through partnering with other churches, whether Presbyterian or not, and through creative but current projects which allow us to connect what we do with what goes on in the rest of the world, we have been blessed in so many ways.
