2023 ANNIVERSARY LETTER
Dear Members and Friends of St. Andrew’s,
This year we will be celebrating 188 years of faithful ministry here at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Lindsay. I am thankful for all the saints of the past who have passed the gospel torch to the next generation, so that proclamation continued to this day!
As we look to carrying on this good work, here’s the proposal from the Finance chair, Bob Puffer, that will help us to maintain our church as a welcoming place:
As has been customary over the years at our anniversary, we ask for an additional donation above and beyond your normal giving to assist in paying for unbudgeted expenses that may occur during the year. These items generally are the ones that need to be addressed sooner rather than later. If we are lucky enough to surpass our goal and have additional funds left over after fixing whatever needed to be fixed, those funds will be used to assist in paying the everyday operating expenses of the church.
We have two projects that need our attention in 2023. The first one is that two sections of a heat exchanger on one of the boilers has to be replaced. We managed to get through the winter using the one boiler but if anything happened to it, we would have had to scramble to make it right. Anything boiler related is not a cheap fix and this is no different. The cost of the repair will be $7,870.00.
The other project that we have targeted is some more brick work repairs to the outside of the church. Every couple of years we attempt to do some brick repairs not just for safety reasons but as a way to avoid a major repair bill that runs into the $50,000.00 - $100,000.00 range. As we have seen in the past brick work is not cheap and it is difficult to get an exact quote until they get a lift and go up and see what they are actually dealing with. Binoculars from the ground will let you see the troubled areas but a visual inspection from up close is far more accurate. We estimate that this repair will come in at approximately $8,000.00.
Therefore, we are setting our 2023 Anniversary fund raising goal at $16,000.00. The repairs that we have targeted are necessary repairs and once they are done will leave St Andrew’s in a much better position moving forward. We thank you for your ongoing support here at St. Andrew’s and hope that you will give this request some thought and consideration.
I believe our God is not a god of scarcity. He is a God of abundance and desires to richly bless us. But in the story of the farmer who scattered the seed (Matthew 13), only the good soil produced a crop that yielded 100 times what was sown. How are we as the church preparing ourselves to receive seeds that will yield great crops? What rocks and thorns do we need to remove from our own hearts? Our Renewal work has done some of this hard work, and we will continue, so that this generation can pass the torch onto the next generation.
The Anniversary service is planned for Sunday, April 30 with guest speaker, the Rev. Victor Kim. Mr. Kim is the newly appointed Principal Clerk for the General Assembly Office. He also ministered in congregations in Calgary and Richmond (BC) prior to being appointed.
Come and let’s celebrate together!
In Christ’s service,
Linda Park