• Operation Scugog Food Bank - (Co-operation Christmas Hampers), seasonal food drives and clothing collections
• The Hospital Chaplaincy at Lakeridge Health, Port Perry
• Support and sponsor the Scouts Canada of Port Perry
• Scugog COPE Program

• The clothing drive for Out of the Cold (Toronto), partnership with the local High school students
• Downtown Church Workers

• We have been committed to supporting PWRDF - Primates World Relief and Development Fund - through the Anglican Church umbrella
• Bricks for Niger - financial giving for the building of a Church in Niger
• Hunger to Hope - under the World Vision umbrella
• Medical Ministry International - supports short term medical relief in the 3rd World

Who is the Outreach and Mission team?

The Outreach and Mission committee at the Church of the Ascension is made up of Cathy Cooper, Tony Brown, Jim Wakeford, Jeff Garriock and Karen Stiller. Would you be interested in participating? Please let Cathy Cooper know.

What does the Outreach and Mission team do?

In consultation with the Church Board, the Outreach and Mission team fundraises, evaluates social justice and mission initiatives to see if they fit with the Ascension's mandate, and then distributes funds accordingly. We participate and facilitate in hands-on mission activities, like the Unextreme Home Makeover in order to live out our faith in a practical way. We encourage education around different social justice issues within the congregation, and wish to help empower parishioners in their own initiatives as well.

Do you sponsor a child through I.N. Network? If you are willing to lend the Mission and Outreach team any letters you have received from your sponsored child, we would appreciate it. We would like to create a collage of letters for the upcoming silent Auction and concert. All letters will be returned.

Please drop them in the Stiller's mail file folder at the church entrance. Please mark your name clearly on the letter, if it is not already there.
Thanks!

“Jesus, like any good fisherman, first catches the fish; then He cleans them.” - Peter Potter

 

OUTREACH & MISSION UPDATE

Mission to Uganda - Update

Ascension was approached by IN Network Canada in early in 2008 to participate in sending an inter-denominational group of young people/young adults to Uganda in March 2009 for three weeks to work in a rural school for orphans, doing support of rural-based AIDS clinics and working in an AIDS orphanage in Kampala. We agreed to participate in the project on the basis that it would further Ascension's involvement with IN Uganda in a way that fostered relational contact, would give us an opportunity to develop the leadership capacity of our young people/young adults and provide us with an opportunity to expose some of the younger people/young adults at Ascension to the reality of the context of ministry and mission in Uganda.

The group at Senior Yata put together a 30 hour famine in order to raise funds for one of their number to go on the trip. To this end they raised $1014.50 in pledges. Since then the young persons concerned have indicated they can no longer go due to school commitments. To this end it has been decided to let the young people at Senior YATA decide how they would like to use the money they have raised for IN Uganda in an accountable way.

The team going to Uganda has now been finalised. We will be providing the leadership team for the mission - consisting of myself (Simon Bell) as team leader, with assistance from George and Melanie Hewitt and Amy Barney. The remainder of the team will consist of young people from Orangeville Baptist Church and Knox Presbyterian Church in Hamilton. This will give us the wonderful opportunity to develop the leadership capacity of our young adults, give them exposure to the broader experience of mission and ministry in a project that we at Ascension have a very strong commitment to and provide the young people we at the school where we funded the building of a classroom to make a relational contact to the family at Ascension.

We will be doing a series of fundraising activities in order to raise money to help cover the expense of the trip for those of us going. We will keep you informed as things as they unfold. Thank you for your support of this wonderful project. Please contact Simon at the Church office for more information.

Outreach and Missions at the Ascension offers up these three challenges to our congregation for the Spring. They will help us grow in knowledge, faith and action.

Spend one hour each week reading and learning about some of the current issues facing the world. This is easy to do. Newspapers, magazines and websites offer up the latest stats and insights. Read. Learn. Digest. And watch for upcoming Mission and Outreach education evenings to help you along!

Live differently because of what you have learned . Knowledge that is not applied can feel useless. With most troubling issues there is already a group of committed people or an organization leading the fight to solve it. It might be as simple as writing a letter, signing a petition or attending a rally. Take an action based on your new knowledge. Every voice does make a difference.

Become someone who cares for Creation. Canadians top the charts of greedy energy consumers. Global warming is catastrophic to the lives of the poor in developing nations. Turn out the lights. Switch to energy-efficient bulbs. Turn off your computer. Unplug your stereo. Walk more. Drive less. The list of what we can do as Canadian Christians to decrease our carbon footprint, and increase our environmental integrity, is endless. Check out www.davidsuzuki.org for common sense ideas on how to get started, including recipes for natural cleaners you can make at home.

Let's work on it together!

FTC Canada (Tony and Susan Brown's mission) www.feedthechildren.org

Outreach and Mission at the Ascension

Statistics show that it is the poor who suffer the most during tough economic times. This is true at the global level, as well as the local and national level. Bishop Johnson is asking Anglicans to make their voices heard to their provincial government to not forget the poor as budgets are planned and programs are created: “..we need to continue to raise our voices, as the government prepares its 2009 budget, expected in March or April,” says Bishop Johnson. “It’s particularly important that the budget contain action steps to benefit the poor. We cannot afford to wait.”

To find your MPP visit: www.ontariotenants.ca/government/mpp.phtml
To find your MP visit: http://webinfo.parl.gc.ca

For tips on how to write the most effective letters or make the most of any contact with your government representative visit: www.cpj.ca (Citizens for Public Justice).

Outreach and Mission at the Ascension is thrilled that several members of our church are heading to Uganda on a mission trip this Spring. We urge parishioners to support this endeavour wholeheartedly. Attend the fundraisers. Pray for their success. Donate the socks (or whatever they ask for) and give words of encouragement to Simon Bell, Amy Barney and Melanie and George Hewitt. We are confident that we will all be impacted by the experience they will have.

Thanks to everyone who participated in our World Vision Christmas initiative! Many members of the Ascension bought gifts through the catalogue and made a difference in the lives of the poor.

Do you have a heart for justice? Are you yearning to put your faith into action? Outreach and Mission might be the group for you. You’re welcome to join us. See Cathy Cooper to find out how you can join us.

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Part of Ascension's Outreach and Mission helps support the ministry of Kara and Nelson Mejia in Honduras . A group from the Ascension completed a mission trip there, helping to build a church.    Here is news from Nelson and Kara: They are settling in well with a new baby and Kara is already back to work. The parish is slowly growing. In three weeks they will both be ordained. Please continue to pray for this couple as they work to share Christ's love with the poorest of the poor in Honduras .  (to read more about the Mission Trip to Honduras click here) Kara and Nelson Mejia have set up a blog for their Church which we support in Roatan, Honduras. If you would like to have a look and find out about prayer requests, go to:  http://nelsonandkara.wordpress.com/

Ascension also helps support the work of Julia Cornish serving with Africa Inland Mission. Julia Cornish is the Director of Relief and Development at AIM Headquarters in Toronto . In February she had the privilege of visiting many of the ongoing, and some of the potential new project sites in Africa , in which AIM is involved. Pray for her as she seeks God’s will and direction as to which projects AIM Canada should be involved in. Pray also that the Lord would guide her every step as she writes the proposals necessary to request funding for these projects. (from AIM's website)

Last updated 7-2-09