St. Stephen’s Memorial

Our Next 60 Years !

Families have changed, their

needs are the same.

They need a Spiritual Home

727 Southdale Road London, Ontario N6E 1A9

(519) 681-5153 www.ststephenslondon.com

Monday, February 7, 2011

To the St. Stephen’s Memorial Family

Having gotten to know many of the St. Stephen’s Memorial “originals”, spirit, is a word that

has new meaning for me. Onto what was bald farmland, they had the audacity to rebuild an

old white clapboard church and expect that people would show up for service. Show up for

service they did, by the dozen, such that a scant two decades later that spirit moved them to

build a brand spanking new church, and then add on to it, twice!

This is the spirit that today’s St. Stephen’s Memorial will rely on as we embark on an ambitious

Capital Financial Campaign, called

“Our next 60 years.”

In 1950, the area just south of London on Wellington road was a mishmash

of housing, scattered over several VLA tracts of land. Nobody

knew how many Anglicans there were, or if it even mattered. What they

knew was that they needed a church, and build it they did!

Today, the area surrounding St. Stephen’s is culturally and ethnically diverse. It matters not

so much how many Anglicans there are, as it matters how many people are in need of a Spiritual

place to call home. We are as green at knowing how to harness the spiritual needs of the

community today, as was the post Second World War community in 1950. They simply assumed

the need and went about meeting it as best they could. We are in that same place today.

We know there is great need, and the same old same old won’t meet peoples desires

and yearning to understand God. We are again called to step out in faith!

Our campaign is ambitious, some might even call it scary. We can get our minds around the

need for a new roof and can even begin to understand new technology.

But what is it that people need?

What is it that we need to help awaken spiritually in our community ?

Well, those spirit-filled youngsters that cranked up St. Stephen’s Memorial 60 years go, probably

had the perfect understanding for our next 60 years. People need a place to belong, to feel

cared for, to believe that they are understood.

We are the people of that place and it’s name is St. Stephen’s. Messy Church, Scrambled

Worship, Back To Church Sunday, powerpoint, facebook and the list goes on. Each has something

to offer the community around us; each is part of the way forward for our Church! What

was done 60 years ago didn’t meet the rulebook, the expectations; it wasn’t a slam dunk sure

thing! It was a risk that paid off. This financial campaign is a risk of the same kind. We need

to raise the enthusiasm, the faith and the funds to propel St. Stephen’s Memorial headlong into

our next 60 years.

We are asking you to give, not to a campaign, but to a faith filled vision of 60 more years

of witness to the love of Jesus Christ. We’re not 100 per cent certain how this will all shake

out, what the exact recipe will be for a successful reinvention of St. Stephen’s. What we do

know is that the main ingredient in the recipe is spirit, the spirit that led our “originals” to launch

St. Stephen’s and the Spirit of the God who loves us and calls us to love those around us.

I ask you to read the outline of projects contained in this package, joy in the history and courage

of past members, pray about the future that is ahead of us, and then, as God’s Spirit

leads you, give to our financial, but more importantly, faith filled future!

In Christ

Keith

The Rev. T. Keith Nethery.

Rector

History

OUR FIRST SIXTY YEARS…….$ 261.00 dollars!

That is what the Anglican Diocese of Huron paid to purchase the land on which the

original and current St. Stephen’s Memorial churches have been built.

It was 1948 when the idea of a church south of London began to come together and the

land was purchased. The rest, as they say is history! The community rallied to put in the

foundation; the former Church of the Resurrection was disassembled, piece by piece and

moved to the St. Stephen’s site and painstakingly put back together.

EVERYONE WELCOME

By 1950 services had begun and people began to be drawn into the “old white church.”

It was, no doubt, quite an experience for those first members of St. Stephen’s Memorial.

While the church was Anglican and the priest was Anglican, a goodly

number of church members were not. Adult baptisms and huge confirmations

were the norm in the early years. In a history of the church, produced

for the 50th anniversary are stories of a Sunday service with 275

people and a confirmation class numbering close to 50, most of them

adults.

There is great truth to the suggestion that unless you know where you are coming from,

it is impossible to know where you are going to. An outdoor strawberry social that took

literally dozens of men, women and children to pull off is highlighted in an early story

of the church, as is the understanding by the late 1960's that the church building was no

longer sufficient for the congregation it held. So, while a new church was built, the congregation

moved to a store front on Dearness Drive. It was hardly ideal, but as is the St.

Stephen’s spirit, it was deemed just fine until the brand new building was ready in 1972.

The new space was soon as crowded as had been the old. But there was always room for

a few more! In the late 1970's, the Roman Catholic Diocese of London realized that they

were in need of a new church in what is now White Oaks, and so the community of St.

Justin's was formed. Before their building was ready, the St. Justin's congregation met

here at St. Stephen’s, with the two congregations working around one another. The Rev.

Ron Ferris and Father Pat Mellon were known to spell each other in the pulpit, and a

strong faith bond grew.

Muppetans, music, youth ministry, Cursillo, and many more programs became highlights

of the explosion of St. Stephen’s Memorial. And they continue to

this day to tell a huge part of the story of this church. The new

building was renovated, a parish hall and office complex was

added, Southdale Chaplaincy was birthed from this and other faith

communities, and the message of the Gospel has been faithfully preached.

Vogan, Brown, Webb, Ferris, Wickerson, Bland and Gray are just some of the names of

the Pastors of this church. McEwan, Carruthers, Mayo, Smith, Girling, Graystone, Coulson

and Millar are amongst those who have built this community.

Yes, we are very clear on where we are coming from! We are coming from a history that

is steeped in hard work, vision and love. It is a history that begs us to continue the dreams

of those returning Veterans of the Second World War who birthed this parish and who

have nurtured it for 60 years. It is another torch that is thrown to us from hands that are

failing, with the prayer that we will treat this community with the same diligence and devotion

that has spurred two and three generations of many families to find their faith and

share it with those around them.

We have come from a good place, a loving place, a place of Jesus Christ.

WHAT DO WE NEED TO KEEP ST. STEPHEN’S

MEMORIAL VITAL ?

We launch this Capital Financial Campaign with a goal of

$250,000.

That’s right, two hundred and fifty with three zeros on the end. If you think that number

scares you, think about the lump that the organizers of this campaign swallowed down when

we realized this was the kind of money that we felt was needed to put St. Stephens Memorial

on a firm foundation from which to launch our next 60 years of mission and ministry.

HOW DID WE GET HERE?

It is important to begin with an honest look at how St. Stephen’s Memorial has arrived at the

place where much work is needed to be done, both on the physical plant and to take care of

our fiscal needs. The inescapable conclusion is that a big part of this is that the building is

nearly 40 years old. In the last 40 years there has been a major expansion, a minor expansion

and a couple of refits. Anyone who owns a house, knows that it takes both maintenance

and renovation to keep the structure strong. We are simply due for one of those refits/

renovations.

St. Stephen’s has been in a maintenance mode for several years, both in a physical and spiritual

sense. It has been a significant number of years since the plant was overhauled, rather it

has been a “respond as needed” approach. This has seen both heating units replaced, some

work done in the lower halls, and the building repainted.

At the same time the congregation at St. Stephen’s Memorial has slowly ebbed away. Conflicts,

changes, departures: they are not pleasant to remember, but they are a part of the history

of St. Stephen’s Memorial and we must evaluate the toll they have taken on our abilities

to go forward.

With a shrinking and ageing congregation, the spirit needed to launch new initiatives is hard to

come by; and if we are not careful, we can watch any possibility slip from our grasp. It is tempting

to say that all has been well until the last little while, but an honest look at the numbers

shows that drift downwards starting in the 1980’s. As the world around us changed, the church

wasn’t in the mood to change with it, and we have found ourselves in a difficult place. It’s painful,

but it is a dose of reality.

HOW DO WE TURN THE TRENDS AROUND?

There are no easy solutions, but the answer is almost always found in a simple phrase,

“One heart at a time.” We are at a place in time where most observers believe that spiritual

awareness is at an all time high! The issue is, that awareness isn’t necessarily calling people

into the long standing molds that are the church today.

We have so much more in terms of resources, ideas, possibilities, that people aren’t as likely to

fit neatly into the box that has been the church. While we need to honour our traditions, at the

same time we need to also step boldly into a new place of church, welcoming people with

new backgrounds, new thoughts, new ideas, new questions!

This campaign is about beginning that kind of a transition.

There are needs that we see in three areas that require our immediate attention:

1. Ministry/Mission,

2. Technology and

3. The physical building.

Each is discussed on the following pages.

1) MINISTRY—FINANCIAL TARGET – 50,000 DOLLARS

In 1950, if you built a church and opened the doors, quite a few people would come. If you

built a church, opened the doors, welcomed everyone who came and built a community, then

you enjoyed success; success like St. Stephen’s Memorial.

We are now at a time that people have voted with their feet and the numbers of people attending

church has sunk slowly over the last three or four decades. If we are to rekindle interest in

church, then we must reach out in new ways, with new ideas that will spark the spirit of those

in our community, and call them to come and see what is happening.

We have already embarked on a program called, Scrambled Worship. It was launched with

no budget, and that will cause it to struggle. Simply put, one Sunday a month we scramble

things up to try and teach and worship in a new, vibrant and different way. We come from an

era when people simply accepted what was told them. Today, people who have never been

inside a church (and some who haven't been in church for a long time) are saying we want to

know why, how, when? It is time to go back to the basics of faith education.

But how can we educate people who aren’t in church ? That is where Messy Church and

Back To Church Sunday come into play.

Messy Church invites whole families to come to church at a non traditional time to experience

a non traditional worship and enjoy a time of food and friendship. It comes with no fees, no

commitments and no demands. It is a way to connect families in our

neighbourhood with the church and with each other. It’s not about Sunday

morning, nor is it about building overall numbers. It is about a

chance to tell our story to families in the community and to allow them to

share with us.

Back To Church Sunday is exactly what it sounds like. Once a year, YOU are asked to invite

someone to come back to church. A recent survey suggested that Anglicans, on average, invited

someone to come to church once every 27 years!

We have some work to do. The bigger issue is what to do with these folks when we get them

back into church. If it is the same experience that they left; then we are unlikely to have much

success. Back To Church Sunday expects that we will be ready to welcome people with a vital,

informative, entertaining program that will call them to reconnect to a community that can journey

with their spiritual questions.

These three programs are just the tip of the iceberg of possibilities. What stops us from launching

them is funding. Currently, our budget for each would be zero!

It takes all our fiscal resources to operate the church so we need a cash infusion that will allow

us to build these programs and put St. Stephens Memorial back in the centre of the community.

2) TECHNOLOGY—FINANCIAL TARGET – 50,000 DOLLARS

Walk into any school, any business, most homes. The first thing that will strike you is the

technology. Blackboards have morphed into computers, everything has a screen (some big,

some small) and a place to plug it in.

Gone are the days when you went to a play or a concert to find that you were in a sound-free

zone and so out of luck to hear. The technological marvels in sound, video, projection are

amazing. Huge ensemble casts, each with their own head set microphone, perfectly balanced

in pitch and placement to give the ultimate experience.

We are a society driven by technology and whether or not we agree with the benefits of such

gadgetry, we have no choice but to jump headlong into the fray if we wish to compete for people’s

attention. We need a self contained computer projection system, microphones that will

bring the true sound of our various music and spoken word groups, and a sound system that

is tuned to balance the entire presentation.

This doesn’t even touch the fact that our office technology is at

least a decade out of date and there are many innovations that

would be of benefit.

3.a) THE BUILDING FINANCIAL TARGET – 50,000 DOLLARS

It is the first impression that most people have of St. Stephen’s Memorial. They drive by, they

come in for a meeting, they visit for worship. Before the people have any real opportunity to

interact, their senses give them a picture of the facility.

Our building says tired! Is that the image that we want people to have? No matter where you

fall on the “Big Blue” debate, it is true that St. Stephen’s Memorial has never been more

talked about than since it was bathed in a layer of blue paint.

But what do you see when you come inside? A worship

space that hasn’t had a spruce up in far too long;

carpets that are frayed, torn and dirty; pews that are

cracked or broken; a lighting system that seems

pushed to “shine” on the jewel of St. Stephen’s.

A couple of years back, as the daycare left us for their

own facility, we gave the lower halls a new coat of

paint, upgrades and a good dose of TLC. We need to

do that in the main worship area.

While we are taking on that task, we would be wise to also ask ourselves questions about the

shape of our worship space; how new technology might fit in; how people might perceive our

furniture and amenities

3.b) THE APPROACHES FINANCIAL TARGET – 50,000 DOLLARS

In 2010, as we marked our 60th year, St. Stephen’s Memorial embarked on a joyful anniversary

celebration. The cornerstone of that celebration

was the creation of the Veterans

Memorial Garden. In truth, we tapped out

most of our remaining reserves to accomplish

this because we believed that honouring

the spirit of those who launched St.

Stephens Memorial was the best thing that

we could do.

As we celebrated, we began to feel the

touch of that spirit, inviting us to continue

the ride, to continue being community in

the vibrant sense that had been passed

down to us. Many of our “originals” were

moved to tears when they saw what had

been an embarrassing, broken down playground, full of weeds turned into a beautiful garden,

centred by a stone monument to those to whom we will be forever be grateful.

Those originals are now in their 80’s and 90’s. It is no secret that the age of those coming to

church is older and that people are living longer. As our society grapples with this extended life

cycle, we are constantly thinking about access to our facility; how we can accommodate those

with canes, walkers and wheelchairs?

If we are truly honest, handicap access to St. Stephens has been an embarrassment. A concrete

ramp, full of pitches and cracks coming off a nondescript piece of parking lot, through the

aforementioned broken down playground to a door on a blank wall that enters into a dark and

narrow rear entrance. Not surprising that no one wanted to use it.

With the new garden came a new vision. What if we incorporated the ramp into the feel

and flow of the garden? What if we graded the ramp to code, put on the required hand

rails, added a power door and some new lighting to the back – make that Veterans Memorial

– entrance? What if the ramp rose from the garden and brought people comfortably

- into our Church home?

3.c ) THE ROOF— FINANCIAL TARGET – 50,000 DOLLARS

And now to the culprit in this whole campaign! The project that lead us into this entire discussion!

The cold, hard reality is that we need to re-shingle the roof. Ice, snow, wind and time

have rendered our roof in need of attention. Now it is worth noting this has also got a few people

talking about things like solar panels and metal roofing, but the bottom line is the roof must

be replaced in 2011.

This is an ambitious plan, but one that is needed. It is no smaller

in scope than the one that launched St. Stephens Memorial in

1950 and has carried the community through 60 years. If we are

to be strong and proud for 60 more years, we must seek out the

resources, both physical and fiscal, to keep us on track and vital

in our desire to serve God and Community.

FROM OUR CAMPAIGN CHAIR

By now you are probably wondering how you can respond and make a commitment to support “Our Next 60 Years”. I

agree, the numbers seem to be “more than we can ask or imagine” but I would like to show how you can make it possible.

This campaign may only last a short 3-4 months but we are looking for your response over a 3 year period. There may be

some who prefer and are able to make a substantial one time donation, but we encourage you to consider a 3 year commitment.

Personally, now that I am on a fixed income, I feel that a 3 year commitment is easiest for me and is the best way for

me to support our vision.

What Difference Can I Make ?

When you look at this Giving Guide, you can see how your donations can add up and also benefit you as a tax credit. You

can donate to the campaign weekly, monthly, in a lump sum or as a combination of these.

We are looking for your response to be over and above your current donations which make it possible

for St. Stephen’s to operate from week to week and month to month. It is very important that we

maintain our operating income level both from your offerings and rental facilities.

So How do I do this ?

For those of you who currently use our pre-authorized plan, we can arrange for the Diocese to allocate your monthly increase

to the campaign. If you are not on a pre-authorized plan it is very easy to set one up through the church office, the treasurer or

directly with the Diocesan Office. Pre-authorized donations help you to keep your commitment on track just like they ensure

the operational expenses of the Church are met.

Should you find that your current cash flow cannot provide for a 3 year commitment, you might want to consider a donation

from other assets such as securities, RSPs, RIFs, property or paid up Life Insurance. There are numerous tax benefits available

which you can discuss with your Financial Adviser. If you do not have a Financial Adviser, please check with the Church Office

for a recommendation on who to contact.

I want to assure you that whatever you decide, whether you can support this campaign or not, your information will remain

confidential. A commitment card will be delivered to you for completion. Once you have made your decision you will place

the card in a sealed envelope which will be picked up and returned to the Church for recording by the envelope secretary and/

or treasurer.

I know you will make the decisions that are right for you and right for St. Stephen’s.

Sincerely

Sheila Wilton

Campaign Chair

St. Stephen’s Memorial Anglican Church

Capital Campaign 2011

Our Next 60 – Years !

From heart to heart, the spirit that led our “originals” to

launch St. Stephen’s will continue into the next 60 years !

Be a part of our next chapter !