Sunday School Outing

Our Sunday School children, along with their servants, participated in an outing to “World Bowl” on Sunday November 23rd. After having lots of fun bowling, the children assembled together in the party room where they ate pizza, celebrated birthdays, and had Bible Trivia. We thank the Lord for the spirit of fellowship among our children and we thank the servants who have organized this activity.

Community Service at Yonge Street Mission
Thursday, November 27, 2008

SMSV's first Community service delegation at the Yonge Street Mission was a touching sensation. The representatives helped serve dinner to just over 80 patrons from the Mission's community during their weekly Hope Fellowship Banquet. Following dinner and a quick clean up, the delegation joined a group of approximately 25 community members and a Yonge St. Mission program leader in a fellowship sharing event involving hanging Christmas Ornaments and sharing favorite personal Christmas Stories. Many of the patrons at the dinner live with mental illness or have experienced extreme poverty or loss, yet their stories of Christmas joy and delight spread a welcoming and peaceful warmth throughout the room. Fellowship formed quickly as jokes were shared, comfort provided, and a recognition of the eternal gift of Christ's birth was affirmed. As our delegation departed from the Mission, the volunteers, staff and patrons all extended their sincere thanks, and ardently asked for more volunteers and future outreach events from SMSV to help and most importantly share in working by and with the Holy Spirit.

Photos

Congregation Group Picture

This photo was taken following the Divine Liturgy on Sunday October 26, 2008. We thank our Lord for giving us the spirit of fellowship and Christian unity as we celebrate the Liturgy in a rented school gymnasium.
more photos

"A church without youth is a church without a future"

This is a famous saying by our beloved father H.H. Pope Shenouda III. The youth and their counselors got together on October 26 to evaluate and discuss the vision of the youth ministry. They also agreed to organized several activities to serve the community and overnight trips to grow spiritually together.

Fr. Pishoy travelled to Cleveland on October 15th to take the blessing of H. H. Pope Shenouda III prior to his safe travel back to Egypt on October 19th. Fr. Pishoy presented to His Holiness a photo album containing some pictures which were taken during our previous congregation trip to Cleveland as well as other church activities and events. His Holiness received the letters and prayer requests which were sent from the congregation members and sent back to us his prayers, greetings, and blessing. We pray that the Lord would keep for us the life of our honored father for many more years to come.

Thanksgiving Spiritual Day
Monday, October 13, 2008

The church organized a Spiritual Day on Thanksgiving at St. John the Baptist and St. Elizabeth Coptic Church in Barrie. The day started with celebrating the Divine Liturgy followed by an agape meal. Deacon Amir Hanna led two discussions from 1 Corinthians on effective means for Problem Solving. The participants then took some quiet time in meditation and spiritual reflection. The children had their own program which included a lesson on how to spend quiet time with God and how to benefit from the Holy Bible. Afterwards, they enjoyed playing some sports and organized activities. The day concluded with a visit to Shanty Bay Go Karts where every one enjoyed their time in fellowship. We thank the congregation of St. John & St. Elizabeth for hosting us and the owners of Shanty Bay Go Karts for inviting us. We pray that the Lord bless every ministry for the glory of His holy name.

Our congregation was blessed by a pastoral visit from H.G. Bishop Youssef, Bishop of Southern USA, on October 5th as part of the spiritual revival celebrating the martyrdom feast of St. Maurice. His grace prayed the vespers raising of incense and delivered a spiritual message entitled “Rejoice in the Lord always”. The congregation cheered at the idea that His Grace would bless our church annually during the feast of St. Maurice. The church would like to thank His Grace for his kindness, paternal love, and exemplary leadership. Also, we would like to thank Fr. Moses Matar and Fr. Abraam Kamal for blessing us in this celebration.

We were blessed by the presence of H.G. Bishop David to celebrate the Divine Liturgy on Saturday October 4th. During the liturgy, His grace delivered a sermon entitled “Your Names are written in Heaven” and also ordained ten deacons.

To the rank of Psaltos (singer): Jonathan Philopateer Matta, Youssef Joseph Akladios, John Mekael, David Morcos, Andre George Habib, Damian Stephanos Salama.To the rank of Anagnostis (reader): Philip Pishoy Habib, Essam Samuel Soliman, Raafat Mark Habib, Bassem Mina Tadros.

The church would like to thank His Grace for his continued support of our ministry and to congratulate the new deacons for their blessed ordination. Also, we would like to thank Fr. Jerome ElMeharaqi for blessing us in this celebration.

The church organized a celebration dinner to commemorate the martyrdom feast of St. Maurice on October 4th. The dinner was attended by H.G. Bishop David who delivered a spiritual message entitled “You are salt and light”.  During the dinner, the congregation watched the video clip by H.H. Pope Shenouda III in which His Holiness sent a personal greeting to our church as well as answered many questions that were presented to him during our visit in Cleveland. After the dinner, there were three musical presentations by our children’s choir, Moses Coore, Ashraf Amin, and a time of praise with the church worship team. Also, a delightful group activity was prepared by Marian Shehata and Deacon Amir Hanna (Australia) shared with us the characteristics of a spiritual church that embraces all people from every tongue, tribe and nation. Finally, Fr. Pishoy shared the vision of our church that it exists to be a ministry of love, integration, outreach and a place where no one stands alone. Overall, there was a great spirit of fellowship and a sense of belonging to the one body of Christ. The church would like to thank all the volunteers who helped to make this celebration a success.