Acts 9:1–6, (7–20) - Saul’s conversion on the road to Damascus.
Psalm 30 (VU p. 757) -God turned my mourning into dancing. (Psalmist speaks out of a near-death experience.)
Revelation 5:11–14 -Worthy is the Lamb. (The faithful encounter God in worship.)
John 21:1–19 - Jesus appears to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias.

Sermon Starters

(Above are the lectionary texts for April 18th. Below is some information and web links that might be helpful in developing a sermon for the Community Ministries Sunday based on the Gospel Text)

In the Gospel lesson Jesus appears to the disciples for the third time since his resurrection. After the disciples were fishing all night, with out any success, Jesus standing on the shore in the morning tells the disciples to throw the net on the other side of the boat. They do and catch a bounty full.

With this epilogue to the Gospel of John, Jesus tells the disciples to do things in a different way “fish from the other side of the boat”. Community Ministries are a different kind of ministry than congregational ministries. It is not a worshipping community or a ministry of word and sacrament. Instead it is a ministry of presence standing with poor and oppressed communities providing community development and community organizing support, offering pastoral care and doing advocacy through coalitions and networks. There’s an old Quaker saying “In everything you do preach the Gospel and if need be use words”. With the tradition of the Social Gospel Movement the work of community ministries is not new to the United Church and in many cases is reflected in the work of congregations. Recent studies have shown that one way congregations can renew themselves is to be engaged in their communities – outward looking instead of mainly focusing on the life of the congregation. www.united-church.ca/renewal/congregational/resources

Currently there are two Community Ministries in the new South West Presbytery: Davenport-Perth situated in the triangle junction of West Toronto and Jane and Finch situated in the social housing community of Firgrove in Jane and Finch. There was a third community ministry of Toronto West Presbytery, Shalom in Parkdale. However in 2007 the Community Ministry Commission decided to close Shalom Community Ministry. The decision for this was largely due to concerns of not being able to financially sustain three ministries in light of shrinking M&S dollars and drawing down of capital of the Toronto West Presbytery Corporation. Much of the focus of Shalom’s ministry focused on food access. They provided community kitchens, food buying clubs and community gardens. Actually Shalom started the first community kitchen in Toronto and provided many supports to the poor and psychiatric survivors of Parkdale. Although the ministry is no longer, its legacy lives on.

The development of Community Ministries started in the early 80’s and was part of the mission strategy of the Toronto West Presbytery. Amidst of church closures it was realized that even though there was a need for some congregations to either close or amalgamate it did not mean that there was not a need for ministry in the urban core, just a different kind of ministry. The three community ministries were started in high need, low-income communities of West Toronto. Initially 80% of the funding of these ministries came from M&S. As the pool of funds began to shrink part of the mission strategy and sustainability plan for the ministry was to dedicate some of the proceeds from Church closures. These moneys were put in the Toronto West Presbytery Corporation - converting capital resources to human resources. With the restructuring of the Toronto Conference most of these assets have been given up and will be shared with the 4 new presbyteries and therefore there will be a need for a concerted fundraising effort to replace the funds in order to guarantee that these ministries can continue in five years time.

On the South West Community Ministry Web site www.twpcommunityministry.org there is some history about the community ministries. Also on the web site are some past annual reports and stories about the community ministry which may aid you in content for the sermon. After the Community Ministries Commission meeting in March, the 2009 Annual Reports should be circulated and posted. On the Church Resources section of the web site there is a document entitled: Theological Rationale for Outreach Ministries. Also you may wish to check out an article written by Judy Shand “Glorified Social Work?” which is posted at the bottom of the home page under More Articles. In the bulletin insert with this package there is a brief description of the ministries and their current work.

A couple of years ago the National Church did a video about the Jane Finch Community Ministry and there is a short excerpt from it that was done as a Youtube Video to promote the Mission and Service Fund. www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB5nrWvhGsE

In the Gospel lesson after the disciples have some breakfast together Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him. Peter replies each time that he does and Jesus responds by telling him to feed/take care of his lambs/sheep. Jesus asking Peter the question three times is probably linked to Peter’s earlier denial and in the repeated commissioning it provides some absolution and forgiveness for Peter. Now with Jesus asking Peter to feed and take care of his lambs/sheep I don’t think he was only referring to feeding the spiritual aspects of peoples lives.

Community Ministries are in involved in some aspects of charity (Jane and Finch’s monthly food day giving out Chum Christmas Wish gifts) but for the most part the Ministries are engaged in transformative justice work doing community development and advocating for systemic changes to address root causes of poverty. Much of the work is building on the strengths, skills and assets of the community. It is looking at the glass as being half full instead of half empty and partnering with the community in their liberation instead of doing it for them. Again it is a way of fishing from the other side of the boat.

A colleague of ours, Bonnie Morton with the “Regina Anti-Poverty Ministry” (a community ministry of the Regina presbytery) was preaching one Sunday and she said: “You know in the bible Jesus said that if you give a person a fish they will be feed for one day but if you teach them how to fish they will feed their family for a life time”. After the service someone pulled her aside and said, “Bonnie that’s not in the bible” Her response was “Well that’s probably something that Jesus would have said” - The Gospel according to Bonnie.

For the last few years the Jane and Finch Community Ministry has been involved with a collaborative project called the “Black Creek Community Capacity Project” which has been looking at ways to build on the strengths, skills and assets in the larger Jane Finch Community in order to meet some of its deficits. Barry Rieder has been chair of the Economic Working group and chair of the Black Creek Micro-credit program. This program provides loans to members of the community with sound business ideas but unable to access credit from mainstream banks. These loans given by Alterna Savings are guaranteed by funds generated from the larger community as investments. After three years of developing the program it had its official launch on Feb. 16th. To find out more about the program and how members of your congregation can support it by either making a donation, investment, mentor or volunteer you can check out www.blackcreekcapacity.ca/communityloanfund