Welcome
Message
About
The Church of
St. John the Baptist
Welcome
Message
About
To learn more about Vineyard Church see 
St. Johns welcomes its new youth pastors Kevin and Christie Neville. They have come to us from Common Ground Vineyard Church in Fort Pierce, Florida where they have been the youth pastors for the past three years.
Now, how do two people living in Florida end up at a church in Richmond Hill Ontario? This is what Kevin says about it:
I see God’s hand at work in our appointment here. Christie and I are pioneers and over the last few years have established an active youth ministry at Common Ground Church in Florida. We were finished our work there and ready to pass the reigns to the next leader. We had been looking for a new mission when we found the posting for a youth minister on a Canadian job board. We found St. Johns on line and filled in the application on a whim. I had doubts because it would not seem likely that there would be a fit. But I felt the Lord say that I should not decide the fit, but that St. Johns should. And the fit was good! And it was as though every obstacle that could have prevented us from getting here was cleared and so we felt God confirming our decision to come here. So here we are.
Welcome Kevin Christie and family. Our prayer for them is that they will find not just a church and not just a job in youth ministry, but that they would find here a family and friends.
The Weekend at Home this year was absolutely amazing! The wonderful group that came from Tacoma, Washington were so “real”, and we felt like we’d known them for years.
This year, the training was divided into two parts. Part 1 was for those taking the course for the first time. The teaching on the spiritual realm, which is entirely biblical, allowed us to understand why we often lead troubled lives and, more importantly, we learned that Jesus has given us the authority and the power to take back what the enemy has stolen from us. Part 2 - “Prayer Ministry Training” was for those who attended the sessions last year. Learning to listen for God’s voice was a new experience for many. We were taught practical ways to listen on another person’s behalf, to help them to discover for themselves the lies of the enemy that have taken control over their lives, and to lead them to freedom through the steps learned in Part 1.
For me, it was an “aha!” experience. I never thought God could, or would, use me to help others find freedom. And the personal growth that I have experienced is utterly amazing. When reading the Bible, God speaks to me in ways He never has before (or maybe He was trying, but I had put up too many barriers). My prayer time is more powerful, and more and more I am praying in the Spirit. As a church, the exciting outcome of this training is that we now have Prayer Ministry time after the Sunday services. People are being set free! As well, four members of our congregation have travelled to Tacoma to visit Destiny City Church and to receive more training.
Thank you, Jesus, for Your great love for us, for Your grace and mercy. You have equipped us and encouraged us, and may we continue to walk with You.
St. John's held it's first Sunday School summer retreat for the children and youth ages JK and up.
The camp was an amazing opportunity for children and adults to get to know their Heavenly Father better, build deeper more meaningful relationships with each other and lastly, have fun in the great outdoors.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||
12 delegates from St. Johns participated in the 2009 Leadership Summit hosted by Willowcreek Community Church in Chicago, Illinois.
 |
 |
 |
 |
| It was spiritually challenging and exciting thinking about how we at St. John's (and individually) will step up out-side our comfort zones in order to spread the gospel, work for Christ and be Christ like to our neighbours, locally and globally. | What a great bunch of speakers. They challenged me personally in my walk with Jesus but also as a leader in church…You can't go to this conference and not change within and without. | We learned that leadership is a journey, not a destination and a blessing and a gift from God. When our faith comes together, we can solve any problem. |
The summit was totally amazing! Not only did the speakers give inspiring talks, but they also gave us practical advice that we could implement right away. I came out feeling excited about God's work - especially my part of it. |
| – Rita Francis | – Margaret Blundell | – Bob and Norma Hardisty | – Ada Robinson |
| The Yonge-uns ranging from ages 7 to 11, led the congregation through a joyful rendition of "Father Abraham" and " My Jesus is a River of Love" during the June 21st Jubilee service. Watch the video to see the Yonge-uns in action! |
 |
Being active and involved in the community is important to us. In service to our community, we joined with other churches and Christian organizations in a time of prayer at the Richmond Hill Mayor's Prayer breakfast. |
|
| Article by Norma Hardisty |
|
The AWARE Conference (Anglican Women Alive Renewed Enriched) Conference took place on the weekend of May 1, 2, 3, 2009 at Elim Lodge on Pigeon Lake just north of Peterborough. This conference was an opportunity for women to get away from their hectic lives, and take time for friends, fun and most importantly for God. The theme of the conference was a “Gift of Love”. Emma Marsh, a former teacher and travel counsellor, exercises a ministry of Spiritual Direction in the Diocese of Central Newfoundland was the keynote speaker. There were many workshops on a variety of topics. The food was fantastic, the grounds were beautiful and women were given opportunities to share laughter and tears with old and newly made friends. We all became AWARE of who we are and those around us. |
 |
The congregation of St. Johns held their annual vestry meeting (AGM) during their regular Jubilee service. This years appointments include (from L to R):
Thank you to these dedicated people! |
 |
The congregation of St. Johns heartily welcomed Bishop George to their Jubilee service on February 8, 2009. Bishop George Elliott is area bishop of the episcopal area of York-Simcoe. While chatting after the service, he told us that he visits all of the churches in his area at least once a year and that he really enjoys that about his job. He has to travel nearly every week, and yes, he has to preach at all of the churches he goes to! But he also gets to know a lot of people and he gets to enjoy the variety in worship. You can read more about Bishop George by visiting Diocese of Toronto, Anglican Church of Canada website. |
 |
Members of St. Johns attended an amazing production of Godspell, put on by Spirit Borne a youth organisation servicing the Quinte, Ontario area. Godspell is the story of Jesus (a musical) based on the gospel of Matthew. The production was adapted to use elements of today's culture to deliver the message of Jesus. The prduction was upbeat, fun but also convicting. Well done, Spirit Borne! This event was hosted by Community Bible Church. |
 |
The Sunday school children get ready for the Christmas production of the Grumpy Sheep. |
 |
 |
St. Johns welcomes as a Guest speaker, Fariborz Khandani. Fariborz was born in Iran as a Muslim but converted to Christianity as a young adult. He is currently involved in a mission that uses Internet, radio and TV to teach and train Christian house leaders in Iran. |
 |
Many of us from St. Johns attended "Christmas on the Farm" presented by Summit Community Church. This family event had a wagon ride, an outdoor nativity scene (with real animals), music and hot food! What fun. Thank you Summit, for the event. |
| St. John the Baptist sings Amazing Grace as part of the The Amazing Grace Project hosted by the Anglican Church of Canada. |
What a fascinating and encouraging weekend!
Our church was moved in such a way that we all agree that it is not satisfactory to be powerless. Unless our church is moving in the power and authority given to us by Jesus Christ, we are just another place serving up religion.
Our 4th annual church weekend was held Thu Sep 25 to Sun Sep 28. We were blessed to have as our leaders 13 people from Destiny City Church of Tacoma, WA. We were also blessd to have participating with us the people of St. Hilda's Church of Oakville, ON
The Destiny City Church team taught about the the two realms (spiritual & physical,) about spiritual strongholds, how to repent, receive God's forgiveness, how to deal with the sin in our lives and how to walk in the opposite spirit.
In addition to the teaching, each person received individual prayer. With each person, the Destiny City Church prayer teams prayed about the person's original design - which revealed many large parts of who God created that person to be. This was very uplifting, revealing magnificant designs for each of us! Then they prayed to reveal some of the spiritual strongholds that are holding that person back - and then encouraged and worked with that person to deal with them.
Since that weekend we have seen many changes in the people and activities at the church. We also have two groups who have already undertaken to go on and to study and develop our skills in Jesus-Ministry even further.
Thank you Destinity City Church!
Thank you Lord for coming and moving within us!!
 |
| Demonstrating to us a prayer for original design |
 |
| Prayer teams work with individuals |
 |
| Kurt, from Destiny City Church, teaches us about strongholds |
 |
| Worship |
 |
 |
| Playing Hockey | Sports night leader, Jess Blundell |
| On saturday nights over the summer the youth leaders, under the direction of Jess Blundell visiting from the UK, dusted of their trainers and headed to the lower hall of the church. Armed with floor hockey sticks and frisbees, we met up with some of the youth willing to take us on in some sporting action. We played many games including floor hockey, netball, take the flag, man hunt, quick cricket, frisbee and many more filling up the two hour slot and exausing the participants... well at least the leaders! But we were not just there to play sport. Each evening we had a different talk exploring the bible, finishing the summer with a guest speaker. The aim was to challege the children spirtually and to introduce and look deeper in to their faith, but doing it in an environment which showed that God is present in all aspects of life; sport and all! | |
 |
 |
| Dads and kids play sports at a church BBQ | Worshiping Jesus through puppet theatre. A black-light theatre troupe from Guelph bring a message about Jesus to children of all ages! |
 |
 |
| Children rehearse for their Christmas production | |