Church of St. John the Divine
Parish Redevelopment Task Force
Agenda
April 27, 2010 7pm-8pm
Chair: Graeme Brown
Present: Gene Miller, Elizabeth MacAuley, Graeme Brown, Deborah Curran, David McKay,
Patricia Lane
Regrets: Kathleen Gibson, Harold Munn
1.
Agenda approval
2.
Reflections on Vestry
Made it very easy for congregation to give permission to move forward with a process
Sense that need to define the geographic scope of the project and make sure that this process
exerts an influence on the neighbourhood
If go beyond the church boundary get into personalities of other property owners and the
vagaries of working in an uncertain broader context
Can always invite the neighbourhood and other property owners/stakeholders into the process
Continue the conversations – North Park, First Met, the Catholic Diocese, a representative for
the Mayor, etc.
We can be first out the gate with a strong value statement and exert influence with the support
of the mayor and others who support the vision
We can be a critical mass fairly quickly
May be useful to create a news piece/update on a monthly basis that would be distributed to a
6 block radius on what is happening so all are aware of what we are doing
Particularly important for those who are holding property for redevelopment
Important for the congregation to endorse some values statements and land on some solid
ideas before inviting a broader discussion
Kathleen questions and our discussion:
Church building – off limits, parish house is available for redevelopment
Move forward with the roof
What do we need to go ahead with written permission from Diocese? Harold has had
conversations with the Diocese and received a verbal yes. They are uninterested until we have
plans and dollar figures. The impression is that as long as we are not doing something radical
and the Diocese is not on the hook for any financial liabilities they will give permission.
Building and Redevelopment Committee of the Diocese that will become involved at some
point.
3.
Next steps for parish involvement
Kathleen’s ideas:
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invite members of the parish to contribute ideas, slides, photos and more – set up a display area in
the church and one in the hall with the site plan, photos, inspirational material, space for people to
add more and to comment
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develop a one-pager / brochure describing the process , while we are at it develop a design
theme for all our materials - we can distribute this and have it in the church and use it as the
basis for a web page on our site - it would be nice if there was a catchy title
have weekly pew leaflets provide updates and encourage contribution of ideas
consider who we might like to come and give a sermon or presentation e.g. Scott McLeod
and Chris Parsons on new ways of doing church; can we dedicate a sermon once a month to
matters related to the church’s built presence in the community?
encourage parishioners to look for interesting churches and ideas when they are travelling
and bring us photos and contacts
have a series of evening slide presentations / discussions about ideas and similar processes
other churches have used
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send thank-you card to Guy and Martin along with payment of their bill
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set up a central place / person to collect and acknowledge suggestions, ideas, photos and the
like
file same so we can find things easily
ensure we acknowledge all contributions so people know their ideas have been considered
e.g. John Minkley’s recent email conversation with Harold about a family care centre
respond to people’s offers of help and find appropriate roles for them e.g. Daniel (last name?
Spoke at April 18 vestry) and Robin McLeod, each of whom have expressed keen interest in
being involved
set up a minutes book so we can keep track of where we are at and not re-invent stuff
update the Terms of Reference?
at this stage we need a person about 1 day per week to hold the energy for this and make sure
things get followed up – that isn’t happening now and things are falling through the cracks
e.g. getting drafted and then not used because all of us are so busy
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 Parish meeting re: values – date, publicity, format
May 9 is 150th brunch, May 16 or May 30
Suggest have a soft sell – at coffee hours invite people to give us their ideas, values, goals, what they
love about St. Johns
Collate, create a values statement and seek feedback
Display – there are a few big boards we can use
Can snap a bunch of pictures of the church property, put up pictures Martin used, etc.
Gene will copy materials and mount on foam cores and put together at church
Graeme volunteers David to take pictures of the church property
Gene will take choice images from Martin’s presentation
Deborah and Patricia will be present at coffee hour and invite feedback from parishoners
Deborah will draft 1 pager of the process over the next year
Aiming to have display ready for May 9
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Leaflet updates, materials collection, sermons, discussions etc.
Patricia will email Carol Ann with values statement in leaflet and invite participation in providing
their feedback
Patricia will develop leaflet insert for direct feedback and boxes at Garden Gate door and coffee
hour
 Publicity web site, description of process
Graeme will contact Dwayne and let him know what we are up to
4.
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Community outreach
Cathedral, Catholic diocese, N Park, others – who will do what by when?
5.
Preparations for charette
 Financing, identify those involved, date
Graeme wrote to CMHC apprising them of where we are at in the process and they acknowledged the
letter – working on the assumption the money is still there
Deborah will review the terms of reference for the CMHC funding
Gene and Deborah will develop a description document and bring it to the Committee for discussion
6.
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Project basics
Ownership, scope
7.
Other business
8.
Next meeting(s)
9.
Adjourn