I’d like to extend my deepest gratitude for those who came out to our Annual General meeting last Sunday.
It’s always so interesting for me to see who’s interested in the fine balance of marrying our vision with the practicalities of the business side of “doing church.”
It’s a great representation of our own inner life/outer life, the objective/subjective, and spirit/form, and in the final analysis, to realize that it’s all really one thing… albeit with very different appearances. It’s all God/Good.
For those of you who weren't able to make it here is a little recap of the things we talked about.
There are some fantastic things going on here at our centre. Our classes are vibrant, our music uplifting, our children’s program, the VIBE, is growing our young minds and hearts (to the point where we’re putting out the call for more volunteers…)
This past year also included the addition of 6 newly licensed practitioners, the licensing of 6 new staff ministers and the ordination of 3 of our current staff ministers. To me, this supports the growing consciousness of the Science of Mind both in our centre and in the world.
Our theme for the current year is “Being Seen in 2015” and we saw two major thrusts last year that paved the way to make this possible. One is having our “marketing maven” Amanda Pope support us in utilizing Social Media in impactful ways- reaching out way beyond the bricks and mortar of either the Community Theatre or the Pandosy Peace Centre; and the other is Rev. Lesley McNamara’s powerful outreach into our greater community of the city of Kelowna. I am so grateful to both of them and all the volunteers who support these initiatives.
Rev Lesley and her outreach committee are particularly active right now with events profiling the Season of Peace and Non-Violence.
I believe our growth as a centre lies in community - both on the inner level, within our centre, and on the outer levels, in our city and even out into the greater world.
There’s no doubt “church” itself is vastly different than it was 10-20 years ago. Much of our philosophy and what we teach is now available in a wide variety of formats - often without cost or commitment required. And while I know community can happen this way, through virtual means, I hold there’s nothing that can replace being together face to face or heart to heart.
This idea of being together in person leads back to the business matters that affect our centre. Being able to support and supply our spiritual community with Sunday celebrations, classes, programs, events, and places to meet all require support - spiritual, financial, volunteer, and organizational.
One particularly potent way to provide this is through your participation in our Conscious Giving Program which allows our board to make sound financial decisions and to be the very best stewards of our resources.
Our goal is continue to offer moving, relevant and engaging experiences in all these areas and it’s your support that allows us, and will continue to allow us, to do all of this in ever greater ways.
Thank you for your part in blessing our centre… Dr. Deborah
