Presbyterian Connection Newspaper, Summer 2017

Connection
PRESBYTERIAN
The Presbyterian Church in Canada • presbyterian.ca ISSUE 2, SUMMER 2017
A Welcoming Home to All
By Michelle Kortinen, Communications Office
Sunday, April 30, marked the 50th Anniversary of St. Paul’s Presbyteri- an Church in Bramalea, Ontario. And it was more than a milestone—it was an extraordinary one because the congregation also welcomed over 50 new members! The goal to increase the congregation by 50 was put into motion last year as a way to celebrate the church’s anniversary.
The special service was led by the Rev. Barb Molengraaf, with prayers and choir singing to pews packed full to overflowing.
Two very young people, Aiden and Amarion Mohammed, opened worship with the song “This Little Light of Mine,” but they were slightly overwhelmed by the crowd, so the church coaxed them on by singing along from the pews.
From youth to seniors, 60 new members in all, by profession of faith and membership transfer, were of- ficially welcomed into the people’s church. The Profession of Faith quot- ed 1 Peter 2:9–10:
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of dark- ness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. The very first service at St. Paul’s
was led by the Rev. Ralph Kendall 50 years ago on May 4, 1967. Both Ralph and his son, the Rev. Stephen Kendall, were present to read the scripture and give the sermon in celebration. Stephen, who was just six years old at the time, still re- members the excitement that day when his dad set off to build a new congregation.
Stephen read the scripture—Peter’s letter that calls us to be living stones, with Christ as the cornerstone—to build a spiritual house and bond through the mortar of God’s love.
The Rev. Barb Molengraaf and the congregation of St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church in Bramalea, Ontario.
60 new members were officially welcomed into the congregation
“And what is a church?” Stephen asked the congregation. “Well, yes, it’s a building, and one that was successfully completed in good time, and has obviously served you well. But a church is also a com- munity of believers in Jesus Christ,
the risen Lord, called to go into the world with a message of grace and love for all people. And since that time, you have been builders of both kinds of church, and you have built up many others in faith, hope and love. Today is a wonderful tes- timony to that commitment to build the church—sixty new members are joining. Each one a child of God, precious in God’s sight, each one another builder in God’s kingdom.”
The Rev. Ralph Kendall, the first minister of St. Paul’s, spoke about the church’s humble beginnings from its inception in the local public school to its eventual move to the high school, complete with a por t- able organ that had pedals to pump, a folding pulpit, and a burning bush wall insignia welded out of coat hangers. With good for tunein financ-
The Rev. Stephen Kendall and his father, the Rev. Ralph Kendall, first minister at St. Paul’s.
ing, the construction of the church building began in 1969. Ralph ex- plained how, in medieval tradition, a symbolic bird would be placed high in a rafter of a new building, echoing
Psalm 84: “even a sparrow finds a home.” Pointing his hand up to the ceiling, he said, “I know it’s hidden up there somewhere. May St. Paul’s be a welcoming home to all.”
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