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presbyterian.ca
FALL 2018
Connection
NEWS
St. Andrew’s Kitchener Choir Performs at Carnegie Hall
PRESBYTERIAN
21
   After-School Outreach Ministry in Kelowna
    Children and youth workers at Thrive.
By Jenelle Mitchell, member, St. David’s Presbyterian Church in Kelowna, B.C., and Jennilee Greig, Director of
Thrive Out of School Care
Each day after school at St. David’s Presbyterian Church in Kelowna, B.C., a group of children are seen playing with adults alongside them. At St. David’s, out of school care is special: it’s an outreach ministry. We do this through our partnership with a registered Christian charity that runs Thrive Out of School Care in partnership with local churches.
God planted a seed in Kelowna 11 years ago. A young Christian woman, Jennilee Greig, responded to God’s nudging and began an out of school program with a difference, and the difference is reflected in its mission statement: To provide safe and excit- ing out of school care, where children thrive through relational monitoring, interaction with nature and creative oppor tunities for personal growth of mind, body, soul and spirit.
Thrive Out of School Care begins
with a commitment to meet the needs of families and elementary-age school children with quality programming that inspires children to work with Christian leaders whose goals are:
• To provide active, nature-based activities
• To provide programming that fo- cuses on values and leadership development
• To mentor the children within spir- itual values
• To inspire children and families to know Jesus in an organic, rela- tional way.
The Thrive Out of School Care pro-
gram began as an outreach to the community in one local church, but has steadily grown into par tnerships with the five different churches in Kelowna, B.C., and the nearby town of Enderby.
At St. David’s, we star ted our par t- nership as a ministry by providing the required space and utilities at cost. The first part of our ministry was to provide prayer suppor t for the staff, the children and their families. We
By Sarah Sturtevant, Carnegie Hall Trip Coordinator, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Kitchener, Ont.
Douglas Haas, Director of Music for 50 years at St. Andrew’s Pres- byterian Church in Kitchener, Ont., was thrilled to receive a surprise phone call in May 2017. A repre- sentative from Distinguished Con- certs International NY (DCINY), a concer t production company that organizes and promotes concer ts at Carnegie Hall in New York, was on the line. The DCINY talent acqui- sition scout said she had viewed a YouTube video of our Sanctuary Choir and Orchestra’s Easter pres- entation of Handel’s Messiah the month before. She told Doug she believed St. Andrew’s was one of the finest church choirs in Canada and asked if he’d like to collaborate with DCINY on a performance in the legendary Carnegie Hall the follow- ing June.
Most choirs submit audition tapes
then began a practice of individual church members supplying a nutri- tious snack one day each week. We also began inviting families to our Shrove Tuesday pancake supper and provided special event meals for the families during the year.
For the children to become famil- iar with the church, we began tak- ing them into the sanctuary for story times, and our music director taught the children about our grand piano, the church organ and singing Christ- mas carols, which are no longer cel- ebrated in schools.
We are now looking to extend our
for these prestigious “gigs,” so it was amazing to be hand-picked from cyberspace! St. Andrew’s Sanctuary Choir was the only non- American choir invited to perform in this por tion of the concer t.
St. Andrew’s readily accepted the invitation from DCINY. What fol- lowed was an intense year of trip planning and rehearsals.
As part of St. Andrew’s Carnegie Hall DCINY Residency, in the two days leading up to the performance, 25 members of the St. Andrew’s choir had a wonder ful and educa- tional experience working with two gifted American conductors, Kevin McBeth and Andy Waggoner, from Missouri.
Concert day arrived and our St. Andrew’s choir joined voices with a 250-voice massed choir called Distinguished Concer ts Singers International, which, along with the Distinguished Concer ts Orchestra and special guest soloists, per- formed nine spirituals by iconic American church music composer,
ministry. We don’t yet know what that will look like, but our hope is that we can meet spiritual needs of the com- munity right in our church.
Most children who attend the Thrive program do not attend church. It is at Thrive that many hear Christmas and Easter stories for the first time. It’s the first time they have seen a Bible and the first time they hear the good news of Jesus’ love for them. Some of them fall in love with Jesus and share their enthusiasm with friends at Thrive and school.
Even though many of the children never attend the Sunday morning
Mark Hayes, on June 17, 2018. These spirituals were a par t of Mark Hayes’ “Spirit Suites” and included a beautiful arrangement of “I Want Jesus to Walk With Me,” commissioned in memory of guest conductor Kevin McBeth’s mother. The concer t also featured the New York premiere of Mark Hayes’ ar- rangements of “Deep River” and “Ain’t That Good News.”
Carnegie Hall’s packed audience cer tainly expressed their apprecia- tion heartily after each of the nine spirituals were performed. All the music was moving, delightful and such fun to sing with a full orchestra and incredible soloists.
Twenty-five of St. Andrew’s Sanctuary Choir singers, including four St. Andrew’s choral scholars, experienced the unmatched thrill of receiving a standing ovation at Carnegie Hall at the conclusion of the “Spirit Journey” concert. For the choir at St. Andrew’s in Kitchener, this will remain a wonderful memory for a lifetime!
church service, as they grow up we pray they will know they have a place in the body of Christ. To them Thrive is church. They go to church five days a week. Parents often tell me that when they drive by Thrive on the weekends the children say, “There’s my church!”
To learn more about the Thrive program, visit thrivekelowna. com or on Facebook at Thrive Out of School Care. Any church in any part of Canada interested in such a ministry should check out discoverthrive.ca or contact Jennilee Greig.
St. Andrew’s choir members in front of the concert promotion poster at Carnegie Hall.
  

























































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