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“It’s wonderful when parishes can start something based on the expertise, capacity, and availability of the people who are in the Sunday morning congregation,” says the Rev. Madeleine Urion. “But that’s not always the case anymore. I think we have to look beyond our own parishes to the Body of Christ in the world. The future of the church is letting go of what is conventional and broadly imagining our purpose, our relevance and our resources.

The Anglican Foundation of Canada (AFC) will host its Annual General Meeting of members on Wednesday, May 22, 2024, at All Saints’ Anglican Cathedral, Edmonton, at 7:30 p.m. MDT. The AGM will be preceded by an Evensong service at 5:45 p.m. where the Most Rev. Linda Nicholls will preach, and the Rt. Rev. Stephen London will preside. Between the service and AGM, AFC will host a wine and cheese reception for guests in attendance.

The new SYTK Sunday liturgy has been developed by a team of AFC’s clergy board directors from across Canada. It is hoped that Anglican parishes across Canada will join forces on Sunday, June 2, or another Sunday after Pentecost to pray for the health and well-being of young people in their churches, communities, and beyond.

The Anglican Foundation of Canada (AFC) Board of Directors met by ZOOM on Thursday, February 29 to approve $170,000 in funding to 16 applicants in 11 dioceses. The next AFC grant application deadline is July 1, 2024. Read more to see the full list of grant recipients.

The Board also received a report on year-end financial results which included news of AFC’s best-ever fundraising annual campaign. “With more than $180,000 in annual membership donations, plus over $12,000 in donations to AFC’s priority granting impact zones, and generous gifts to special campaigns such as Say Yes! to Kids, the ACW Council of the North Retired Clergy Fund and the David Phillip Jones Preaching Fund, the bond between Canadian Anglicans and their national foundation grows stronger every year.”

“A central component of AFC’s work is to connect donors to their philanthropic goals,” says Dr. Scott Brubacher. “The task of managing an endowment on behalf of people who are no longer with us, but whose wishes we seek to honour by matching the right fund to the right project, is taken very seriously. There is always a deep sense of satisfaction in making a good match.”

Scott Brubacher, AFC’s Executive Director, says many churches struggle with the project description aspect of the grant application. “In a previous grant tips blog I encouraged applicants to simply answer the questions in section 3.3 in order. This model grant application from Holy Trinity is an excellent example of a church that followed that template.” 

“This is AFC’s most successful annual campaign to date, by far,” says Dr. Scott Brubacher, Executive Director of AFC. “We know 2023 was not without financial challenges, but the growth of the annual fundraising program reflects a deepening bond between Canadian Anglicans and their national foundation.” Noteworthy was an increase of 15% in the average donation amount from member churches.

While SYTK was prompted by the pandemic, Dr. Scott Brubacher says that the challenges facing young people are no less urgent today. “There is an increasing body of evidence that points to loneliness and isolation as epidemics arising from the pandemic and that younger Canadians are among the hardest-hit demographics,” says Brubacher. “As a church, we can choose to receive that bad news by responding with good news: claiming our place at the table, and answering the call to champion community-based solutions to this epidemic.”