West Side Food Bank
Please remember the West Side Food Bank with a toonie or a loonie in the can in the Narthex, or a donation in a special envelope marked with your name or number. We aim to support the Food Bank by at least $200/month!
Our Parish Prayer Tree
A team of thirty-five volunteers is available, upon request, to pray for you or your loved one daily, for two weeks. These prayers will be treated with the strictest confidence. Prayer-requests should be short and to the point, and will be passed on verbatim. The Lord knows what we need best! A follow-up of thanks or an update is also a good way to encourage our intercessors in their ministry.
To initiate the prayer-tree ministry please call your request to our “Captain”, Ngaire Nelson at 672-8666.
Sunday School
Sunday School takes place during our 10:30 am Sunday service.
Youth Group
Youth Group is currently on hold until we have a more permanent full time priest!
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, our youth group (ages 8-12) met Wednesday evenings for crafts, games, a bible story, and snacks. Rev. Jonathan was assisted by Judy Mae Gallant and Rick Cunningham.
Jan 31st, 2021 Archbshop David joined us to confirm some of our young folk at our 10:30 am Service.
As our Christmas 2021 project, we collected personal items for the Seafarer’s Mission. Donations of personal hygiene items, snacks (candy/mints), magazines, puzzle books and pens, socks, hats, gloves etc. were donated. The youth group made up individual bags and delivered them to the Seafarer’s Mission.
In April 2022, the youth group continued to meet on Wednesday evenings 6:30-8:00 pm in person, led by Rick Cunningham and assisted by Judy Mae Gallant and Beverly Janes.
Aug 10, 2022 - There was a youth service with music provided by David Mitchell and Shayne Galbraith.
At the end of Summer 2022, Rick and his family moved to Moncton, so he could continue his journey to ministry under the mentorship of the Rev. Chris Van Buskirk effective Sept 1st. His service of ordination to the deaconate was on Sept 11, 2022 at the Church of the Good Shepherd, here in Saint John West.
God willing, youth group will start up again once we have a full time, more permanent priest.
Altar Guild
Our Altar Guild is responsible for maintaining the chancel and all its altar ware, and preparing the Lord's Table and church for worship services. Our 7 members (2 teams of 2 and 1 team of 1) take bi-weekly rotations of duties. We welcome new members, and will start you out on one of the existing teams to help you get familiar with what the job entails.
We are grateful for the many memorials and donations that are given to cover our Flower Fund and Altar Guild expenses. We are thankful for all who have served in the past, and for those who continue to serve.
Servers
Our Servers assist the Celebrant with Communion and other tasks during the church service. Due to COVID and then shortage of servers, we do not have a schedule for servers, but we do have one young person who has stepped up to skillfully help the Rev. Keith Joyce with the sermon preparation.
Recycling Bottles and Cans
L.I.F.T (Ladies in Fellowship Together) purchased 3 blue recycle bins in March 2017 and placed them around our church hall and gym areas for your convenience. At the same time they opened up a “Church of the Good Shepherd” account at the Golden Mile Redemption Center, 35 Linton Rd. For now, the proceeds of all donations to this account will go to our Sunday School. Thank you to all who have donated their recycling proceeds this past year and who will continue to do so going forward.
Redemption Center Hours of operation:
Mon, Tue, Thu & Fri 8:30am–4:00pm;
Wed closed; Sat 8:30am-12:00 pm
(Sat & Sun of long weekends, and the entire week between Christmas and New Years – closed)
Money we collect from the Redemption Center now will help support whatever mission activity our discernng L.I.F.T. group determines has an immediate need.
GOOD SHEPHERD CUPBOARD
Good Shepherd Cupboard was started to help anyone who needs help through the month in addition to what is provided by the West Side Food Bank. Any donations of items or finances are welcome! A link to "The Shepherd's Cupboard" background story and what items can be donated can be found on every page of our website near the top of the page.
Harbourview High School Brown Bag Lunch Program
Click here to find out how you can help!
Music
David Mitchell is a noted voice teacher and singer, founding Director of the Sussex Choral Society and Polyphon A Cappella Chorus, Director of Still Waters Choir, and the past and founding Director of the Saint John Men's Chorus. He has led the ministry of music at Good Shepherd since 1998. One of our year's highlights is certainly the beautiful Christmas Cantata put on by our very own Church of the Good Shepherd Choir. His students now and then perform at our Sunday Service, and we are never disappointed. Our Choir practices are normally Wednesdays at 7:00 pm and new members are always welcome!
St. George's Tintinnabula -
Hand Bell & Chime Choir
St. George’s Tintinnabula Hand-bell and Chimes Choir usually rehearses on Mondays at 6:45 pm in the Small Hall. Want to try something new? Meet new friends and learn a new skill? Our Hand Bell Choir is looking for new members. Can’t read music....that’s ok, we will train. Our mission is to play for others who would enjoy this unique musical choir while having fun ourselves. Call Lynn Adams at 635-8474, you can leave a message with your name and number and we will get back to you.
Tintinnabula plays a couple of Services a year during Communion or for specific hymns and are invited to play at some other venues, including nursing homes, throughout the year. In summer 2017, Gary Baxter rebuilt the boxes we store them in, and vestry supported the cost of this venture.
St. Joseph's Guild
Our Men's Guild can always be counted on for a tasty parish luncheon after church services or doing repairs or some heavy lifting around the church and hall. They've been known to cook a mean Fall roast beef supper or a Seder meal on Maundy Thursdays. Up until and including 2021, the highlight of the year has been the annual Biker's Breakfast, usually held the last Saturday in May, starting at 9:00 am. Our 2020 Biker's Breakfast had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Rev. Jon Springthorpe recorded a blessing on youtube: ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thhkS37G-1I) When May 2021 rolled around, we were still not able to host a biker's breakfast, so the Rev. Jon Springthorpe and Paul Desjardins invited 4 bikers to represent and hosted a virtual blessing of the bikes on the lawn of our church. LIVE STREAM URL of Biker’s Breakfast May 29, 2021 (video by St. John Newschasers):
https://www.facebook.com/JPOC226/videos/10158450112532547
We were once again to hold our Bikers Breakfast on Aug 14, 2021 with about 60 bikes and 100 people attending. This breakfast in 2021 was the last one held to date.
To all of you who attended our Bikers Breakfasts all those years, you continue to be in our prayers. Stay Safe and God Bless!
L.I.F.T (Ladies in Fellowship Together)
The L.I.F.T. (Ladies in Fellowship Together) ministry looks to promote, strengthen and grow relationships among women, thru community involvement and spiritual giving within the church and the community. A couple of our popular and fun events are our Spring Fashion Shows and our Dessert Auctions, both at which you get to have some decadent desserts and lots of fun.
Our primary goals are simple yet vital. We look to support community groups and establish service activities that support the continued growth of Christ in our Community, and have some fun and fellowship along the way.
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,” (Hebrews 10:24 NIV)
We usually meet at 6:30 pm the 2nd Thursday of each month, except July and August, in the Sunshine Room, and all women in the parish are always welcome to join us!
As many of you know our focus has, in the past, been around fundraising. Since March 2020, due to the pandemic, our focus has changed somewhat as we seek new ways to connect with each other rather than focusing on fundraising. At the October 2020 meeting Janet brought supplies to make cute decorative pumpkins. Everyone had fun and took home their creation to decorate their table for Thanksgiving. In November we took to adding a "Lil Something Something" to the Christmas pew markers. In December, plans were underway for a Centre piece workshop, but our Dec meeting was cancelled when we changed to the Orange Level of the pandemic.
LIFT had our first meeting since November 2020 on March 11, 2021. Despite being unable to meet in that time frame, we provided Christmas cards for our Christmas basket families as well as gift cards for "the girls". We also sent the 2021 tuition to Bishop McAllister School for our student. The "Bakeless Bake Sale" raised over $800 for Safe Harbour. Ladies attending the March meeting made an Easter craft. For a Mothers' Day 2021 Fundraiser, we sold a takeout lunch of a sandwich, fruit, cookie, bottle of water and chocolate for $7.50 which parishioners picked up on their way out of church. June 10, 2021 was our last meeting before we took a break for summer. We had a short meeting and planted some annuals in the gardens to add a burst of color. Our latest event was on Dec 4th, 2021 when we hosted the Cool Chicks and Ugly Doclings.
We resumed meeting in Sept 2022 after our summer break. Our focus has changed a bit to insert more fun and fellowship in our activities. One activity involved our members making beautiful greeting cards to brighten the days of parishioners and others who need a note of encouragement or fellowship. Call the church office if you know someone who could benefit from hearing from us.
As of January 2023, we still continue to meet the 2nd Thursday of the month, but have voted to meet at 2:00 PM instead of 6:30 PM. We welcome new members!
L.I.F.T. will continue to explore new avenues of fundraising, but as we have learned thru the pandemic, it is the people that matter most.