Service on August 8th ONLINE Welcoming Pastor Annika Klappert and Thank you Pastor Dr. Gerhard Hille

UPDATE: as mentioned in our Prayer for the People last Sunday, our new Pastor Annika Klappert and her husband were not allowed to leave Germany last Tuesday July 27, 2021 due to COVID travel restrictions. Church Council met on Thursday, August 5, 2021 to discuss, and we came to the following conclusion: Canada will lift its current travel restrictions for double-vaccinated people at the latest on September 7, 2021. If neither our Member of Parliament, nor the German Embassy in Ottawa, are able to obtain a travel exemption on our behalf until then, we plan to reopen our church in person on September 12, 2021 instead of August 15, 2021 as previously planned. We feel carried by your supporting prayers.
Sincerely,
Your Church Council

**************

With much anticipation we will be welcoming Pastor Annika Klappert and her husband Tim Büchner into our congregation during the online service on Sunday August 8, 2021 Online. We will also say thank you and farewell to our interim Pastor Dr. Gerhard Hille

As of August 1, 2021, Pastor Annika Klappert will take over for our interim pastor, Pastor Dr. Gerhard Hille.

You will get to see her hopefully in-person on Sunday August 15, 2021. Planning is underway for our first on-site service.

Her official installation service is planned for  October 2021, with Pastor David Tin (Dean of the Toronto Area) officiating and hopefully with Oberkirchenrat Marcus Garras (our contact at the “Evangelische Kirche Deutschland” EKD) also in attendance.

Times of change in our personal lives as well as in the lives of congregations are always times of anticipation and excitement. It is therefore beneficial to keep the words of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (German poet and novelist) in mind: “Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them become what they are capable of being.”

We know that Pastor Annika will nurture our potential, inspiring us to further become what we are capable of being, and that if we follow this splendid piece of advice we will surely learn with and from each other.

Welcome, Pastorin Annika and Tim, to your new home and church: we look forward to growing together!