First Impressions - Connect Ministries

Nicole Yang (Pastor)

Through the passionate and dedicated efforts of Pastor Nicole Yang, the Connect Ministries has connected people from all over the world to Willingdon Church. We have had the incredible blessing of introducing Jesus to many people who do not know Him and are readily seeking the truth in the Gospel.

Testimony Highlight

M* is from a Central Asia country where only 0.1% of the population is Christian. Last July, just a month after arriving in Canada, he decided to drop by Willingdon Church since he lives in the neighborhood. Having visited ancient churches in Europe, he was curious to see the church building.

Although M* is Muslim, he has a deep curiosity about Christianity. Seeking both answers and community, he signed up for Connect & Explore to learn more about Jesus. Being alone in Vancouver, he longed for belonging and connection. He is thankful that he stepped into Willingdon Church and found a community where he belongs.

God is good and faithful! This is a powerful answer to prayer, as many have been praying for this specific unreached people group to come to know Jesus Christ. Through God's divine plan, He led this young man to Willingdon Church—all through his curiosity about church buildings.It has been a long but meaningful journey for the Connect leaders to walk alongside him, exploring questions about life in Christ and the purpose of life. Praise God—after ten months, we see his heart slowly opening to Christianity! He is now enrolled in the Discovery Class to engage and learn more about Christ.

Finance Ministry - More than Money!

James Buss (Senior Accountant and Finance Manager)

The telephone call

A very memorable situation occurred in late summer. Late on a sunny morning I received a telephone call from a lady who, with a clear and controlled voice, related that she was in her 80's and her doctor advised that due to an ongoing health condition she had only a few more months to live. She desired to bequeath Willingdon Church with a portion of her savings, but was not certain that her children would honour her wishes – they are not following our Lord. So, she contacted me to find out how to make a donation now, in advance of her passing, while she still had full capacity to do so.

After explaining two of our donation methods, I closed our telephone call in prayer. I thanked God for the gift of His son, Jesus, and prayed for the salvation of the caller's children. Then I thanked God for the years of life and resources with which He had endowed her with, and for God to continue to encourage her through the months ahead.

I don't remember the caller's name, but our telephone conversation has stayed in my memory. I was, and still am, in awe of her calmness and her resolute decision to honour God with a portion of her finances prior to her graduation day. I'm hopeful and confident that she graduated with honours: “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:23)

Events and Café Ministry - Serving Jesus!

Ingrid Hopkinson (Manager)

The Events & Cafe ministry is a lively ministry that supports all other ministries by offering hospitality services and encouraging strong fellowship. It often serves as an entry point for newcomers to the church family. Our volunteers are essential in providing a warm and inviting atmosphere for everyone, and we appreciate each of their service very much!

The year of 2024 felt like the return of our “new normal” for our events season – we were fully opened to internal and external bookings, supporting the fellowships of our groups and serving our long-term community partners. We are also thrilled to open our Wednesday evening Café in the new year, welcoming and fostering more fellowship time through enjoying meals together.

Last year, we had the honor of welcoming and training 19 new volunteers in the ministry. Six newcomers, either new to the country or new to faith, joined the Café ministry and served with us. Through continued service in the Café and the support of other ministries of Willingdon Church, we had the privilege of witnessing one volunteer confessed his faith and giving his life to Christ; and another volunteer got baptized in 2024 - Congratulations, Tina, on your baptism!

A special thank you to our leader running our events and Café, Candy, for working tirelessly to organize the details of each event and menu with the help of our kitchen, full-time, part-time and on-call chefs. We also want to thank our fantastic volunteers – you have all served the Lord and loved one another with your actions. It is an honor and pleasure to serve in the house of our Lord together with each one of them. We continue to pray for the health and safety of each of our staff members and volunteers, that the Café and Events ministry continues to be a safe and welcoming place for those who are still searching on their faith journey. Please also pray that we continue to have good fellowship and team bonding as we serve together.

Ministy Highlights

We have a total of 94 active volunteers for the Café and Events ministry.

We welcomed 19 new volunteers last year.

Approximately 40 special volunteers helped with church-wide Christmas decorations.

We hosted 115 internal and external special events in 2024.

We welcomed over 1,000 people to our Christmas Dessert Outreach in December.

On average, we make 18 large urns of coffee and welcome 550 customers each Sunday.

Building Maintenance - Caring for God's House

Don MacLeod (Manager)

The church has always been committed to an ongoing maintenance program to ensure the facilities are in sound condition, functionally and esthetically.   We truly feel that it is a reflection of who we are as believers. For the past five years, the elders approved the opportunity to accelerate our maintenance program and attend to some of the repairs/replacement projects which would normally have been very disruptive to our normal ministry demands on our facilities.  The funds needed to carry out these maintenance projects were set aside in prior years as a result of our unified church budget disciplines.  This resolution and discipline resulted in the completion of multiple projects, on time, and within budget.

The largest project in 2024 was the Main Kitchen renovation.  This included all new flooring, new lighting, ceilings, paint, upgraded electrical and plumbing,  and a raft of shiny new appliances. This has provided a more efficient and safer and better work environment for our volunteers and staff.

In addition to this, it has been a great encouragement to see how many of “Donz Dozen” have been helping out in Facilities!  Showing up for major event set up, clean up, snow shoveling, miscellaneous maintenance and gardening.  It has been a great blessing this past year!  More have signed on and I think we are cresting into almost “Donz 2 Dozen”!

Social Media – Showcasing What Goes On at Willingdon

Nathaniel Wong (Communications Coordinator)

Our Communications team has continued to promote and showcase different events, ministries and moments that have happened this year within our Church Family. A big shift for us this year was creating more short form video content. We've worked hard to showcase different ministries that people may not know about, hear voices of volunteers behind the scenes and capture genuine authentic moments throughout the year.  Each video is being shared an average of 20 times, leading to double the amount of people seeing them than our regular posts. We also launched our Austin Heights Social Channels!

2024 Social Media Overview (Jan 1-Dec 31)

Instragram Followers

2,218 Followers (+382 from 2023)

Reach

An average of 850 Accounts were reached per post

2023 (649) vs 2024 (850)

Engagement

12% of people who saw our posts engaged, even with the continued rise of people reached.

2023 (12%) vs 2024 (12%)

Short form content has a 100% increase in engagement than our regular photo posts.

Ministry Highlights

Our Volunteer Photography Team grew to 11 People, including 2 being from Austin Heights.

People have enjoyed our behind the scenes and on the street style short form content, as well as our continued monthly recaps of various ministry events.

As we film people for ministry or event promotion, it's been encouraging to hear them share a testimony of how God has worked in them through their specific ministry.