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2020-2021

Annual Report

Welcome!

This year has been different. It is our heart for the Annual Report this ministry year to reflect this difference. Yet what was constant was the faithfulness of God, expressed through your ongoing faithfulness. To best reflect ministering a year in COVID, this year we will be sharing the following three reports with you:

 

1. Pastoral Reflections
2. Lifecentre Generosity
3. Audited Financial Statements


As a collective leadership and staff, we will share with you how we have led both in our Campus locations and together as Lifecentre during this most challenging year. Pastor Lori and I wish to take a well-deserved moment to express our profound thanks, which doesn’t seem adequate enough, to the entire Lifecentre Staff, Pastor’s Council, Members, and all who call Lifecentre their home church. There is no one else we would choose to go through storms like this than with each of you. We invite you to pray something we daily pray, Lord, use our lives to Build Your House!

Let’s continue making a Jesus-size difference together!

 

Pastors Jason & Lori
Lead Pastors, Lifecentre
C/O Entire Lifecentre Staff Team

 

Pastoral Reflections

As a team we want to take a moment to celebrate all Jesus is doing at Lifecentre. While this year has been remarkably different, we are in awe of the innovation and resilience of our church. We couldn’t be more proud of you. As Lifecentre, we count each number, as each one reflects a life, purpose, necessary spiritual gift for our rebuilding, and our collective upbuilding of the church, for the city.

Together, let’s take a look at Lifecentre by looking back on the past twelve months. We have worshipped in-person to a maximum of 40%, exclusively online during lockdowns, and for much of the year, done our best to remain faithful while guidance allowed five people in a Campus at one time. Through it all, let’s see the faithfulness of God, and our church.

 

SUNDAYS’

1636

Sunday Service Attendance

$3,231,941

Tithes/Offerings

18

Water Baptisms

40

Salvations

prayer

11

Prayer Groups

770

People praying this year

40,723

Km’s prayed

8384

Hours

alpha groups

9

Groups

200

Participants

Lifecentre school of the bible

150

Students

53

Graduates

24

Year 1 Graduates

12

Year 2 Graduates

12

Year 3 Graduates

7

Total Ministers

4

Ordained

3

Licensed

Heartstrong

408

Members

2

Churches

205

Bible Studies

48

Prayer & Encourgement Nights

4

Live Podcasts

257

Live Events Available for Replay

LifeKids

65

Zoom

1

Bible Bootcamp

1

Amazing Team

LifeStudents

75

Friday Nights

Lifecentre food Bank

400

Clients per Month

LifeGroups

36

LifeGroups

711

Participants

Home Campuses

22

Home Campuses

65

Participants

Together we thank Jesus for all He is doing in and through all of us at Lifecentre! Yet together we wish to prayerfully share our three greatest Pastoral Concerns and Steps we can together both begin or continue to take.


1. Concurrent, Not Singular Storms

We see concurrent, not singular storms the church must lovingly listen and respond. First, this pandemic-sized storm. Division on guidance, vaccinations, vaccine passports, to the heartbreaking loss of life, particularly in Long Term Care homes, the current pandemic is revealing much which needs healing. Secondly, a political storm of increased polarization. Civil disagreements are dwindling with civil destruction taking its place. Third, accelerating social change within Canada. Finally, how do we work together for Biblical justice regarding past and present issues of inequality. We recognize where we, as the church have fallen woefully short. So, how do we repent for the past, and restore our Christian witness in a society which sees us as the problem? How do we hold onto orthodox Christian beliefs, while walking in love towards others? These are questions each church must address.

 

2. Strife & Division.

Jesus is clear what happens when division takes root in a heart or a house. Division has lead to an erosion of faith in Jesus, Church, and the gospel. Together we are living through a time of intense strive, slander, division, and deconstruction. For many, it is not the pandemic, but the conflict, the upheaval which is keeping them away from church or LifeGroups. As Canadians it is important for us to wrestle with our rights along with our responsibilities. As Christians in Canada we too hold rights with responsibilities, but we are also called to walk in repentance and care deeply about Christ-like righteousness. Lord, build Your house.


3. Generational Tensions

Due to concurrent storms, strive, division, and where we as the church have fallen short, we are seeing generational tensions rise, which always produce generational gaps. In the 1960’s the the sexual revolution, created changing beliefs towards sexuality in Canada, this created a sizeable generational gap. One which took decades to bridge and heal. Today, due to the convergence of two revolutions, one is the continuation of the sexual revolution, the other a digital revolution, we are once again witnessing growing generational perspectives, which cause gaps and opportunity for division within intergenerational communities such as local churches. For the first time in history there are five concurrent generations living together. How we walk together is vital. Our call is to leave the church, to the next generation, in better hands than we received it.

 

Kids:

Read any data, and this season has been immensely difficult for children. We applaud our LifeKids team for ministering Online. Yet, not having a single in person service for 19 months. To put this in perspective, there were babies born who’ve yet to be ministered to in our Nursery. Children who turned four, who have no memory of what it means to go to church. This are formative years, and this is a concern.

 

Students:

Like adults, we have been able to gather both online and in person with our students. Yet ministry to students, in spite of our amazing Student Pastors, isn’t remotely the same. We are closing in on two years with no retreats, summer camps, events, or times for students to just hang out and be together. At the same time, ethics and values of all their peers are changing around them. These too are formative years, and this too is a prayerful concern of ours.

 

20’s & 30’s:

Are being buffeted by social change, media, pressure and expectations. Deconstruction is taking place. Some both healthy and necessary, some unhealthy. You can leave orthodox Christian beliefs, while never leaving fundamentalism. How we treat others is critical. While able to return to in person services, this demographic has not yet returned. We need each generation following Jesus to see all generations follow Jesus. We know many are fully engaged online, and we celebrate this. We know having reduced in-person to children deeply affects parents. This is an ongoing concern and challenge to solve together.

40’s & Up:

Are perhaps in places of life dramatically different from the picture they had for themselves. You could find yourself in a place of leadership, succession, and are under the weight of living with and managing through social changes and generational tensions.


STEPS TO TAKE

While we share our three Pastoral Reflections, our concerns simultaneously, we don’t believe all this is the work of the enemy, or necessarily bad. Pruning is a necessary part of us loving and looking more like Jesus. It was Jesus who said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit. My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples.” John 15:1-2, 8 (CSB)

Some branches being pruned or cut away were perhaps favourites, but we trust our Master Gardener – He knows what He is doing. What can you do in this moment? We want to prayerfully share four things we need each of us to not
“cut out” in our following Jesus.

1. Follow Jesus.
(Church, Discipleship, Serve, Share)
2. Build Lifecentre. (Engage, Serve, Sow)
3. Connect With Someone. (Above You, Beside You, Behind You)
4. Grow With Others. (LifeGroup, Bible School, Heartstrong)

Generosity Report

Lifecentre last year together we generously gave $417,636.00 away establishing Campus outreaches, supporting local churches in Ottawa, and helping ministries serving our city, country and world run a little further, a little faster.
As a church, we moved in the opposite spirit. While our total giving, year over year decreased, our generosity increased. At our Annual Business Meeting last year, we said; “Yes” to be a blessing, and Lifecentre you are a generous church!
$100,000

was distributed to nine local churches

$75,000

was allocated to Cornwall and Kanata to establish local outreach ministry.

$230,000

was sown into ministries serving our city, nation, and world

$12,636

was given from our Benevolent fund (ex. gift cards for single parents, emergency groceries)

$417,636

Our Generosity Total

Today: We are fully ready funded to sow our Winter missions dispersement for 2021.

Campus Generosity Focus

Orleans: Lifecentre Food Bank is serving 400 clients monthly.

Kanata: Assisting single moms and their families, by meeting some of their most immediate needs. 

Cornwall: Support weekly mission by purchasing a cargo van & launching a Mobile Mission. 

Lifecentre: Backpacks, Gifts for Kids, Christmas Shoeboxes, Christmas Baskets, and Food Drives.

Mortgage

Under the wisdom and guidance of our Pastor’s Council, we have accelerated maximum monthly mortgage payments and introduced an annual lump sum payment. Last year together we paid down an additional $350,000 in principal payments on our mortgage. This means Blackburn will be mortgage free in January 2021. Kanata, as giving remains faithful at Lifecentre, between $3 and $3.2 million dollars annually, we project to see our final mortgage in Kanata be paid off by 2025.

A Prayerful Ask

Perhaps God might place, on a group of your hearts, for us to accelerate Lifecentre being mortgage free earlier than in 2025. God may be speaking to some of you to sow, over and above your tithes, into a fund enabling us to be mortgage free even faster. We share this opportunity prayerfully without pressure or expectation. It is never our place to raise funds. Our role is to teach God’s Word, and together as God’s people we both return and release funds, in obedience to God’s Word and what He is asking us to do.

Financial Statement

Download The Life Centre Christian Fellowship’s Financial Statements for hte year ended June 30, 2021 as independentely audited by BDO, who conducted our audit in accordance with Canadian generally accepted auditing standards. We are independent of the Centre in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in Canada, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our qualified audit opinion.
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