First Church Penetang
Under Construction - Kitchen
Under Construction - Kitchen

2024 Annual Pig Roast

Thank you to all who came out and to everyone who helped out/plan the event.

It was a lovely turn out with many smile face and hungry bellies. It was wonderful to see your church family all together. Having a grand time altogether.

Big thanks to Ann Corbeau, Gerry Vrieswyk and their team (& everyone else) who planned, sold tickets, bought tickets, baked and cooked. Another thanks to all who helped out with setting up, cleaning up and organizing the silent auction The food was delicious and the opportunity to socialize with and invite new folk to church was exciting.

What did we raise in the end?

$4575.00 from 183 tickets sold plus donations of $100.00. The auction totals approximately $2500. So, roughly $7000 was raised from this event!

Thank you to Jean for taking all the pictures of the event.

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON BIBLE STUDY

At 1:15, every Wednesday afternoon, in the downstairs hall, a group of men and women gather together to sing hymns, study the Bible and pray.  We are all ages, and from different backgrounds, and with some Biblical knowledge - or none at all!  What we share is the desire to learn more about God and how He continues to act in our world.  We learn much from each other as we discuss the Scriptures and love both the learning and the fellowship the group provides.

This year we are using the book Life and Ministry of the Messiah by Rev Vander Laan.  Our minister Rev Barry Doner is leading the study.  Please consider joining us.  "No previous experience is necessary".  You will be warmly welcomed.  If you have any questions, contact Rev Doner or Donna Drapkin at 705-533-2339.

Welcome Rev. Barry Doner SERVICE OF INDUCTION

On Sunday, June 16, we welcome Rev. Barry Doner to First.

Father's Day morning service with Rev. Barry Doner. AT 3:00 pm First will have a service of induction for Rev. Barry Doner to welcome him to First. All are welcome to come.

Rev. Barry Doner grew up in the Christian faith and has been involved with the Presbyterian church in various capacities throughout his life. He attended Sunday School at First Presbyterian Church Collingwood and was actively involved in the Youth Group during high school, a time which Rev. Barry describes as the most formative years of his life of faith. Barry and his wife Heather were involved in Youth Ministry for over 20 years. Heather was the Christian Educator and Youth Director at St. Andrew’s in Guelph for 9 years, and then held the same position at St. Andrew’s Orillia for another 9 years.

Rev. Barry has been preaching for over 20 years at many churches across southern Ontario before pursuing full-time ministry in 2010. He graduated from Tyndale University with a Bachelor of Religious Education (BRE), and then graduated from Knox College in 2013 with a Master of Divinity (M.Div.). He was ordained at First Presbyterian Church Collingwood in May of 2013. He has been the Minister at Wasaga Beach Community Presbyterian church for 14 years (3 as a Student Minister). Rev. Barry has a passion for preaching, and loves creativity in the worship service through drama/monologues, storytelling, and of course the Mystery Bag! His ministry style is collaborative and working with people to accomplish Christ’s work in the community. Rev. Barry always says, “I am not here to do ministry for you, but to do ministry with you.” Rev. Barry and his wife Heather were married at First Presbyterian Church in Collingwood in 1994. They have 3 children, Rachel, Alex, and Kendra, and a 6-year-old grand-daughter named Faith who brings them joy every day. Rev. Barry says, “Sometimes all it takes is a little faith!” Rev. Barry and his family look forward to the next part of their journey with First Presbyterian Penetanguishene.

PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW!

On Tues, May 14, the Presbytery of Barrie formally approved the call to Rev Barry Doner to be our new minister, effective Sun, June 16.  Our gratitude goes out to our Interim Moderator Rev Tom Mason; and to Peter Cheshire, chair of the Search Committee; and to the members of the committee who all worked so hard to find us such an outstanding pastor.  Thank you to everyone who went to Barrie to show our support for the call. 
 
Please keep Rev Barry and his family in your prayers as they prepare for this huge transition in their lives.  Please pray for First PC, that we will provide them with faithful support so that together we can do God’s will in this church and community.  Rev Barry’s Induction service will be Sun, June 16 at 3:00.  We hope for a good turnout from the congregation for this special day.

IMPORTANT NEWS

In November, 2023, we said a sad "Goodbye" to Rev William Min, his wife Tori and his four boys Abel, Aiden, Ewen and Ebenezer.  Rev Min has taken a position in Barrie.  We wish him well as he discerns God's call in his new work.  We miss him and his family very much.  

Since then, thanks to Rev Tom Mason, our accomplished Interim Moderator, we have had numerous and excellent pulpit supply preachers for our Sunday worship.  Congregational life has continued to flourish with regular meetings of the Wednesday afternoon Bible study and the Thurs morning "Stitch and Chat".  The choir continues to lead services under the gifted direction of accompanist Ross Compton and director Vicki Thompson.  Under the watchful eyes and hard work of the Board of Managers, our kitchen renovation has proceeded well and will finish up as soon as the last elements arrive.

The best news is that with the leadership of Rev Mason and chair Peter Cheshire, as well as a great deal of hard work by the Search Committee, we have called to be our new minister of word and sacrament, Rev Barry Doner from Wasaga Beach Community Presbyterian Church.  With Presbytery's approval, he will begin serving our congregation of First Presbyterian Church sometime later in June.  We feel so blessed with the way God has led us to this point in our church life.  We pray that His will is done in all things.  Praise God from Whom all blessings flow.

A SYNOPSIS OF THE JANUARY 20, 2024 CONGREGATIONAL WORKSHOP

The Visioning Workshop was well attended by 34 members and adherents of the congregation of First Presbyterian Church, Penetanguishene.  Rev. Dr. Malnick stressed that there were two areas that “Visioning” helps to identify.  These are:

Who we are (and who our neighbours are)

Who we are called to be (what we can offer our church and community).

Rev. Malnick used examples from several congregations to which she has been associated over the years to illustrate that knowledge of our strengths, weaknesses, and possibilities are key to understanding our role as a congregation. 

Those in attendance recognized our strengths to include:   a wonderful music program; welcoming attitude; fellowship; willingness to learn (preaching & bible study); our “traditional” worship style/comfort zone; and our anticipation/excitement in outreach – serving God.

Our weaknesses or challenges were seen as:  finances; an aging congregation with a dwindling resource of volunteers; our ability to continue to provide pastoral care and outreach; communication; programming; making better use of our facility all week long; visibility in the community (marketing); and more specifically how to emphasize respect in the sanctuary pre service – the challenge of fellowship vs preparing for the Sunday worship.

The Visioning experience is a spiritual process with God, working through each of us.  As God has provided us each with various gifts, He allows us to take this experience and grow it with intentionality and transition, with an outcome of serving Him.  We must recognize that many approaches of the past are no longer applicable, and this has been exemplified by the worldwide COVID pandemic.  However, there are new opportunities that await our exploration.  When asked who our neighbours are, the answer was a long list of possibilities, and numerous opportunities to love and serve God’s people.  I think we surprised ourselves.

FOLLOW-UP … a recommendation to enable a visioning committee within our congregation was put forward.

Submitted by Mary Sheriff, Workshop Secretary)

Feb. 6, 2023 Session approved the recommendation to form a visioning committee.   We would invite each of our ministry groups to be represented and hope we will have a group of 12-15.  Please consider joining this important mission of sharing ideas in developing strategies and goals to excitedly move forward in our journey of faith 

Interested in serving on such a committee?  Speak to Clerk of Session, Shirley Spearn, email address spearns@sympatico.ca 705 549-8516

Visioning Workshop

Dear Friends and Family of First Church:

We are excited to invite everyone to a Congregational Visioning Workshop on Saturday January 20 10am-1pm at First in our church hall.

It will give everyone an opportunity to share their ideas, goals and strategies to meet the challenges of a changing time in our church.

Rev. Dr. Heather Malnick minister at Knox Presbyterian Church in Bracebridge will be leading us. She is very experienced with helping congregations 

discuss different ways of engaging with the community and within our family of faith. 

Come and discover how we can implement and communicate our vision to move forward to fulfil God's plan for First.

Winter Bible Study - Wednesdays

Starting Wednesday January 10, 2024. The Winter session of our weekly Bible study meets Wednesday afternoons, in the lower church hall, at 1:15 PM.  We “make a joyful noise” singing hymns for half an hour and then have our study and discussion until about 3:00. There will be Bible-reading, wonderful fellowship, much laughter and thought-provoking discussion.  The Winter Study will be announced.

You are welcome to join us whether or not you have any biblical knowledge or any church affiliation.  Please contact Donna Drapkin (donnadrapkin@bell.net) if you are interested or have any questions.

Online Services on Indefinite Hiatus

As of 2023, our pre-recorded online services that have helped us throughout the pandemic, will be going on an indefinite hiatus. The Session will be looking at alternative options to continue to serve those who continue to worship from home. We extend an enormous thank you for those who have continued to worship with us over the years, and thank all those who have contributed in various ways to the services. For those of you who are able, we hope you will be encouraged to come to our in-person services on Sundays at 10:30AM.

Most of our past Online Services remain available for viewing on our Youtube Channel here.
You can also visit our Sermons page for audio recordings of recent services.