The congregation of Christ Church Rawdon is becoming younger and more diverse. Weekly attendance in-person and online averaged 54 in 2024 – that’s a 40% increase from pre-covid [despite the parish losing 80 souls in the last five years]. Ninety-nine worshipped in-person and live online at Easter, and more than 160 joined us in-person and live online for our Carol service [which has been viewed on Facebook over 1200 times].
A key vector for renewal has been music. From a parish which had little to no choir for several years, we now have three choirs supporting our worship.
Three dozen adults and a handful of kids sang at our carol service. To make choral music and choral singing more accessible our choir director provides all singers with recordings of their vocal tracks – disseminating separate tracks for Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Bass, enabling those that do not read music to learn their parts and to learn to read a score.
For special liturgical events we have the great gift of a parishioner with Down Syndrome who signs anthems in American Sign Language at high feasts: her name is Vanessa, and she is brilliant.
Complementary to choral music for worship, we gather for Singalongs in our parish hall on the first Sunday of the month from October to June – with up to nine musicians playing everything from bongos to guitar, electric bass, banjo, mandolin, ukulele; keyboard, piano, sax, and drums. We have 40-60 people join us for singing at a typical Singalong.
We also host Open Mics where an ever-growing number of local musicians come to perform both original music and cover songs, with 40-60 people gathered to listen.
One of our new parishioners is a skilled producer with a full studio in his basement: he is aiding those with original music to refine/mix/record their songs — with the goal for a Rawdon private label.
To support Singalong and Open Mic initiatives we have received an 8-channel 200-amp amplifier and mixing board, and the gift of high-quality mics and cables.
To support choral work, we have received a Brazilian Rosewood Model-A Steinway, and have received approval to construct a new 20-stop custom built French baroque pipe organ — 100% funded from outside of the parish operating budget.
The value of these three gifts exceeds $1M – that’s over $1M invested in cultural infrastructure to make Christ Church more useful and more welcoming; and to offer a space which is aesthetically and acoustically transcendent.
We have encouraged the development of a small bagpipe school – currently two students with one skilled piper as teacher (a retired Scottish Mennonite Pastor who plays and worships and leads worship with us from time to time).
With excellent instruments and acoustics, Christ Church is now able to host concerts. We are in discussions with the municipality and a local non-profit to secure a $5k grant in 2025 to cover the cost of opening the building for twenty concerts at no cost to musicians.
We have cultivated a community of semi-professional and professional musicians and choral group. Apart from concerts, many musicians join us on high feast days, adding more colour and sound and voices and richness to worship.
With more people coming to discover Christ Church at concerts, we have new faces in church most every Sunday: kids and youth and adults, English and French; some of whom are familiar with Church, and some new to worship.
We have learned to use music as the door which it can be. Our worship is enhanced by a deep understanding of the important ministry of welcoming newcomers as was demonstrated by Abram at the Oaks of Mamre in Genesis 18; ensuring that when people walk through the door of Christ Church that they are warmly greeted and invited to participate.
This year will see twenty concerts, ten Open Mics, ten Singalongs, a three-day launch of the new organ, strings at Candlemas and Good Friday, electric guitar and songs from ‘Jesus Christ Super Star’ at Maundy Thursday, a trumpeter at Easter, a Bluegrass ensemble at Pentecost and the Feast of St. Francis, and more diversity in music on high feast days and at broad community celebrations.
To see and hear Christ Church, check us out at www.facebook.com/christchurchrawdon/videos.
Our worship services are viewed over 250 times; Singalongs and Open Mic average more than 300 views, and special events like our Carol Service have more than 1000 views. On the 9th of February eighty people were at Christ Church to sing and dance with the West-Can Performing Company www.westcanfolk.com and Jab Djab Band www.facebook.com/JabJab2016/.
