2023 Donor Report

As we close in on the end of another year, many of us consider our capacity for year-end charitable donations. Each year, we want to make sure that we communicate how Commons Church has used your contributions and provide insight into how the church is doing financially. We have also launched our annual Advent Campaign; you can read more about our efforts here. This year, we are again centring our efforts on local food security.

2022 ended with an incredible surge of support from the Commons community, which continued into 2023. We are immensely grateful for the generosity you have shown both to the church and to our initiatives to serve our neighbours. For example, the Commons Cupboard, supported by your donations and through non-perishable food dropped off throughout the week, has become a fixture in the neighbourhood, and you have made that possible—a tangible expression of Christ’s love through your generosity. We’ve recently relocated the cupboard closer to our doors on Kensington Road to provide better visibility and access to those in need.

In 2023, we saw a marked increase in participation in Groups and Courses across Commons. This interest tells us that the community is looking to make new friends and build connections with more depth. In fact, in our fall in-seat survey, those who told us they participated in a small group were 14% more likely to say they are “making steady forward progress” in their spiritual growth. That’s encouraging, and we are working hard to facilitate more of these types of opportunities. Look for our new Pop-Up Commons initiative coming to a neighbourhood near you in the new year! We also relaunched our 7PM service this fall with a distinct focus on community interaction. Sitting at tables instead of rows and adding Question-and-response to the end of our sermons has been a lot of fun. We plan to double down on this format in the new year with some unique enhancements based on the feedback we’ve received.

In 2023, we continued to refine our online presence, making minor adjustments to the Livestream but focusing on building out our podcast and YouTube channels with additional content. We even passed the 5000 subscriber mark on YouTube recently! In 2024, we have planned new investments in the technology behind our in-person services.

While we didn’t release any new books this year, the season ten Journals were, as always, a big hit, with in-seat survey results telling us that more people are using them regularly this year. We are hard at work on future releases though, including a follow-up to the prayer book, For A Time Like No Other. Print materials have become an important resource for the community, and we plan to keep investing in this area.

This year brought solid financial support throughout the calendar, which has put us in a place to be generous, increasing our support to partners and raising our Advent goal to new heights. Already this year, over 14% of our expenses have gone out our door to care causes locally and globally, and that’s before we head into our annual Advent Campaign. We trust Christmas will be just as surprising.

We look forward to the new year bringing with it our 10th anniversary in September 2024! A new season to look forward with renewed excitement and optimism about what lies ahead. Another year where God’s goodness and this incredible community’s heart will be unmistakable.

Thank you.

Jeremy Duncan
Lead Pastor

Below are some highlights of the year and a breakdown of how your donations were used in 2023. Thank you for being part of the Commons story, and please consider how you might contribute before year-end.