Our church has gone through significant change from moving our programs online to closing the building to the public. Many of you are undergoing financial hardships with reduced work and business closures. We thank God that the federal and provincial governments have provided financial aid solutions to help Canadians affected by COVID-19.

Likewise, our church’s financial situation is affected by this crisis. Many of you have asked us and shown concern for our finances as donations can no longer be made at service. After working diligently for weeks, our Elder Board has approved an action plan to provide more options for you to donate. We’d like to share with you the key points.

Starting April 6, you can make donations and offerings to our church through the following ways:

• Mail post-dated cheques to the church with your offering number, name, address, and fund distribution instruction (general, mission, building, thanksgiving, or maintenance & facilities). Please contact the office for any questions.
• Drop off with your offering number, name, address, and fund distribution instruction (general, mission, building, thanksgiving, or maintenance & facilities). Prior to your arrival, please contact the office.
• E-transfer is now available as an option for you! We’ve set up an email account with the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) to accept transfers. Contact Diana Poon at 780-483-2143 or diana.poon@ecac.ca and complete a registration form. Once your completed form has been processed, you’ll receive instructions to set up this service.
• Donation-in-kind of stocks, mutual funds, and ETFs is available as a tax-effective form of giving. Our church has set up an RBCDI account to directly accept donations of publicly-traded securities. If interested, please refer to these instructions to get started.

As the pastors and church leaders have been striving to maintain the vertical relationship with God, we should never forget to reshape the horizontal relationship with one another in times of difficulty. Like our government says, only together we can defeat this virus. Only together, we can go through this pandemic with stronger faith in God and deeper love for one another.

If you have any questions or feedback, please contact office@ecac.ca.

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 1 John 4:10-12