The following is the response from St. Peter’s Congregational Council to Talvi Maimets' letter "Tõsised probleemid Toronto Peetri koguduse juhatusega" published in Eesti Elu no. 13 on Mar 27th, 2024.

“There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.” Proverbs 6:16-19 ESV

It has always been the intent of the current St. Peter’s Council not to respond to rumours, misinformation and provocation for as Proverbs 17:27 says, “Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.”

Nonetheless, there comes a time when comments and opinions of a few church members cause so much strife or division within the congregation, and are so unbecoming a member of the body of Christ, that it becomes a duty the Congregational Council to respond. The misinformation that concerns the Council seems to arise from disgruntled members of the previous “sell the church” Council who seek to oppose the decision of the congregation who voted to “keep the church” and elected the current Council.

Factual note: The current Council began its work on June 5th, 2023, when keys and passwords were transferred over.

A small group of former Advisory Council members, recently requested a meeting with St. Peter’s Council and ELCIC Bishop Pryse. Their spokesperson was Talvi Maimets, one of the former Council members who resigned when their “sell the Church” resolution was defeated by the congregation. Although we, along with the Bishop, arranged that meeting, Talvi Maimets decided instead to publish an Estonian and English article in the newspaper containing serious misinformation about the Church and the Council’s work and cancelled the meeting. We are addressing that misinformation herein.

Monetary Issues

Talvi incorrectly claims that the costs of church upkeep are unaffordable. This is simply not true. Significant new and successful financial measures have been implemented by the new Council to financially sustain the congregation. The successful measures will be detailed at the upcoming Annual General Meeting of the members. They include renting the church apartment, income through the rental of the church to a sister congregation, and continuing to rent to the Salvation Army until early 2025. This new rental income now brings in a further $100,000 per year, in addition to the $96,000 from our Salvation Army rental. But most significant is the strong new support expressed by our congregation since the decision to keep the Church. Our donations for the half of the year since the new Council took over in June, are almost triple what was donated in the first half.

Moreover, we have cut over $130,000 in unneeded operating costs. In addition, going forward, we will not have the one time legal and real estate costs associated with the proposed sale of the church, severance pay for the pastor, and the roof replacement which the former Council projected at an alarming $1.5 million which proved unnecessary. The roof was repaired for less than $15,000. – one percent (1%) of the former Council’s number. The church wall was repaired, for approximately $5,000. Many volunteer man-hours were donated for painting, cleaning, reorganizing and decluttering the church.

As the facts show, attacking the financial competency of the new Council is absolutely shameful and without merit. It amounts to fearmongering misinformation. We could do even more if we did not have to deal with the continual harassment by members of the “sell the church” group who still cannot accept the fact that the congregation is financially stable, has a positive future, and has decided to keep its remarkable and unique facility in place for future generations.

Columbarium closure

This became an issue when the previous Council realized that the church could not be sold as long as the columbarium existed.

Every call by the previous Council for congregation meetings on these issues stated that “to sell the property it was necessary to first close the columbarium. To do so requires the permission from the Burial Authority of Ontario to close the columbarium and re-locate the urns” AND the Council stated that “the cost of relocating the urns to a more suitable location is beyond the financial resources of the congregation. It would necessitate the selling of the property to provide the necessary funds to carry this out”. The estimated costs to close the columbarium was upwards of $3.5 million – an amount that could only be funded by selling the Church property.

Once the resolution to sell the church was rejected by the congregation, the rationale for closing the columbarium no longer existed. Moreover, had such an application been accepted by the government, the church was at risk of assuming a $3.5 million dollar liability – which meant either selling the Church (which the congregation rejected) or bankruptcy.

As directors of the Corporation, we recognized that this risk was unacceptable. Also, the possibility of closing the columbarium had become very stressful to the columbarium rights’ holders. It was a prudent fiduciary decision to request that the application be withdrawn.

The Advisory Committee

Talvi’s statement in her article that “Recently, the Board disbanded our Advisory Council and ended its actions” is simply false. The Council did not disband the Advisory Committee. Inexplicably, Talvi knows full well that no such thing happened, so we are surprised and disappointed that she published this misinformation nonetheless.

The actual facts are these:

• The Advisory Committee (Nõukogu) is elected by the congregation at each annual general meeting.
• This should have happened at the Annual General Meeting in May, 2023, but rather than attending to this, the prior Council deferred that action, and the mandate of the Advisory Committee lapsed, by operation of law. No act of this new Council caused that to happen.
• Rather, it appears from the records of the Church that the previous Council – of which Talvi Maimets was a member – deferred action on the annual appointment of a new Advisory Council because they recognized that the Advisory Committee Policy Template which had to be presented to the general meeting for approval at the same time as that election, did not conform to law and could not legally be approved by the members.
• The next Advisory Council will be appointed at the next annual general meeting of the members which the new Council will call as soon as possible, and well before the statutory deadline for doing so.

As concerns the short-term appointment of the new Committee members for the brief balance of the former Advisory Committee’s term, this was a proper step, taken in good faith, necessitated by the resignation of the former Council and their failure to call an Advisory Committee election. That mass resignation had left the Advisory Committee unable to function in its role in assisting the Congregational Council, and the replacement appointments to fill those vacancies were done in good faith, based on prior practices.

We will be proposing that a new Advisory Committee be approved with a new policy mandate that conforms to our current Constitution and the proposed 2024 mandatory ONCA amendments.

Management Actions

Regarding the individual asked to leave a committee – We do not treat lightly the exclusion of anyone from a church committee. The Council has a responsibility to ensure the safety of all its committee members. This was done sensitively according to protocol and consultation with appropriate professional advisors and all the individuals involved. It is unfortunate that Talvi chose to make these remarks and accuse the Council of acting in bad faith and dictatorially without any knowledge of the actual facts.

The Council has an express responsibility under the Constitution to deal with individuals who cause strife or division within our congregation. There is a process to try to resolve such issues using restorative practices. Failing that, the Council is required by the by-laws of the Church to hold a hearing and decide whether to administer discipline. Talvi has criticized the Council for initiating such proceedings against three members. That criticism is unwarranted, and is made without a knowledge of the facts and without regard for the constitutional duties of the Council.

Clearly, since the Council may have to hold hearings in these matters, it is wholly inappropriate for the Council to comment publicly on these specific cases at this time.

The Budget for 2023

The bylaws of the Church stipulate that the budget for the upcoming year is to be reviewed at the annual meeting of members. That review is usually presented after the financial statements for the previous year have been reviewed for the meeting by the auditor.

At the last annual meeting of members May 2023, the previous Council did not present the required review of a budget, rather they resigned, and left it to the new Council. The new council promptly sprang into action commencing June 2023 when they were given access to the office and some, but not all, of the Church records. On August 31, 2023, doing the work which the resigned Council should have done, the new Council presented the budget for January 1, to December 31, 2023, to the old Advisory Committee. The budget was then presented to the congregation at an information meeting on September 27, 2023. Again, under our Constitution and the government legislation, budgets are presented to the members for information and are not voted on.

Rental of the Church parsonage

The church bylaws do require a 2/3 vote by the congregation whenever physical property of the church is sold or encumbered. Rental of the apartment in the church is not in law an “encumbrance”, rather it is a use of the property which the Church, like any property owner, is entitled to exercise as of right. It is within the fiduciary responsibility of the Council to ensure that property is managed in the best interests of the corporation. The rental of the parsonage now yields the congregation $43,600 per year.

Columbarium Costs for interment and disinterment

The Council is obligated to abide by the laws of the Province of Ontario. The Burial Authority of Ontario (BAO) has strict regulations with respect to interment and dis-interment of cremated remains. The Council respects the wishes of the interment right’s holder, but the right’s holder has to establish that they are the rightful “owner” of the contents of a niche. It is self evident that the person wishing to disinter remains has to bear the cost of obtaining the documentation. The criticisms in the article in this regard are regrettable misinformation, made without knowledge of or regard to those rules and regulations by which the Church is bound.

Church Services – the need for Estonian Services

It is true that we are the largest congregation in the diaspora and that we do not have a full-time minister at this time, following Pastor Salumäe’s resignation. The previous Council observed on January 24th, 2023 that “the workload of the pastor at this time is not necessarily what we would consider full time.”

We have also come to the same conclusion. We also realize that we need a pastor in that position who can help restore our attendance, not just someone to fill a vacancy. We also know that a new minister has to be able to relate to the congregation.

We have had extensive consultations to determine the best approach. Archbishop Urmas Viilma has stated that studies in Estonia confirm that congregations who like and appreciate their minister will grow, but they waste away if the reverse is true. Over the past 6 months, with a roster of supply ministers, our attendance at services has not only increased, but grown tenfold. We have attendances of up to 180 people for the Estonian services and up to 50 people for the English language services.

Our established roster of Estonian speaking ministers has been remarkably well received. In addition to this, we have undertaken a development program. We proposed an “intern program” which was endorsed by Archbishop Viilma and sourced by the University of Tartu. Importantly, this program has also been endorsed by ELCIC Bishop Michael Pryse.

Our development plan is to encourage young divinity graduates to be part of our community, absorb our culture, and develop a career path that would be beneficial to them and to our church.

In the interim, as you all have experienced, we take the opportunity to work with Estonian ministers as their time allows. We have had Kalle Kadakas, Peeter Vanker, Jüri Puusaag, and Ando Kass conduct church services, funerals, christenings, and weddings. Further, Archbishop Viilma has advised that the Estonian Synod has become more liberal in its approach to using ministers that are not part of the EELK. We are also in continuous communication with Archbishop Viilma since his visit with us in October.

Consistent with our program, Archbishop Viilma confirmed and facilitated the visit to our congregation by Bishop Electus Ove Sander, Rector of the Theological College in Tallinn. We made arrangements for Bishop Ove Sander to hold a Palm Sunday service for us, which was a profound experience. As for the expenses of that visit, we collaborated effectively with the Hamilton congregation to help pay for his expenses. This is consistent with the understanding we have with the EELK, that when we ask for the services of a minister from Estonia, we pay for their expenses. This is a formal process, with communication directly with the Archbishop.

We also continue to have extensive consultations with our local ministers about the future of our congregation. They have concluded that a congregation cannot rely solely on the minister for its future well being. It is also incumbent upon the Council to administer to the needs of the congregation, consistent with what we as the new Council has been doing. These local ministers, in fact encouraged the concept of “lay services” and also the concept of congregants increasingly getting involved in “pastoral care” for those in need.

We have taken their advice to heart. We organized a successful Good Friday Lay Service. We are also working in conjunction with the Ehatare Foundation to provide community events for the elderly, which meet a significant need and have been well received. Our services are videotaped and available for Ehatare, Suomi Koti and all to view. Furthermore, we have established a good working relationship with St. Andrews congregation (Vana Andres), holding combined services, thereby mutually strengthening our community of faith.

Community Services

Talvi notes that the Estonian Christmas service was well attended with 5 times more people than attended the English service. We were very pleased. We also know that a large part of our congregation has disappeared because of mixed marriages with non-Estonian speaking partners. It is incumbent upon us as a congregation to attend to their spiritual needs as well. Our English language services are a beginning and are evolving.

We believe that we have to have activities that all people can embrace. We are supporting community activities that not only reflect our culture and heritage and our faith, but also help people that have been estranged to re-connect with the congregation. Hence we have initiated activities such as the Christmas Craft Show (held in November before Advent), Seniors’ luncheons, seminars, Guild gatherings, Independence Day celebrations, Doors Open, Scouts, Estonian choirs and musical performances held at the church.

We are reaching out to our surrounding community to use our beautiful church facility. This community outreach becomes important for us as we seek increased funding from various government funding agencies such as the Trillium Foundation.

The Future

The misinformation presented in this article could all have been avoided if Talvi Maimets and the other former Advisory Council members had attended the meeting which had been arranged with the Bishop.

As your Council, we take our responsibilities very seriously in looking after our congregation’s spiritual well-being, care, growth, and participation, and in ensuring its very existence. We are also focussed on the financial sustainability of the congregation, and have made great advances in this key area. This financial sustainability is what allows us to develop an internship program. That allows us to fund a pastoral care program. That allows us to bring Estonian Bishops and ministers to our church when we need them. That allows us to bring Estonian Culture to our church. That is how we encourage people to again become active participants and contributing members of our congregation.

The reality is that our congregation is experiencing a strong renaissance after voting to save the church. We regret the misinformation to the contrary in Talvi’s article.

Thank you to all who continue to support our congregation through their active participation and regular attendance, generous contributions, and involvement through volunteering.

“I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.” 1 Corinthians 1:10.

St. Peter’s Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church Congregational Council
Väino Einola
Tiiu Roiser
Toomas Trei
Linda Laikve
Anne Liis Keelmann
Erik Kalm

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