ANNUAL REPORT
2021
Message from
Pastors Leon and Sally
For many, that change has come with its own set of consequences, good or bad. And yet, through it all, I’ve seen the people of Springs Church rise in devotion to Jesus and heed the call of being a light wherever we go.
Sally and I want thank ALL OF YOU who helped make 2021 a momentous one. Firstly, the flexibility of our people is astounding. When government orders change as often as they have, our people were ready to do what it takes to make church happen; whether in Drive-In, or in the building.
Next are the givers. When a lot of churches have seen their giving go down, we saw our giving go up! It’s amazing what can be done when people are united in cause. And we know it’s this incredible sense of God’s love and generosity, working through us, that has allowed us to keep doing what we do – and not miss a beat.
Springs has always been, and will continue to be a place for all people. A home with a strong sense of community and belonging. We will always be a church that encourages, values, and brings hope and peace to everyone!
We know more than ever that God has raised up Springs to be a leader among nations. We are a church that thinks out-of-the-box, fixes problems and shows the way to find solutions. We are the church that has a vision beyond the storm.
So together, let’s continue to lead in boldness!
Let’s continue to lead in faith!
Let’s continue to raise up leaders and take this Spirit Contemporary message to the world!
Sally and I want to thank you for financing the local church. It is the most important investment you could make, because the church of Jesus Christ is the only hope that this world has!
We love you!
Leon & Sally Fontaine
*The images below were taken during the various stages of MB Health Orders in 2020 & 2021 and were in compliance with the orders in effect at those times.
It was Pastors Leon & Sally’s vision and the brilliance of our staff and volunteers who brought to life this new way of doing church.
Throughout the year, as restrictions fluctuated, our Drive-In Church was such a huge part of our weekly services. We have a strong desire to help everyone who attends our services to feel safe so even when our buildings were open we kept our Drive-In running. Our passion to bring hope into people’s homes and lives is always high priority and we found church online and the Drive-In have been a lifeline for many people.
In the spring and early summer, we hosted a “Movie at the drive-in” event, and also gave our school, Springs Christian Academy a place to hold their Grade 12 graduation.
SPRINGS ZOOM GROUPS
Our Springs Zoom Groups were formed as a creative way for people to stay connected throughout the year. We wanted to bring people together to continue building relationships and provide an opportunity to go much deeper into God’s Word together. A Springs Zoom Group is a small community of people who connect weekly online. Because people are unique, every group is unique, and the intent of each one is to make great friendships, support one another, and grow in the Word as the groups discuss Pastor Leon’s Sunday message. We couldn’t let physical distance keep us from meeting and growing together as a church family.
The year of 2021 for Kids Ministry had SO MUCH packed into it. We shifted, re-shifted, and re-shifted some more! But we never stopped pushing the message of God’s love, hope, and joy to children and their families in whatever way possible.
SUNDAYS
All throughout the summer, we made sure to provide fun for the whole family. On Sundays, we handed out activity bags from March through to December. We handed out over 6,000 bags to kids ages 0-12 this year!
We made sure that Sundays on the patio were the place to be with fun family activities and our Family Experience – an outdoor lesson for the whole family to enjoy in between our drive-in services throughout the month of July.
ONLINE
Springs Kids has been doing online lessons for well over a year now, and we’ve seen amazing growth! Our YouTube channel started with approximately 200 subscribers at the beginning of 2021. Now, after a year of online lessons (about 122 videos of kids content), we are now up to almost 500 subscribers, and over 1,000 followers on Instagram.
Also, from June to August we hosted Preteen Zoom Groups every Wednesday evening for our preteens to have a time of fun, connecting, and learning together on zoom!
FAMILY EXPERIENCE
On Wednesday evenings, we offered a Family Experience service for kids and their whole family to enjoy a service in the middle of the week together. This saw new families every week, even families who had never been to church on a Sunday before! After attending this Family Experience service, we had a few families come out on a Sunday so they could see what church was like.
STAY 'N PLAY
We started Stay n’ Play services for parents and their young ones to enjoy on Wednesday mornings with a message for the whole family.
PICNIC SHELTERS
We hosted parties in our picnic shelters for tons of families providing toys, picnic and barbecue supplies. We booked 82 parties in the summer of 2021.
YOUTH
We were so excited to see our Youth group continually grow throughout 2021.
As the restrictions came and went, we held in-person services when possible but when we couldn’t we were still able to bring our youth together through our Social media accounts as well as our new podcasts. Both of these definitely helped to keep the connections strong. Our youth love Friday nights and it shows by the passion and energy experienced every week. Throughout the year, we also had many new volunteers helping us at youth who were excited to be part of the team. Our volunteers are very special to us, and we couldn’t run our Friday Youth without them!
MUSIC MINISTRY
This past year has been a year of growth for the Springs worship team in so many ways!
Being a part of a life-giving church brings change, challenge, development and lots of stretching. Serving on the music team has also meant everything for our volunteers of 2021. This ministry has given them a sense of family and belonging; belonging to something going around the world and making a difference. We loved that as a team we were able to come together and rehearse, record or prepare music almost every single week.
Like every ministry in 2021, the continually moving goal posts have brought incredible change in us. Weekly, Springs Church has brought worship into people’s home whether through the recorded worship sets, or live in service. The worship songs chosen served as a foundation of powerful words you could speak over yourself. The words we sang weekly at home, in our cars, or inside the building were declarations of God’s truth, reinforcing the truth of the powerful messages.
These are always a highlight for the team to prepare. It’s a chance to grow as a musician and work on skills together with other volunteers. The absolute favourite is when Calgary and Winnipeg music teams collaborate together. “Psalms 34” by Brooklyn Tabernacle choir was one of those moments that stood out among the rest. Sometimes a song captures your heart, and this was one of Pastor Leon’s favourite songs. We so loved putting it together with over 40 plus musicians and vocalists in two stunning historic churches.
CHRISTMAS
In December, we were able to host our first indoor Christmas services in over two years. We excitedly prepared for each Sunday and Christmas Eve. We audio recorded and did a video shoot for every special number and worked together preparing our Christmas music with such anticipation. One of the Christmas projects that took so much collaboration was a medley of Christmas songs through the decades from ’30’s to the present day. Giving our volunteers an opportunity to flourish, be creative and use their talents to point people to God’s presence has just been the best.
For the music team, 2021 was a year where people flourished in the house of the Lord. Volunteers were planted and they stood strong, unshaken by circumstances. 2021; a year where our hope and confidence were established.
SERVICE TEAMS
Our Service teams were quick to change – We went from having outdoor only services at our Drive-in to adding indoor services at two buildings on our main campus. Soon after we had to go back to outdoor only services once again. Our teams were always ready to change and adapt where needed and they did it with incredible joy!
Keeping up with building relationships and a team dynamic was a challenge but the challenge was accepted. From -35 C to plus 30 C and then back down to -35 C again it was quite the year for our Drive-in parking crew. We have the best volunteers by far!
SPORTS
Our Sports teams provided a much-needed community building outlet. From pickleball, soccer, volleyball, hockey and baseball Springs Sports was exciting to be a part of!
With the addition of our outdoor Pickleball courts painted on the outdoor hockey rink surface we were able to continue the fun (when indoor sports closed).
CAFÉS
All year, our Winnipeg café has been open for take-out or dine in during the day as well as many of the evenings. With our indoor seating, we’ve been a place where people can come work or do their university classes instead of doing it from home. It’s been a place where people can meet for lunch, or just grab a coffee together.
They have also been a place of refuge for those who needed time away from the house and a place of hope for families to enjoy.
Throughout the summer, we served lunches on our patio and held Friday night hang outs. People were able to get together and enjoy an evening of fun and fellowship.
We hit the 500
family delivery mark!
Our Acts of Kindness ministry was started in order to help those less fortunate and in need of furniture for their homes. Over the past couple years, there have been so many people desperately in need. Thanks to the many furniture donations we receive, we were able to, once again, deliver to many homes in need. It is always such an amazing blessing to be able to bring comfort, joy and peace to people in need. Our Acts of Kindness ministry was able to do that in a HUGE way!
MISSIONS
Watoto and Love India
During the year we were able to send financial support to our incredible Missions – Watoto in Uganda and Love India in India.
Groceries
Throughout the year, when so many people were not working because of the lock downs, we had groceries available daily to those who called and asked.
Inner City
Everything we do at Springs Inner City has the same end goal in mind. It is to lead people into a real relationship with Jesus and to empower people to live beyond the circumstances they see all around them. We do this through our food programs, kids/youth services, and Sunday church service.
Every Wednesday morning, we serve a community breakfast and teach a message specifically designed to help them overcome whatever situation they’re struggling with. On Thursdays we have over 500 families that we help monthly with groceries through our food bank. In addition, we help between 15-20 families with emergency food hampers each week. We have approximately 250 kids and 100 teens that are a part of our Friday Night Kids Klub and Youth program. Due to the capacity restriction put in place by health orders this year we’ve split all our families into 4 groups and we’ve alternated each week so that everyone is still able to come out once a month. We’ve also continued to visit, call, and deliver thousands of lesson and activity bags to kids and teens right to their door this year. We are reshaping our inner city by mentoring and discipling the next generation and are seeing incredible changes in whole family units. Location is key when it comes to our Sunday services. Almost no one in our congregation has vehicles, so we bring our life giving, Spirit Contemporary message right to their neighborhood. Springs Inner City has continued to be a vital life line for many families in our community.
Throughout January and February, we were excited to open our Winter Wonderland once again.
We had two outdoor skating rinks, a giant ice slide and a walking path ready for family fun! There were families coming every night just to give their families a place to hang out and have fun.
We had our first outdoor Family Fun Day with a Hot Chocolate hut, skating Mascots and lots of outdoor activities and cafés. It provided a great opportunity for families to celebrate winter together.
This past winter was one of the busiest winters we’ve ever had outdoors and in our Winnipeg café, which was flowing with hot chocolate and drinks.
FULL TIME
What an incredible college year! This exciting program not only provides students with the information they need to be successful in life but also provided an incredible environment for them to personally change their lives to become who God has planned for them to be. We had a few modifications to our program again this year due to restrictions but all in all it was an action-packed year once again! During the school year the students participated in Biblical Studies and Leadership and Management classes to help them build a solid foundation in God’s Word and to build their leadership skill set.
PART TIME
Our Leadership Level 1 and 2 programs, were very successful once again this year. These programs gave people from all walks of life the building blocks they need to develop their leadership skills. Being taught in a Spirit Contemporary way, they provided students with a strong foundation in leadership that they can apply both in their local church and in the marketplace. Every Tuesday evening, students attended select courses that built their leadership and build knowledge in finance, management, relationships and the Bible. We always look forward to these programs growing each and every year.
Biblical Studies 1 and 2 were very successful once again. It is such a joy to celebrate with our graduates in June. We continually endeavour to train and equip our church to walk and share in God’s abundant life. These programs enabled the students to delve deeper into biblical truths and lead them on a journey of increased knowledge and understanding helping them to take their relationship with God to much higher levels. We believe that Springs College will continue to develop great leaders within the church and equip people to excel in family and career!
SPRINGS CHRISTIAN ACADEMY
Springs Christian Academy (SCA) is our Preschool through Grade 12 school. Our Mission Statement is to Pursue Christ. Pursue Excellence. Through education. Strong academic foundations in the Elementary campus, lead to the culmination of academic excellence. SCA Grade 12 students consistently score higher than the provincial average for provincial standards exams. Along with a strong focus on academics, we once again purposed to involve our students in many special events throughout the year such as Youth Parliament, house teams, Christmas concerts, band recordings, media training, arts department original drama/music/media production, and spiritual retreats which are only a few of the many activities that make up the full life of a student at Springs. We truly look forward to the years to come as we watch our students learn and grown into incredible men and women of God.
learned, grown and gone above and beyond to offer a safe and fun education over this past year.
our school was able to use Google Classroom and Seesaw and put together packages and send them home immediately so we did not miss any school allowing for a seamless transition into on-line learning.
to go above and beyond to teach our students online, in class and a mix of both as needed.
2020-2021 year with virtual awards days, drop and pick up days outside, as well as a Drive-In Grade 12 Graduation celebration.
• When many private schools weren’t offering remote learning to all grades, or were limiting who could use the option, we chose to offer it to all of our families to give them the option to learn from home. We believe it is important to allow parents to choose how their child is educated.
allowing our school to celebrate our students and build community.
Drive-In Christmas concert with help from the church with recording and editing.