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Charitable Purposes

The major charitable purpose of MSIA is to assist individuals in Canada who desire it, to have a closer relationship with God, "to conduct the Soul back to God". This is our main purpose, and we posit that this is also the purpose of every church. I draw your attention to the objects of MSIA, Article III 2 f which states:

The Branches of the Church are to promote the organization and active participation of local communicants of MSIA Canada into assisting their brothers and sisters in their immediate community and throughout the world through the conduct of service projects.

The 1989 Statement of Activities further explains the type of community service projects that we intend to pursue.

Revenue Canada says that we do not have a charitable purpose and they believe we will never have one. Even though we are small and do not have much money, we have managed, over the last twenty years, to serve our members' needs, more than adequately using volunteers. We regularly offer seminars (prayer meetings) and courses in five Canadian cities. Ministers travel from city to city and province to province to ensure that the needs of the members are met. We have kept the membership across Canada aware of our objectives and our work through members' meetings, telephone trees, FAX lines, E-Mail and newsletters.

A point of clarification might be in order here. In the new MSIA brochure (page 1), it is stated that in the United States the church has no formal membership requirements. Those of us involved in establishing the Canadian church of MSIA resolved at the time we began establishing the Church in this country that we would have a formal membership. It was important to us that the structure, management, and services offered by the Church be established by its membership. Thus in By-Law #1 articles 2 through 7, the conditions of membership are laid out.

Our focus is on the spiritual growth of our membership, and of making the Teachings of the Traveler (or the Teachings of MSIA) available to non-members who express an interest. Much of our time therefore is spent on holding weekly seminars (prayer meetings), spiritual exercises, workshops, giving spiritual counselling, visiting members in hospitals, at home, performing services such as funerals and memorial services, organizing for other services such as ordinations, baptisms, marriage blessings (until we are able to perform legal ceremonies), etc. To do this, ministers (and some non-ministers) freely give of their time, energy and money to ensure that members are provided with the religious services they need. Donations are accepted for services.

Like other churches, we also do work for non-members where there is a need. We visit people in hospitals, we hold prayer vigils, provide spiritual counselling, perform services such as memorial services, etc. Many ministers (and some non-ministers) have their own special charitable work. In the past, we have provided assistance to the community at large by Christmas basket deliveries, food bank work, the Toronto homeless project "Out of the Cold" (an ecumenical project where a minister in Toronto represents MSIA on the committee), sending medical supplies to Egypt, providing services to people with HIV and AIDS, etc. As money becomes more available, and as we continue to mature as an organization, the number of our projects will expand. We are now over 30 years old. The first weekly seminar (prayer meeting) was held in Ottawa in 1975 given by Rev. Colette Kidd., now ministering in Vancouver. In 1976, Rev. Dr. Bryn Waern began her ministry in Toronto where she still is active.

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