General 1 — Catch The Fire Church Toronto

The financials presented here are provided to offer a true and fair view of the financial activities of the whole organization and have been categorized and presented in a manner that we feel will be most helpful and appropriate for our partners and stakeholders.

All these figures are from the 2022-2023 financial year and are backed up by the supplied financial statements.

Murray & Ash Smith

Dear Catch The Fire Family,

We’d like to begin by giving the full glory to God for an exceptional year! We’d also like to extend a big thank you to you as a church family for welcoming us in June 2022 as the Senior Associate Leaders and in January 2023 as the Senior Leaders of Catch The Fire Toronto. We love being here and are excited to share our first annual report with you.

2022 began a year of transition as Steve & Sandra Long began the process of handing over the leadership of the church. We want to thank them both for the extraordinary 17 years that they gave to this Church as Senior Leaders. In this time, we witnessed God’s transformative presence move over this house, throughout this city and nation. And we know that the Lord has used them both mightily and we are believing that He will continue to do so in this next season as they continue as Toronto Ambassadors and Europe, Middle East and Africa Sphere Leaders for our Catch The Fire movement. So thank you Steve & Sandra for your remarkable leadership and for being such excellent stewards for God’s Kingdom!

2022 also marked a transitional season globally as we progressed forward from the COVID-19 pandemic. Church family and staff, we would like to thank you for your support and grace through the whole pandemic period, for being present and involved in the community. We are so grateful to the Father that He carried us through. Since the end of the restrictions the Church has witnessed growth in both attendance and finances, all of which you can read about further in this report.

With restrictions lifted, we were also able to reach out into our communities through several impactful outreaches. As a Church we have received incoming families fleeing from the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. We have a thriving community of Ukrainians, with our services translated and weekly gatherings after our second service for fellowship and food. In addition, we partnered with the Rexdale Hub to provide entertainment, food and the Spirit-cafe for the “Summer of joy” weekly outreach. In December, we were invited by the Rexdale Hub to once again serve the local community. Not only did we have a great time of connection but with your generous donations we were able to bless our community with 700 food hampers! It’s because of your giving that outreaches such as these are possible and we couldn't be more excited to have the opportunity to connect with our local area and to spread Jesus’ love!

As a church we continue to focus on helping people to encounter God, be transformed, discover their purpose and joyfully give their lives away. You will see in this report that we have seen people give their lives to Christ, get baptized, be trained and equipped, attend connect groups, find freedom, serve on teams and make a difference in their families and communities. God is good! So, in whatever capacity you are contributing to the life of the church, we want to extend a huge thank you for giving your lives to serve joyfully and continuing to be like Jesus!

Our School of Ministry continues to be an important focus for us in raising up the next generation. While numbers were affected by the pandemic, we have seen a growth in impact online as well as increasing in-person attendance. Our students bring a richness and vitality to the life of the church as they experience God and are transformed.

Thank you once again for being an exceedingly generous church! Further in this report is our year-end financial summary which provides a clearer outline of our expenses and revenue. In short, your giving has continued to sustain our operations and has allowed us to continue to fulfill God’s mission. Church family, we are blessed, without debt and in a position that allows us to serve you and others. Again, this is thanks to your donations, this is your fruit and we thank you!

On the topic of financials, we would like to briefly mention that our external auditors have changed to Grant Thorton. While KPMG has been the external auditors for Catch The Fire for the past several years, this year we switched to Grant Thornton. The scope of work was the same but they provided a fresh pair of eyes at a significantly lower cost. Further information is detailed below.

In closing, we again give all the glory to our Heavenly Daddy for his faithfulness and goodness in 2022. We are praying that as we press forward as a church together we would see exponential increase and experience God’s radical transformative presence so that we as a church family can impact the city of Toronto and the World with his love and power.

Catch The Fire World is a growing movement of churches with a passion To see the nations filled with churches walking in God's love and giving it away until the whole world knows God's glory. This movement exists to multiply healthy, supernatural churches, ministries and missions in multiple expressions so the world encounters God's transforming presence. Our church in Toronto continues to be an influential and important part of this global family.

As a church, we believe in the Biblical principle of tithing based on Malachi 3:10. We gladly tithe 10% of our unrestricted tithes and offerings to Catch The Fire World. In 2022, we gave over $262,000 ($20,000 more in donations than the previous year) to provide the necessary cash flow to support the global ministry and fuel the mission. Our impact is truly worldwide.

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Our Yearly Theme

We jump-started our new year with Catch the Fire Conference 2022. Our theme for this conference was “Come Up Here,” and we extended and explored this theme all year after our Come Up Here Conference in September 2022. Our focus was foundational – think of the two greatest commandments!

“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:36-40

“Come up here” (Revelation 4) is an invitation from God for us to come closer, to witness his glory. We have the opportunity to come before him and be completely transformed by the power and holiness of his presence. Our response is, “here I am, send me” (Isaiah 6), approaching him in repentance and humility so that we can be sanctified and then go out and be a witness, drawing others into encounters and relationships with God. Everything we receive, we want to pour out into our church and our community!

If there ever was a time for a refresher in the Holy Spirit, it was this year. This was more than just a sermon series or a yearly focus – this was intentional time set aside to renew our commitment to God, witness his glory, and spend time in his holy presence. By obediently following the invitation we felt from the Holy Spirit this year, we were so blessed with powerful times of worship and prayer, we experienced transformation, miracles, healing, and impartation of the Holy Spirit in an atmosphere of joy and celebration!

We can’t wait to see what happens next as we continue this journey with our church family into the coming year.

Community

This year we were excited to see so much growth and development in our church family! We welcomed many new families to our church, saw so many salvations, baptisms and baby dedications, and watched how God changed lives through our schools and ministries!

SALVATIONS

BAPTISMS

BABY DEDICATIONS

CONNECT GROUPS

If you’d like to join a group or sign up for a baptism or baby dedication this year, make sure to sign up for our weekly
e-newsletter to get the most up-to-date announcements and access to events!

Team

This year, our Senior Leadership made a transition as Murray and Ash Smith stepped full-time into the roles of Senior Leaders at Catch The Fire Toronto. Our former leaders, Steve and Sandra Long, became Ambassadors and were able to step back from some of the more hands-on leadership responsibilties, but remain part of our church family and our leadership team!

Murray & Ash Smith
Senior Leaders

Steve & Sandra Long
Ambassadors

See our team as a whole and learn more about our leadership structure at the link below.

Learn more

Camp Day & Summer Camps

In anticipation of our summer camps, we host Camp Day in the spring to help raise funds for our kids and youth to attend and lower the cost for everyone. Our staff and ministry teams volunteer their time at these camps each year and are committed to creating a safe and fun environment for our kids and youth to enjoy games and activities, time away with their friends, and life-changing encounters with Jesus. Our Camp Day was a huge success for 2022 as we not only reached our goal of $30,000 but surpassed it, reaching a total of $57,900 to help our kids and youth go to camp! Our combined total of campers across both camps was 169! That is not only the lives of 169 kids and youth that were touched but also their families, friends, and schools who they went home to afterwards, sharing what they received from God and their leaders during their time at our camps.

We couldn’t do what we do without you – our donors and volunteers! Thanks to you, we saw so many young lives changed and transformed by the Holy Spirit at our camps this year. Watch your giving in action with some of our previous recap videos of camps below!

Rexdale Outreaches

Because of our long history of serving our city, we were invited to serve an economically struggling plaza as part of one of the city’s community rehabilitation initiatives during the summer of 2022. We asked to include a strong spiritual component (our Spirit Cafe team) and the city said yes! From July to Thanksgiving, we partnered with the Rexdale Hub for what we called the “Summer of Joy.” We had people serving hundreds of hot dogs, water, and coffee, all free of charge. We brought in entertainers for the kids, with a juggler, a professional clown, and a singer/rapper from our church family.

The food and entertainment might have drawn people in, but our Spirit Cafe was definitely the main event for us. As people sat down with our teams, they were consistently meeting God. On average, we had 3-4 people per week invite Jesus into their lives. They came back week after week, bringing friends and family, some of whom are now a part of our church family.

During the Christmas season, we also had the opportunity to provide two weeks of groceries for 700 food insecure families.

Overall, we received over $85,000 in donations for our Rexdale Outreaches. Through your generosity, we were able to bless our community and spread the love and joy of Jesus!

Ukrainian Outreach

In 2022, we set out to raise funds for Ukrainians who fled their country from the war and came to Toronto. In total, we raised $14,000 in donations to help support our Ukrainian friends as well as provide them with community, connection, and any needs they may have as they settle in Canada.

Missions with Shine The Light

Shine the Light Initiative is a non-profit organization formed to bring dental and medical aid, education, and home building programs to impoverished communities in the Dominican Republic. We had the privilege of partnering with their organization on two missions trips to the Dominican Republic in the Spring and Fall of 2022. During these missions, our team met with families whose houses have deteriorated or been affected by extreme weather or flooding, and helped build new homes for them!

More Outreach & Giving Opportunities

Now that you’ve seen some of our outreach and ministry highlights from the past year, you may be wondering how you can get involved in the future! Make sure to follow us on all our social media platforms and sign up for our newsletter if you haven’t already to get the most up-to-date information on how you can be part of giving back to our church family and community.

If you’d like to join the team and be part of future gatherings and initiatives, you can sign up with one of our communities or ministry teams! There are many ways to give back to our church family and community that will help you feel fulfilled as you use your gifts and passions. You can find more information at the link below if you’d like to join a team or group.

Learn more

Even if you can’t be actively involved in our Outreach or Ministry Teams, you can still be part of all these special moments where people meet Jesus, and are transformed by His loving-kindness! Through your tithes and offerings, you help us to build our teams, plan outreaches, fund missions, and give gifts and experiences to those who wouldn’t be able to otherwise afford them. You can sign up to be a regular donor, or for planned giving by contacting our team, or tapping the button below to sign up and plan your donations!

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Catch The Fire TV

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Catch The Fire TV is our gift to you and is our best way of sharing what God is doing through our movement. Watch, listen, and learn without distractions and engage with Catch The Fire Churches worldwide!

You can enjoy our regular content, like Sunday Meetings, or special content only available on Catch The Fire TV, like conferences, worship videos, devotionals, testimonies, and more! Subscribe for free today to start enjoying this labour of passion that we have been so excited to share with you.

Studio

With the increase of content and media engagement through Catch The Fire Toronto and Catch The Fire World, we were able to successfully build a studio set equipped with professional lighting, 4K cameras, and recording equipment. In 2022, we raised $76,000 toward the studio and your donations have been integral in funding projects such as filming and producing interviews, live pre-show segments for conferences, podcasts, testimonies, and business courses.

Online Viewership

This year, our YouTube channel reached over 92,000 subscribers! Before the pandemic, we had 60,000 subscribers. We feel so blessed and excited to have been part of reaching people online this year from Canada and all over the world with our Sunday meetings, worship moments, testimonies, and exciting local-church content.

With Catch The Fire TV, we were able to grow so much this year in the content and quality we offer, with no ads! It also allows us to connect you with our other churches globally who are producing special content like devotionals, conferences, worship videos, and more! This year we saw 300% growth in our subscriber base on Catch The Fire TV, and were able to add special new content like conferences, courses, worship videos, and so much more. We’ve seen new levels of creativity and excellence from our creative communications and production teams than we could have imagined when we launched a year ago!