A Vision for the New Era

A Vision for the New Era

St. Andrew’s is in a time of visioning and growth, we are taking this opportunity to define who we are as a new community and where God is calling us in the short and long term.  This in an ongoing journey and one that all of us have been participating in.  I am so proud of the valuable and hard work that St. Andrew’s has been doing this past year to understand where God is calling us.

In January of this year we met to dive into the histories and identities of St. Andrew and St. Chad.  We got to know the parishes and each other deeply and began to understand how linked we are with each other and how we have been formed as communities.

In February we built on the understandings gained in the first meeting and having looked at who we have been, we discerned who are called to be.  We created our new Purpose and Vision Statements, which will define us as a community.

Purpose Statement

The purpose of the Church is to learn and teach about God in Christ, through Scripture; loving God with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength and loving our neighbour as ourselves.’

Vision Statement

To be a welcoming and nurturing community using our God given gifts in service to parish, neighbourhood and the world.

Now the time has come to discern how we will live into that purpose and vision.  

Creating goals and plans for the next year and for the short and long term.  

A Town Hall has been planned to establish our goals and it will take place after church on November 24^th, 2024.  There will be a lunch included.

I have spent a lot of time prayerfully discerning the way forward, reading and researching, discussing with Corporation and with vestry.  We all want to ensure that communication and discernment includes you.  All of us will be working together to discern how we are called by the Spirit to serve in the next few years.

This process is going to define our priorities and goals now and for the next 3-5 years.

The ultimate goal is for this process to help us determine where we will spend our various resources, invest our time, how we will worship, and how we will function as a parish

To ensure that this process is successful we need to include as many people and as much representation of our parish as possible.

We need to do this together, your input is extremely important.

Please put the date in your calendars.  The vision in your prayers and start thinking about where God is calling this particular parish.  

God speaks through all of us and yours is the voice we need to hear.

Oh God of our ancestors,

you planted St Andrew’s in the heart of St James for a purpose.

You led each of us to this time and place.

Now, God, guide our hearts to live your plan for us.

Break through the barriers in us and in our church so your Spirit can flow through us as the creek flows. As we do your work to change lives, may your will thunder forth in our church.

In the name of Jesus, we pray.

Amen