Welcome to All Saints Anglican Church
Vision
In 2005-2006, we were getting ready to enter our new facility. We had donated our old beloved church building to Bethany Care Centre to be its chapel (thank you, God, for making that happen) and had been meeting for a few years in a school gym.
As our Vestry (parish council) reviewed our mission and vision statements, they said that our vision statement no longer worked for us at this stage in our life together.
So we offered this in prayer...
When I returned to Christian faith as a young adult, a very close friend (who was not a Christian) wanted to honour this. So he gave me a picture of Jesus. It was a mass produced (not particularly artistic) picture of Jesus. But it showed Him on the hill over looking Jerusalem, looking down on it. Whenever I prayed about our vision, this picture popped up.
I tentatively took this to our Vestry - seeking their wisdom. Our new church building was on the side of a hill, overlooking a good part of the town of Cochrane. It seemed that Jesus was looking on our town with compassion. It also seemed that He wanted us to see this town the way He sees it - and then, through Him, go serve the people of this community.
Our Vestry said that this struck a chord with them. To make a long story short… we studied the Book of Acts, we studied the community we live in, and we began (in a systematic way) to find ways to do what the vision suggested. But of course, our parish had a 100 year long history doing just that… this was a renewal of what Christ had always called us to do.
Fragmentation
As we studied the community, we were struck by how much economic opportunity there is here, how hard people work, how many people were moving here from other places - and how stretched people were becoming. Many of us can see it in our own lives or in the lives of our neighbours or children. The work/life balance is often …out of balance. It’s not that any of us feel like we have it all together. But we wanted to reach out, in the name of Christ, to help families (from babies to great grand parents) have less fragmented lives. We believe that Jesus wants us to be whole. He wants our inner lives to be rooted in Him and this to spread out into every part of our lives, our values our relationships. Whole.
What Are We Doing About This? The Family Centre
We are working hard to actually make a difference in people’s lives in the name of Christ.
Each year, our parish gets together once or twice, in small groups, to talk through some aspect of our mission. The last time we got together, we had our new vision in hand. The idea that came up was what has been the rectory (beside the church) should become a Family Centre. A place from which we can reach out to our community.
We have put a lot of effort into providing opportunities for Christian growth for children, youth, adults and senior adults in and through our parish.
With the vision of the Family Centre now in our minds, the first thing we have done is to welcome A-Z Pre-School. This wonderful pre-school, run by a committed Christian person - Rose McCrae, was without a home. We talked and saw that her mission and vision was completely in line with ours. A-Z has joined in our mission and has become a part of us.
The most pressing need in Cochrane is daycare. There is no Daycare Centre in a town with 1000 kids under the age of 5. This puts real strain on parents. We want to provide quality childcare for some of the children of Cochrane. We hope to open in April of 2008. We are also very concerned about the young people of our community having balanced and meaningful lives. We are soon going to begin work with the SEARCH institute - in which we will flood our community with information (based on a very large research project) on how to help families churches, schools and communities at large do an even better job at this. And, God willing, more will follow.
We Are Beggars... It Is True
So said Martin Luther at the end of us life… sort of summing up this theology.
This vision (that I mentioned at the beginning) along with our mission, our beliefs, and values, are what guides us. And we live these out in many different ways. You will see some of this as you explore this website.
Sometimes people think of the church as a big machine. Well we aren’t. We are just people who are trying to know, love and follow Christ in this place and this time. We do so imperfectly. We make lots of mistakes and all of us are deeply human. I like the definition of ministry as: “One beggar telling another where food is to be found”. I hope we are doing that.
I hope you find exploring our website enlightening and helpful. I am always happy to respond to any thoughts or questions.
Greg Clark, Priest