By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberland
St. Peter’s Anglican Church has launched its Transforming – Spaces, Lives & Faith campaign that they hope will position the Cobourg church for half a century to come.
As The Rev. Canon Ric Miller and Church Warden Patricia Perkin explained in a recent interview, the obvious goal is to make repairs to the venerable and beloved church that will not wait any longer. The less obvious but equally important goal is to transform the ministry of the church to ensure not only its survival but its relevance to the community.
“Back in 2016, there was a group of people who got together and realized that churches were changing, people weren’t attending regularly,” Perkin said.
They began meeting to formulate a vision of where they wanted to be in 50 years and came up with a plan and slogan.
At the same time, Miller said, it became evident that work was needed on the physical building. In fact, it has been several years since the stately sanctuary has been usable for services. And of course, it has been many months since the chimes from the bell tower have sounded.
These areas were deemed unsafe in 2018, due to the potential of falling plaster and water leaking from the roof. The Dalton Company, a project and construction management firm, has provided a full evaluation of the buildings, with investigation also undertaken by a heritage architect, engineering company and historic plaster company.
The roof has visible sagging of its beams that cause safety concerns. Repair will include new insulation and steel shingles.
The lath-and-plaster ceiling has cracks, and some of the plaster is falling. The repair plan will consolidate the plaster.
The brick masonry of the bell tower is extensively spalled, with cracked and opening mortar joints. There is concern about the condition of the upper level of the tower and stained-glass window where lead is missing. Following this 2021 evaluation, the church felt it prudent to erect fencing around the exterior east King Street entrance to the church.
Miller said that the quotes they got for the work have almost doubled from what they had expected to pay prior to COVID-19.
The goal of the Transforming campaign is $750,000, with the remainder of the estimated $2.7-million cost of the work to be covered by such things as long-term investments, grants, short-term assets and the sale of certain assets.
“Part of it is realizing we need to raise funds for the roof and bell tower to enable us to have a safe building in which to engage in our plan for mission,” Miller said.
“It has been a long haul to get there. We had to work through COVID. We had to work with the Diocese and, of course, the bank. But we don’t want to be submerged in debt going into the future.”
“We want to become sustainable. That is why our campaign is called Transforming – not just fixing the bell tower and roof,” Perkin added.
They hired experts in their field for the physical work, and have brought on board a reputable international firm called M&M to help with the fundraising.
“The campaign is to raise money to fix the building, but that’s not the end goal. The end goal is to have the building and be able to use it in creative ways for the community – for our own worship as well, but to be of value to the community,” Miller said.
And so the Transforming – Spaces, Lives & Faith campaign has launched.
Its most immediate goal is the urgently needed repairs to ensure the building is preserved for the long-term transformational work that will keep it relevant for future generations with a three-part focus – life-long learning, life-long growing and life-long service.
A 10-year plan for mission has emerged:
Lifelong learning – Positioning the church as a community hub for learning, not only by growing the preschool but also making space available for concerts, lectures series, community consultations, seminars, art shows and college and university courses.
Lifelong growing – Expanding the church’s ministry to serve not only members but the broader community through strengthened relationships with other local churches, the municipality and local health and social-service agencies.
Lifelong service – Working collaboratively with strategic partners to minister with and to vulnerable populations and become more active in advocating on pressing issues such as poverty and mental illness
Looking at the ministry as it stands now. St. Peter’s already adds much to the community as the home of what some consider the Cadillac of local pre-schools. The Hutton Room is set aside as a warming room through the end of April, and some 140 community dinners are packaged weekly (Perkin helps with the cooking, and the meals are either picked up or delivered).
Other programs include an active seniors group (whose activities were curtailed by COVID) and a partnership with a church in Mzuzu to offer an Orphan Feeding Program. They are home to the annual Royal Marines Remembrance Service, and St. Peter’s Court behind the church – which has been in place half a century – provides 64 affordable housing units for seniors.
And this is just a partial list. But it is time to look ahead.
With a plan in place for the finances and engineering of the physical restoration work, they have begun began meeting with Cobourg Mayor John Henderson, as well as with representatives of such agencies as Cornerstone Family Violence Prevention Centre and Northumberland Hospital. From these sessions, Miller said, two priorities have emerged – the many seniors who call the community home and the growing opioid crisis.
“The western church is going through a huge shift. Any church that is in it for themselves is going to die within the next 15 to 20 years,” he continued.
“And of course, COVID has drive us into the Internet Age as well. Someone who is sitting in on Sunday worship on-line is now a member.”
Typically, their on-line services see 200 views, including a regular viewer in Rome.
“If we keep doing what we did 50 or 60 years ago, they will just close the doors,” he said.
Perkin thinks of the feeling of majesty and significance and home that the chapel – with its beautiful dark wood trim and beloved stained-glass windows – could have comforted the parishioners with for such significant events as weddings and funerals over this time, and the loss to the community members living close enough to incorporate the comforting sound of the bells into their everyday spiritual life.
“We want to get back into our church. We want to hear the bells. We want to repurpose St. Peter’s Church within the community,” she said.
The campaign appeal for help will go beyond the Anglican community to the broader one. St. Peter’s serves a parish that is 200 years old, and the church itself is 170 years old. It’s a well-known Cobourg landmark, located prominently across from the King Street entrance to Victoria Park. In her letter of appeal, Perkin called it “ a historically significant part of Cobourg’s heritage, a beacon of hope in the community. St Peter’s has served the community for over 170 years.”
Their hope is that members of the larger community, knowing the vision they have for the future or maybe just wanting to help preserve a church that has been part of the community for two centuries, will dig in.
