Re-imagining St. Andrew’s

Picton church charts new path forward

Over the past 15 years, St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Picton has undergone a nearly complete revitalization under the leadership of Rev. Lynne Donovan and the congregation who identify themselves as a Circle of Friends. Rev. Donovan joined the church in 2007 with a mandate for renewal that remained true to the deepest values within the Christian tradition. In 2008 an opportunity presented itself to promote a mandate for justice. “We bought a building on Main Street and we started a Ten Thousand Villages store in order to provide a living wage for artisans in the developing world,” said Rev. Donovan. “Next we pulled together community partners to establish Reaching for Rainbows because it was clear there was a vulnerable population [of young girls] in Picton and we could live out another mandate, which was to be a good neighbour.” With those two community projects established, Rev. Donovan and the church leadership looked at how to create a space that was welcoming and inclusive, where people could engage in activities beyond the traditional. The pews were removed and replaced with comfortable chairs, allowing the sanctuary space to serve as a multi-use community space. A labyrinth was built on the grounds to provide another public space for the ancient spiritual practice of walking meditation, and a community garden was established with boxes assigned to produce food for the local food bank under the leadership of community partner Elizabeth Etue. In 2018, Indigenous artist Christi Belcourt’s work Wisdom of the Universe was painted as a mural on the entire back wall of the church. “We believed it was time to feature an Indigenous artist, and Christi Belcourt agreed to a partnership. She could see that our vision was based on the deeper principles of compassion, care of creation, connection to the cosmos, and being a good neighbour. She recognized that we wanted to both honour and learn from the traditional wisdom within Canada’s Indigenous communities.”

In 2019, Rev. Donovan and the church leadership came to the realization that while the sanctuary was now a more flexible space, it still carried a very traditional and exclusive Christian ethos that did not reflect the broader vision of the congregation. They engaged designer Doreen Balabanoff to lead a workshop to re-imagine the space. What emerged was a vision that connected the sanctuary to the world outside. “We identified that we come here to be encouraged and inspired to connect with everything and everyone ‘out there’; we wanted our sacred space to reflect those connections. We also recognized that our favourite sacred spaces are, in fact, outside in the woods, by the water. We wanted our inside space to connect us to sky and clouds, sunlight and starlight. Therefore she recommended the installation of skylights,” said Rev. Donovan. The church roof was scheduled to be replaced in 2021, and at that time twelve skylights were installed to allow natural light to flow into the sanctuary. “The next step was a little bit more challenging,” said Rev. Donovan. “Doreen suggested that we further transform the dark interior with a complete repaint so making the focus colour and light. The paint job, which took six weeks, was completed in September 2022. Because it has made such a difference, we are now going to sit with our sanctuary and we will wait and see, based on the kind of activities that emerge in the next season of our vision, what will be required of us next.” Some items of furniture (oak hymn boards, flower stands and chairs) no longer suit the new space, and the church is seeking a new home for them (standrewspicton@gmail.com).

Over the years, St. Andrew’s has served the community in three main ways. The first is providing doorways to sacred through Sunday services, celebrations of life, meditation, and a variety of rituals and experiences engaging music, art, and photography to connect us to both earth and cosmos. It has hosted community conversations about mental health, death and dying (Death Café), Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID), Truth and Reconciliation, as well as hosted events for Hospice Prince Edward, Alternatives for Women and the Community Foundation. It has also been a venue for the community to gather around music. Rev. Donovan says that the path forward will involve building on these connections, working with the community and expanding partnerships. “We have this amazingly beautiful, light, flexible space and we want it to be a centre for healing, for community, for engagement and belonging. We want this space to serve the deepest needs in the neighbourhood. We know that many are living in isolation with loneliness and anxiety; we know we have increased food insecurity, and with the gentrification of the County many feel displaced.”

“Our goal is to be creative in forging partnerships to ensure that this space is being utilized by the neighbourhood to serve its deepest needs.”

To that end, a grant from the Huff Family Fund will be used to hire a Community Engagement Coordinator to work with the wider community to facilitate programming in support of mental health, food insecurity, art and culture, as well as taking further steps in the direction of Truth and Reconciliation. Some of the ideas on the table so far are a bimonthly coffee shop where you can get an affordable cup of coffee and a snack and listen to some live music; a shared initiative with Reaching for Rainbows in support of food security; a community pilot project with Dr. Heather Stuart, the Bell Canada Chair in Mental Health and Anti-stigma Research, which recognizes that all people are on the spectrum when it comes to mental health, and that it is the shame and stigma associated with mental health that is so debilitating; panel discussions around health and well-being; and art exhibits and music concerts. One art exhibit already scheduled is the display of 139 paintings by Tyendinaga artist Kenny Leighton that depicts a scene from each of the 139 residential schools that once existed across Canada.

Rev. Donovan noted that a number of County churches have shuttered their doors over the past few years, part of a wider trend, and said that the role of churches within their communities has undergone significant change since the middle of the last century, and more so in this century. She said that St. Andrew’s continues to reimagine itself to adapt to the new reality while maintaining its core values. “We have been very intentional in returning to the roots of Christianity as we rethink our vision. These roots remind us that our biggest mandate is to seek the well-being of our neighbours. To this end, compassion and imagination are foundational as we consider how to be good stewards of our building. We inherited it from those who intended that it be a source of both community and individual well-being. We want to offer this place to our neighborhood as a destination for experiences that foster resilience, friendship, belonging and joy. It’s all about expanding the table and widening the tent.

For more information about St. Andrew’s and its vision, contact Rev. Donovan at rev.lynne@sympatico.ca.