By Stuart Mann
Four Anglican churches in south Scarborough have decided to amalgamate and worship at a new, state-of-the-art church on Kennedy Road.
The congregations of the Church of the Epiphany, St. Crispin, St. Giles and St. George voted on June 13 to pool their resources and build a new church on the current site of the Church of the Epiphany, located at 700 Kennedy Road.
“Anglicans have chosen to create a vital, healthy, missional Anglican parish to serve Jesus Christ in the area of Scarborough south of the 401, north of Lake Ontario, east of Birchmount Road and west of McCowan Road,” says Bishop Patrick Yu, area bishop of York-Scarborough.
“Our vision is to combine the human, capital and spiritual resources of the four historic parishes to create a single parish that will be greater than the sum of its parts,” says Bishop Yu. “We will endeavour to honour the past, engage fully with the present and move boldly, with faith, into the future.”
The new construction will be funded from the proceeds of the sale of St. Crispin, St. Giles and St. George and will allow the new parish to be debt free.
“The new church will be an effective and beautiful presence in south Scarborough,” says Bishop Yu. “It will have clergy and all the healthy programs and ministries that a healthy church should have.”
The new church will integrate and honour the important memorials, furnishings and liturgical traditions of the historic parishes while providing a place that is ecologically and environmentally efficient and boldly proclaims Jesus Christ as Lord. Construction of the new church is expected to be completed in 2012.
The plan to amalgamate will be considered by Diocesan Council at its meeting next week.
