Social Action: Faith in Each Other

I’m a member of the St. Thomas Anglican Parish—that’s my community. We’ve been here 60 years, we just celebrated the anniversary as a parish.

In my opinion, one of the great things about Sherwood Park is the ecumenical relationships. That means churches get together to do educational events and community outreach events.

For instance, from the truth and reconciliation we actually put on a speakers series to speak to that about what is reconciliation—in our case between the churches and first nations and then took two busloads of people out to experience it firsthand.

Another great example is the Bridging the Gap initiative that was important for us. Through this initiative, a woman in a domestic abuse situation can receive a lot of important support. They put together all the various resources to work together, and one of things they were asking was if the church could come on board and help support a family. So those kinds of things we try to do.

The ministerial we meet together once a month, the pastors of all the local churches and we have lunch together wand visit and talk about concerns in the community and how we can help each other to do that. We had the mayor come out and speak to us. It is a neat aspect that people don’t know about, but to me, it’s one of the very important aspects of faith. It’s about love. It’s about Community.

This story is part of Social Framework in Action – a project to showcase connections in Strathcona County, as told by community members. For more information about this project or to share your story, contact social.action@strathcona.ca