The Vision
Share with us YOUR vision for St. Peter's. We look to you to help us create the vision for our church which best fits our needs.
Please share your vision for the church by emailing us at savepeetrikirik@gmail.com.
Proposed so far by people interested in rejuvenating the church:
-
Make the church a living and growing part of our community;
-
Honour the memory of our forebearers whose perseverance is our bedrock;
-
Celebrate the traditions and Christian values that define us;
-
Inspire worship, spiritual growth, and learning that is relevant to our times;
-
Make the church relevant to the surrounding neighbourhood;
-
Foster an open and welcoming church that serves the needs of all congregants by integrating and embracing the whole family;
-
Nurture a culture of inclusiveness with programming for people of all ages;
-
Seek opportunities to optimize the usage and income potential of church facilities;
-
Engage the resourcefulness, energy, and talents of community members to realize the goal of creating a sustainable community church that ensures its future viability;
-
Support the Heritage designation application to ensure the future protection of this architectural and historic gem.
We asked, you answered. What ideas do you have for our future?
“…Once the church is sold, our community will lose a very valuable asset. It would make far more sense to keep the property and rent it to others. As property values continue to climb, there will be many congregations that will not be able to afford real estate in Toronto and we would be in a very good position to rent the church. We could then raise money for repairs and other maintenance of the building. Also, since we have already lost the Eesti Maja, there are less places in the city for our Estonian organizations to meet. The church has a large hall that could be utilized for this purpose. It is unlikely that many people would want to meet at the new Keskus because of bad traffic and the lack of parking in the Annex area. I don't think that many parents will want to take the subway with their children, especially now since the pandemic has not ended yet, so we can transfer many of the events to St. Peter's that formerly took place in the Estonian House. The hall has held many meetings and the stage would be perfect for small concerts. It makes no sense to sell the church and then rent space for the congregation from another church when we could use the building for what it was designed to be, both a house of worship and a community center.” Peter Kalm - comment posted on Change.org SAVE St. Peter’s Estonian Petition
“Being a historic church, why not advertise the church on Wedding planning websites? Perhaps young couples would like to be married in a beautiful church such as ours.” Kevin Chorowiec
“We need to think outside the box. We can’t hold on to old ways of thinking. The church needs to better serve the community and not just Estonians. We have to be more welcoming of new ideas, new ways to involve our community, new uses for the church interior and halls, and embrace and welcome new faces around the church.” Tiiu Roiser
"I think it would be good to bring in the broader community and offer our church as a venue for concerts, celebrations of all of life's milestones, etc, so it has relevance to a growing surrounding community." Ilo-Katryn Maimets
What does the future of St. Peter's look like to you?
Let us begin the transformation process together. We will use your input to help define our vision and our objective. The action plan to achieve this comes next.
What does St. Peter’s mean to YOU? What would YOU like to see happening at the church?
Please support us by contacting us to help fulfill our vision. Volunteer to help.
Email us at savepeetrikirik@gmail.com