WELCOME TO OUR NEWLY AMALGAMATED ANGLICAN PARISH!
8:00 & 10:30 a.m.
The service at 8:00 in the chapel is Holy Communion using the BCP on the first and second Sundays of the month and the traditional-language service using the BAS on the other Sundays of the month.
WHO WE ARE AS A PARISH
Welcome to our new Anglican parish, formed through the amalgamation of St Bartholomew’s and All Saints’ on 8 May 2025. We have yet to choose a name for our new parish, but we do know that it will be housed in the old, familiar Victorian structure that was known as St George’s throughout much of Sarnia’s history. We are located at the intersection of Vidal Street North and Charlotte Street.
We are truly a work in progress and all are welcome to join us as we strive to build a parish that reflects God’s truth, beauty and goodness. If you are looking for a place with opportunities for great involvement, we can build that church together. If you need a place of peace and refreshment — a place just to be — let it be with us.
Finish, then, Thy new creation;
Pure and spotless let it be.
Let us see Thy great Salvation
Perfectly restored in Thee.
We worship God in reverence and wonder at 8:00 and 10:30 each Sunday. Our 8:00 service is a traditional said-service and our 10:30 service is wonderfully choral. Our worship is directed towards heightening our awareness of God’s love for the world, as revealed through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. We enjoy fellowship during our coffee hour after the second service.
Throughout the rest of the week, our energy is focused on activities that provide opportunities for parishioners and outside friends to increase our fellowship in God’s love through work and play together by partaking in such activities as Bible study, a walking club, a book club, cards and board games, Bible crossword, and workshops on topics of interest to the congregation. An important part of our parish life is to provide outreach and support to the community, most notably through our work with the Inn of the Good Shepherd and our sponsorship of self-help groups.
To read more about us, please visit the various pages in this website, which is always a work in progress, or click here to be taken to the “ABOUT” page. To see a curated selection of photos of our activities this year, click here.
UPCOMING EVENTS
UPCOMING EVENTS
See the bulletin for more details
Anyone and everyone who is interested is welcome to join us for these events!
THIS WEEK’S ACTIVITIES
► Sunday 24 August
8:00 am — No service
10:30 am — Morning Prayer
► Monday 25 August
11:00 am — Wardens’ Meeting
7:00 pm — Group Meeting, Basement
► Tuesday 26 August
11:00 am — Walking Group to meet at the animal park parking lot in Canatara
12:15 pm — Lunch, following the walk, at Stoke’s Inland, 1202 Lambton Mall Road, Sarnia, N7S 5R6; 519.542.3488; what3words /// invents.daunting.wishes
7:00 pm — Bluewater Chordsmen, Parish Hall
► Wednesday 27 August
10:00 am — Bible Study, Rectory
7:00 pm — Bible Study, Rectory
► Thursday 28 August
No events
► Friday 29 August
⭐ 5:00 pm — The Slice, location TBA ⭐
⭐ 6:30 pm — Hymn Sing, Parish House ⭐
8:00 pm — Group Meeting, Parish Hall
► Saturday 30 August
No events
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OTHER UPCOMING ACTIVITIES
► Sunday 31 August
8:00 am — Holy Eucharist, BAS
10:30 am — Holy Eucharist, BAS
► Monday 8 September
1:30 pm — Bible Crossword, Rectory
► Friday 12 September
7:00 pm — Creative Word, venue TBD
► Wednesday 24 September
1:30pm — ACW Joint Meeting, St Paul’s
► Friday 26 September
5:00 pm — The Slice, location yet to be determined
6:30 pm — Hymn Sing, Parish House
► Monday 13 October
1:30 pm — Bible Crossword, Rectory
► Friday 24 October
5:00 pm — The Slice, TBA
6:30 pm — Hymn Sing, Parish House
MY SMARTPHONE HATES ME: The fourth instalment in this much vaunted workshop series will take place on a date yet to be chosen but before too long. This instalment is for those who wish to learn about artificial intelligence — AI — and how it has already become a significant part of your online life. Practical demonstrations of its use on your smartphone will be given. This workshop is both for those who are interested in understanding AI and, also, for those who would like to begin dabbling in it. Any and all, whether of this parish or not, are welcome to attend. Watch this space for the time and date. Until we meet again!
UPGRADES TO WEBSITE
Saturday 16 August
As part of the ongoing project to launch a subpage showcasing the contents of the time-capsule from St Bart’s, other upgrades to the website have been undertaken. Last week, the links (see article, below, “What is Blue Text?”) for the bulletin, announcements page, and Steve’s weekly missive were all relocated to the top of the page just below the photo-rotator. This allowed the article “Who We are as a Parish” to be moved up as the first article that visitors see when using a smartphone, thus increasing its visibility. After further behind-the-scenes work has been done, the four subpages for each of the predecessor churches will be migrated from the photos page to the a more suitable location, which will likely have to be created. This will then lead to the need to … At any rate, stand by for further updates.
WHAT IS BLUE TEXT?
What does it mean and is it safe?
Blue text in this website is always a hyperlink. In the “Upcoming Services” section, it will open either the bulletin, or the announcements page, or Steve’s weekly letter. In other cases, it will open a different page in this website or in another Anglican website, e.g., the Diocese’s website. If the blue text is a phone number, clicking on it will dial that phone number, if the device that you are using has that capability. If the blue text is an email address, it will launch your email program and insert that address into the “to” box of a new email message. In this website, blue text is safe … but that is certainly not the case in all websites. Attend one of our smartphone workshops to find out why…
FOOD BANK SUNDAY
Every First Sunday
The first Sunday of each month will be ‘food bank Sunday’. All items collected will be donated to the St Andrew’s Food Bank in Corunna. Much needed items are canned fruit, snack crackers, Manwich, canned chilli, canned pasta with meat, juice boxes, and men’s and women’s deodorant, shampoo and conditioner. At this time, they do not need canned beans or soup. They do not take clothing or empty containers.
INN OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD
Every Other Month on the First Monday
In addition to the food bank, please do not forget our long-standing commitment to the Inn of the Good Shepherd. We continue to actively support the Inn by preparing hot meals on a rotating schedule. Our most recent such day was Monday 2 June when a team of volunteers — and this could have included you! — met at 10:30 in the kitchen at the Inn to prepare a tasty lasagna dinner. Carol Arnesen will happily provide details to those who wish to join the team next time. Perhaps the next time the meal will be eagerly devoured grilled cheese sandwiches!
NEWS FROM PARISH COUNCIL
HARD AT WORK
Throughout the Summer
On Sunday 25 May, our amalgamated parish elected its first parish council, thus beginning a new chapter in our shared history. With that move, we became self-governing, with the Rev’d Karen Nelles as our priest-in-charge and the Rev’d Canon Steve Harnadek as our associate priest.
Heartfelt thanks are offered to Archdeacon Amanda Longmoore, who chaired our meeting and who skilfully and tactfully guided us through the election process. The same are offered to Karen, who, with input from Steve and the former wardens, worked diligently for countless days at putting together a slate of appointees and nominees that included representatives from our former parishes, and that also included families that are new to the parish, thus ensuring that all voices are heard and that all those who wish to be involved have the opportunity to do so.
Our new parish council met for the first time on Monday 26 May. Stock was taken of our current situation with plans being made to further the aim of integrating our two former parishes. It was a very productive meeting and all left with a sense that we are moving in the right direction. Thanks are offered to Karen for the manner in which she ensured that all items in the lengthy agenda were addressed with a view to continual forward progress.
Parish Council met again, this time on Monday 23 June, in order to further our work on several important files and to take further stock of our financial situation. You will doubtless be pleased to know that our wardens are working diligently at advancing the cause of our new parish. Other members of Council are working on different areas in the life of our parish as we seek to continue the good work that was done by St Bart’s and All Saints’, but to do so as one parish with the common goal of being co-workers in the vineyard of the Lord.
On Wednesday 2 July, Rev’d Karen, Canon Steve and our wardens met with Archdeacon Amanda in furtherance of several files related to finance and property, and will be having a follow-up meeting next week. Even though it is summer, the team is hard at work on our behalf. Many thanks!
On Thursday 17 July, Rev’d Karen, Canon Steve, Natalie and our wardens met with Archdeacon Amanda to discuss the status of our trust account held by the Diocese, in which the net proceeds of the sale of All Saints’ Corunna are housed. We were pleased to learn that our parish is deemed to owe no money to the Diocese with respect to this account. Well done!
On Tuesday 22 July, Gord, Moe and Peter Hungerford met with a mechanical engineer (see photo below) in order to review the condition of our physical site and to examine the feasibility of and/or need for upgrades. This work will be ongoing as continued enquiries are made with a view to being appropriately proactive. Thanks are offered to this team of volunteers who have specialised knowledge of this complex and vital domain.
From left to right: Peter, Gord, mechanical engineer, Moe
During the last week of July and the first week of August, Gord and Kory Memedovich (see photo below) spent a great deal of time working on electrical upgrades in the quire. Some of this work was particularly tricky and this team of dedicated volunteers is to be congratulated for succeeding beyond all expectations. Well done, gentlemen, and thank you for the upgraded lighting!
From left to right: Gord, Kory
ST BART'S TIME-CAPSULE
Sunday 25 May
After the special vestry meeting concluded, Glynn Cole, aided by Kory Memedovich, opened the time-capsule that had earlier been recovered during the demolition of the former St Bart’s. It included a great deal of memorabilia that was eagerly examined by all of us.
Glynn has prepared the memorabilia for display and pictures are slowly being added to our website. In order to be able to present them in a manner that makes it easy to read all of the text, a separate page has be added so that a larger size of photo can be included.
The challenge for your harried and stressed webmaster is to make photocopies of letter-sized documents look interesting while being the historic treasures that they are. As a result, this new page will be a work in progress for some time as different layout designs are investigated. Before heading off to the new page, here are some of the treasures that you will find there.
An invitation to the laying of the cornerstone
Coins from the year of the laying of the cornerstone
The first page of the history of St Bartholomew’s