Mr. and Mrs. Nobody. It was written in marker above a subterranean air vent behind the church that some people were living in and on the opposite side of the wall—quite literally—of where the altar is. It is a gorgeous marble altar…with us on one side, standing when we’re supposed to stand and sitting when we’re supposed to sit, singing, praying and praising…with people on the other side of that very same altar, God’s table, thinking they are a zero. That they don’t matter.
That was heartbreaking. And it became a defining moment on our journey. As a people of faith, we could no longer remain idle.
In a recent newspaper article titled “When congregations fade away, the building doesn’t have to” (Waterloo Region Record, August 6, 2025), Luisa D’Amato notes that the story of some congregations involves “fading” and can include using their buildings as revenue streams to keep the doors open for their declining memberships. I could add, albeit cynically, using them as a funding model for the status quo.
But that’s not the only story that’s being written. Sometimes they’re missional.
On March 21, 2021, with a mind-blowing 99 percent vote for redevelopment, the St. Peter’s community formally answered the call to a particular work in the heart of Kitchener that has included a redeveloping of its building and moving forward into worship and communal life appropriate to mission, context and community. And the journey has been exciting. It has been discouraging. It has been messy. But it has also been and continues to be very rewarding.
Scripture asks, What does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)
Animating this in the form of a redevelopment, of building and of community, has required some things of us:
It has required leaning into and seeing —really seeing—and engaging with a world that is broken, messy, hurting and complicated. In Waterloo Region so many people are experiencing and chronic homelessness; rent is skyrocketing; the waitlist for affordable housing
is legion deep; substance abuse and addiction, mental health and physical disabilities complicate the ability for some to maintain housing for a variety of reasons. The St. Peter’s Community believes that shelter and housing can and should be a basic, human right. Period. Full stop. As a community that is in mission for others, we will do everything that we can to bring that vision, that dream, that reformation about. In the meantime, we’ve been able to birth Magnolia Apartments: 41 deeply affordable units with supports, at 49 Queen Street North, that are now leased to Indwell for $2 per year.
It has required moving from seeing to doing. Congregational meetings, mapping things out, finding a suitable partner, engaging various constituencies and the wider community, showing up at meeting after meeting…after meeting in the political arena, in town halls, in the offices of lawyers, architects, builders, and partners to advocate, to create stakeholders, to secure funding, to find a place where we could continue to gather and worship for two and a half years (not as easy as one might think), and on and on.
It has required the learning of a common language as we design liturgical, contemplative, missional and multi-use space. Bringing together art, light, architecture, form, space, liturgy and movement which embraces us in an enveloping experience of the sacred, enables community and empowers us for mission and service is an awesome task.
It has required contemplating spaces that accurately reflect our theology and spirituality so that what we do and say matches what we believe and how we move is critical, says, in part, Richard Giles, who then writes: “…we live out a liturgical half-truth as, fearful of the future, we cling to familiar furniture and tired tunes. For the most part we are content to continue going to church as a means of avoiding becoming the church.”
It has required minding the gap. Brené Brown writes that “minding the gap is a daring strategy. We have to pay attention to the space between where we’re actually standing and where we want to be. More importantly, we have to practice the values that we’re holding out as important in our culture,” (Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead, 2012). How can redevelopment and accompanying initiatives help the church better reflect the racial, economic and generational diversity of Waterloo Region? For the St. Peter’s community, this has meant realizing the kingdom of heaven in this time and place through spiritual and social transformation, learning, reflection and action for peace and justice. We now articulate this as Being Jesus-Centred; believing that God’s grace, God’s unfathomable love, is available to all people as a gift; Offering radical welcome to all, including the 2SLGBTQIA+ community; Being Anti-Racist, through continual learning, relationship-building and informed action; Working towards Truth & Reconciliation and making its promise and challenge more real in our community and Being Green, sharing a deep love for all of God’s creation and a profound responsibility for it.
It has required understanding that our job is not to be successful but to be faithful. And so, we give thanks that we are called to this particular work. This is about building community. This is about making a tangible difference. This is about people being seen and known and loved. This is about leaning into the heart of Kitchener with love and hope.
For the St. Peter’s Community, it’s never been about fading or funding but following. It’s about stepping up and showing up. It’s about loving our neighbours and neighbourhoods. It’s about faith, community, justice, the arts, accessibility, inclusivity and holding space. It’s about creatively furthering efforts to nourish hope, love, strength and belonging.
It has required a rethinking of everything and a whole lot of passion and grit and no small measure of grace for the twists and turns and challenges that have been a part of this redevelopment.
What seems like forever ago now, John Lennon sang Imagine: “Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can. No need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man. Imagine all the people, sharing all the world. Well, you may say I’m a dreamer. But I’m not the only one.”
To that I used to pray—“God, I hope that’s true.” Well…an amazing, love-filled community and region have shown me that it is!
“We are not the authors of this redevelopment story, God is,” Jake Owensby reminds us (Looking for God in Messy Places, 2021). St. Peter’s, Indwell, Magnolia Apartments and each of one of us is a vital part of the great story that the Sacred is writing. “And the ending of that story will be good. Very, very good.”
—Rev. Mark Ehlebracht, PhD, joyfully serves alongside St. Peter’s Church in Downtown Kitchener and is happy to have a conversation about redevelopment and its nuances with any who may find it helpful.
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