Outreach Ministry Team
The work of the Outreach Ministry Team falls under parish Vision Statement #5
We believe that God is calling us to further develop active relationships and engagement within St. Peter’s and beyond as we: (1) respond to human need by loving service, (2) seek to transform unjust structures, (3) challenge and resist violence, and (4) pursue peace and reconciliation.
Outreach ministries continue to be active all through COVID times. The outreach team presents opportunities to the parish and members respond with enthusiasm and generosity.
St. Peter's actively supports a number of initiatives ranging from local to global. These include:
- 1Justcity West End Drop-In - St. Matthew's-Maryland Community Ministry
- PWRDF Emergency Relief and Development projects
- Baby Clothes Project
- Habitat for Humanity Providing lunch for builders
- Local Investment Toward Employment Support alternate Christmas hampers
- Grow Hope Campaign - Working together to end global hunger
Compassion for others and a passion for social justice undergird our choices of projects to support.
The Outreach Ministry Team exists to support the work of the congregation by:
- Continuing to learn ways to provide support through mutual and respectful relationships with both individuals and communities
- Keeping the lines of communication open and offering oversight regarding all outreach initiatives at St. Peter's
- Informing and engaging the congregation about outreach initiatives
- Discerning new initiatives
- Staying abreast of Diocesan and National Church initiatives
- Offering suggestions for financial donations
The committee meets monthly. Anyone interested in outreach ministries is encouraged to attend. For more information please contact the office at 204-488-9083.
St. Matthew’s-Maryland Community Ministry and 1JustCity – Then and Now
Perhaps you have been wondering about the history of St. Peter’s with St. Matthew’s-Maryland Community Ministry(StMMCM) and why we seldom hear that name anymore. Instead, each week we pray for the West End site of IJustCity. The Outreach Ministry Team offers some background and an update on where we are today.
Loving our West End Neighbours.... For a long time, this phrase was used to capture the work happening at St Matthew’s- Maryland Community Ministry. Following what is asked of us as Christians, Anglicans in Rupert’s Land heard a call to love and support our neighbours in the West End of Winnipeg. In 1972 St Matthew’s- Maryland Community Ministry (StMMCM) was formed as a joint project of St Matthew’s Anglican Church and Maryland United Church. Out of a generous heart, the Parish of St Matthew chose to offer a gift-in-kind, providing the heat, water, light and the space for the newly formed ministry. This gift-in-kind held a value of $22,000, per annum.
This arrangement held until the transformation of the building of St Matthew’s parish in 2012-13. The very building itself was transformed into the West End Commons, an entity that would then own the building. Fully renovated, the new West End Commons holds 26 apartments, offering affordable housing and a sense of community for the residential tenants. St Matthew’s Anglican parish became simply one of the community-based tenants, required to pay rent for its own space in the West End Commons. By the same token, St Matthew’s-Maryland Community Ministry became a tenant, required to pay rent without the possibility of the gift-in-kind from St Matthew’s Parish church.