Good Shepherd Barrhaven’s final worship service brought parishioners as well as clergy and parishioners from its past together on Sept. 10. The parish had been renting space in a United Church and worshipping on Sunday afternoons but voted in June to disestablish.
In a letter to the parish, Bishop Shane Parker said that he had met with parish leaders several times in the last couple of years as they considered various options for their future. “While the path eventually chosen is bittersweet, to say the least, I believe your leaders were at all times faithful, thorough and diligent. In particular, Andrew Gibb and Norma Wheeler, your stalwart church wardens, conscientiously reached out to everyone in the parish, ensuring that each of you were consulted before final options were considered.”
The congregation has been through several changes since as St. John the Divine, it left its building on Slack Road in 2002. They worshipped in a school gymnasium, became a joint Anglican-Lutheran congregation, worshipped in a shopping mall, and most recently in the United Church space as an Anglican congregation again.
The Rev. Margo Whittaker, who has been with the congregation for the last four years, told Crosstalk that parishioner Sandy Holmes aptly described Good Shepherd Barrhaven as a pilgrimage community that has not been tied to a particular building since the move from Slack Road.
“You have to want to worship when you are in a gymnasium because there aren’t the pretty windows,” parishioner Kathy Gibb added. “You are coming for the people. That was a lesson we learned.”
But they did lose some people along the way through the moves, and then the pandemic hit. “We had great plans for when the pandemic would be over and everybody came back, but a lot of people didn’t come back,” said Whittaker.
Parish leaders sought different solutions, such as an amalgamation with St. James Manotick and the possibility of creating a worship space in a building a local Legion was going to build, but those didn’t work out.
So as parishioners came to say goodbye and considered which of the nearby parishes they might join, Whittaker’s homily focused on the Biblical account of disciples gathered and fearful after Jesus’s death. “Jesus joined them and surprised them and shocked them in the room where they were locked with fear to give them the gift of the Holy Spirit and to send them to continue His mission as we are sent to continue His mission.” And she echoed the reassurance that the bishop offered in his letter:
“Remember that we are people of the Resurrection, and with every ending we know that Christ has laid a new and hope-filled pathway for us. May the indestructible hope of the risen Christ be with each of you as you gather to say goodbye to a beloved parish home, trusting that the inextinguishable light of Christ is guiding your way forward.”
As parishioners gathered in the hall after the service, Rosemary Balharrie, who had attended church in the parish’s original building on Merivale Road, said she was not sure where she would worship next because she doesn’t drive.
Jacki Hopper’s family donated the land for the church on Merivale Road (which is no longer there). She was baptized at the church on Slack Road and grew up in a house across the road. “I’ve had this ongoing life connection with the church,” she said. She was planning to attend Julian of Norwich “because I already know people there, and it’s close to me, so it makes sense,” she said. I’m still sad about this ending, being a living connection [to the church’s history]. I’ve seen all the ups and downs.”
Lisbeth Mousseau, who first began attending St. John the Divine in 1969 and has always been involved in social justice work, was also planning to go to Julian of Norwich, drawn by the exciting initiatives happening there.
Warden Andrew Gibb said that a number of parishioners come from the Brittania area and were planning to attend St. Stephen’s.
“We really did become family, and now that we’re all kind of searching and going in separate directions, it will be different,” said longtime parishioner Milo Cruikshank. “As we go to the different churches, no matter where you go to check out, there will be someone you know.”
She added that it had been very nice to have some of our former ministers, including the Rev. Canon Stephen Silverthorne and the Ven. David Selzer, join them for the final service.
A history of Good Shepherd Barrhaven
1841 – one acre of land was donated by Arthur Hopper to be used jointly by the Church of England (Anglican) and the Church of Scotland (Presbyterians)
1849 – a log meeting house was erected, shared and used until 1875
1872 – the start of St. John’s Anglican, Merivale (Village) on land donated by the William Hopper family
– the building was consecrated May 1874 as part of the Mission of Nepean (also including St. Luke’s, and All Saints’ Westboro)
1876 – On May 10, 1876, William and Jane Hopper officially deeded 3/4 of an acre to St. John’s Anglican Church and Burial Ground to the Corporate Synod of the Anglican Diocese of Ontario.
1902 – closed for repairs and reopened in 1903. Services were held at George B. Hopper’s home. Further renovations were completed in 1905, 1926, 1930’s, 1940’s and 1952.
1964 – rectory built on Slack Road (National Capital Commission leased three acres of land to the parish, and was managed by Minto Properties Ltd.)
1966 – St. John the Divine Church dedicated, annual rental fee $300, 40-year lease
In the City of Ottawa plans, Slack Road was to become the main east-west road in the region. Instead, Hunt Club Road was developed as the main east-west road.
[current parishioners, Rosemary Balharrie, Doreen Slingerland, and Nan McCuaig attended St. John’s, Merivale.]
1968 – St. John’s Merivale church demolished
1991 – 150th Anniversary of the church and 25th Anniversary of Slack Road location
2000 – received a property tax bill for $47,000 for the year 2000; new annual lease $70,000 (10% of land value), as the zoning had changed to be Commercial. If the parish broke the lease agreement, the parish would have to return the land to its original state.
2001 – the Waterloo Declaration that Anglican and Lutheran faiths are in full communion
2002 – moved to Pierre Elliot Trudeau elementary school gymnasium for Sunday services only
2008 – became a joint Anglican-Lutheran Ministry; the first nationally joined parish
2009 – the parish name changed to Good Shepherd Barrhaven, Anglican Lutheran ministry
2009 – Ottawa City Council approved the sale of land (Claridge and Beatrice) to the church
2011 – land deal was cancelled by the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa, in consultation with the parish
2013 – moved to storefront location on Fallowfield Road
2014 – adopted Earl Mulligan Park for Spring and Fall clean up
2021 – moved to Barrhaven United Church for afternoon services; reverted to Anglican status.
2023 – June Special Vestry – June 11, 2023. Vestry vote to disestablish. Services to continue to end of summer
September 10, 2023. Final Service at Good Shepherd Barrhaven.
—Brief history by Kathy Gibb with notes from the Reverend Margo Whittaker
St. John, Antrim — Deanery of the Southwest