Photo credit: The Globe and Mail
Every Sunday morning, on the westernmost edge of Toronto’s Cabbagatown, 45 or so worshippers cram into the tiny chapel at Saint Luke’s United. Every seat in the pews is usually spoken for, with extra chairs squeezed into the aisles. But the tight quarters haven’t cramped the church’s sense of community.
For decades, Saint Luke’s has been known as the “House of Friendship.” Longtime congregants, many of them Filipino, welcome every newcomer who’s Googled “church near me” or walked in off the street. During the passing of the peace, the room comes alive with a flurry of hugs, handshakes and fist bumps. Church council chair David Hallman still remembers the day he and his late partner first came through the doors in the early 2000s, when a dozen churchgoers greeted them before the service opened. But sustaining that welcome has taken more than goodwill alone.
The Saint Luke’s building is as grand as the congregation is small. The church is housed in a landmark Richardsonian Romanesque structure that dates back to 1887. But that’s the trouble: sustaining a heritage building takes hefty coffers. In recent years, the sanctuary has deteriorated. The roof sprang a leak; water damage spread; plaster began coming down the ceiling.
The Toronto United Church Council loaned Saint Luke’s money to repair the roof, but the space still wasn’t safe for use – hence the shift to worshipping in the much smaller chapel in 2022. The congregation was renting space out to local organizations, but by 2019, maintenance costs had reportedly outpaced that income by about $60,000 a year. Five years later, the church had drained its reserves and was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy.
The dissolution of the church wouldn’t just have affected worshippers. Saint Luke’s food bank and Out of the Cold meal program serve a neighbourhood dotted with rooming houses, encampments and shelters. “Our impact is much greater than our footprint,” says Rev Jim Harbell.
Fortunately, in the spirit of the United Church’s Toward 2035 strategic plan – which calls on churches to collaborate – Hallman says two local congregations are now funnelling multi-year donations into Saint Luke’s ministry and operations. Five other congregations also gather once a month to make 200 sandwiches to supplement the hot meals distributed through the Out of the Cold. That support has helped in saving the church from closure.
The church recently reached an agreement with housing development company Kindred Works to launch a redevelopment project, supported by a loan from the United Church’s Shining Waters Regional Council.
The plan is to build a 48-storey mixed-use building, with at least 30 percent of the building’s rental units slated for rental below market rates.
Source: Broadview Magazine
