Greenwood Living Faith Story
January 2022; revised Fall of 2024
“God’s Creation is our Inspiration”
We view ourselves as a nurturing congregation dedicated to living faithfully and being God's hands and heart in our community and beyond. We have chosen to be a “Green” church and it is reflected in the way we care for our building, property, and financial investments. All our choices are an expression of our care for the earth.
We have transformed our large lawn into a pollinator garden in support of our beehives, tended by our beekeeping team. We were the first faith community to join Bee City Canada. The beautiful sacred garden offers solace to our church family and the surrounding neighbourhood. When possible, services have been held outside in God's creation.
Congregational Life
We are a community of city and rural folks. We attract people from all corners of the Peterborough area to worship, work and celebrate together.
Feeding and caring for our flock is a shared effort. Our part-time, professional, clergy serves to support the shared leadership in worship, education, and pastoral care.
Engagement with the Wider Community
Our path towards inclusivity
Media and Tech
Today the Greenwood community of faith enjoys its small maintained church building and grounds. The sanctuary has a beautiful tapestry on the front wall, designed by the artist Friedel (Washchuk) and crafted by the church women and men. It was completed in April 1981 in time for the Easter service. The chancel was renovated in 2012 and 2013.
Our future
During the past year Greenwood congregation has participated in a visioning process to consider where we may be headed over the next few years. This process is ongoing and considered a long-term outlook; it is not directly connected to our search for a new minister in 2025. The attached Appendix to our Living Faith Story is a draft of this vision.
January 2022; revised Fall of 2024
“God’s Creation is our Inspiration”
We view ourselves as a nurturing congregation dedicated to living faithfully and being God's hands and heart in our community and beyond. We have chosen to be a “Green” church and it is reflected in the way we care for our building, property, and financial investments. All our choices are an expression of our care for the earth.
We have transformed our large lawn into a pollinator garden in support of our beehives, tended by our beekeeping team. We were the first faith community to join Bee City Canada. The beautiful sacred garden offers solace to our church family and the surrounding neighbourhood. When possible, services have been held outside in God's creation.
Congregational Life
We are a community of city and rural folks. We attract people from all corners of the Peterborough area to worship, work and celebrate together.
- Joyful Community: We love to laugh, sing, and share our food, celebrations, but we also support each other in time of sorrow. Worship is inclusive and participatory.
- Eco-spirituality: The Divine Feminine, the Sacred diversity of all life, the place of humanity in the circle of life, the integrity of “All our Relations”, our choice to become a green church.
- We are a gathering of mostly older folk and a few wonderful children, who are open to new ideas and who share some simple common values. We have an abundance of elders with life experience and stories of how our faith has made a difference. We value inclusiveness and are educating ourselves about how to best welcome people regardless of age, race, class, gender, sexual orientation or physical ability.
- At this time, we are blessed to have three compassionate ministers: our Minister, Rev. Allan Smith-Reeve who was called to Greenwood in 2015, in a half-time capacity ; our appointed volunteer associate ministers Rev. Bill Peacock who served the Fairview congregation for over 30 years prior to his retirement; and Ann Austin Cardwell, D.L.M. who served in both rural and indigenous communities before retiring. Rev. Allan spent thirteen years in mission ministry, in Toronto's Regent Park and South Riverdale communities and thirteen years as a congregational minister in Bobcaygeon and Peterborough, as well as teaching Community Development at both George Brown and Fleming Colleges. In 2020 we extended our support to Rev. Allan as a half-time Community Minister with Bedford House. Rev. Allan will be retiring in June of 2025 from both ministries.
- The ministry of music is an integral part of our Sunday services. We love to sing, led by our small and spirited choir which has grown significantly post-pandemic. Visiting choristers often join us for cantatas to mark the start of the Advent and Easter seasons. This is done under the caring leadership of Marion Griffith who provides inspiring music each week.
- Our Basket of Abundance, used to collect all our offerings, recognizes not only our financial donation but celebrates all that we have to offer.
- Baptisms, weddings and celebrations of life are also an important part of our community of faith and are open to all people.
- The congregation also offers a prayer group, a learn-to play-bridge group, and a book club, that all meet off-site.
- We support the work of the wider church and encourage members who wish to journey into ministry.
Feeding and caring for our flock is a shared effort. Our part-time, professional, clergy serves to support the shared leadership in worship, education, and pastoral care.
- Until COVID, we had three worship teams, as well as two Licensed Lay Worship Leaders who could plan and lead services when our minister was unavailable. One LLWL still works with us. Our Partnership team, in conjunction with our minister, plans worship services focused on our work with our five Partners. These teams meet with the minister as need arises. Other guest lay persons occasionally lead a service.
- We acknowledge the importance of Jesus’ Healing Ministry and have been offering healing during services. A certified healer uses Hands on Healing, (a recognized technique throughout Christian churches), for our members who seek out this ministry.
- Pastoral care is important to us. Our small team of Weavers is responsible for ensuring that every member feels connected and supported by our church.
- Each July, we join with other Communities of Faith at Lang Pioneer Village where we worship in fellowship together. Different churches lead the service each year; the Tarnished Angels from Bridgenorth U.C, have been providing the music.
Engagement with the Wider Community
- Bedford House Community Ministry: Greenwood has supported the creation of the Bedford House Community Ministry from its start in 2015, as participants, board members and financially. The Bridges Peterborough project, a venture of Bedford House, is a grassroots group of ordinary citizens who are passionate about challenging the prevailing ways of addressing poverty. Bedford House was co-founded by Rev. Allan and his life partner Lynn Smith-Reeve.
- Expanding our Community Partnerships: We have begun to form partnerships with local organizations who share our core values and practices. We recognize that we cannot achieve our vision alone and that God’s Spirit is at work not only through the Christian church, but also through the work of so many individuals, organizations, and inter-faith communities.
- Indigenous: Nijikiwendidaa Anishinaabekwewag Services Circle. This program started in the 90s to help women who were in challenging situations. The program continues to deliver programs to women, families and young people.
- Global: We are supporting a Syrian family who arrived in Peterborough in 2016, along with other local churches. Our goal is to reunite this family, now living in Peterborough, with other family members who are still unable to immigrate to Canada.
- Community Development: One City Peterborough. We are supporting the work of One City in their support for all marginalized people.
- Environment: Camp Kawartha and their mandate to promote love and respect for the natural world, especially among school-aged children, supports Greenwood's desire to care for the environment. Camp Kawartha’s work has received national recognition for its Rotary Health Centre.
- Charity: Brock Mission and Cameron House fulfill our commitment to helping those in most urgent need.
Our path towards inclusivity
- We are learning together how to include people from all walks of life and how to truly provide a warm welcoming and safe environment for everyone. We open our eyes to the systemic racism and prejudices of our heritage – and seek to learn from diverse worldviews of culture, class, and abilities, with special emphasis on our Indigenous neighbours.
- Our leadership has led us to be welcoming to our members and visitors, tolerant of change, and to embrace new ways of doing things. We value inclusiveness and are educating ourselves about how to best welcome people regardless of age, race, class, gender, sexual orientation or physical ability.
- The building is wheelchair accessible and has an elevator to provide access to the lower hall and washrooms that are gender neutral. New energy efficient windows were installed in the sanctuary adding more natural light for the congregation. The front pew was removed and placed in the choir loft. This has created greater accessibility at the front of the sanctuary.
- Communion is served to all adults and young people regardless of denomination or age. We have an open table and welcome all to share in this sacrament.
Media and Tech
- An occasional newsletter is produced to keep all involved with the news of the church. Our emailed Saturday bulletin keeps members up to date on our church news – as well as other churches. Our website is another source of information.
- During the pandemic our ministry embraced the new technology of Zoom, which allowed most congregants to worship together. Our members continue to have this option from home, and some committee meetings are also run virtually.
- Most worship services feature a PowerPoint slide show instead of a printed bulletin.
- As you’ll read, we are a uniting community of faith, that includes multiple amalgamations. Currently we worship in the original church building erected in 1964 -1965 in the Donwood community on land donated by the Wood-Donaldson family.
- The original congregation of Donwood United Church was formed in September 1962 and worshipped in a rented space elsewhere in the township until 1965. In July 1964, Donwood had joined with St. Matthew’s United Church, located in the South-Eastern fringe of Peterborough, to form the Peterborough Suburban Pastoral Charge. St.Matthew’s was the amalgamation of Cold Spring Sunday School and Stewart Hall Community Church, and enjoyed many years of worship and service in a modern sanctuary completed in 1968.
- In March 1985, Peterborough Suburban Pastoral Charge became known as the St.Matthew’s-Donwood Pastoral Charge. From 1964 on, the joint pastoral charge had called one full-time minister to serve their two congregations, until they amalgamated to become one community of faith in 2014, to be served by a half-time minister. At that time, St.Matthew’s sold its church building. Not long afterwards, our name was changed to Greenwood, as outlined above.
- In 2019, Fairview United Church, located among farmlands north of Peterborough, sold their buildings and joined Greenwood. Fairview began as a congregation in 1855 and was known as Robinson’s Wesleyan Methodist Church, after the family who donated the land where a building was eventually erected. This congregation was part of a circuit including Young's Point, Lakefield, Selwyn and Bridgenorth. In 1872, a permanent building was erected and named Fairview for its fine vista overlooking the Otonabee River. By 2019, its membership had aged and dwindled, as with many small rural congregations.
- St.Matthew’s, Fairview and Donwood had already established many friendships over the years, even before amalgamating, through activities such as the Donwood Players (no longer active), shared congregational dinners and joint summer services.
Today the Greenwood community of faith enjoys its small maintained church building and grounds. The sanctuary has a beautiful tapestry on the front wall, designed by the artist Friedel (Washchuk) and crafted by the church women and men. It was completed in April 1981 in time for the Easter service. The chancel was renovated in 2012 and 2013.
Our future
During the past year Greenwood congregation has participated in a visioning process to consider where we may be headed over the next few years. This process is ongoing and considered a long-term outlook; it is not directly connected to our search for a new minister in 2025. The attached Appendix to our Living Faith Story is a draft of this vision.