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This inscription was written above a subterranean air vent behind the church where some of God’s children were living, and on the opposite side of the wall where the St. Peter’s altar sits. It’s a gorgeous marble altar. With us on one side, in all our finery, standing when we’re supposed to stand and sitting when we’re supposed to sit, singing, and 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 broke our hearts.
And became a defining moment on our journey.
As a people of faith, we could no longer remain idle.
In 2024 St. Peter’s Lutheran church in downtown Kitchener took the best way to help our neighbour. We temporarily relocated our worship and office activities to allow our building to be transformed and open the way to create 41 units of deeply affordable, supportive housing, and renewed space for faith, community, justice, and the arts.
We live in a world that is broken, and messy, and hurting, and complicated. 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, about. And so, after a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, we all get to be part of something amazing in the heart of Kitchener.
Author Jake Owensby says that God will give us eyes to see what is upside-down and the guidance and the strength to begin turning things right-side up. You don’t have to look very far. In Waterloo Region:
Too many people are experiencing temporary 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
As Lutherans, we were involved in something 500+ years ago that literally changed the course of world history.
It’s time to do it again.
The world will be changed through reignited hearts that ache for peace and long for justice. Hearts that are committed to ending things like hunger and poverty and homelessness; hearts that embrace people across the world and across the street and tell them, in word and deed, that they are worthy of love and safety and belonging; hearts that refuse to allow shame to have a foothold; hearts that have great compassion with others because they have great compassion with themselves; hearts that know that this redevelopment is about more than renovating a building.
Beyond a beautiful courtyard, soaring ceilings, and the glories of a time gone by, let us build on a 160+ year storied presence in the heart of Kitchener with even more kindness to strangers, more justice and advocacy, continuing to care for the least, the last and the lost, solidarity with people searching for a home where they can belong and thrive, and a welcoming, accessible space for church, community, gathering, and artistic expression.
In 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.
Indeed. Waterloo Region is an amazing community! It will take all of us to create a community worth living in. And so, with many partners and constituencies, we will continue to tackle challenging issues, engage in difficult conversations, and move forward with empathy, resilience, and conviction.
Together.
We are thrilled that St. Peter’s and Indwell will be able to offer a practical expressions of community and belonging in the heart of Kitchener and lean into this world with the power of love and hope.
So…
Welcome Magnolia Apartments in 2025.
Welcome renewed place for
faith,
justice,
community,
and the arts.
We are excited for this next chapter.
We hope and trust that you are too.
Join us today in our mission to end the housing affordability crisis in the Waterloo Region.
Crafted by Ruth Burgess (adapted); see Eggs and Ashes by Ruth Burgess & Chris Polhill
God, our God,
You have called us to be a people on the move,
Travelling light,
Dying to live,
Ready to lose ourselves for the sake of the world.
You have called us to be a people with a purpose;
A reforming people,
Travelling to where we are led,
Sustained by your Spirit,
Committed to the Gospel for the hope of the world.
You have called us, your people,
To be the church in the heart of Kitchener.
Move us on our redevelopment journey
From where we are to where you want us to go.
Open our eyes on the way,
To see the unseen and to lose the chains of injustice.
Take us on our redevelopment journey
From where we are to what you want us to be; So that we become a community
Where all are welcomed and no one is excluded,
All are valued and no one is made to feel inadequate,
All are forgiven and no one is ashamed to belong,
All are encouraged, empowered, sustained, and fed, and there is place for everyone.
Lead us on our redevelopment journey
From who we are to who you want us to be;
So that patience is built into us,
Kindness is assumed in us,
Gentleness is a part of us,
Compassion flows from us,
Truth is second nature to us,
And the commitment of love is part of us.
Today, and beyond,
We give thanks for the work of Indwell and their presence among us.
Let us go, then, gladly, on the journey of redevelopment
Help us to be clear about what we are to become
And let us journey in the peace and power of the Spirit. Amen.
The St. Peter’s Community’s physical church is located in the Haldimand Tract (1784). We are learning to be Treaty People through relationships with our Haudenosaunee, Attawandaron and Anishinaabe neighbours. Our ability to be working and living here now comes as a direct benefit of policies of expulsion and assimilation of Indigenous peoples during the time of settlement, Confederation, and since. The harms of these policies are many and are still being felt in Indigenous communities today. -Adapted from the Eastern Synod
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