A Church Should Belong to a Neighbourhood

Getting Bigger by Staying in the Neighbourhood.

In just a couple of weeks, Commons is going to embark on probably the most exciting thing, and certainly the most daring thing, that we have ever done in our twelve years. We are going to launch a second parish just south of Kensington, across the river in Marda Loop.

We’ve been hard at work on this all year. We acquired the facility and we spent a year renovating everything, getting it ready. In that time, we’ve been building the team, both the staff and the volunteers who are going to help Commons develop a presence and become part of that neighbourhood.

One of the important questions is why this way. Commons is a growing community. We run multiple services every Sunday, and the number of people who attend and move through our building on a Sunday is pretty remarkable. But why are we choosing to grow by launching a second parish instead of, let’s say, leveraging our inner city property in Kensington to find a bigger facility somewhere else in the city?

But this isn’t just a growth strategy for us. It’s an important part of how we see ourselves as part of the fabric of Calgary.

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