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Willows Beach Potluck Sept 6th - 4pmJoin us for our annual potluck and beach gathering as we launch the Season of Creation for 2026! Bring a chair or blanket and a bit of food to share. Read more about this year's theme below... |
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Season of Creation 2026The Season of Creation is a time to renew our relationship with our Creator and all creation through celebration, conversion, and commitment together. It is an ecumenical movement of prayer and action on behalf of our beloved Creation and in response to the love of our Creator. Guided by an ecumenical steering group, it draws in an impressive array of diverse Christians who share a concern for the health of Creation. We note that the Season of Creation is not a liturgical season (like Advent or Easter) but rather a time of intentional prayer and reflection which the Church has committed to from September 1, the Feast of Creation, until October 4, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. We begin our Season of Creation on Sunday Sept 6 by gathering outdoors at Willows Beach for an annual picnic and time of contemplation. Our worship continues throughout September to reflect our shared love and concern for Creation in song, story, and sacrament. Join us! |
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QomQem street outreach returns - call for supportThanks to a new successful round of funding support, our friends at QomQem coastal connections and the North Park Neighborhood Association will be starting up Sunday night outreach on Sunday August 2. We can use a few hands to help with the food prep (meet in the kitchen around 5pm) and they have provided another list of items which are most useful. Feel free to bring Sunday and drop at the back of the Church! Here is the list of desired items:
We'll have a basket at the back of the church for collection. Thanks for any help you can be in this amazing work! |
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North Park Hampers : volunteer opportunityWe've at Emmaus and AbbeyChurch have been a part of helping out on hampers for a while. If you can help out somewhat regularly, please do drop them a line!
If you would like to give to support the work NPNA does in serving food to our neighbours you can do so at this link. |
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Weekday Morning Prayer : *Summer schedule*NOTE: We are meeting less often during the summer months, and all are warmly welcome to join us! + Mondays at 9am - Morning Prayer with Centering Prayer @ The Upper Room (aka AbbeyChurch office - off the Balmoral parking lot, metal stairs up) - in-person only. There is not usually AM prayer on holiday Mondays. + Fridays at 8:15am - Morning Prayer - online on zoom only. Our weekday common prayer is liturgical in nature and based on ancient monastic practices. It's open to all who wish to join in-person or online. We sometimes chant the psalms, listen to a reading or readings assigned for the day, have a short period of silence, sharing and intercessory prayer.
The liturgies and psalter for weekday prayer are posted here. Please do email for a zoom link if you are joining online. |
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Announcement of Rev. Matt's new appointmentOn Sunday August 23, our Anglican Bishop Anna announced that Rev. Matt has accepted a new ministry appointment as Incumbent of St. Michael an All Angels (Royal Oak) beginning October 15, 2026. His last Sunday with the AbbeyChurch in his current role will be September 27, 2026. Please read the Bishop's letter (image above) if you were not present for the announcement.
And Rev. Matt wishes to share the following words: It is truly bittersweet for me to accept this new appointment and call to serve, which sees nearly 8 years of ministry with the beloved AbbeyChurch come to a close. I began with you in a non-ordained capacity as 'Community Life Minister' in the summer of 2018, at the same time I was in the formation process with Emmaus, having since become a vowed member of that community (which I will continue to journey and pray with). I was ordained in 2019 and my role continued on in that capacity, supported by and with a wonderful team ministry (with deepest gratitude to Rev. Rob and Rev. Meagan, as well as to those who came alongside the team in a variety of capacities since - Rev. Lynn, Rev. Michelle, Rev. Ernest, Rev. Reba). It has been my delight to offer my gifts and serve among you, and I hold so many memories both very good and some challenging over these last years with you all. My new appointment marks a change in my life as it'll be the first time I serve in a full-time call, so it will mean phasing down my hours at the Local General Store as well. I welcome and cherish your prayers for all impacted by this transition - for our Church and community, for my kids, Meagan, and wider family, and for the Store. I know this change will invoke an array of responses, and Council are availaable for any of your questions or feedback - coucil@abbeychurch.ca. I am also grateful to Rev. Michelle Slater who will be taking the lead on supporting our worship and pastoral care on an interim/supply basis, while a small working group from Abbey/Emmaus does the necessary work of transition and discernment as they seek to call a minister or ministry team to serve the Abbey going forward. It is customary in the Anglican tradition that those leaving a Church ministry role not return to regular worship for one year, which I will observe, with my prayers for you all and hopes of our paths crossing again, albeit in a new way, down the road. May we lean in close to hear the guidance of our God who has come near to each of us in Jesus Christ and who is present to us in every moment, by the Spirit. |
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About UsThe Emmaus Community is a neo-monastic intentional community of ordinary people who commit ourselves to following Jesus in ways akin to the monastic life. The AbbeyChurch is a Sunday worship expression of the Emmaus Community. Not all AbbeyChurch folks are part of Emmaus - you're welcome to be a part of AbbeyChurch regardless of connection to Emmaus! As a witness to unity and diversity, we are an ecumenical shared ministry of The United Church of Canada and The Anglican Church of Canada. We intentionally draw on the 'jewels' of these traditions, as well as the wider church. The Emmaus Community and the AbbeyChurch acknowledge that we worship, take action and pray on the stolen territory of the Songhees and Xwsepsum (Esquimalt) Nations, the Lək̓ʷəŋən peoples'. |
