Architectural Renewal Committee
(ARC)

In the Spring of 2001 Parish Council created a committee, formerly called "The Nave Committee", with representatives from various groups and interests in the parish to study possible improvements to the nave* of the church. After talking with architects and other parishes that had made renovations to their church, the committee realized that it would not be possible to make any major improvements to the nave without affecting other parts of the church building. In March of 2002 the Corporation (the Rector and wardens) approved extending the mandate of the committee to include the whole church building and changed the name of the committee to "The Architectural Renewal Committee".

* NAVE: The central part of a church (where the congregation sits) extending from the narthex (at the back or entrance) to the chancel (where the clergy and choir sits).

Membership on the Architectural Renewal Committee has been drawn from most groups and committees in the parish as well from the general membership of the parish. The following are the ARC members as of April 2002:

Chairperson	Gay Richardson
Rector	Garth Bulmer
Associate Priest	Sharon Schollar
Organist and Choirmaster	Gordon Johnston
Representatives from:
* the Corporation	Glenn Calder
* Parish Council	Bayne Pearen
* the Altar Guild	Bev Bewley
* the Building Committee	Jim Cummings
* the Christian Education Committee	Wanda Dillabough
* the Doctrine and Worship Committee	Bill Broughton
* the Music Committee	John Gallienne
* the parish at large	Patricia Bowen
	Brian Cameron
	Adele Finlayson
	Jim Greene
	Jack Gurney
	Hans Stenman

Contact Information for the Architectural Renewal Committee is given at the bottom of this page.

In his opening remarks to the 2 November 2002 Church Architecture Seminar, our rector, the Rev. Canon Garth Bulmer, asked the question "What Does Our Building Say?". Garth responded to his own question by looking at our whole property from various view points: a stranger passing by, our neighbours in Centretown and from that of our parishioners. He ended his talk with a plea that we consider ourselves "Stewards of God`s Future".

We would encourage all parishioners to read the rector's talk, which we have attached to this page, and then ask themselves:

• "What Does Our Building Say?" and
• How can we be "Stewards of God`s Future" here at St John's?

The Nave Committee invited the whole parish to attend a workshop on Sunday, 18 November 2001, to discuss the worship space at St John's. The detailed eight-page report of the workshop, which also incorporates comments received verbally and in writing outside the workshop, is posted outside the Burke Room in large print. Copies of the full report are available from the office. A two-page summary was distributed in In Lumine in January 2002. This summary report is now on our website.

We have attached the monthly reports to the parish issued by the Architectural Renewal Committee. These reports were intended to keep the whole parish abreast of their study and were originally included as inserts in the Sunday bulletin. ARC welcomes questions and comments from parishioners and encourages their participation in the various church tours and seminars which they sponsor from time to time.

The title of our committee is too delicious to be able to refrain from punning.In the "Views from the ARC" series of articles we will look at some of the issues surrounding possible renovations at our church, from dire necessities - about which we can all agree, through problems that plague the various ministries, to our various wish lists.

A major sub-committee of ARC has been set up to look at the nave of the church. This Nave Sub-Committee is principally concerned with our worship space. Details of the membership and terms of reference for this sub-committee are now on our website.

If you have any comments or queries about the work or reports of the Architectural Renewal Committee please contact one of the members of the committee or the Chairperson of ARC: