St. Aidan’s Anglican Church, Winnipeg — Sacramental. Evangelical. Charismatic.

Real God, Real Church, Real Lives.

Posted Date : 2024-12-21 19:30:00

Photo: St. Aidan’s Anglican Church

By Lynne McCarthy

These have been the hallmarks of St. Aidan’s Anglican Church in Winnipeg for many decades. We try to follow St. Aidan’s footsteps in the mandate of preaching and living the Gospel, our faith centred in Jesus Christ, sacramental worship, and developing our gifts (charisma) of the Holy Spirit.

Preaching and teaching from the Word is conscientiously Christ-centred. We identify with Christ crucified; pastors over the past decades have been committed to preaching Christ, not the culture of the moment. They have not been afraid to preach Christ and the sacrificial offering of Himself as a propitiation for our sins, “His Resurrection and His glorious Ascension” (BCP). It’s basic Christianity, and as one pastor has pointed out, our being (faith in Christ, through the action of the Holy Spirit, to repent and change our lives to conform to His) becomes our doing (works prepared for us from the beginning of time). Grace – not works – keeps us on the Way.

But what are these works already prepared? The Gospel emphasis is on following Jesus and being changed from within, because Christ’s completed work changes our thinking. Actions and activities within and beyond the parish have grown, with the prayer of faith the means. As we (at time of writing) are waiting for a new pastor, we meet Wednesdays at noon and by Zoom on Thursdays to pray for God’s choice, to hear what God has been doing among us, to pray for one another and for the church. We desire healing – we are praying for a number of our parishioners who are dealing with cancer.

We learn to wait expectantly, not just for results, but on God to do His work in us, and therefore to accomplish His will. We’re at times a little slow in seeing this!

Locally, our works include a space around the church with a herb garden, a little free library, a food cupboard, and an arbour and bench for our neighbours. Our prayer is that some will not just enjoy these but be moved to come inside too!

Additional pastoral care is offered by Stephen Ministry members who visit those in need of help and comfort in difficult times. There is also travelling Communion for those unable to attend on Sundays, and a confidential prayer chain.

‘Feed My Sheep’ is a monthly ministry to the homeless in the harsh areas of Winnipeg. Parishioners who prepare lunch bags also include a card with a Bible verse to encourage and bless. Teams of three drive into the core area after the Sunday service. People responding to our shout of “Do you want a lunch?” receive food and a blessing and often their response is a “God bless you!”

Further afield, our LAMP (Lutheran Association of Missionaries and Pilots) team drive up to Leaf Rapids in Manitoba’s mid-North every July for a week of Vacation Bible School for the children, along with youth, women’s and men’s ministries. Later in November two or three women drive up and spend a weekend sharing Christ’s love, particularly with the women.

We have developed deep ties with this community which has experienced very real suffering, and we witness how the love of Jesus brings hope. Those who come down to Winnipeg for medical reasons see St. Aidan’s as “their” church here.

‘Relationship’ characterizes St. Aidan’s as we relate to our Real God as His Real Church, learn to care for one another, and seek to share Him with those who do not know Him. Prayer, relying on God, and forgiving one another grow us into Him and closer to one another in our Real Lives.

A recent sermon series tells us we are children of God. We are justified by faith in Jesus and His saving work; sanctified by His Spirit, practicing the use of His gifts; and recipients of the Father’s love and protection. Struggles and failures exist, yes, but we are God’s family, caring for one another out of love for Him, and growing into His Body. We have been taught faithfully by those God has appointed His faithful shepherds; His truth binds us together in Him and we have been mightily blessed.

Now, who was St. Aidan?  He was born in Ireland and served as a monk on Iona, Scotland until God called him as a missionary to England, where he founded a church and monastery on Lindisfarne, off the coast of present-day Northumberland. He evangelized northern England while Lindisfarne’s ‘graduates’ would evangelize yet further, leading even the Saxons to faith in Christ. Aidan died in Bamburgh, Northumberland on Aug. 31, 651, and so Aug. 31 is now his feast day in the Western Church. Aidan was commended by the Venerable Bede for ‘his learning, charity, and simplicity of life.’ ”1 We try to follow in Aidan’s footsteps as we exercise our calling.

We have faced criticism for our stand against liberalism in the church, but God is faithful. As was Aidan, we seek to be God’s instrument, to His glory, in our life together.  TAP

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1https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Aidan.

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