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"Vision 2019 is an opportunity to say 'here's what I think our church needs to be about.'"
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Message from John D., Cowichan Bay, BC

We have a comprehensive website which describes what our parish is about at:

CowichanStationChurch.CA

I will paste in some portions below which give a quick overview of us and our life as community:

We wish to maintain and grow a church family with worship and ministry based on the Anglican tradition and on current, progressive thinking. To do this, we welcome and minister to all members of our rural community, both within and outside the church and we work with our neighbours to centre and strengthen that community.

We also reach out to a wider, local area and worldwide to assist those in need.

By calling ourselves “Progressive Christians”, we mean that . . . . .

1. . . . we have found an approach to God through the life and teachings of Jesus.
2. . . . we recognize the faithfulness of other people who have other names for the way to God’s realm, and acknowledge that their ways are true for them, as our ways are true for us.
3. . . . we embrace the freedom and responsibility to examine traditional Christian practices and beliefs acknowledging the human construction of religion, draw from diverse sources of wisdom and in the light of conscience and contemporary learning, adjust our views and practices accordingly.
4. . . . we centre our faith on values that affirm the sacredness and interconnectedness of all life, the inherent and equal worth of all persons, and the supremacy of love expressed actively in our lives as compassion and social justice.
5. . . . we find more meaning in searching for understanding than believing in dogmatic certainty – more value in questioning than in absolutes.
6. . . . we form ourselves into communities dedicated to equipping one another for the work we feel called to do: striving for peace and equality among all people, protecting and restoring the integrity of all God’s creation.
7. . . . we invite all people to participate in our community and worship life without insisting that they become like us (including but not limited to): believers, agnostics, conventional Christians and questioning skeptics, women, men and those of all sexual orientations and gender identities, people of all races, cultures, classes and abilities, those who hope for a better world and those who have lost hope.
8. . . . we recognize that being followers of Jesus is costly and entails selfless love, conscientious resistance to evil and renunciation of privilege yet we commit to journeying together regardless. We will do our best to ensure that our ongoing growth is characterized by honesty, integrity, openness, respect, intellectual rigor, courage, creativity, and balance.

Thank you for giving us, and me personally, a chance to share our ideas and hopes.

I would like to see the ACC reduce the current bureaucracy by at least 1, maybe 2 levels and increase its existing inclusivity. It would be wonderful if our parish could co-exist with those who have formed the ANIC in communion.

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Vision 2019 welcomes a range of contributions to the "Tell us your story" project--from affirming to critical. Comments are monitored, however, to ensure that a respectful conversation can take place. We ask that you be relatively brief and that your language be respectful to others. You must also provide your name, place of residence (city or town is adequate) and parish.