The Rev. Canon Simon Bell remembers the day when he knew, without any doubt, that St. Margaret of Scotland in Barrie needed to get its long hoped-for parish hall built.
It was in 2019 and there were five activities going on in and around the church’s sanctuary, all within close proximity of each other – a guitar and ukelele class, an exercise class and three business meetings.
The church, which was built in 1999, consists of the sanctuary and a couple of adjacent rooms and an office. But it doesn’t have a parish hall, something it has needed for a long time.
“It was so urgent,” he says, looking back on that day. “I just said, we’ve got to get this new building up, this is getting ridiculous.”
The church had plans to build the hall, but then came the COVID-19 pandemic, delaying the project for four years. Now it is ready to try again, and this time it looks like it’s going to come to fruition. The church has sent the architectural plans to the City of Barrie for approval, it has secured most of the funding for the $4 million project, and it began a fundraising campaign in June that is off to a good start.
If the church receives early approval from the city, construction of the new hall could begin as early as September 2025, with an opening in 2026. The hall will include a school-sized gymnasium, an industrial kitchen and washrooms. It will be fully accessible, and the space will be adaptable for a variety of uses.
“We’re pretty excited,” says Canon Bell. “The parish has been waiting for 25 years for this.”
St. Margaret’s is located in a part of Barrie that has a lot of kids, so most of the hall will be used for children’s and youth ministry. There will be a nursery area with an outdoor play area, plus some Sunday School classrooms that will double as board rooms. There will be space for youth activities, including the church’s popular ukelele and guitar lessons on Wednesdays. There will also be a small basement for much needed storage space.
“My office has drum kits on the floor and TVs and all sorts of stuff,” says Canon Bell with a laugh. “We just don’t have the space to store things. Whatever we have just gets put into the office at the end of the day. So some proper storage space will be very welcomed.”
In addition to the new parish hall, an atrium will be built, and upgrades will be made to the existing building, making the space more adaptable. At present, most of the pews are bolted to the floor; for big occasions such as the annual Christmas dinner, guests have to sit at tables down the aisles and at the front of the church. Food is served from a room that has a sink, a microwave and a kettle, but no kitchen.
“We use the space as creatively as we can, but it is pushed to the max,” says Canon Bell.
He credits the congregation, especially its lay leaders, for getting the project to this point. “I’ve been very fortunate. Two of our wardens had experience in the construction industry, so they were able to provide very valuable advice on how to do this. Having the right leadership in place has been very helpful to us. And we have a lot of folk in trades, and that helps as well.”
The project has also benefited from the fruitful amalgamation of St. Margaret’s and St. Giles, Barrie in 2017. When St. Giles was sold, $2.4 million was earmarked for the new hall, which will be called the St. Giles Ministry Centre. (The diocese is providing a grant of $750,000 and a loan of $400,000, leaving St. Margaret’s to raise the rest.)
“The amalgamation went really well,” recalls Canon Bell. “It has made the new hall possible. I’m very thankful to the leadership of St. Giles at the time for facilitating that process. They were very forward thinking. And the folks from St. Giles have found a home here at St. Margaret’s, which is really nice.”
The new hall and refurbishments can’t come soon enough. The church has about 140 people on a Sunday, up from about 60 during the COVID-19 years. There are two services in the morning and a new Spanish mass in the afternoon, led by the Rev. Andrew Kuhl, priest-in-charge of the parish of Craighurst and Midhurst. It’s busy through the rest of the week as well, with weekday liturgies, its music program and other activities, and Messy Church on Saturday evening.
And the church has a heart for outreach and social justice. There are a lot of people with needs in the vicinity, so the church stocks an outdoor food panty and library and has a deacon’s cupboard inside for people who need more groceries. The parish supports a number of projects and organizations working with the homeless, including participation in the daily breakfast program at Trinity and supporting the work of the Busby Centre.
“The clergy who were here before me did a great job of building a sense of mission in the parish,” explains Canon Bell, who arrived in 2016. “It’s a very outward-looking parish. It’s very flexible and has a willingness to adjust based upon the demographics around us. We’re a young parish, and we change things if needed. That’s really helped. Enabling the ministry of all is part of the DNA here.”
He is looking forward to the next few years. “I’m exhausted but I’m having fun,” he says. “St. Margaret’s is a lovely parish. It’s a great place to serve and it’s a very healthy and helpful community of faith, so for me it’s my centering point. And I’m pretty excited to see this project get this far.”
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