Groups and Activities
St. Laurence offers a variety of groups and activities for all ages. New members are always welcome. If you have any questions about these programs please contact the Church Office.
Children and Youth
NEW YOUTH LEADER
We welcome Matthew Robertson as our new youth leader. As
you may know in December we entered into an agreement with St. Martins
and Good Shepherd to share a new 'OneBody' youth group - coordinated by Jill
Thompson.
Matthew will work with Jill and will lead our Sunday morning youth program
as well as attend the combined 'OneBody' youth events as the second leader.
Matthew is a student at Ambrose College here in Calgary studying Bible
and history. He also teaches guitar. He has an extensive background working
with youth and
being a youth and camp leader but is new to the Anglican Church. Welcome Matthew
and we look forward to the new energy both you and Jill will bring to our youth
program.
The Sunday School and Youth Groups meet during the 10 am service in the basement of the church. There are two Sunday School classes - one for children 3-7 and one for children 7-12. Both of these classes are led by volunteer teachers who follow interactive and Biblically based curriculums. The children explore Biblical stories and themes using games, songs, drama, crafts, cooking and other activities.
There is a youth group for junior high and high school students during the first part of the service (all but one Sunday a month when the youth are encouraged to join us for worship). The youth do such things as 'The World's Most Dangerous Bible Study' where they juxtapose Biblical texts with contemporary music. In addition to meeting on Sunday mornings, the last Friday evening of the month the youth group gets together for a night out.
Works of Mercy and Justice
Serving the larger community and the world both by giving of our time and or our resources is a priority for the people of St. Laurence. The 'Works of Mercy and Justice' committee oversees the various outreach efforts of the parish and allocates the yearly budget that the parish as a whole gives to non-profit organizations. However, most of the parish, including the children and youth, are involved in outreach projects of one kind or another.
For instance the first thing you see when you come into St. Laurence is a water filter into which parishioners drop their loonies and toonies every week. The money collected goes to the Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology http://www.cawst.org/ The parish also gives financial support to a number of other organisations including the Primates Fund for World Relief and Development http://www.pwrdf.org/, Calgary Urban Projects http://www.cupshealthcentre.com/ and other local and international charities.
At Christmas time the parish partners with the Anglican parish on the Tsu-Tina reserve and raises money to deliver hampers and grocery gift certificates to families in need on the reserve.
Throughout the year parishioners are involved in partnering with CUPS
to house homeless families, volunteering at the Food Bank and driving
for Meals on Wheels.
Adult Spiritual Development
St. Laurence runs a variety of programs for adults. Below is a list of what is offered regularly. Additional opportunities are posted on our activities and events page as well as on the Wisdom Centre website.
Conversations Almost every Sunday after church about 30 or so parishioners gather for what is affectionately termed ‘Conversations.’ This is a drop-in program where all who are interested gather downstairs after worship (usually from about 11:30-12:15) and converse about any number of topics. Usually the session is led by the clergy. Recent topics include a series on ‘The Joy of Worship’ and another on “Anglican Theologians’as well as discussions about same-sex blessing and other issues affecting the Anglican Church. The first Sunday of every month will be led by the Rev. Don McLeod and will focus on a particular spiritual practice. On some of the other Sundays we look forward to members of the parish speaking about 'Spirituality and the Workplace'. ’
There are a variety of ways that the St. Laurence community both shares fellowship and offers care to those in need.
There is both a Women's Group that organizes periodic social events, as well as a Men's Group that meets once a month for breakfast (Larry's Griddle) and once a month for lunch (Larry's Grill).
A group of women in the parish also meet most Wednesday afternoons (September - May) for Craft Group. The proceeds made from their Creations are donated to the St. Laurence Outreach fund.
In addition to the above the parish runs Foyer Groups. These are groups of about 8 parishioners who commit to meeting in one another's homes once a month for approximately 6 months in order to get to know one another better. New groups are organized once or twice a year and new members are always welcome.
Finally, there is a pastoral care group and three lay pastoral visitors who assist the clergy in visiting those who are sick or shut-in.