Raise the Hammer

"After four years of intensive soul-searching and research, it concluded that the current building is not a good community fit anymore for the lands."

Thank you for your congregations time to 'soul-search' for the past 4 years, but the 'research' you spoke of, is what I am most interested in. I live just blocks away, so can you please inform the local community on what type of research you did to determine that demolition is the ONLY or BEST option, and please indicate all the other options that were exhausted? And did this research include the opinions of the members of not only the church community but also of the neighbourhood community. Afterall, it is confusing when you write "it" being the congregation, concluded that the current building is not a good 'community' fit anymore for the lands.

As shown by the comments, the actual community that lives here, mostly disagrees with the congregation community. So is the congregation community at odds with the neighbourhood community for some reason?

"Rather than New Vision (St. Giles) having left the community, it is far more accurate to say that the neighbourhood community left St. Giles."

This statement further underscores that New Vision view that they are not a part of the actual community; and actually hints that because the local community that 'loves' having the heritage church building in the area, must actually become a member of the church for it to be viable? So is it the local community to blame for the demolition? We must all convert or join New Vision church, if not, demolition is the only alternative? What are you insinuating when you say that the neighbourhood community left St. Giles?

"New Vision has dedicated itself to a mission of social cohesion"

Destroying a historical and beautiful part of a neighbourhood, then blame the members of that community is, in my opinion, not the best way to create social cohesion. Lack of debate with the local community, is once again, in my opinion, not the best way to create social cohesion. It creates division and separation, don't believe me, just read some of the comments from the past week on this website about this issue.

"We seek to be a safe community for the LGBTQ2S community, we seek to live......"

No one is saying that this is not a noble and great deed. But why are you relating the two, creating a false equivalence between a heritage building that the local neighbourhood actually wants to keep, and your overall mission to do good for the Hamilton community as a whole? So the building needs to be razed for the church to be able to help Hamiltonians?

You can tell by the comments, that this building, not in a 'religious sense', but in a 'neighbourhood community sense', very important to the people in the area. We do not want an empty lot in our neighbourhood where once a majestic 106 year old church once stood. And as a Christian myself, I can see how that has very little to do with my religion, but has everything to do with the neighbourhood I live in.

At the very least, you already have the space at the church, why not invite the actual local community to have a discussion about what is possible for the property, and perhaps you can inspire the community to see the vision that New Vision offers, as opposed to just ramming it down our throats. Who knows, we may all agree that demolition is the best option, but without that dialogue, you can expect some animosity.

That being said, Thank you Rev. Ian Sloan for writing your Opinion Piece and letting us know where New Vision stands on the issue.

Countdown now starts, awaiting a sarccastic reply from KevinLove about how Jesus was an anarchist, or about those crazy Christian's at New Vision, or more excerpts from his 2016 piece "Those Christians and their Crazy Priorities." Which is such a shame considering I love reading his articles about the city, road safety, bicycle advocacy, etc....But his current comment tirades is just recycled material he used in December, 2016 when speaking about the James Street Baptist Church. And yes, even with most the church destroyed there, I would rather have that facade standing up then an empty gravel lot there as well.