Welcome to Faith United Church, the church without a church building in Kingston East for more than 30 years! When Faith United was founded, the piece of land at 1467 Highway 15 was purchased for the construction of a church. In time, however, the church members decided that they would rather put their energy into building a caring community than into erecting a church building! Prior to the pandemic, we met every Sunday morning at 9:30 am in the lovely Little Theatre at La Salle Secondary School. Freed of the maintenance of a building, the congregation has been able to put their time, energy, and resources into supporting one another and those in need in the wider community and around the world through the United Church of Canada.
What ever happened to the land that we never built on? In 2015, when the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its report on the legacy of the Residential Schools System, the congregation unanimously decided to offer the land to the local Indigenous community for activities that help to restore some of what was lost during those many decades. After much reflection and learning about the past and present, we formed a joint ‘Land Council’ to guide the development of the property. Calling it “Walking the Path of Peace Together”, this initiative aimed to create an outdoor space where Indigenous sacred medicine plants could be grown, ceremony could be offered, and education could happen.   Five years later, all that and more is happening on that land, and the walk together has been profound and rich.