Want to save the Church?
Then, put your money where your mouth is! That's all it takes.

some people have made the church all about money and not about faith. The church has enough in its reserves to last for years. The minister had recently told a congregation member that there was no concern for the future of the church for years to come. Prior to the first vote during the pandemic, the leadership of the church asked for a relatively large amount of money to be allowed to vote. This was completely unChristian and against the teachings of Christ,
My memories of Sunday school at Peetri kirik were about helping the vulnerable and the needy. Who needs a physical church more than anyone? The vulnerable elderly who have already suffered more than enough with the loss of the Estonian House they helped to create, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Whereas all of the moves to sell the church were done during the pandemic. The leadership of the church has clearly lost its Faith. Whereas most members of the Lutheran church have been personally tormented by wars and the loss of their homelands. This forms the basis for most Lutheran churches and congregations in Canada. The church should offer comfort for those in need and not create guilt trips about money or about participation at services during the pandemic and while a better mode of transportation is being built to access the church.
One should rightly question the suitability of not only the church elective but its leader. Who promotes and justifies the sale of his own church and criticizes the final resting place of those who built the church and our Estonian community? Clearly not a leader who has Faith and a strong sense of community and Estonian pride.
Clearly we need new leadership at Peetri kirik to bring back our Christian and Lutheran faith as well as a pride in our Estonian language and culture in Toronto and in Canada. The Lutheran Church in Estonia also needs our congregation to be stronger in faith and our dedication to Estonian language and culture. Every Estonian Lutheran church needs to build stronger congregations in these challenging times. As a small nation we cannot afford to lose one single church or place for worship or for Estonian language and culture. We are all inter-related and in need of one another to prosper and grow.
Where there is real faith, donations will follow. There are reasons why Peetri kirik is still considered one of the most beautiful churches in Toronto. It was a miracle that Estonians had one of the best architects in Toronto at the time and an incredible Estonian minister when Estonian war refugees were the most vulnerable.
We need new incredible and inspiring leadership at Peetri kirik in what is our new difficult and challenging time. Our leadership cannot be weak as it has been in recent years. May the Lord be with us and give us the strength to endure for future generations to come at Peetri kirik!

It’s very hard to trust a completely anonymous group that’s demanding transparency and accountability when they are doing all they can to shamefully avoid it themselves. Find some courage and put your names to this if you want anyone to take you seriously.

“Even more respected were the departed, and their memory was held sacred. Watchful care was taken of their cemeteries.”

“Kes minevikku ei mäleta, See elab tulevikuta.” Juhan Liiv.

The Cemeteries of Tallinn: The People’s Legacy. Tallinna Kalmistud: Rahva Pärand.

https://eestielu.com/et/kultuu...

Friends of St. Peter’s Church uphold a sacred trust.

“Show me the manner in which a nation or a community cares for its dead and I will measure with mathematical exactness the tender mercies of its people, their respect for the laws of the land, and their loyalty to high ideals.”
"We look forward to the time when the Power of Love will replace the Love of Power. Then will our world know the blessings of peace."

Absolutely. Caring for our dead heroes and family members by a bus stop, where the homeless defecate, urinate and ejaculate is most unpleasant. They should be moved to a proper cemetery.

A very prestigious high school, Northern Secondary School (founded in 1930) is also beside the church. Maybe, its not just the homeless that do their dirty deeds on church property, could be some students also. In your comment "They should be moved to a proper cemetary." Are you referring to the homeless, or dead heroes and family members?

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the City of Toronto opened a number of temporary shelter sites to provide additional space for physical distancing and safe indoor space for people living outside.
The current lease for the Roehampton Hotel (808 Mount Pleasant Rd.) ends on Nov 30,2022 with an option to extend to May 31,2023, if needed.
A mixed-use condo will permanently replace the shelter.
ISSUE SOLVED

Paistab, et Peetri kirik tahtis ära teha nagu EM ja EKK tehti. Otsus vastu võetud ja pea nüüd mokk maas. Vähemalt keegi siiski jälgib asja.

I think some people are missing the biggest point here - regardless of where the kirik is at with its attendance and finances this type of unethical behavior is unacceptable. We as a community desperately need to do better and hold ourselves accountable.

And so an already fractured community becomes even more divided. Surprisingly, or perhaps not, similar to the battles over the Eesti Maja situation. If we keep this up, there will be no community to leave for our children. With "friends" like this, who needs enemies?

I commend this group for thoroughly researching the matter and for stepping up to steward the future of the church. And possibly taking on the task of preserving the building for the future, if the board resigns? I see this time and time again ... a leader or board thinks only they can run the organization. They would prefer closing it down than let someone else take it over. Why not pass the torch?

This architecture is not only a gift to the Estonian community, but to Toronto. It would be a shame if it was bulldozed for another building development. Cannot this church have a greater roll in the local community as a place of spiritual refuge?

There are too many organizations (with property or funds), who are playing “loose with the rules” because there is no proper oversight. Too many liberties have been taken because there are fewer of us who are involved and who take the time to scrutinize board activity.

If the decision is to sell the building because the leadership is tired, then the leadership should step aside so that those who wish to preserve the building can take over.

If this building is being sold to fund another building downtown, then this is a sad day indeed.

Both the “save Eesti maja/save St. Peters’s” side and the “f-it-all and move to Madison/sell St. Peter’s” groups that are screwing it all up for the rest of us. At least the Madison group is transparent and we know who’s involved.

For years and years no one goes to church more often than once or twice a year - other than five or ten regulars. An enthusiastic minister does his best to bring people in for service. Doesn’t matter. No one wants to go and fewer and fewer will donate.

But of course in the final hour there arises a group that has decided that the building must be saved, the board kicked out, the minister sent packing, and listen up now because they have all kinds of ideas about what should be done. And complaining, ever complaining! Always about what someone else didn’t do, what someone else is doing wrong, what someone else should do.

If attendance is low it’s because leadership isn’t clever enough. If finances are tight it’s because the church is incompetent. If members vote for moving it’s because they are violating a sacred trust. If someone errs it’s because they are corrupt.

Meanwhile, what are the “new” solutions: always a day late, a penny short, and murky as a mud hole.

The group of detractors, most of them well-meaning and sincere, find common cause assembling into a self-appointed “official” opposition, united not by any shared vision, plan or ambition, but by a fleeting burst of cathartic energy, the defiant energy of “no!”

Then this website and its coterie of committed keyboard warriors launch into action to pile on accusations - always the worst ones: negligence, gross incompetence, corruption, dereliction of duty, division, ruining the community (and those are the nicer ones!). All directed at volunteers whose reputations and past contributions to the community can take a hike.

But, mostly, what do we have? Regular people who are sane, rational, and thoughtful. People who have strong disagreements, because who wouldn’t on a hot-button issue. Near and dear to the heart, and lacking an easy solution. So it is what it is - there are arguments, hurt feelings, dejection, acceptance.

But who wants to write or read about well meaning people weighing complex challenges and incongruent emotions. Boring! So instead we have this. A concocted drama with heroes, villains and shady plots. A new script to captivate us again. And for that we will grab the popcorn every time. Now here is one thing that we do truly do to ourselves - a resolvable problem, a real choice.

You discredit yourself with grand condenscenion.

English speaking people are talking about the future of an Estonian language congregation...
Aren't there any English speaking churches in Toronto for you to go?