The pews at St. John’s Anglican Church, Stewarttown, were full once again on Sunday, June 28, 2026, as former parishioners returned from near and far to celebrate the parish’s final service.
While the congregation gathered to say goodbye to a beloved church home, they also gave thanks for nearly two centuries of faithful ministry that will continue to live on in the lives it shaped.
Will Ross, warden at St. John’s, recalled a very different time in the parish’s history.
“I remember 60 years ago the church was full every Sunday,” he said. “It had a choir and people who arrived late had a hard time finding a place to sit. There was a weekly games night for local children and several other regular events.”
As many churches have experienced, St. John’s gradually changed as the surrounding community changed.
“People moved away, children grew up, and people started to have other things to do on Sunday,” Ross reflected. In its final years, only a handful of parishioners gathered for weekly worship, making it increasingly difficult to sustain the parish.
Yet on its final Sunday, the church was filled once more.
“Many of the people who used to live nearby had travelled long distances to be there,” Ross said. “They all had good memories of Stewarttown Church and how it had been a positive influence on their lives. The church is closed, but it will still be remembered.”
Founded in 1834, St. John’s served the Stewarttown community for nearly two centuries. It was one of the earliest churches in the Halton Hills community, and over generations, it was a place where people gathered to worship, celebrate baptisms and marriages, mourn loved ones, and grow in faith.
Jeff Ward, archdeacon of Trafalgar, was the preacher for the closing service, “Standing with the people of St. John’s, Stewarttown, for their final service was both a profound privilege and a deeply moving experience,” he shared.
“As we gathered for this final act of worship, I was struck by the extraordinary faithfulness of those who have carried this parish through its many seasons,” Ward said. “We gave thanks for clergy, wardens, musicians, volunteers, families, and countless parishioners whose quiet devotion became the foundation of this community.”
Ward acknowledged the grief of saying goodbye but reminded those gathered that the Church’s mission extends beyond any one building.
“The closing of a beloved parish is never easy. Yet I was reminded of the wisdom of Ecclesiastes: “For everything there is a season.” The ending of a parish is not a failure but the faithful completion of a chapter in God’s ongoing story.”
“The Gospel reminded us that Christ never called us simply to preserve buildings,” Ward continued. “Christ calls us to make disciples, to love our neighbours, and to carry hope into the world. Buildings shelter the Church’s ministry, but they have never contained it. The true Church lives in God’s people, as it did in Stewarttown.”
Audrius Sarka, who served as the parish’s final incumbent, said he will remember the people of St. John’s for their quiet faithfulness.
“Being with the people of St. John’s in these final years has been a quiet blessing,” he said. “What I will remember most is their kindness, their steadiness, and the way they cared for one another without fuss or fanfare.”
Although the parish’s ministry at Stewarttown has come to an end, Sarka believes its influence will continue.
“St. John’s has shaped so many lives over so many years, and that goodness doesn’t end with the closing of the building,” he said. “I’m simply grateful for the trust they showed me, for the stories and the laughter we shared, and for the way God’s grace has quietly lived in this place. I believe what was planted here will keep growing in ways only God can see.”
Ward concluded, “As we commended St. John’s into God’s loving care, I found myself filled with gratitude more than sadness. The ministry of this remarkable parish has been completed with faithfulness. Its witness now lives on in the people whose lives were shaped here, and in the enduring mission of Christ, who continues to lead the Church into every new season with hope”
The final service marked the end of one chapter in the life of St. John’s, but those gathered left with a shared conviction that its legacy is found not only in the historic church building, but in the generations of faithful people whose lives were shaped by its ministry.
The Church in Which We Serve