Our story began in 1874 as St. John’s Anglican Church, located on Merivale Road. As the congregation’s needs changed, we moved from Merivale to a rented building on Slack Road and eventually to our current location on Fallowfield Road.  During these years of excitement in our local church, some exciting things were happening in the wider church world as well. In 2001, the Anglican Church of Canada and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada signed an historic agreement called the Waterloo Declaration. It allowed ministers to serve in each other’s churches, where previously it had been forbidden. St. John’s was excited by the possibilities this presented for new cooperation between our denominations, so in 2008 voted to start a new venture: to become Canada’s first joint Anglican – Lutheran church and to change our name to Good Shepherd.  From this point forward, we would no longer be known as simply Anglicans or Lutherans, but instead as Anglicans and Lutherans working together to serve Christ.

Today, Good Shepherd is a warm and loving community, bound together by meaningful friendships and a common faith in Jesus. We are a diverse group of different ages, ethnicities and talents but held together by a commitment to each other and to Christ. We are a welcoming community, open to visitors at any point in their spiritual journey: long-time believers, those seeking to grow in faith, and those who are simply curious.

Our church equips us to live in the world with integrity and purpose, navigating the challenges of modern life with grace, humility and confidence.

As an Anglican and Lutheran congregation, our beliefs are rooted in the Bible and the Creeds, which serve as the ultimate standards of our faith. Together with the historic documents of the Anglican and Lutheran Churches, these shape our faith and help us better understand the God we serve.

However, we believe that Christian life is more than doctrines to agree to. It’s also more than good deeds to do. It involves these things, but it’s more than that. Christian life means letting our beliefs shape us into the kind of people God made us to be. Jesus is our model and helper for this. He teaches us about the goodness, wisdom and love of God. However in him these aren’t just ideas: they are made alive, and acted out. This is what the Bible means when it calls Jesus “The Word made flesh”. He is God’s goodness, wisdom and love in human form—embodied and alive.

We believe that when Jesus invites us to follow him, he is inviting us to do the same: to take his teachings and receive his power, and let them shape how we live our daily lives. In other words, not just to profess Christian faith, but to embody it in our modern world. This is our church’s task, to help us do it.

To Embody Christian Faith in the Modern World,
Setting Down Roots by Instilling
Strength of Character,
Moral Honesty,
and Commitment to Each Other

Embodying Christian Faith: This means living out the implications of Christian faith in our daily lives, looking to Christ as our example and source of strength

The modern world: This means working to make the faith intelligible and compelling to our multi-cultural and diverse society

Setting down roots: This means committing ourselves to the neighbourhoods in which we live, building relationships with our neighbours and environment which are deep, lasting and life-giving

Strength of character: This means growing in courage, patience and humility: virtues necessary for living out our Christian faith in a secular world

Moral honesty: This means not hiding our true selves from God, from ourselves or from others

Commitment to each other: This means living sacrificially, taking responsibility for each other’s well-being and growth