This Anglican Church was built in 1901 and continues in use today. It is now a part of the Grand Forks Ministry and shares its Reverend with the Grand Forks Anglican Church. Services are held on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month (and on the 5th Sunday if there is one) at 4:00 p.m.
The church is of simplistic design, with a simple cross atop the peaked roof and a single large gothic-arched window of stained glass in the front. The church has been designated a heritage site by the British Columbia Heritage Trust.
Now 116 years old, we suppose it was inevitable that water should eventually find its way into the basement and it did in 2014. The damage wasn't severe nor expensive, but the flood in the basement was doubtless an inconvenience, to say the least. The church managed to get itself in a bit of trouble with the town at the same time. A little news story on these events hit the pages of the Boundary Creek Times shortly after. Read it below.
St. Jude’s church basement floods
by Pat Kelly - Boundary Creek Times posted May 24, 2014
During question period at last week’s (May 12, 2014) Greenwood council meeting Anglican priest Cathy Straume reported that the basement of St. Jude’s church was discovered to be flooded on April 25.
She said city crews had constructed a water diversion berm in the alley beside the church property in order to stop water from flooding the sewer lift station beside the ball park. The problem was made worse because the ground was frozen and the water didn’t soak in, instead it ran overland and flowed in through two basement windows.
She later told the Times that the congregation had decided to not press the city for damages. She said that some carpeting, thrift store clothing and sewing machines were damaged. However she said she will draft a letter to the city so they have something on file.
She said this is the first time that water had come into the church from this side of the building.
“It is an unfortunate circumstance and the city will endeavor to organize things so that it doesn’t happen again,” said City Administrator Robin Dalziel when asked to comment.
* In an unrelated issue the city has sent the Anglican Church a letter under the unsightly premises notice process. The appearance of the community garden had been raised at the council table a couple times over the past few years. Straume said the last time there was a complaint the city okayed their fence and agreed to contact the church if there were further complaints.
“I believe everything is fine,” said Straume of the community garden site. “We did our regular spring clean-up two weeks ago. We are going ahead. I have never been able to find where a municipality could tell a church how it chooses to minister in their community. If we were making a profit we would need a business license but as far as ministering goes—giving to the poor and helping people learn how to feed themselves—I think would be a really hard task for a city to stop. If we were off our property that would be another story.”
“I think we all have the same goal in mind and that moving forward is the way to go. I don’t think they really intended to set us back or slander us,” said Straume.
From the Boundary Creek Times