St. David's Anglican Church |
|
905 East McMurray Road Venetia, PA 15341 (724) 941-4060 |
   |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||
Our namesake, St. David of Wales, was known far and wide as an anointed evangelist. The stained glass window of St. David which has long graced the narthex of the original building and now in the columbarium of the new building depicts many of the symbols of his ministry. One of these symbols, the daffodil, represents the fruitfulness of his ministry of transformation. It is said that as he preached throughout the countryside of Wales, as thousands of people were responding to his message, daffodils broke forth from the earth and opened before their eyes. A scholar, a competent administrator and a man of moderation, David became the leader and guardian of the faith in Wales. Since the beginning of our ministry here, we have celebrated St. David's Day every March. We have sung traditional Welsh hymns accompanied by bagpipes and decorated the church with daffodils. The daffodils were later planted in the woods, surrounding the church and the rectory. Each year in the spring, they returned as a symbol of St. David, of new life and of our purpose as a church.
|
 |
||
St. David’s in Peters Township began in 1950, about 10 families gathered in a one room school house on Irishtown Road in Bethel Park for the first service of a mission church ministering in the South Hills area of Pittsburgh. |
|||
| St. David’s mission grew rapidly and within a year was organized as a parish. The membership called The Rev. Gilbert M. Watt as its first Rector in 1951, beginning a tenure that ended in the Fall of 1984, when he accepted a call to serve in our diocesan Interim Ministry program. In 1968 and assistant was called and St. David’s has been blessed by the service of several assistants and many seminary students since then. The Rev. Christopher Leighton served as Rector from 1985 to 1994 , leading us in a period of great spiritual growth. From 1995 through 2007 the Rev. Mark Wright served St. David’s as our Rector. Mark continued to focus on spiritual growth, instituting a successful Alpha program which resulted in many new members. In 2008, the Rev. David Wilson came to St. David’s as Priest-in-Charge to lead us as our diocese realigned out of the Episcopal Church into the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone (the southern third of South America) |
|||
The congregation continued to grow as the South Hills communities it served experienced dramatic expansion. In 1956, the present sanctuary was built. In 1960, when it became apparent hat St. David’s needed additional space, the education wing was added, providing space for increasing programs, classes and ministries. As we approached a new century, we once again found our physical facilities inadequate for the worship and ministry of our parish. As a result of our successful Forward by Faith capital campaign, we broke ground for a new sanctuary and fellowship hall. It has been exciting to move into our new space that God has provided! |
|||
 |
|||