United Church Centennial resources

Lots of preparations for the June 2025 Centennial of the United Church are underway, and all communities of faith and ministries in our Regional Council are invited and encouraged to make plans that suit your context and community. Read on! Bookmark this page for your home base. It has the following sections:
Regional resources and national resources.

Regional resources:

Meetings and workshops: The Regional Council will continue to host planning and learning events online, and welcomes your ideas for topics.

Event Gallery:

 

100^th Anniversary Celebrations: A History in the Making

Happy birthday to the United Church of Canada!  To celebrate, the Antler River Watershed Region Executive of the United Church of Canada is asking all Communities of Faith (i.e., churches, camps and affiliated institutions) to submit a brief (12 Point font, double spaced, one page maximum) brief history of your Community of Faith.  Please also submit a couple of pictures (include photographer credits): one of the people and one of the building that is your Community of Faith.  We will compile those histories into an online summary of all institutions in ARW.  Also, you may wish to look to the future of your church, and provide a statement about that.

In addition, we’d ask you to consider two trivia questions that could be added at the bottom of your history.  One of the questions should be able to be answered by visiting your physical building.  The other answer might require some virtual digging by visiting your website.

Initial thoughts are that churches, camps and other affiliated places will be listed alphabetically, and in a separate index, by county.  This way people can do a little virtual exploring and may be inspired to visit your physical property, too!

Examples of questions:

What year was the building erected? (find the cornerstone)

What scene is depicted in the stained-glass window at the Talbot Street side of Trinity United Church?  (Jesus holding a lamb)

Please include your name (for follow-up), your one or two trivia question, the answers, and most importantly, your Community of Faith’s location (town and county).  Return all submissions to Richard Auckland (rauck27@gmail.com) by April 1, 2025 (no foolin’).

Written consent by those pictured (or their parent/guardian) in any photos is required and include photographer credits.  Please note that any photo being submitted will be included in this document.  If you don’t wish a photo posted, then please do not include it in your submission.

Checklist of what to include:

• Your Name:
• Your email address:
• Community of Faith (CoF) Name:
• Community of Faith Location: Essex, Lambton, Kent, Middlesex, Elgin
• History of your Community of Faith (double spaced, one page)
• One picture of the people involved in your CoF (written consent on file)
• One picture of the building

Here’s an example of what your submission could look like:

Event sign up

All local and regional events should be sent to this country-wide events posting, as well as to your Regional events calendar. We know this involves twice the work, as these are two different systems, but this allows you to share your creativity with two very different audiences.

Social media: Use these hashtags in your community’s social media Centennial posts:
#UCCan100
#DeepBoldDaring

Monthly themes are covered in the Regional resource mentioned above.