by Michele | Feb 12, 2025 | Affirming, Anti-Racism, Children & Youth, Climate Change, Community, Events, Global Community, Indigenous Justice, Learning Opportunity, LGBTQIA+ and Two-Spirit people, News, Regional Council, Resources, Right Relations, Social Justice, The United Church of Canada
Ontario Election 2025:
More than Tariffs A panel discussion
Sunday Feb 23, 3:00-4:15 PM EST on Zoom
Information to help you faithfully discern your vote and continue advocacy after the Feb 27th election.
Brief presentations by five panel members on selected topics.
Panelists will respond to questions from the audience.
Advance registration required:
https://united-church.zoom.us/meeting/register/Pfy-0rDhQt-l-V5KqspFkw
For more information contact:
Thérèse Samuel tsamuel@united-church.ca and John Egger jegger@united-church.ca
Moderator:
Rev. Éric Hébert-Daly serves as the Executive Minister to ECO and EOO Regional Councils in Eastern Ontario. He was ordained in 2020. He served for 5 years as Responsible, Ministries in French, for 9 years as the National Executive Director of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. Éric spent 17 years working in federal political circles and 7 years as a registered lobbyist. He also brings a hope-filled passion for the church.
Panel Members
Charles Barrett is a retired economist, who was actively involved in policy dialogue in North America, and the Asia-Pacific region in international economic relations, human resources development and capacity building. He has broad research experience and has written extensively on Canadian and international policy issues. He is a member of Riverside United Church, Ottawa and Eastern Ontario Outaouais Regional Council.
The Rev. Dr. Jessica Hetherington is an ecotheologian and ordained minister in the United Church of Canada. Working at the intersection of ecology and theology for 20 years, she inspires people of faith to transform their actions in response to the climate crisis. She currently serves as commissioner on climate justice with the World Council of Churches and the World Communion of Reformed Churches. Sign up for her weekly newsletter: Faith. Climate Crisis. Action. (https://jessicahetherington.substack.com/).
Bryan Smith is a long-term member of the Oxford Coalition for Social Justice, an organization committed to work and advocacy on a wide range of social and environmental issues locally in the County of Oxford and across the planet. It stands in for the Ontario Health Coalition and stands up for public health. Bryan is a retired teacher, and is active in providing school lunches and community dinners, and promoting local foods, the avoidance of waste, community events, and public health.
Rev. Jeffrey Dale (they/he) is the Minister at College Street United Church in downtown Toronto. Jeffrey is a harm reduction advocate and community educator, working with harm reduction advocacy groups throughout the Province of Ontario to educate communities of faith and the wider society regarding the needs of people who use drugs.
Rev. Susan Eagle is the minister at Grace United Church in Barrie. She chairs both the Ecological and Social Justice Commission for Shining Waters Regional Council, and the Steering Committee of the provincial interfaith coalition, ISARC, which does policy analysis and advocacy for income security, homelessness and employment rights. She has worked with newcomer and low-income individuals and sole-support families as a community outreach worker, and served on London City Council for 13 years.
This workshop is presented by the Social Justice Network of Ontario Regional Councils (SJNORC) with representation from Eastern Ontario Outaouais, East Central Ontario, Shining Waters, Canadian Shield, Antler River Watershed, Horseshoe Falls, Western Ontario Waterways and Prairie to Pine Regional Councils of The United Church of Canada.
Engage, Pray, Vote.
Read More Here
by Michele | Jan 16, 2025 | Affirming, Anti-Racism, Camps & Retreats, Children & Youth, Climate Change, Community, Events, Fundraiser, Global Community, Indigenous Justice, LGBTQIA+ and Two-Spirit people, News, Orange Shirt Day, Regional Council, Resources, Right Relations, Social Justice, The United Church of Canada, Volunteer
Is your church or ministry doing something new or exciting to grow your faith, reach out to the community, or seek justice for people or creation?
Don’t just be quiet about it! Let us know, so we can share the good news with others in the regional council.
Click to fill in the form: Story Sharing of Faith Formation, Justice and Outreach Activities – https://forms.office.com/r/cb4c1PR8Q3
God is doing so much in and through our churches. Let us celebrate and encourage one another by sharing stories of Christ’s church at work and at play.
For information contact Thérèse Samuel Tsamuel@united-church.ca
by Michele | Jan 10, 2025 | 100th Anniversary, Anti-Racism, Camps & Retreats, Children & Youth, Climate Change, Community, Events, Global Community, Indigenous Justice, Learning Opportunities, LGBTQIA+ and Two-Spirit people, Mission & Service, News, Pastoral Relations, Regional Council, Resources, Right Relations, Social Justice, Staff, Stewardship, The United Church of Canada, UCW
Flourishing: Antler River, Western Ontario Waterways, and Horseshoe Falls Regional Councils
Spend a day with the Moderator, engaging in reflection and energizing activities towards dream-oriented actions for our churches and communities.
Saturday, February 22, 2025, 9:00 am to 4:30 pm (local time).
9:00am -9:30am Registration and coffee/tea
9:30am – Welcome and Introductions
In person
Avondale United Church, 194 Avondale Ave., Stratford, ON N5A 6N4
All around the world – from universities to the United Nations, from corporations to community organizations – people are talking about flourishing. Rooted in belonging, flourishing means living with purpose and joy, and bringing bold collaborative solutions to our world’s challenges.
The Moderator, the Rev. Dr. Carmen Lansdowne, wants to bring that conversation to The United Church of Canada. She invites us to connect to one another in hope, with a deep conviction by a belief that, despite all the challenges of church life in this day and age, we can move from despair to transformation – from languishing to flourishing.
Is your church flourishing?
(Perhaps that’s the wrong question.)
Is your church contributing to the flourishing of your community?
How might we truly be a flourishing church in the world? How might we live in deep spirituality, bold discipleship and daring justice, linked from coast to coast to coast in ministry that transforms us and the world around us?
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER: Flourishing Workshop
by Michele | Oct 4, 2024 | Affirming, Anti-Racism, Camps & Retreats, Children & Youth, Community, Events, Learning Opportunity, LGBTQIA+ and Two-Spirit people, News, Regional Council, Social Justice, The United Church of Canada
Regional Councils of ARW, HF and WOW in partnership with The Hub and Trinity UC Kitchener-
Thursday November 28th, 2024, 6:30-8:30 (all participants are asked to arrive at 6:40).
Background: Post-pandemic, Youth leaders struggle to put together groups. A message often heard from youth in the church is that what’s being offered doesn’t work for them. Being an intercultural church includes finding ways to bridge communication between different age groups/generations.
Goal– To offer a forum that brings together youth and Elders in the church– a forum that allows the two groups to hear one another and be heard by one another, and to consider what might be the Spirit’s invitation to the church for youth ministry at this time.
FISHBOWL PROCESS:
8 Youth (teens to twenty-somethings) and 8 Elders (45+) from WOW, HF and ARW Regional Councils and facilitators will gather via Zoom.
- Discussion questions will invite each to share and listen to experiences of their own youth faith formation, and hopes and challenges for youth ministry then and now.
- On each question, using the Zoom spotlight feature to focus on one group of eight:
- Youth will invite one another to share, while the Elders listen.
- Places will be switched, and the Elders will invite one another to share while the Youth listen.
- For some questions, the order might be reversed, with Elders sharing first
- After two rounds of sharing in separate groups, Youth and Elders will have an opportunity to reflect together as one group.
Each group will be invited to reflect on what they have heard and consider possible next steps.
Participants will be given questions for reflection and feedback, to be submitted in writing following the session.
This is a cross-cultural listening event, and a pilot project. This session will not focus on problem solving or planning. The focus of this event is to listen and learn about one another as a first step of re-visioning youth ministry in ARW, HF and WOW in this post-pandemic time.
An HONORARIUM of $105 is available for participants who are not otherwise paid for their time in this discussion.
To apply, complete the Application Form :
https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=qLUYz3gmEUCTEhXw9xV1dPBWSFWIXSNPila5mgKiAchUM0NLV0kyWUtVM1JXUEcyOUw4QlVaRlVDUS4u
Application deadline November 18, 2024
For more information contact
Thérèse Samuel tsamuel@united-church.ca
Kathy Douglas kdouglas@united-church.ca
Adam Cresswell – hubleadership@gmail.com
Aimee Belanger at youthevents@hubcommunity.ca
by Michele | Sep 13, 2024 | Affirming, Anti-Racism, Children & Youth, Community, Events, Global Community, Indigenous Justice, Learning Opportunity, LGBTQIA+ and Two-Spirit people, News, Resources, Social Justice, The United Church of Canada
Greetings Siblings in Christ,
It has come to our attention that across-Canada anti-2S-LGBTQIA+ protest marches are to be held on Friday, September 20, 2024. The organization responsible, Hands Off Our Kids (https://handsoffourkids.ca/) states their mission is to:“safeguard children from gender ideology teachings, sexual indoctrination, exposure to explicit sexual content, ensuring that parental consent remains paramount.” They also aim to “protect our children from thought control and will ensure their religious freedoms are protected.”
Their rhetoric has been strongly anti-2S-LGBTQIA+ and especially anti-Trans in the past. This group has worked to exert influence in school boards in Ontario and beyond, spreading harmful misinformation and opposing SOGI (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity) education in schools, again with misinformation. For information about SOGI click HERE.
These marches are planned across Canada on September 20, including the following locations across our tri-regional councils:
WOW: Owen Sound, Meaford, Hanover, Orangeville and Kitchener
HF: Mississauga (2 locations), Oakville, Milton, Hamilton
ARW : London, Windsor
More details and updates can be found on their website: https://handsoffourkids.ca/resources/
A constantly updated list of in-person presence and counter-protests is available here. The private Facebook group 1 Million Voices for Inclusion, which also hosts community-specific chats and planning, is an excellent resource for ideas and support.
Christ calls us to be a peace-seeking, truth-speaking,
love-focused presence in the face of these movements.
How can you be active?
Faith-Filled Responses
- Send letters of encouragement to school staff and to any student group or individuals who need support;
- deliver homemade real church cookies to those groups/individuals;
- use your church signage and lawn to send PIE messaging;
- write letters to the editor;
- learn about SOGI and what it really is, as opposed to the myths spread about it;
- support school board candidates and members who are supportive of 2SLGBTQIA+ human rights.
- Offer support to transgender, Two Spirit, and gender-diverse people who are being targeted by this movement.
Faith-Focussed responses:
- Pray
- Re-read all the radical bible verses about God’s all- encompassing love.
- And be PIE— public, intentional, and explicit—about the fact that you’re people of faith supporting 2S-LGBTQIA+ people (using your best judgement about when and how, of course).
When we show up in a positive way, it is noticed!
When discussing with your congregation:
- Know that it is possible that well-meaning people in your congregation may be supporting these movements. Leading with language of “hate” in this instance can alienate the well-meaning people that you wish to connect with.
- While the “Hands Off Our Kids” and related movements are understood as hate movements, and that is an accurate description of the impact of these movements, not everyone who shows up in support of these marches is doing so out of hate.
- Name and honour how this harms people in 2S-LGBTQIA+ communities without conveying an assumption that this harm was intended. Intentions and impacts are often very different, but a well-meaning intention does not erase hurtful and harmful impacts.
- Offer grounded information to counteract harmful mis-information.
If you are making plans or have concerns, please contact me, Thérèse Samuel, Minister Right Relations and Social Justice, and my colleague John Egger, Minister, Social Justice.
Thanks to Northern Spirit Regional Council and clergy from Western Ontario Waterways Regional Council for sharing information that helped in the creation of parts of this resource.
