About WOWRC
The Western Ontario Waterways Regional Council (WOWRC) came into existence on January 1, 2019.
What We Believe
United Church faith communities welcome people from all backgrounds and orientations.
Staff Directory
Western Ontario Waterways Regional Council Staff profiles and contact info.
Stewardship & Gifts
Generosity is our response to God’s call to be compassionate disciples. Together, the people of the United Church live out Jesus’ vision and values by caring for each other and the world. Each and every day, we join God’s life-changing mission to make ourselves, our community and our world more peaceful, just and loving for everyone. “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10b)
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Day 13: Melchior emerged visibly shaken by his encounter with what he would later refer to as “monstrous” dust bunnies.
DECEMBER NEWSLETTER
Western Ontario Waterways Regional Council Website
wowrcucc.ca/
Western Ontario Waterways Regional Council's website is live. Check out the many tools and resources that you will find here. Content is being added regularly so be sure to check back often. Some of the current features are:
Staff Directory
Pastoral Relations Toolkits
Congregational Support Toolkits
Minutes of Transition Council and Executive
Find a Community of Faith
Stewardship Resources
wowrcucc.ca/
ADVENT UNWRAPPED
New Resources
Get ready for Christ(mas)! Advent—the holy, four-week countdown to Jesus’ birthday—which began on Sunday, December 1! Get ready to make room for Christ and the radical, countercultural messages that Christ brings.
Throughout the season, videos, prayers, family resources, and reflections on this page will introduce and explore the Christmas story. For more worship resources visit our Advent and Christmas worship pages. Follow our Advent Unwrapped Facebook page for regular updates on all kinds of resources.
GIFTS WITH VISION
Looking for inspiring new gift ideas or perhaps would rather not give family and friends the same old clothes/toys/chocolates, Gifts with Vision presents a better way to celebrate special occasions. A gift that can help change lives!
Everyone will find something in Gifts with Vision worth sharing with the special people in their lives. Gifts are available in a range of dollar amounts, as well as for many areas of need — hunger, shelter, education, health, safety, and more...
CHRISTMAS BEER & HYMNS
Monday, December 16
7 - 9 pm in Kitchener
Skylight Festival, a festival of Faith, Arts and Justice, supported by the UCC EDGE Network, is hosting its first-ever event outside of festival weekend - Christmas Beer 'n Hymns in Kitchener.
Come on out to 319 Victoria Street N. in Kitchener. Hymnbooks will be there! Bring your friends. RSVP on Facebook.
WORSHIPLUDE IN OTTAWA!!!
January 31 - February 3
Skate on the Rideau Canal, ride ice slides, see amazing ice sculptures and more, as part of Ottawa's Winterlude.
Contemporary worship, dinner and the Alt Space Event with other youth and young adults. For more information email Dana Ducette - dducette@united-church.ca
CENTRE FOR CHRISTIAN STUDIES
COMMON THREADS
Cookies and Carols 2019
If you're in the Winnipeg area on December 10th, why not join us from 4-6 pm for festive singing and holiday treats?
Companion of the Centre 2020
The Centre for Christian Studies is pleased to announce that the 2020 recipient of the Companion of the Centre Award is ...
Spiritual Practice 2019
Students spent a week exploring spiritual practice as a tool for pastoral care. Check out some images.
A Room Full of Mentors
Regional gatherings of diaconal ministers provide an opportunity for students to make connections and form identity.
What I Learned at CCS and Why Our News Reading Habits Matter
Ray McGinnis uses the critical analysis skills he gained at CCS to take a closer look at news from Bolivia.
SHARING OUR STORIES, CLAIMING OUR NAMES: Kim Uyede-Kai
Kim Uyede-Ka, the region's Minister of Right Relations,i writes from the Asian Ecumenical Women’s Assembly, a “herstorical” assembly where women could hear one another’s stories be given voice, some for the first time.
Kim starts her (first-ever) blog with a question she was asked often, "What country are you from? Indonesia? Korea? Taiwan?” “No, Canada.” “But your face looks like…!”
Read the rest of the blog ...
MEET JOAN TUCHLINSKY
Minister, Social Justice
jtuchlinsky@united-church.ca
"So good to meet everyone at our recent Region Council meeting! Thank you for the warm welcome and your commitment to sharing our gender-specific and gender-neutral pronouns (download & share) at the meeting. As we continue to do this in other gatherings and places we are creating a welcoming and safe space for everyone.
If you want any support in working on a social justice issue with other communities of faith in your area, please feel free to contact me at jtuchlinsky@united-church.ca."
WEEK OF GUIDED PRAYER
A Unique and Meaningful Opportunity for Deepening your Relationship with God. Encourage your Congregation to Hold a Week of Guided Prayer. A Retreat Guided by the Holy Spirit in the Midst of Daily Life.
Find out more through the website. Purchase the 94-page manual and materials with this form and start your congregation on your chosen Sunday.
WANT TO INCLUDE SOMETHING HERE?
Do you know of a region-wide event or happening that would be of interest to ministry personnel and/or lay members? To have it posted in this regional newsletter, send an email with the information to pkukadia@united-church.ca.
The next deadline is January 17.
COVENANTING SERVICE!!!
Thursday, December 12 @ 7 pm
Ebenezer United Church
Come celebrate with Candidate Supply Carolin MacMillan and the Ebenezer Pastoral Charge in this new covenant of ministry.
Jack Findlay is the Regional Council Liaison and Rev. Sonia Ireson will be preaching. Rev. Heather Leffler will be presiding, and music will be provided by Ebenezer’s own accomplished jazz pianist, John Zadro.
UNITED CHURCH VIDEO LICENSES
Now Available - Apply NOW
Deadline: December 31st
EDGE is pleased to offer Public Performance Video Licenses at great cost savings for your community of faith! They enable your church to show full-length or clips from movies or TV shows as a part of worship, fundraisers, family nights, youth group events or educational programs. Showing films without a public performance license is a breach of Canadian Copyright Laws.
We have negotiated video licensing agreements with Criterion Pictures and Audio Ciné Films (ACF) Inc. who represent most of the major distributors including Paramount, Universal, Alliance Atlantis, New Line Cinema, Miramax, Disney, Veggie Tales and many more!
Visit: buyingunited.net/video-licensing for all the information. Application deadline for a 2020 license is December 31, 2019. Email or call Alexandra at 1-800-268-3781 x4157.
SAVE-THE-DATE
Saturday, January 25, 10-12 pm
M & P Workshop
A Ministry & Personnel workshop will be held on Saturday, January 25 from 10:00 am to noon. The location is still to be determined somewhere in the region.
Register with Ruthanna Mack to reserve your seat and/or for your group.
DO YOU WANT TO BE ON THE PULPIT SUPPLY LIST?
We are looking for ministry personnel who are willing to be available to do pulpit supply in our regions. Licensed Lay Worship Leaders (LLWLs) do much pulpit supply and that list is often sent out.
Click on the photo to go to the form.
Right now we are gathering the names of ministry personnel who are interested in being on a list for supply. Look under 'Pastoral Relations Toolkits' on the Western Ontario Waterways website. We look forward to hearing from you!
TORONTO UNITED CHURCH COUNCIL
2 Upcoming Opportunities
Communities of Faith and Social Enterprise: An Afternoon with Shaun Loney
Turn your underused church space into meaningful, problem-solving space!
Sunday, January 19, 1:00 – 4:30 pm
Trinity United Church, 461 Park Avenue, Newmarket.
$25 per person (free for Living Presence Ministry congregations).
Innovative Ministry Centre Call for Participants
The Innovative Ministry Centre is seeking two United Church communities of faith to take part in a new program along with three congregations that have already signed up. Our mission is to help churches develop and sustain new, innovative missional ministries that can reach people who are not at present connected with church. The program is geared toward capacity building for communities of faith who are currently or who have previously participated in forms of innovative ministry..
Read the TUCC newsletter for complete information and registration.
CURRICULUM WORKSHOP
Saturday, January 25 10-3pm
Emmanuel UC, Waterloo
Curricula that engages children but it's yours on a shoe-string budget: Free!! It's home-grown, tried and true, and best of all, it's free for those who attend. Ministers and lay leaders will be introduced to three curricula and how to implement them in your ministry context.
Three workshops with presenters Alana Martin and Pat Morrison.
Find out more: Curriculum Workshop
A TIME TO PREPARE FOR...
Annual Meetings!
1. Extension of Voting Rights to Adherents
A community of faith may now extend voting rights to adherents on any matter. To be able to do this, the congregation must first identify who are adherents. This information is often kept informally in a congregation. Prior to the Annual Meeting, the governing body should recognize the names of adherents in order to be able to extend voting rights to them.
2. Budget 2020
Attendance at Regional Council Meetings
Please remember to include a line to cover the cost for ministry personnel and lay representatives to attend the regional council meetings. Two meetings are planned for 2020: May 29-31 in Port Elgin AND Fall 2020 in the regional council
Assessment: An assessment update will be issued by the General Council in December.
Any community of faith that moved to the target assessment will have learned their 2020 assessment figure as the final step of submitting their 2018 statistics online.
Any community of faith that opted for the 10% maximum increase in assessment will have the same assessment fee in 2020. In this case, the congregation might want to consider gradually increasing their assessment over the next two years so that the end of the grace period does not bring a significant increase over the previous year.
3. Nominating Committee
Ministry personnel do not serve as part of the Nominating Committee. Please ensure your community of faith elects its regional council representatives. There is a minimum of one representative per congregation.
Additional representatives are elected on the following basis:
Two representatives from each community of faith with 101 to 200 members;
Three representatives from each with 201 to 300 members;
Four representatives from each with more than 300 resident members
Manual (2019) Section C 1.1.2 a)
4. Board of Trustees
It is helpful for the community of faith to confirm the membership of their Board of Trustees at the Annual Meeting. Please remember there is no criteria for being an "Honorary Trustee"; if a long-time Trustee has retired and the community of faith wishes to acknowledge the important role they played, please call them a "Trustee Emeritus." This avoids any confusion under the law.
Songs for the Holy Other
A new resource from the Hymn Society of the United States and Canada , Hymns Affirming The LGBTQIA2S+ Community! Hymns for the Holy Other is an online hymnal that emerged from a desire to make queer hymns — hymns by, for, or about the LGBTQIA2S+ community — accessible to a wider range of congregations.
We celebrate the contributions of those who have paved the way for this collection, and hope to create a dynamic resource of additional resources that are available to congregations in the near future.
Connecting, Supporting, Transforming
SIGN UP FOR NEWSLETTERS: pkukadia@united-church.ca
Our phone number is:
1-833-236-0280
Our mailing address is:
Western Ontario Waterways Regional Council, UCC
PO Box 100
Carlisle, On L0R 1H0
Canada
Mighton Funeral Home - Hanover
Mighton Funeral Home - Hanover
www.mightonfuneralhome.ca
We are committed with our funeral services to the families we serve and strive to ensure all essential details are taken care of. Together we will celebrate the life of your loved one. Proudly serving...Day 12: Unsettled by the conflicting imagery that promised both joy and doom, the travelers did not stop to rest.
Contact Us
Phone: 1-833-236-0280 ext. 0 | 905-659-3343 ext. 0
Mailing Address
Western Ontario Waterways Ontario Regional Council
PO Box 100, Carlisle
Ontario L0R 1H0
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Courier Address
Western Ontario Waterways Ontario Regional Council
1552 Highway #6, Waterdown
Ontario L8N 2Z7