“How we listen is integral to how we make connections.  How we feel heard is integral to relationship.  Hearing one another and feeling heard [and this isn’t limited just to physical hearing] are part and parcel of living and working in community” is what President Rebekah wrote to me when she first suggested “Stop and Listen” as the Theme for our Western Ontario Waterways Regional Council Spring Meeting which is to be held starting Friday May 22 at 1:00pm and ending Sunday May 24th at 12:15pm in Port Elgin at the Unifor Centre.

Even as Rebekah has been on Restorative Care, we have sought to honour this vision–dreaming and planning for the ways in which this spring meeting can deepen our connections, strengthen our relationships and nurture our sense of community in WOW.  Not just with one another but also with our God.

To help us bring our theme to life, we will have Betty Pries as our
theme speaker for the weekend.  We will be holding a Celebration of
Ministries Service on Saturday afternoon.  We will have an opportunity to stop and listen to what we need to hear and respond to from the General Council meeting last summer.  We will be engaging in worship and spiritual practices.  Like last year, there will be workshops offered on Friday night for those in person and those participating online. If you have an idea for a workshop that you’d love to see at a regional council meeting, we’re listening!  Please send ideas to me jennifer@ucstayner.ca.

We had originally announced that our regional council meeting would take place over two days.  Once we started planning, we realized that in order to do everything we wanted to do (and provide spaciousness for any real listening to take place) we needed to go over onto the Sunday.

Sunday May 24th just happens to be Pentecost Sunday!  A special
Pentecost Worship will be prepared and available by the beginning of May for Communities of Faith to use for that Sunday Worship.  Isn’t it exciting that we will be together as a regional council as all the disciples were together when the Holy Spirit blew through the people? I wonder what we will hear as we listen together for the Spirit’s wisdom!

Registration for the meeting will be opening on Tuesday March 24th.  Please note that this year there will be a registration fee of $50.00 for online participants.  A reminder to all that Pastoral Charges are responsible for covering the costs for all Regional Reps (ordered and lay) attending these meetings. 

Please connect with Executive Minister Mark Laird at mlaird@united-church.ca if cost is a barrier to your participation–we have a policy for that!

Let this be a time of listening for God’s guidance for our Regional
Council as we “stop and listen” to one another in love.

Acting President,