Churches, Denominations and Religions: Embracing the Spirit: Pivoting into Change

Saturday, May 2, 2020

Embracing the Spirit: Pivoting into Change

Spiritual Entrepreneurs Pivot!

Working on Embracing the Spirit has been such a blessing and it continues to be in this time. Over the last two months we have had many conversations with grant recipients and innovators that are actively pivoting.

Here are some inspiring examples:

Four United Church camps within the Maritimes (Kidston, Sherbrooke Lake, Abegweit, and Tawasi) will be pooling their existing resources (with the support of the Outdoor Recreational Ministries Unit of Fundy St. Lawrence Dawning Waters Regional Council and Region 15) to design, produce, and deliver “Virtual Camp” - a combination of interactive online activities and hands-on materials delivered to each camper’s home. Leadership for these activities will be provided by camp staff - offering a reassuring ministry of presence for campers and an opportunity for service for youth leadership.
Community Innovation Hub partnered with Eco-Commons to pivot and run their first virtual conference last week. They had over 50 communities of faith thinking about "commoning" and becoming "hubs". Instead of an hour long keynote, they used Zoom breakout rooms to have discussions about each topic and share local stories. Instead of workshops, they used World Café taking into account how this needed to be adapted to be online.
Life. School. House. is a folk school organization in Nova Scotia that has over 12 host homes across the province and has been teaching things canning to woodworking in a local environment. They have honed active hosting skills and adapted them for an online format, as well as developed best practices that they can share.
Hop In Technologies, a Social Innovation Challenges winner in 2018, continues to grow their business into new opportunities. They shared that they have pivoted their business multiple times and continue to do so during this time. Watch their update.

Remember to join EDGE-y Conversations, every Monday at 1:00 p.m. EDT to hear stories of innovators and find out how communities of faith continue to pivot and adapt to new realities.

[Photo: Pixabay]

Know a Changemaker?

Do you know an exceptional young adult who is motivated to work towards positive change in their rural community? Are you interested in supporting them to achieve their potential?

Rural Ontario Institute (ROI) is looking for young adults who are motivated to make positive change in their communities as well as improve their own skills and knowledge as community development leaders.

Sounds like young adults within The United Church of Canada to us!

Join an information webinar to learn more:

May 5 at 10:00 a.m. https://zoom.us/j/984547468
May 6 at 6:30 p.m. https://zoom.us/j/143891171

[Photo: Duangphorn Wiriya, Unsplash / Image: Rural Ontario Institute]

A Pivoting Story: Technology to the Rescue

Written by Barbara Sheffield

Islington United Church and ECULINKS Etobicoke had a difficult decision to make in mid-March. Having received an Embracing the Spirit grant to hire a facilitator to formalize a network of private refugee sponsors from faith-based and community organizations, we had to cancel our first development meeting a day before it was to take place.

“Disappointment was high, anxiety was growing around COVID-19 community spread, but everyone felt it was the right decision”, said Barbara Sheffield, event co-ordinator. “Our facilitator suggested we could do our work using ZOOM, but we were mostly a group of people who were used to face-to-face consultation. How would we cope being comfortable with a technology that seemed so impersonal?”

We quickly learned to take a different approach to our project and just had our first meeting of 30 people on April 15 using ZOOM to get our work started. We discussed the future of the informal network that has been in place since 2015, and what help it should provide to private sponsors in future.

Our goal is to design a new organization that will support both faith-based and community sponsors to help refugees settle successfully. We had been involved in some initial research before COVID-19, and are now using our online discussion to develop a model that will meet overall needs of information-sharing, problem-solving, and training. Future calls will focus on branding, governance and long-term sustainability.

The participants bring a wealth of expertise to the discussion and are anxious to get the job done. Planning for the next discussion is underway through the leadership of our facilitator Alex Gill, The Mendicant Group, who is funded by our EDGE grant. So, not only are we moving forward, despite COVID-19, but we have more confidence in using current technology.

[Photo: Gabriel Benois on Unsplash]

EDGE-y COVID-19 Resources

We are not alone – we’re going to get through this together. Visit EDGE’s COVID-19 Resource page to find resources for helping ministries, ministers, and everyone staying connected in different ways through these uncertain times.

Find resources for worship and pastoral care, children and youth, education, business and finance, and live streaming. We connected with Regional Council resources, General Council resources, denominations across North America, and people like you to build this up.

If you have more resources that we can share, email us!

[Photo: Guido Hofmann on Unsplash]

Embracing the Spirit is a learning network and innovation fund. It offers funding and support for innovation ideas hatched out of faith communities and communities in ministry. Some of the stories and best practices that are happening throughout The United Church of Canada are shared in this newsletter.

If you have an idea that you want to launch, reach out and tell us about it! Proposal deadlines are quarterly, and due on the 15th of the month: January, April, July and October. Find out more.