Bedeque United Church with the Rev. Barbara Cairns |
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EDGE was honoured to have the Reverend Barbara Cairns take some time out recently to chat with Zoe Chaytors about Bedeque United Church and its unique community ministry! Bedeque United Church is a community of faith of approximately 50 people, located on Prince Edward Island. It has been using an Embracing the Spirit Grant to set up pop-up programing as a form of community outreach—simple but innovative initiatives with an element of faith formation (but no preaching) designed to provide people with places to connect, such as:- Providing hospitality at a local café, where people can meet the minister and each other.
- Offering small group Bible studies in a church or other community space.
- Running family skate times at the local arena.
- Running a Vacation Bible School where children from families who didn’t attend church participated.
- Providing space for a local farmer to sell sunflowers and pumpkins, with the proceeds going to support people in the Ukraine.
- Creating opportunities for children and families to plant seeds and bulbs and participate in other gardening activities.
Bedeque United is especially excited by events that create opportunities for intergenerational contact, such as opportunities for youth and elderly people to work together. The model it’s developed is similar in way to that of the Messy Church movement, but Cairns’ work in this area was inspired when she visited a popup art sale in Toronto.
“It got me thinking about church…” Barbara told Zoe. "The idea is, get some help for a short piece of project and then let it go.”
The appeal of the pop-up ministry lies in this idea. Pop-ups are:- Time-limited: Pop-ups are short-term in duration and don’t involve much planning or follow-up.
- A good way to get volunteers involved with ministry and outreach: Pop-ups are perfect for those that don’t want to or don’t have a lot of extra time or don’t want to/can’t make a long-term commitment to church service, but still want to volunteer.
- Effective outreach on a low budget: Short-term projects run by volunteers, with opportunities to lower costs through working with partners, make pop-ups ideal for lower-cost community engagement.
Cairns uses a story to demonstrate these strengths, talking about how a local café’s resistance to hosting a pop-up to raise awareness of and educate the community about domestic violence decreased after seeing how partnering with the church to use the pop-up model lowered costs for everyone involved while simultaneously raising the “buzz” around the event.
Cairns also likes the idea of the pop-up as a tool to navigate the realities of a post-COVID world, speaking of how it helps to address a collective grief surrounding how we’re still not able (or not able on the scale that we were) to do things that we used to do. The pop-up is helping people get back to doing what they love and giving to community while doing so.
There’s such lovely joy in this story of simple ideas making a big difference. Listen to Barbara Cairns full EDGEy conversation with Zoe Chaytors.
[Image credit: Canva/EDGE] |
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Theory of Change Runs February 13 - 26, 2023  What impact do you want your program to have? How will you know you’re having that impact? How will you make your program sustainable? Learn what your mission is and understand what’s required to achieve it. We can have a greater impact if we think strategically about our desired impact while planning, implementing, and evaluating our programs. The Theory of Change workshop helps attendees break their program down into its attendant parts, differentiating between “what you do” and “what you achieve.” A Theory of Change provides a roadmap that outlines the steps by which you plan to achieve your goal. A Theory of Change helps align your stakeholders to your larger mission and understand their role in achieving it. By the end of the program, you will determine the precise link between your program’s activities and outcomes for the purposes of planning, participation, and evaluation. The workshop includes asynchronous independent work and synchronous Zoom sessions. Chris Rotolo will run two sections of The Theory of Change Workshop in 2023: Remember: your idea is a product of your unique brilliance! Developing your theory of change isn't about changing yourself but making you (and your idea!) the most "you" possible! [Image credit: CHURCHx/EDGE] |
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Complete Signpost Series Now Available on CHURCHx
EDGE realizes that the online cohort learning experience isn’t for everyone.
Some people thrive on the opportunities for real-time contact course with instructors/facilitators and other students that they get in Leading Adaptively, the Theory of Change, and the Curiosity Cohort. They prefer that most of their learning go on in a virtual classroom environment, where they gather with other students at predesignated times on a platform such as Zoom to receive instruction, discuss the material, and ask questions. This form of online learning is called synchronous learning, and in EDGE courses it doesn’t involve much homework between sessions.
Some people aren’t keen on synchronous online learning, for a few reasons:- They prefer to set their own learning schedule rather than show up for a class at pre-determined times, and like the idea of being able to do their coursework any time they want.
- They learn better by reading on their own than they do by being in a classroom environment.
- Their internet connection doesn’t easily support the demands of accessing a class over a platform like Zoom.
Asynchronous online learning refers to courses (and classwork within synchronous courses) that can be done at any time, with no in-class component.
Because our cohorts are so reliant on discussion, there aren’t completely asynchronous versions of them currently available (although the Leading Adaptively and Theory of Change sessions are taped in case participants must miss a session.)
However, EDGE is proud to announce that our asynchronous Signpost Series is complete and now fully available on CHURCHx! Each course in this eight-part series (Seven Signposts, plus a bonus course!) is an independent learning opportunity for communities of faith ready to take a change journey, beginning with the first step of assessing your situation and articulating your story and culminating with a review of your changed ecosystem and framework for visioning.
Once you’ve purchased access to a Signpost, you have unlimited time to complete it, so you can:- Start right away with the first one.
- Purchase the one that interests you most and start it when you have time; you don’t need to complete the Signposts in order.
- Do the Signposts alongside one or more of our synchronous cohorts or use them as way to lead into or follow up on your cohort learning.
We’ve made the Signpost learning process flexible so that you can learn what you need, when you need it.
Check out the Signpost Titles below to learn more about them!Reduced rate available for communities of faith that wish to purchase the Signposts as a bundle. Please contact Sarah at slevis@united-church.com to learn more about this option or if you have any questions.
Whether you prefer to learn synchronously or asynchronously, you’ll find support for your learning needs with the online course materials that EDGE has developed for CHURCHx.
[Image credits: CHURCHx/EDGE] |
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Embracing the Spirit supports 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! We're happy to consult with communities of faith about the supports available to help them develop their new ideas. |
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