EDGEy Conversations with the Rev. Craig Miller of Knox United Church The United Church of Canada is busy right now implementing the first steps of strategic plan for the next five years. The Rev. Craig Miller of Knox United Church in Brandon, Manitoba took some time out recently to talk to EDGE’s Bronwyn Corlett about how his community of faith has been implementing part of its strategic plan—that it developed while COVID was going on!
Knox United’s strategic planning process actually started pre-COVID, with a series of round table discussions for the congregation in 2019, and a community round table discussion in early 2020. Round table discussions are a great way to engage people in discussion about their community and its status—to hear everyone’s voice, and to help identify:- What’s working well and what isn’t
- Service gaps
- A vision for the community in the future and what’s needed to achieve it
Representatives from the wider community attend Community Round Tables to provide perspective from various sectors on community needs and potential for development. Over twenty people representing different Brandon agencies and services, such as the John Howard Society, food bank, and homeless shelter, attended Knox United’s Community Round Table to be part of the discussion.
Based on the information gathered from the community of faith dound Tables and the Community Round Table, Know United felt well-positioned to develop a strategic plan while COVID was happening. It identified five critical areas on which to focus: Community Engagement, Truth and Reconciliation, Faith Formation with a focus on children and youth, Financial Sustainability, and Ecojustice. In this EDGEy Conversation, Miller talks about the work Knox United has been doing in Ecojustice.
Knox United started its Ecojustice work with a Green Team already in place, but the expanded vision and partnerships created by the Community Round Table accelerated its work. The Green Team and its partners reached out to Manitoba’s Climate Action Team (CAT), who visited Brandon in the spring of 2022 to give a presentation on the climate action plan it had in development. Sixty people attended in person, and over 100 people have viewed the livestream; some of these people joined the Green Team and other concerned community members to form Sustainable Brandon, a climate action working group that became a charitable organization.
Knox United was off and running toward its climate change goals. Funding from Canada Summer Jobs and the Climate Project let the Green Team hire a summer student to look at climate change best practices in cities with demographics like Brandon’s. Sustainable Brandon also received a $50,000 grant from CAT, which came in handy—when it came out that Brandon’s Climate Action Plan would include ill-advised development to protected watershed areas, Sustainable Brandon was ready to send representatives to the City Council meetings armed with information that the Council didn’t know and needed to consider.
For Knox United, a new period of increased community engagement and collaboration had begun. Organizations approached them for volunteer support, letters of support on projects, and for help finding funding promoting events. It was invited to join a Community Wellness Collaborative and was then asked why it was the only community of faith to send a representative.
They applied for and then received a $10,000 grant from the Justice and Reconciliation Fund of the United Church of Canada that they will use for Brandon’s Truth and Reconciliation Week in September.
Miller has also noticed stronger relationships with groups that participated in the Community Round table, including the Brandon Urban Aboriginal Peoples Council. He believes that proactively contacting potential partners gave them a chance to tell Knox United, “Here’s what we need from you,” and gave Knox United a chance to expand its focus and vision and show what it could offer to the community. He says that their biggest learning is: Be ready to be surprised.
“If you do this, be prepared, because willing to engage and willing to partner,” he told Bronwyn.
The result? “I think we’re stronger than we’ve been in probably quite a while.”
Listen to Bronwyn’s full EDGEy Conversation with Craig Miller, and check out our free Signpost from CHURCHx to learn more about Community Round Tables.
[Image credit: Canva] |
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Video License Applications Due May 31, 2023  Do you know the rules for publicly showing copyrighted videos and video clips without a public performance license? Did you know that those rules apply to a potentially wide variety of situations, from showing a clip of a speech to a small group in your office to sharing a short, inspirational scene from your favourite movie during your Sunday sermon to running a showing of a film on a summer evening for families with young children? Public performance licenses are required to do these things to avoid breaking copyright law in Canada. Cover yourself by taking advantage of the opportunity to buy performance licenses at a reduced rate through Buying United. Buying United offers both standard licenses, which require you to own/rent the content you are showing, and streaming licenses, which allow you to use the licensing agency’s online content library to stream to your church. Some significant studios these licenses cover include 20th Century Fox, Columbia Pictures, Focus Features, Lucasfilm Ltd., Miramax Films, Paramount Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios, Touchstone Pictures and many more! Spring applications are due Wednesday, May 31, 2023, for licenses that operate from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024. For More Information about the Video Licensing Program:Video Licensing is offered as a part of the Buying United program, which aims to support communities of faith through offering discounted products and services. Round Table Procurement Services now manages the Buying United program, so you’ll need to visit Buying United’s new website to find out more about Video Licensing (including pricing): - Visit RTPS.ca/UCC/home
- Click “Register”
- Fill out the form, using the access code: united
You’ll receive a confirmation email prompting you to sign in within 24 to 48 hours. After you sign in, click “Preferred Suppliers” to explore all the discounts the United Church offers. Please reach out to edge@united-church.ca if you have any questions about this process or about Video Licensing in general. |
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Register Now for Spring and Summer Learning with EDGE!
Leading Adaptively with Clara King
Wednesdays, May 31; June 14, June 28, from 7:00–9:00 p.m. EDT.Led by priest, researcher and revitalist Clara King and offered in partnership with the United Church of Canada Leading Adaptively is open to lay leaders and clergy from any denomination in the United States and Canada. You will discover new ways to lead adaptively with skills you already have, encounter the core theory of Adaptive Leadership in a vibrant new way, and come away with usable practices to reinvigorate your day-to-day leadership journey. Leading Adaptively will cover: - The six core competencies of leadership
- How to understand and change the organizational culture of your congregation
- How conflict is a leadership resource you can steward wisely.
Course leader Clara King has spent fifteen years studying adaptive leadership, and nine years as a Priest leading adaptive change in the Anglican Diocese of Calgary and beyond. Clara’s dynamic, hope-filled facilitation style will refresh, empower, and energize you for the leadership journey ahead.
"I took Leading Adaptively in the Fall of 2021. Rev. Clara is a brilliant teacher, leader, and facilitator. She is able to bring her excellent research in the world of academia beyond just academics. She writes and leads in a very informative and yet down to earth way that is inclusive of everyone, including practitioners like myself who don't have formal theological or ministry training and don't work in academia."
—Adam Cresswell, Executive Director of The Hub Community Network.
Register on CHURCHx by May 30! Contact slevis@united-church.ca with any questions. [Image credits: CHURCHx/Clara King] |
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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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