Your September Mission & Service Stories SEPTEMBER 3
Sending People to School―Together: Patti Talbot’s Work
[Video still: The United Church of Canada]
When children can’t go to school, society suffers. And that is why Mission and Service is in partnership with 85 organizations that work to increase access to education across the globe. Each partner has their own approach to education and skills training, each supported by your gifts to Mission and Service. SEPTEMBER 10
Providing Tuition Assistance [Image credit: © Rawpixelimages | Dreamstime.com] Hamdan wants to become a doctor someday. This young teenager dreams big amidst the daily struggles that he and his family face. Hamdan and many other children in Lebanon are at risk of losing their education because economic crises have plunged their families into poverty. Your support through Mission and Service helps remove barriers for teenagers like Hamdan so they can work toward their dreams.
SEPTEMBER 17
Breaking Down Barriers to Education
 [Image credit: The United Church of Canada] Every child has the right to learn. But school fees, violence, child labour, and discrimination mean that in some parts of the world, too many children can’t go to school. Mission and Service partner Kenya Alliance for Advancement of Children (KAACR) brings together child rights organizations to share information about child protection and safeguarding and helps to support children in schools.
SEPTEMBER 24
Listening and Learning on the Path to Reconciliation
[Image credit:The United Church of Canada] Alf Dumont spent his life as a spiritual leader, serving the United Church as a minister while staying connected with his traditional Indigenous spirituality. His memoir The Other Side of the River: From Church Pew to Sweat Lodge shares stories of how Dumont walks between his two worlds. Your gifts through Mission and Service help support the creation and publication of luminous, timely work like Dumont’s book as well as the webinar discussions and education events that follow.
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Congregational Stewardship/Generosity
This is your resource to help you grow generous disciples and gather the resources you need to respond to God’s calling. Please modify and use these ideas in your context.
New and Improved! Stewardship Best Practices Version 2!- Try out the ideas you learn and share your learning and experience with others on the journey through integrated hands-on practical projects with stewardship learning sessions and small group cohort gatherings.
- Create an Annual Stewardship Plan for your community of faith, and get coaching and support to make it happen.
- Your customised Stewardship Best Practices report shows where you are starting your stewardship journey.
Starts on September 26/27 and runs for eight weeks, PLUS nine months of coaching!
Save 50%! Special first-time price of $50/community of faith learning team. This fall ONLY. Regular price is $100/community of faith learning team. Here’s how to get started!
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- Gather a team of 3-5 people, including the minister or board chair
- The module is made of four 2-week cycles. Each cycle begins with a two-hour online Learning Session. There are two choices for your Learning Session each time. Your Learning Team should attend the same Learning Session.
- The following week, your Learning Team will join a few other Learning Teams from other communities of faith in your cohort for two hours online to reflect on your learning and on the practical projects and assignments on which you have been working.
- One member of your Learning Team should register for the course at CHURCHx
- Questions? Contact called@united-church.ca or your local stewardship support staff
Register here through CHURCHx. You will need to create a free CHURCHx account if you don’t have one. |
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Moving to CHURCHx This Fall!
Called to Be the Church: The Journey modules really make a difference.
“I loved this course. It created excitement about stewardship and provided concrete tools to take baby-steps towards healthier stewardship practices.”
-Jen Dresser of St. Andrew's United Church, Yorkton, SK
“A wonderful introduction to Stewardship and what it can be for any Community of Faith. It helps to understand the whole aspect of Stewardship, not just money. I like the emphasis on gratitude. We have so much to be thankful for.”
-Jane McDonald of Orchard Valley United Church, New Minas, NS
In each module, community of faith leaders rediscover how inspiring their church really is and get excited about telling their stories as they invite people to share their resources to grow in faith and make a difference in people’s lives. Come and join the movement!
Plan now to participate in the fall! Go to CHURCHx for all module details, dates, and times, and to register. - Getting Started in Stewardship (September 11 OR November 1)
- Stewardship Best Practices (starts September 26/27)
- Setting Up Your Congregational Giving Program (Winter 2024)
- Bequests & Estate Giving for Your Community of Faith (October 11, and 25)
Called to Be the Church: The Journey modules really make a difference. For more information on these and other stewardship supports, contact called@united-church.ca.
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Ideas You Can Try
Get ready to be thankful!
Don’t just talk about Thanksgiving this year, invite people to show their gratitude! What are they thankful for? How can they share themselves, their material possessions, their money, as a way of saying “thanks”?
Help people get ready to be thankful with 28 Days to Thanksgiving: Offering our Gratitude worship resources (including full sermon) on the United Church Stewardship in Worship webpage.
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Why Do You Have a Building?
Read the latest blog from the Rev. Brenna Baker on this important question. You might be surprised by the answer. [Credit: Image by Nattanan Kanchanaprat from Pixabay]
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Stewardship Seconds (revised for July-December 2023) Short, pithy sayings that pack a punch, to help infiltrate stewardship thinking into your community of faith. Add them to newsletters, worship, announcements, webpages, wherever people gather! Find them at the Stewardship in Worship webpage.
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Offering Introductions and Dedication Prayers (revised for July-December 2023) The offering time in worship is NOT about collecting money! It is about growing generous disciples and stewards. These Offering Introductions and Dedication Prayers, for each Sunday of the year, will help. Find them at the Stewardship in Worship webpage.
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Our Call and VisionThe General Council Office has adopted a Call and Vision statement that speaks to how we boldly embody the Christian story in this time, filled with the certainty of resurrection and hope for new life, and which informs the 2022‒2025 Strategic Plan of the General Council Office. Living purposefully into this call and vision anticipates becoming what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others called the Beloved Community—the ever inbreaking, ever transforming, ever reconciling realm of God, realized in our time. In the next few issues of God’s Mission, Our Gifts, we are sharing stories, prayers, and worship resources that your community of faith can use to engage with the Call and Vision: to live into deep spirituality, bold discipleship, and daring justice.
Welcome to Bedford United Church in Bedford, NS, as they live out the United Church's Call and Vision through intercultural engagements. In Lead Minister Rev. Matt Fillier’s words, ”We value deep openness to the presence of God’s Spirit and the fostering of experiences that empower our awareness and connection with God’s Spirit. We invite you to hear about how our values shape our intercultural journey and witness, as we hope to listen for your stories too. Through our constantly evolving relationship with our friends at Al Rasoul Islamic Center and Blooming Church, we aspire to step into an intercultural future, whose promise continues to shine bold ways of being together in love and justice." In this video, this community of faith invites us to hear their stories of bold discipleship, daring justice, and deep spirituality. |
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GOD’S MISSION, OUR GIFTS is your newsletter. We want to provide news and information that you can use in your community of faith, whether you’re a minister, a board member, an administrator, a treasurer, or anyone else who wants to make a difference.
What else would you like to see? What can we do to help your community of faith get where it needs to go? Send us your thoughts!
Fill out your Mission & Service goal-setting form online! |
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Your generosity enables the United Church to love, serve, and minister in the world. Make an online donation or learn more about your options to support the work of the church. |
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