Fall Stewardship Course Extravaganza – Fall Events!
Now is the time to plan to grow the ministry of generosity in your community of faith. This fall, ALL of our Called to be the Church: The Journey courses are offered on CHURCHx.ca led by Growth and Stewardship Animators in cohorts of teams from across the country. Learn more on our catalog page here. You can also download a pdf explaining the Called To Be The Church program here.
Here are the upcoming Fall courses:
– Getting Started in Stewardship: A 90-min session next offered on October 6th at either 4 or 6:30pm
– Stewardship Best Practices: A deep, 5-week course designed to develop a year round stewardship ministry. Begins week of October 19 – comes with 9 months of follow-up coaching from myself!
– Setting Up Your Giving Program: 2 sessions to develop a stewardship campaign for 2027. Begins November 4
– Bequest and Estate Giving: 2 sessions to develop a legacy and planned gifts ministry at your community of faith. October 15 and 29.
Let me know if you’d like more information about these by emailing rshearer@united-church.ca.
A Few Digital Resources
Here are some links to a few digital resources including The Discipleship Flower (.jpg) – in case you’d like to use it in a presentation, and also Toward 2035 Infographics for your bulletin board – an 11×17 2-pager and a 1-page version.
Church Tech Best Practices Network – Fall 2026 Events:
Register NOW on CHURCHx to get access to our upcoming Fall events as well as resources and peer support for all your questions related to tech and ministry.
- Book Discussion: God and the Machine: Navigating faith in the age of AI by Rev. Nathan Webb – Tuesday October 20th, 12pm ET Join us for what’s sure to be a riveting conversation about “creation, and what it means to be human in the age of thinking machines”.
- Discussion on “Magnifica Humanitas” Pope Leo XIV’s recent encyclical on safeguarding the Human person in the time of artificial intelligence –November – Time and Date TBD In our last gathering of 2026, we’ll continue reflecting on the theological and spiritual implications of Artificial Intelligence and what it might mean for our communities of faith. stay tuned to the network for more info as it emerges.
Some Available Grants:
This is a summary of some of the grants available around Growth and Stewardship work from the United Church Foundation.
United Church Foundation granting programs:
- Seeds of Hope
- “United, We” – Trust-based grants (and a list of other grants):
- Promotion Project Fund:
- Scholarship and Research Grants:
- Rowntree Scholarship – research on Fresh Expressions / Innovative Ministries
United Church Grants
Starting A New Community of Faith?
The Growth and Stewardship Unit supports the formation of new communities of faith in UCC East – including with seed funding. If you’re interested, drop Rob a line to have a conversation about how God might be calling you to plant a new community of faith in UCC East.
