NEWS AND UPDATES FROM BERMUDA-NOVA SCOTIA REGIONAL COUNCIL
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www.ucceast.ca
Staff Directory
It’s Your Call – Podcast
News from the Pews Newsletter
To view upcoming programs at the Tatamagouche Centre please click here.
To view upcoming events at the Atlantic School of Theology please click here.
To view Continuing Education opportunities at the Atlantic School of Theology please click here.
Bermuda-Nova Scotia Regional Council Committee Volunteer form.
Executive Minutes
The draft minutes from the June 22, 2023 Executive meeting are now available on the RC15 website.
Greetings from Bermuda-Nova Scotia Regional Council – President’s “Monthly Message” – August 16, 2023
Please click here to read the monthly update from President Shauna MacDonald.
Bermuda-Nova Scotia Region Pastoral Relations News – August 2023
• Approved the Supply Appointment of Linda Marcotte, retired, with Orchard Valley Pastoral Charge, 20 hours/week, August 1, 2023 to July 31, 2024.
• Approved LaHave New Dublin Pastoral Charge as an SME site.
• Approved the SME Appointment of Donna Kelly, Candidate, with LaHave New Dublin Pastoral Charge, 20 hours/week, September 1, 2023 to August 31, 2025. Heather Ferrier, Liaison.
• Approved the collaborative ministry of Riverport Pastoral Charge and First South Pastoral Charge as an SME site.
• Approved the SME Appointment of Katie Logan, Candidate, with the collaborative ministry of Riverport Pastoral Charge and First South Pastoral Charge, 26 hours/week, August 1, 2023 to June 30, 2025.
• Approved the short-term Supply Appointment of David Zub, retired, with Aylesford Pastoral Charge, 11 hours/week, June 25 to August 27, 2023.
• Approved the short-term Supply Appointment of Sheila Redden-Smith, retired, with Berwick Trinity Pastoral Charge, 24 hours/week, August 1, 2023 to January 31, 2024.
• Approved St. John’s United Church, Halifax, as an SME site.
• Approved the short-term Supply SME Appointment of Rhonda Schofield, Candidate, with St. John’s United Church, Halifax, full-time, July 1 to December 31, 2023.
• Approved the position description for short-term, part-time Supply at Newport Pastoral Charge and authorize Search to begin.
• Approved the position description for short-term, part-time Supply at St. John’s United Church, Middleton, and authorize Search to begin.
• Approved the position description for short-term, part time Supply at Bridgewater United Church, and authorize Search to begin.
• Approved the Request for Change in Pastoral Relations from Matthew Fillier of Bedford United Church, effective August 28, 2023.
• Approved the position description for short-term, full-time Supply at Bedford United Church, and authorize Search to begin.
• Approved the position description for short-term, part-time Supply at Woodlawn United Church and authorize Search to begin.
• Approved the collaborative ministry agreement between Bridgewater United Church and St. Margaret’s Bay Pastoral Charge, September 1 to December 31, 2023.
• Approved the collaborative ministry agreement between Bridgewater United Church and LaHave New Dublin Pastoral Charge, September 1, 2023 to August 31, 2024.
• Next meeting: Friday, September 8, 9:00 a.m.
For more information, please contact Regional Minister David Hewitt
Should I be grieving?: Disenfranchised Grief and the Caring Professions
Tuesday, September 26th at 7pm AST
Cost: $15 plus Eventbrite Fee
Format: Online
This online workshop aims to explore grief among clergy, chaplains/spiritual care practitioners, and healthcare professionals. These groups lose parishioners or patients but often wonder if it is okay to grieve. Not grieving, though, can lead to burnout, and grieving ourselves can help us to be more connected to those we serve. This workshop will cover recent research on disenfranchised grief amongst ministry personnel and healthcare workers. It will also provide ways to grieve and time for participants to share wisdom from their own experience. Click here to view the poster.
About the Speaker:
In 2022, Ginny Wilmhoff graduated with an MDiv, specializing in pastoral care and counseling, from Acadia Divinity College. She is an ordinand with the Anglican Diocese of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, and she has completed her third unit of clinical pastoral education at the Moncton Hospital. During her clinical training, she has served palliative and hospice patients. Her previous experience includes 2.5 years as a case manager to the formerly homeless and 4 years providing student support at the University of King’s College in Halifax.
To attend, please register at this link.
The Fifth Gospel: Pilgrimage in Israel/Palestine
February 15 – 26, 2024
Course Fee: $250 CAD plus Eventbrite fee
Deposit: $500 CAD, non-refundable
Full Cost: $6,538 CAD
This course integrates biblical study with a 10-day pilgrimage in Israel/Palestine. Students will explore the Holy Land, its people, history, and archeology as well as the current experience of Palestinians living under occupation and the work being done towards a just peace. Several class times with the instructor will take place prior to departure, dates to be determined. These are open to Continuing Education participants. Click here to view the poster.
Some of the locations the group will visit:
• Qumran, the home of the Essenes
• Bethany by the River Jordan where John the Baptist baptized Jesus
• Sea of Galilee
• Nazareth
• Jerusalem
• Bethlehem
About the Instructor:
Dr. MacAlpine-Gillis earned an MDiv (Atlantic School of Theology) and a DMin (Bangor Theological Seminary). She served both rural and suburban churches during 31 years of full-time ministry. As an avid traveler, Dr. MacAlpine-Gillis believes in the integration of travel and Biblical studies as a way of bringing the stories of scripture to life through walking the land where they unfolded.
To attend, please register at this link.
Worship Resources
LET US PRAY (Vol. 1) is a collaboration with Jane Doull offering a complete set of prayers for every Sunday from September to Christmas Sunday:
Gathering Words
Opening/Centering Prayers
Prayers of Confession/Searching
Offering Prayers
Prayers of the People
Words of Blessing & Parting
This Volume (the first of four) includes prayers for Creation-time, Ordinary time, Advent and Christmas with prayers for other special Sundays within this time (Peace Sunday, Remembrance Sunday, Children’s Sunday.)
Read a sample of the prayers on the resource page.
WORSHIP SHEETS: If the Worship Leader is away or you need inspiration for worship, meetings or a group, here are 10 reflections They can be matched with prayers from Let Us Pray to put together a complete worship service. There is a sample you can preview on the resource page. See: https://prayerbench.ca/product/worship-sheets/
2024 Mission Support Grant Applications
The 2024 Mission Support Grant applications are now available here. Deadline for completed application and supporting documentation is Tuesday, September 20, 2023 and can be forwarded to: jwhittemore@united-church.ca or mailed to the Regional Office.
Continuing Education Opportunity
Rev. Oliver Dingwell (Cowan Heights United Church, St. John’s, NL) will be teaching a course entitled Liturgy, Sacraments, and Radical Hospitality at Queen’s College (Memorial University of Newfoundland) during the Fall 2023 semester on Monday evenings from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. NL time (5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Atlantic time) beginning Monday, September 11. The course will be offered both in-person and online via Zoom. It is possible to register for this course as a continuing education opportunity. The cost is $350 for the full course, or $175 to join as a course auditor.
The course will explore the concept of ‘welcome’ and ‘inclusion’ in the Canadian church context through a liturgical and sacramental lens. Together we will explore issues of race, gender, orientation, and identity in contemporary Canadian society, and how the worship and sacramental life of churches might be called to respond.
Oliver is the Minister at Cowan Heights United Church in St. John’s, NL. He is currently a doctoral student at Emmanuel College. His academic work is in liturgical and eucharistic theology, studying the value of frequent eucharistic celebration within mainline Protestantism.
For more information, please contact Oliver at odingwell@cowanheightsunited.ca. To register for the course or to get more information about Queen’s College, you can email queens@mun.ca or call (709) 753-0116.
