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NEWS AND UPDATES FROM BERMUDA-NOVA SCOTIA REGIONAL COUNCIL
Submission Request for Weekly Announcements
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.
Condolences – Rev. Alison Etter
Our condolences are extended to the family of Rev. Alison Etter of Glace Bay, NS, who passed away this morning, Wednesday, February 14, 2024. The obituary will be posted when available.
Annual Declaration of Criminal Records – Draw Deadline February 16, 2024
Dear colleagues in ministry,
You’ve made it through another intense Advent and Christmas season! We know, and appreciate, how much you have put into your ministry as you enter this season of Epiphany. Of course, there are always more tasks and ministry waiting for you in 2024.
The Annual Declaration is one of those required administrative tasks that Ministry Personnel are asked to prioritize each year.
The Annual Declaration is a mandatory process, where Ministry Personnel declare whether or not they’ve been charged with a criminal offense in the past year. This is a simple process that must be done through ChurchHub, by logging in to your account at churchhub.ca.
As per the Police Records Checks policy, if the Annual Declaration is done by the deadline, you will not be asked to obtain a new formal level 1 and level 2 Police Records Check.
Please remember that even if you were late in completing the form for 2023, it still needs to be done on schedule this year.
If you have any questions about this process, please contact your Vocational Minister Andrew Richardson (ARichardson@united-church.ca ). Need help accessing ChurchHub? Please contact ministry@united-church.ca
Complete your Annual Declaration for a Chance to Win
Complete your Annual Declaration by February 16 and your name will be included in a draw for a $50 gift card of your choice. There will be five lucky winners!
The deadline for the early bird draw is February 16, 2024.
The first Regional Council to achieve 100% completion will be recognized at the September GCE meeting with a message of appreciation!
Don’t delay, complete your form today!
Serving the Region – Call for Nominations
As a region, we can only do the important work and ministry within Nova Scotia and Bermuda with the help of dedicated volunteers like you. As we approach the annual meeting, some terms are ending. The Nominations Committee is seeking interested individuals who may be willing to participate in the region by serving on a committee.
Currently, we are most in need of individuals who are willing to serve:
-Faith Formation and Leadership Development Committee
-Licensing Committee
If you interested in any of these positions, please contact Nominations chair, Rev. Alicia Cox.
If you are interested in a position not listed above, or you are not sure where your gifts or interests might fit, please fill out the Nominations form found here.
Please share this information with your congregations. Committee membership is open to all community of faith members within the bounds of Region 15, and is not limited to elected representatives to the region.
Annual Meeting Teller Volunteers Needed
Coming to the Annual Meeting at Dal AC (Truro, NS)? Do you like to be involved and active while still being present at the meeting? Then please consider being a teller, where you’ll get to help with activities like voting, distributing materials and taking up the offering. No experience necessary. Please fill out the form to let us know of your interest.
Elected Members to Regional Council 2024
Please use the below link to view a memo from the Executive Minister, Faith March-MacCuish, regarding elected members to Regional Council for 2024.
President’s “Monthly Message” January 12 – February 11, 2024
This was my 8th month as your President.
As I am recuperating from this illness, I am still housebound as I am listening to what my medical professionals are asking of me, to allow my body to heal.
Please click here to read the full “Monthly Message” from President Shauna MacDonald
Greetings Growth Seekers from Growth Animator Sharon
What are your heart-felt experiences and how do you share them? What are your community of faith’s heart-felt experiences? How are they being shared? How can your community of faith support others experiencing heartache, hurt, pain and loneliness? How can your community of faith support others in “heart-full” experiences? Understanding our local contexts, we faithfully bring our whole self, whole body to our story, our community building relationships.
More than ever, we are facing challenging times in our church, but together, we are companioning each other, hearing each other, visioning how God is calling you and me to build relationships, deepen our offering of hospitality and to be a part of renewing hope in the world. What sort of phoning ministry outreach might be needed to call your neighbours. Love your neighbour. Why not give me a call and let me know what your community of faith is up to? You can reach me by email at sballantyne@united-church.ca or by phone 705 875-8837. Let’s grow together with deep spirituality, bold discipleship and daring justice
Candles for Lent – Just Peace Working Group
Join the Just Peace Working Group as we gather in support of Palestine. Each Thursday evening at 8:00 beginning on February 15th, we will gather on Zoom to extinguish candles using the liturgy from UNJPPI. Afterwards we will spend some time together for support. Please join us for one week or all six. Registration is not limited.
You can register here.
Communities of Faith: Singing Songs of Hope to Support Mental Health – Feb 21 7:00PM
Our next Affirm Webinar : Our spirituality is our unique SONG: our sense of Self; connection to Others, understanding of the Natural order of things and our relationship to God.
When life is out of balance a person’s mental well-being can become compromised. They might change behaviors, forgot who they are, who cares for them and maybe they even feel disconnected from God.
This webinar will be an opportunity to dive deeper into our understanding of spirituality, mental health and the impact a community of faith can have on providing support.
Our Presenter is Kelly Hudson-Lewis, Manager of Spiritual Care for the Saint John Area of Horizon Health. Kelly is a United Church minister who, in 25 years of ministry, has served in congregations, community advocacy agencies as well as mental health outreach.
For registration please click on this link.
Covenanting Service
Covenanting Service for Rev. Ian Harrison, establishing a new ministry relationship with Kingston United Church. – Sunday, February 25th at 3:00 PM. – Guest speaker: Rev. Penny Nelson – Kingston United Church, 733 Main Street, Kingston, NS. All are welcome to attend.
Green Enthusiast for My Church
Do you know someone in your church who is enthusiastic about the environment and concerned about how to have a green future? We would like to connect with them for mutual sharing and communication, maybe funding and advocacy opportunities, also. We have information and resources we would like your church’s ‘Green Enthusiast’ to know about. Could you send us their name and email address, along with your church’s name, please? This could be the beginning of something amazing! Send their info to SMunikwa@united-church.ca. Thank You, Your Maritime region’s Eco-Justice Working Group, JMOC.
Living Faith Story Workshop – Online!
What is a Living Faith Story?
Why does our church need one?
How can it do everything from define and enliven our mission
to help us find a new minister?
How can we make one that’s uniquely our own and that we’ll actually use?
If your community of faith has been asking these questions recently, you are invited to gather a group together and join us for the next Living Faith Stories workshop, which will be held online via Zoom, over two evenings, on February 28th and 29th, 2024, from 7-8:30pm.
Click here to register.
For more information, contact Daniel MacDonald,
Chair of Faith Stories and Community Covenant Committee,
at centralminister@bellaliant.com
Covenanting Service between Rev. Angela MacLean, Rockingham United Church, and Bermuda-Nova Scotia Region
A covenanting service to mark our new ministry with Rev. Angela MacLean will be held on Sunday, March 3, 2024 at 3 pm at Rockingham United Church, Halifax, NS. All are welcome and invited to attend. Rev. Shannon MacLean & Rev. April Hart will be offering a reflection. Our youth and senior choir will offer music. Currie MacMullin, will be guest soloist. Light refreshments will be served following the service. Please consider joining us as we celebrate this new beginning!
Details:
Sunday, March 3 at 3pm
Rockingham United Church
12 Flamingo Drive, Halifax, NS B3M 1S5
Pastoral Charge Information Form
The 2024 Pastoral Charge Information Form can be found on our Regional Council website under forms.
If you have had your annual congregational meeting and have elected your governing body for 2024, please click on the link below to complete. If you have not had your annual meeting, and have the same people serving in the governing body, we kindly ask you to still fill out the information forms.
Communities of Faith Annual Reports
It’s that time of year again where we request your Annual Reports. Please email when they are available (electronic files are preferred) to your Regional Council using the following email:
Bermuda-Nova Scotia Regional Council: info4RC15@united-church.ca
If you are unable to submit by email please mail one copy of your report to:
Bermuda-Nova Scotia Regional Council
21 Wright Street
Sackville, NB E4L 4P8
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.
Beloved Is Where We Begin: An Online Conversation With Author and Artist Jan Richardson
You are warmly invited to join us for an amazing online conversation with author and artist Jan Richardson on Saturday, February 17th, 2024 from 9:30 am – 12:00 PT. This event is co-hosted by Oasis United Church and Naramata Centre, and registration is now open! If you register between now and January 26th, there is a 20% discount. For more information, please click on this link.
Sherbrooke Lake Camp Annual Report and AGM
Hello Amazing Faith Community,
We have been so fortunate for the ongoing support and kindness that surrounds us at Sherbrooke Lake Camp. Churches, pastoral charges, UCWs, community members, fellow camp colleagues and of course Camp’s Board of Directors – You are essential to what makes *camp magic* happen year after year. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I have committed to another year as the Executive Director at Sherbrooke Lake Camp, full-time, and I cannot wait to see what we will continue to do together. Please see my annual report attached here.
Our AGM is February 24th, 2024 in-person at St. Luke’s United Church in Upper Tantallon, NS, 10:00am – 12:00noon. There is the option to join us virtually for this meeting as well. If you’re interested please register here and we will be happy to have you part of our day!
Jules Lawrence BScN RN CPedN (C)
She/Her
Executive Director
902 333 CAMP (2257); ed@sherbrookelakecamp.org; www.sherbrookelakecamp.org
Sherbrooke Lake Camp is situated on Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq people. Sherbrooke Lake Camp seeks to live by the principles of Peace and Friendship with our Indigenous siblings, the land, and all of our relations.
Music Director Opportunity
St George & St Andrew United Church, Annapolis Royal, NS, is seeking a part-time Music Director/Organist/Choir Director. Duties include playing at regular Sunday services, for special services as required, and conducting a weekly rehearsal of forthcoming choral anthems and other music.
We have a two-manual baroque-style (with Swell) tracker-action instrument by Orgues Létourneau (Opus 28, 1991) and a Yamaha digital grand piano (CLP-695GP). The church boasts a strong music programme, with choral anthems as a regular part of every service, and many other musical events take place in our sanctuary due to its excellent acoustics.
For further information and details please email: andrea.boulding@gmail.com.
CCS Friday: Creating Harmonious Space
On Friday, February 23 from 12:00 to 1:00 CST join an online conversation about creating “harmonious space” rather than “safe space”. Harmonious space is the condition in which diversity and inclusion truly grow. Guided by author and educator bell hooks, who said, “ Learning takes place in harmonious space” and “Community that allows for risk, the risk of knowing someone outside your own boundaries is love.” We will consider harmony and risk as opposed to “safety” as the best environment suitable for diversity.
Our special guest will be Deaconess Adrainne Gray. Adrainne was consecrated a Lutheran Diaconal Association (LDA) deaconess and ordained an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) deacon in 2017. She is currently the Director for Recruitment for the LDA with a focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and works remotely from her home in Atlanta, GA.
CCS Fridays are free. Please register HERE to receive a zoom link.
CCS Fridays are online conversations to help us respond faithfully to emerging issues in local contexts. These workshops are open to anyone who might be interested. There will be a presentation that will be recorded for future viewing, plus opportunities to engage with the ideas in small groups.
Rural Routes Through the Holy 2024: Registration now open
Registration is now open for RRTH 2024. Join us for our fourth annual gathering, June 13 – 15th at Orchard Valley United Church, New Minas NS.
Beautiful to Behold; Broken Open Church is our theme this year and along with the theme times (with Rev. Dr. Catherine Smith) and Rural Café conversations. We’ll have workshops on Spiritual Memoir, Collaborative Ministry and Acadian Experience to choose from. There’ll also be ‘tasters’ 30-minute presentations by those excited about ministries they’re involved in. There’ll be worship, a separate room full of prayer practice ideas and the quiet to engage them, food and this year, a Maker’s Market where local artisans and you who come can offer the work of your hands for sale. See the schedule. Read about the theme, how Rural Routes began and more by visiting here and hovering over the Rural Ministries for the drop-down menu. For questions email ruralatlantic@gmail.com
