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 – Joseph Nesbitt
Our condolences are extended to Rev. Brenda McKay and family on the passing of her son, Joseph Nesbitt, on February 20, 2024. The obituary can be found here.
General Council Commissioners
The 45th General Council of The United Church of Canada will meet in-person August 7 to 12th, 2024 in Calgary, AB. The 45th General Council begins its work as we celebrate our 100th anniversary as a denomination. We encourage you to prayerfully consider serving as a General Council commissioner, which provides you a unique opportunity to be part of the wider church and have an impact on the future of The United Church of Canada as we seek to discern where the Holy Spirit calls us into the next 100 years as a church. General Council Commissioners are voting members of the General Council meeting, and serve as commissioners for 3 years. More information about the role of a commissioner can be found here.
The Bermuda-Nova Scotia Regional Council is eligible to elect fifteen (15) commissioners, and their alternates, along with the President of the Region at our 2024 annual regional meeting. A minimum of 1/3 of the commissioners must be ministry personnel, and a minimum of 1/3 of the commissioners must be lay personnel. Attention should be given to diversity of age, gender, racial and cultural identities, and sexual expressions.
Nominations for the first round of voting will close on April 19, 2024 at 11:59pm. There will be no nominations received from the floor for the first 10 commissioner positions. Remaining positions will be nominated and elected during the 2024 regional annual meeting to achieve a balance of diversity. All nominees must be ministry personnel or lay members within the bounds of Bermuda-Nova Scotia Regional Council. Each nomination needs to moved and seconded by someone other than the Nominee (no self nominations, please), and the mover and seconder must be a member of a community of faith within the bounds of Bermuda-Nova Scotia Regional Council. These nominations do not need to be passed through a governing body of a community of faith.
If you are interested in serving as a Commissioner to the 45th General Council, please fill out the form below. We encourage you to express your interest in serving, as well as how you feel you will be a representative of the diversity, mission, and values of Bermuda-Nova Scotia Regional Council. Nominations for the first ten (10) commissioners (five (5) lay members and five (5) ministry personnel) will be accepted until April 19, 2024 at 11:59pm Atlantic.
If you are interested in serving as a Commissioner to the 45th General Council, please fill out the form here. If you have, any questions, please be in touch with the Nominations Committee Chair, Rev. Alicia Cox.
Agenda Time Requests Deadline
The deadline to submit your request for agenda time is March 8. Please click here to submit your request.
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.
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.
Greetings Growth Seekers from Growth Animator Sharon
What are the markers/qualities/ characteristic of your ministry? How does your congregation describe itself? How would others characterize you? Do people outside your doors know you? What outreach connects people? A General Council office staff recently shared these markers of a successful New Ministry:
•Clearly articulated mission
•A strong and committed team
•Spiritual and faith formation of the leadership
•A plan for financial sustainability
•Outside Partnerships, as taken from the UCCan New Ministry Strategy (revised 2020) document.
What does new ministry mean in your contexts?
Are there renewed ministries growing? How does your community of faith strengthen invitation and welcome? 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
World Day of Prayer resource for 2024
Many UCW groups join with women of other churches – such as Anglican, Presbyterian, etc. – for The World Day of Prayer service on the first Friday of March.
Each year the church women of a different country compose and write the resource to be used. The resource this year was written by some of the Palestinian church women.
Whether or not your church has an active United Church Women’s group, this is an informative and inspiring resource for any group.
Here is the link to the World Day of Prayer website
Join the Women’s Interchurch Council of Canada (WICC) national World Day of Prayer service online Saturday March 9.
There’s more info on the WICC website about the annual service and how to participate.
Webinar – Cultivating Discipleship in a Post-Christian Society
Sponsored by the Faith Formation and Leadership Development Committee of the Region
Join Rev. Dr. Rob Fennell of the Atlantic School of Theology and other faithful friends to explore the questions, difficulties, and promise of claiming and handing on our faith in this challenging era. When so many people are estranged from or hostile to organized religion, and many more have abandoned it, what are we to say or do? What might the Bible and other resources of our faith have to say? Come prepared to learn but also to participate and be imaginative.
Webinar Date: Monday, March 11, 2024 at 7:00 pm (Atlantic); 7:30 (Newfoundland)
Register in advance for this webinar:
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW!!
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Younger Ministry Personnel Spring Retreat
Once again, the younger ministry personnel (under 50-ish) of Bermuda-Nova Scotia Region and Fundy St. Lawrence Dawning Waters Region are organizing a time of retreat.
Please join our spring retreat as we come together to be together. This retreat is designed to be a time of rest and reflection for all those 50ish and under in the Atlantic Region, and will include a special worship to laugh and to cry as we remember and lament our dear friend and colleague, Alison Etter. Please join us at 1 pm on April 4, at the Tatamagouche Centre, for this special 24-hour retreat.
The spring retreat will be held at the Tatamagouche Centre on April 4th and 5th, at a cost of $170 per person. This cost includes all food and accommodations. There is a reduced rate of $150 per person for those who are interested in sharing a room.
More details will be shared closer to the date, but registration is now open.
Visit the UCC Regions East website here to register today!
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact Daniel MacDonald
Affirm Committee Webinar
The Affirm Communities of Faith: Singing Songs of Hope to Support Mental Health webinar is now available for viewing. To see the recording please click here.
Flourishing Keynote Presentation – April 11, 2024
A Flourishing keynote presentation “From Struggling to Thriving: How to Revitalize Canada’s Medicare System” will be held on April 11, 2024 at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 with keynote speaker André Picard and host Carmen Lansdowne . Please click here for more information, including how to purchase tickets.
Open House at Annual Meeting
The Association of United Church Clergy (aUCC) invites all clergy in the Region to attend an Open House at St. Andrew’s United Church, Truro, on Thursday May 9th, prior to the Annual Meeting. Please join us from 1 p.m. onward for refreshment and fellowship with fellow ministers. Participation in the aUCC is open to all clergy: Diaconal, Ordained, DLM (active, retired, on restorative care) as well as candidates in any ministry stream currently serving congregations. More details about the event — speaker, presentations, etc. – will be coming soon. Remember to keep this event in mind when you’re booking your accommodation for Regional Annual Meeting! Email: info@yoursanctuary.ca or website
Save the Date
Celebration for the Rev. Ivan Gregan on his upcoming retirement.
Port Wallis United Church, 263 Waverley Road in Dartmouth NS
Saturday, May 25th, 2024
Details to follow as the date gets closer. Hope you can plan to attend and add to your calendar.
Ivan’s final Sunday at Port Wallis is June 30th!
Time for action
Your Regional Affirm committee is discussing how we can be supportive to our trans youth in this time of political debate and decision making that is impacting their lives. Our suggestions…
- stay up on the information…. egale.ca -national group with up to date info ; peersalliance.ca (a PEI support organization); pflagcanada.ca – for 2SLBGTQ+, families, friends and allies. Chapters in Grand Falls-Windsor and St John’s NL; Halifax, Southwest NS, Sydney-Cape Breton and Truro; Fredericton, Sackville and Saint John, NB. Chromanb.ca in Saint John, NB area.
- attend public gatherings supporting trans youth
- encourage your congregation to have P.I.E. events – that’s Public, Intentional, Explicit actions of support for 2SLGBTQ+ people
- follow Affirm United on Facebook… share posts that help educate and support our youth.
we all need to be doing our part…. join this call to action.
March CCS Friday – An Ecology of Faith Formation
Join the Centre for Christian Studies on Friday, March 15 (noon Central, 1pm Eastern, 11am Mountain, 10am Pacific, 2pm Atlantic) for an online conversation about the eco-system of faith formation in congregations. Our special guest will be UCC Growth Animator Greg Smith-Young.
Within creation, ecosystems form as different and diverse creatures (living and non-living) interact together. Each part plays a vital role in making the whole. Ecosystems are about interdependence and integration. What can happen when we bring an “ecosystem” way of thinking into the faith formation work of congregations? Join us as we imagine the possibilities.
Greg Smith-Young (he/him) is a Growth Animator with the United Church of Canada. He serves alongside existing and newly-forming communities of faith in southwest Ontario, helping them to share in what Jesus is already doing in their places: inviting, welcoming, engaging, forming disciples, and sending to share in God’s Presence.
CCS Fridays are free. Please register HERE to receive a zoom link.
CCS Fridays are online conversations to help us all to respond faithfully to emerging issues in local contexts. These workshops are open to anyone who might be interested. Each session will be on a Friday from 12:00 to 1:00 CT and in the form of a Zoom workshop. There will be a presentation that will be recorded for future viewing, plus opportunities to engage with the ideas in small groups.
Are you considering retirement?
If you are considering retiring or have retired since our last annual meeting, please see our Regional retirement resource. If you have made the decision to retire please fill out the form.
Thank you.
