Bermuda-Nova Scotia Regional Council Weekly Announcements – July 16, 2025

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.
To view upcoming events at the the Centre for Christian Studies please click here.
Bermuda-Nova Scotia Regional Council Committee Volunteer form.

Condolences: Betty Barrett

Our condolences are extended to the family of Jennifer Taylor, Executive Assistant to the Executive Minister, whose mother, Betty Barrett, passed away on Saturday, June 28, 2025. The obituary is now available and can be viewed here.

Condolences: Alexander Stephen MacLean

Our condolences are extended to the family of Rev. Sandy MacLean, whose son, Alexander Stephen MacLean, passed away on June 24, 2025. The obituary can be viewed here.

An Intro to Then Let Us Sing!

Join Kevin Parks on Monday July 21 12:30 – 2:00pm for In Introduction to Then Let Us Sing, at St. Columba Chapel on the Atlantic School of Theology Campus

Thanks to the generosity of Pine Hill Divinity Hall, the chapel will have a collection of 20 pew editions and a Music Leader’s edition of TLUS arriving next week. If you have your own copy, bring it along to read and make notes!

Kevin will have a number of songs to share with you from the 165 new selections available. He’ll take your requests as well. Together we’ll learn what new jewels are in this resource for singing our praise and prayer, our lament and celebration of all sorts of observances in the church year

Growth Ideas 101: For Love of Reading

How might a love of reading be a ministry opportunity through your community of faith? This July one community of faith is supporting a community partnership with their local literacy association and is supporting 37 children who are getting tutoring. How about reading buddies in your local school? At your local library? Offering reading support to newcomers looking for English opportunities? helping shut-ins, taking library books to them? Reading to residents living in seniors homes? Offering a story time outside? Hosting an author to do a reading and to share about their work? Hosting a book sale? Setting up that tiny library? Hosting book or article talks? Checking out new children’s books read-a-loud online to get ideas for books, planning a fall book ideas event to share book recommends to plan for holiday gifts of books, providing historical moments others can read about your local area, setting up a book corner, … your own creative ideas …Perhaps you can pair “literacy and lunch” or “books and cooks”? Share your ideas with me.

Contact your growth animator, Sharon Ballantyne at 506-306-0500 or by email at sballantyne@united-church.ca

Camp Hill Worship Leadership Needed

The Camp Hill ecumenical chaplaincy is looking for available United Church clergy to lead an occasional, generic, 30-minute Sunday Service at Camp Hill Veterans Memorial Building, Halifax. As far as the individual officiant is able to provide it, this Service is non-denominational in character and should reflect a variety of mainline Protestant traditions simultaneously. The officiant must be comfortable functioning in a dementia context. $150 stipend, parking provided. Contact Rev. Tim Parker, Staff Chaplain, Camp Hill VMB. Tim.Parker@nshealth.ca 902 219 0659.

Covenanting Service, St. John’s Middleton

St. John’s UCC, Middleton will be holding a celebratory covenanting service for our newly appointed minister, the Rev. Elisabeth Bachem-Jennings on TUESDAY, AUGUST 12th, 2025 AT 7:00PM.
Guest preacher to be announced later. Region Liaison, the Rev. Brenda McKay.
All are warmly welcome!

Items Available from Upper Stewiacke Springside Pastoral Charge

As Upper Stewiacke Springside Pastoral Charge prepares to sell its church building, there are several items that may be of use to other Communities of Faith. These include (but are not limited to) worship banners, a sound system, and a small lectern.

If your Community of Faith is interested in any of these items, please contact Rev. Michael Henderson, Pastoral Charge Supervisor, at mikewahenderson@gmail.com or 902-305-4620 (please leave a message).

BNS Committee Vacancies

Dear friends in faith,

We are writing with an open heart and a hopeful spirit to invite you to consider sharing your unique gifts in service of our community. The Bermuda-Nova Scotia Region of the United Church of Canada is currently seeking passionate, dedicated individuals to step forward and volunteer for several key roles.

These positions are more than just vacancies—they are opportunities to nurture our collective ministry, strengthen our connections, and help guide the church into its next chapter. Every role, big or small, contributes meaningfully to the work we do together.

Please take a moment to look over the list of opportunities. Pray on them, reflect on where your talents and energy might be most needed, and consider saying “yes” to something new. Your time and gifts can make a profound difference.

At the moment there are several vacancies.  If I may, I would like to lift up the Licensing Committee, Faith Story Community Covenant Committee, Future Directions, and Faith Formation as places that can use your time, gifts, and talents.

If you feel called—or even curious—we would love to hear from you.  Please reach out to me at angelamaclean@hillsideunited.org or Tony Orlando at tonye.orlando@gmail.com.

With gratitude and hope,
Angela MacLean
Nominations Chair
Bermuda-Nova Scotia Region
United Church of Canada

Bedford United Church is looking for a Music Director

Bedford United Church is searching for a Director of Music. This is a 20 hour per week position which includes UCC Pension and Benefits. BUC is a vibrant and inclusive community of faith that enjoys a wide variety of musical offerings !

All inquiries and expressions of interest can be sent to Searchteam@bedfordunited.com.

The position description can be viewed on the Bedford United Church website.

Central United Church, Lunenburg is Seeking a New Administrative Assistant!- Deadline July 16

Central United Church, Lunenburg, is seeking a qualified person to fill the role of Administrative Assistant. The successful candidate will have office management and bookkeeping experience and will coordinate an office which oversees a wide variety of activities. .

This part-time position of 13 hours per week will include one month of paid vacation and the remuneration will be at a rate of $20 per hour.
Applications will be accepted up until July 16th, 2025.

For a full job description and details on how to apply, please click here to visit our website.

Sherbrooke Lake Camp Golden Getaway Weekend – July 18–20

Looking for all the FUN of summer camp, with the freedom to do it your way? Join us for Golden Getaway Weekend—an unforgettable retreat for those 50 years young & over! Whether you’re in for a swim, a hike, star-gazing, yoga, crafts, or simply a good book and a cozy nap, this weekend is yours to enjoy at your own pace. With great food, cabin camaraderie, campfires, and a few light duties sprinkled in, it’s the perfect mix of nostalgia and relaxation. Don’t forget your crafts (BYOC) and get ready for a weekend full of joy, connection, and maybe even a slice of cake!

Click here to view our website.

Regional Representatives and Stewardship Committees

We can all learn the spiritual discipline of giving. We either learn it in our families or our church community. In the gospels Jesus talks about money yet we in the church are hesitant to mention it. Generosity and stewardship go together.
Our Regional Stewardship team wants to communicate with our communities of faith about generosity. By practicing faithful stewardship of creation and using what we have been given there is enough for all. The problem is we become self-absorbed in our own world. Let’s break the cycle of thinking stewardship is fundraising. Stewardship encompasses all that God has entrusted to us.

Wanalda Parsons she/her, Chair Stewardship Bermuda-Nova Scotia Regional Council, can be reached at wanalda@hotmail.com

Invitation to Peace & Friendship Gathering Tatamagouche Centre- Next step in our long journey of Reconciliation

Grounded in the Peace and Friendship Treaties of the 1700s between the British Crown, these Treaty-based gatherings emphasize Treaty education and responsibility, relationship building, land Rematriation and ceremony. Let’s celebrate our next powerful step in our Calls to Truth and Reconciliation built on decades of deep journeying together. The poster can be viewed here.

Click here for more information.

St Paul and Leonard Cohen: Public Lecture and Con Ed Opportunity

Until All Are Fed

Dear Friends in Christ,

I greet you in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, our Bread of Life.
I invite you to open your hearts to a ministry that reflects the very heartbeat of Jesus: feeding the hungry. The Canadian Foodgrains Bank has launched a powerful and deeply biblical initiative under the theme “Until All Are Fed.” This theme isn’t just a slogan, it is a call. It is Jesus’ theological mandate. Take a look and get involved!

Please click here for more information.

Retreat in a Godly Play Way

This retreat is meant to create a space for Godly Play® practitioners,
Christian formation leaders, parents/guardians and anyone who is curious or desiring a time away, to live in a Godly Play® way for 24hrs.
The Villa Madonna Retreat Centre provides a wonderful space to be with God who is not just here or there but everywhere. It is hoped that Godly Play@ practitioners will reconnect with one another along with expanding the circle to include those from various walks of life who are interested in the Spirituality of the Child, Christian formation of all ages and/or desire to experience Godly Play®. In rekindling the stories of our faith we hope to reimagine how we can share these together and with all of the
People of God we encounter daily.

When:
Friday, September 12 beginning with supper at 5:00pm to Saturday, September 13 3:30pm (Registration and check-in to rooms begins at 3:30pm). For those who are unable to join for supper, our retreat gathering opening session is at 6:00pm.

Where:
The Villa Madonna Retreat House located at 115 Villa Madonna Rd.
Rothesay, New Brunswick

Cost:
$150.00 (includes overnight accommodations, supper, breakfast, lunch and breaks)

Registration Deadline: Friday August 29, 2025

Click here to register.

For more information, click here!

The Theological Banquet – Rev. Janet Gear

At the 2025 Regional Meeting, Janet Gear offered a language and lens for talking effectively and compassionately about the various ways our faith is lived out in our churches. Her accessible Theological Banquet workshop series is available for use across the church.   Watching the videos, engaging in discussion, and using the accompanying booklet with your community of faith, council or cluster fosters language, identity, and understanding in navigating differences and setting faith-based directions together.

The Theological Banquet – LeaderShift contact Michelle Slater

Wednesday Watch Party

Wednesday Watch Party
July 23, 2025
Bethany United Church – Fellowship Hall
Two showings: 1pm or 7pm

1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture
Watch the trailer here.

More information regarding RSVPing will be found by visiting the link to our website page.