NEWS AND UPDATES FROM FUNDY ST. LAWRENCE DAWNING WATERS (FSLDW)
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It’s Your Call – Podcast
Spark Newsletter
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.
Fundy St. Lawrence Dawning Waters (FSLDW) Committee Interest form.
Condolences: Gord Wood
Our condolences are extended to Rev. Jennifer Broomhead and family, whose husband Gord Wood, passed away on May 25, 2026. We will share the obituary when it is available.
Condolences: John Harley Grimmer
Our condolences are extended to the family of Harley Grimmer, who passed away on May 21, 2026. Harley was a member of Halifax Presbytery Executive for many years. His Celebration of Life service will be at St Luke’s United Church in Tantallon on Thursday, May 28 at 11 am, with a reception to follow in the church. His obituary can be found here.
Reports to Fundy St. Lawrence Dawning Waters Regional Council
The full Reports to Fundy St. Lawrence Dawning Waters Regional Council is available for downloading, please click here. Check back often as there may be updates (note the date on the PDF file).
Celebration of Ministry Service – Link to Live Streaming
The Celebration of Ministry service for Fundy St. Lawrence Dawning Waters Regional Council will be held Sunday, June 7, 2026 at 10:00am at Convocation Hall, Mount Allison University.
For those unable to join us in person for the service, the Celebration of Ministry Service will be live streamed. Please click here to join.
Final Service of Visions United Church, Moncton
Visions United’s last service will be held on Sunday May 31st, 2026, at 140 Joyce Ave, Moncton. You are welcome to join Visions’ members as they celebrate their 15 years as a congregation. The service starts at 10 am, with a reception following the service.
Fort Massey United Church’s historic final service is on Sunday June 7th at 10:30.
Fort Massey’s final service – everyone is invited; entry through the Tobin Street doors. Please join us for Coffee and Conversation prior to the service, starting at 9:45 in the Music Room and then follow the sound of the music into the sanctuary for the pre-service hymn sing and the service. Following the service, Fort Massey family (members and adherents) are invited to a catered lunch in the Lower Hall. On July 1st, Fort Massey will be amalgamating with St. Matthew’s and Saint Andrew’s to form Halifax United Church.
Temporary Vocation Minister Coverage
Rev. Ivan Gregan has been appointed as the interim Vocation Minister for the Atlantic Regions from May 01 until August 31. He will be working half time. Please email Ivan with any Office of Vocation related matters.
Vocation Minister for the Atlantic Regions
The Theology, Ministry and Leadership Unit is pleased to announce Rev. Don Sellsted as the new Vocation Minister for the three Atlantic Regional Councils. (First Dawn Eastern Edge, Bermuda Nova Scotia, and Fundy St. Lawrence Dawning Waters). Don will be working remotely from Nova Scotia and begins his work on August 1st, 2026. He will support the work of the Atlantic Candidacy Board and remedial processes, as well as offering support to ministry personnel.
Growth Ideas 101: Say “I’m glad you are here.”
Please click here to read the Growth Ideas from Sharon Ballantyne, Growth Animator, for May 27, 2026.
Share your ideas with your growth animator at 506-306-0500 or by email at sballantyne@united-church.ca.
Inventions of Summer
Inventions of Summer is a simple, creative, theologically rich companion for a Summer Sabbath or Worship Series; it is a four-week, ready-to-use program with four different themes, read more about it here. The Region has purchased a license from Prayer Bench and want to offer this resource as a gift to support worship leaders and communities of faith in their ministry; therefore, there is no cost to receive the resource materials. Please sign-up for access to this resource using this link.
Pastoral Care Training Program
Is your community of faith in need of additional pastoral care services. Is there a member of the community interested in training that could support them in offering pastoral care as a volunteer or as a Congregational Designated Minister for Pastoral Care?
If so, the Ottawa Pastoral Care Training Program may be offering just what you are looking for: A Basic Pastoral Care Training Program that will run from September 14 to November 3, 2026.
You can find a brochure for their program here. The program will be offered via Zoom on Monday evenings (excluding Thanksgiving Monday) from 7PM to 9:15PM.
The Pastoral Relations Committee of the Region commends this program especially to those communities of faith that are without called or appointed ministry personnel.
Godly Play Taster Day June 10th
Come experience the essential elements and founding principles of Godly Play. Join the circle, and become part of a full Godly Play session. Explore the deep care and compassion for the spirituality of the child. This one day workshop is open to all leaders regardless of their exposure level to Godly Play.
Wednesday, June 10th from 10am-3pm
Includes coffee break and lunch, no fee required
Bedford United Church, 1200 Bedford Hwy, Bedford, NS B4A 1C3
Registration is limited, please fill out this form by Wednesday, June 3rd.
Email Jenny Eisener for any questions.
Rural Routes 2026: Registration Closing June 3rd
Rural Routes Through the Holy, is a space where rural faith communities come together to rest, receive, and rekindle their spirits.
Whether you’re feeling isolated in your rural congregation or simply in need of spiritual nourishment, you’ll find support here.
This year our theme is Tales, Tables, and Tending: The Slow Work of God in a Fast World. We have lots of presenters engaged to spark our sense of possibility and and encourage our reflection.
You can read more about this year’s theme and registration here. We’d love to welcome you.
United Church Worship Resources
Many Communities of Faith (CoF) find themselves where it is falling to lay members to support or lead worship. Lacking formal training, or having very little training, in leading worship these lay members often look for support in leading worship. Additionally, these CoF are often strapped for the funds, which limits their ability for training or support materials for their lay leaders. There are, however, many materials that are inexpensive or free that are available for use by CoFs and lay leaders. On June 22nd the Faith Formation and Leadership Development Committee of the Bermuda-Nova Scotia Region is pleased to present a webinar to help CoFs and lay leaders find these resources. On June 22nd, Alydia Smith – Program Coordinator, Worship, Music and Spirituality at the General Council of the United Church of Canada – will lead our webinar. The session will be on June 22nd and start at 7pm (Atlantic Time) running for an hour with time at the end for questions and discussion. Registration is now open, click here: there is no registration fee for this webinar. Registration will close the morning of June 22nd.
Upon registration you will receive an automated email. A few days later you will receive a welcome email from the committee with the zoom link for the sessions. You will also receive a reminder email before the session.
Living into the vision of Toward 2035, Fall Course,2026
There is an exciting learning opportunity happening this fall. As your growth animator, I will be there to learn alongside all the participants. I am inviting you and people from your pastoral charge to come and learn too!
Toward 2035 is an invitation to prayer and conversation about the future of God’s call to the United Church of Canada. Together, we dream of a United Church that is “increasingly multigenerational, multiracial, and intercultural,” one that reflects the diversity of our neighbourhoods.
But sometimes we don’t know where to start, or how to move from good intentions into practical action. You’re not alone, there are folks across our church who are asking the same questions, and this fall, they are gathering to dig deeply into them.
Becoming An Intercultural Church is a six-week online led by Rev. Dr. Hyuk Cho, exploring how churches can respond faithfully to cultural diversity, migration, racial injustice, ecological crisis, and the lingering effects of colonial histories. Designed for ministers, lay leaders, congregations, and related communities of faith, this course moves beyond simple inclusion language to examine shared woundedness, companionship, anti-racist formation, and the transformation of church life through shared power and responsibility.
The class runs weekly on Wednesdays from October 14–November 25, 2026. Registration is $40 per person or $70 for a group of up to 10. Register on CHURCHx. I invite you to sign-up and consider bringing some friends with you. By having this conversation together, reflecting and practicing in community, we can begin to move beyond those good intentions into real transformative change.
Do you want to talk more about strengthening invitation, church growth and renewal now!
Book time to meet with me
Sharon Ballantyne (she/her)
Growth Animator | Atlantic
506-306-0500
sballantyne@united-church.ca
The ASTE Levy Lecture NAVIGATING HOPE AND DESPAIR: A NATURE WRITER’S JOURNEY with Harry Thurston Tuesday June 18th 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm St Andrew’s United Church 55 King St, Truro NS
Harry Thurston was born in 1950, at the very beginning of the Anthropocene, that era in which humans became a geological force shaping the planet’s biosphere. As a nature writer and poet, his challenge has been to navigate the rough moral and artistic terrain between despair and hope. He will trace that journey and the responsibility that comes with it through an examination and sharing of his work in both prose and poetry.
Born in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Harry Thurston is the author of thirty books of poetry, natural history, and memoir. His first prose book, Tidal Life, A Natural History of the Bay of Fundy, revealed the life-giving powers of the Fundy tides and argued against damming them for electrical generation, and is now considered a classic in the natural history genre. His eco-memoir, A Place Between the Tides, A Naturalist’s Reflections on the Saltmarsh won the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award in the U.S., and The Atlantic Coast, A Natural History, received the Lane Anderson Award for the best science writing in Canada. His latest poetry collection, Ultramarine, was a finalist for the J.M. Abraham Atlantic Poetry Prize and the Fred Cogswell Award for Excellence in Poetry. He lives in Tidnish Bridge, Cumberland County, and is a Mentor in the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction program at University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Learn more about Harry at his web site.
Learn more about ASTE.
The Levy Lecture is an integral part of ASTE. The lecture is open to the public at no charge. In particular we are always glad to welcome ASTE alumni to the lecture.
New GLI webpage
Friends, check out the newly revamped GLI webpage for timely resources on guaranteed liveable income.
Surplus inventory – Visions United Church
Visions United Church, Moncton, will be closing effective March 31, 2026, and there is a small amount of surplus inventory available. For information, please contact us.
Invitation to share: Northern Indigenous Ministers Retreat
Across Northern Canada, Indigenous ministers walk closely with their communities through grief and loss. It is sacred work, but it can also be deeply isolating.
The Northern Indigenous Ministers Retreat offers something essential: time away to rest, share, and receive care among peers who understand the weight of this calling. Supported through Mission and Service, this gathering creates space for healing, connection, and renewal.
The United Church of Canada Foundation is inviting you and your community to take part in supporting this gathering. Please make a life-changing gift today in of support the Northern Indigenous Ministers Retreat.
Camp Abegweit – Golf Tournament Fundraiser
We hope you’ll join us for our Golf Tournament Fundraiser at the beautiful Rustico Resort on September 12, 2026.
Tournament Details:
Start Time: 10:00 am (Shotgun Start)
Cost: $150.00/per player (Eligible for a $50.00 Tax Receipt)
Payment: Will be received on the day of the event, at registration
Tournament Type: Scramble
Food/Drinks: A lunch will be provided on the day of the event; drinks are extra
