Growth Ideas 101: Connecting with Your Region (December 3, 2025)

Start a “minute for region” update each month, or even weekly. We have so many resources and opportunities, ideas, stories, webinars across our United Church of Canada, and from other denominations and community partners. Email overload or lack of internet access is creating obstacles to regional support. Pro- actively address experiences of feeling in a silo, not feeling connected to wider church. Create a “growth and regional enthusiast “to keep your community of faith informed. Regional reps report to the governing body, and in annual reports, but the whole community of faith may not be experiencing connections and updates regularly. Review the announcements newsletter and pick one or two things that relate to your context. Tell your community of faith about them. Invite others to join in. Shoulder tap someone with a particular passion. Simple starting points of more effective and consistent communication grows possibilities. How can you be more expansive? Do you review minutes of regional happenings? Do you reach out to regional staff? Do you reach out to others in your geographic area to support one another? Could a regional rep or others interested coordinate some highlights to share with more than one pastoral charge – in a geographic cluster, pastoral unit, or particular team/committee/activity group? Do you have ideas to improve communication? Contact me to share your ideas.
Contact your growth animator, Sharon Ballantyne at 506-306-0500 or by email at sballantyne@united-church.ca
Don’t forget to join the Wednesday drop-in every Wednesday morning, a thirty-minute virtual coffee break to connect with people from across UCC-East. 9:45 Atlantic and 10:15 in Newfoundland-Labrador. Contact Sharon if you do not already have the link.