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Hi Rural Folks Across Canada!
This is our 22nd edition of our eNews, which shares more information of rural ministry initiatives across Canada, mostly in the United Church of Canada.If you are missing any past ENews please see them at www.UCRMN.ca
Lots of events and news is happening in the Rural Church across Canada. This ENews is full of great information and upcoming opportunities.
Past eNewsletters are archived at www.UCRMN.ca
If you have a rural story you would like to share, please submit your story to Eric at editor@UCRMN.ca. We welcome articles 300 to 500 words.
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Register for "Checking in with the Rural Church".
Facilitated by Rev. Dr. Peter Barlett, Eastern Ontario Outaouais Regional Council, Regional Minister Supporting Visioning with Communities of Faith, Clusters, and Social Justice and Outreach Networks.
This Zoom Workshop is an opportunity for you to share your experiences and/or concerns with the Rural Church. This Zoom Workshop will be an open forum, with participants leading the discussions. Join us and share what's happening in your Rural Church.
Mark your calendar and get registered and we will send you an email confirmation and reminders - the morning of the workshop and also an hour before the workshop.
As you register for this and our next workshops, we are asking for your "Regional Council", "Province", and Ministry (Lay, Clergy, Other). These are all from dropdown menus. This information helps us to know who we are serving.
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Report on Trauma Workshop
October 13, 2022
UCRMN offered a fall workshop on Trauma, Grief and Recovery, called Ministry in the Midst, and offered by Rev. Michele Rowe of Maple Creek, Sask. Michele is Certified as a Community and Workplace Traumatologist and happens to hold a Social Work degree as well as being a minister to a community of faith. As all of our church communities have suffered trauma from the COVID Pandemic and all it brought to us, it was a great relief for the 14 participants to talk together in this time, shaped by helpful information on trauma. We have experienced grief and loss and anger, dislocation, confusion and fear.
COVID broke apart our community as we knew it, and accelerated many losses the church is already experiencing. We named collective traumas our communities have or are presently experiencing, like, the cost of living, grief from deaths, especially loved family members or friends dying alone, the overwhelming of the medical system, and the backup of elective and emergency surgeries, children who spent a year or more on online schooling, the angers of community around masks and shots.
Michele invited us to consider developing rituals in our communities of faith which will lift up what we must let go, and what can be welcomed back. She reminded us that trauma continues to strike us, like Hurricane Fiona in Eastern Canada, or the deaths in James Smith Cree Nation of Saskatchewan.
(One of the really important bits of information Michele gave us is that Trauma is passed down through generations, which we know, but that people actually experience genetic change by trauma)
Michele expressed her appreciation that we organized a 2-hour time period for this workshop, which gave us time to lean into the heart issues of our times. 75% of the participants of the workshop came from Michele’s Regional Council of Living Skies, most who had previous discussion on COVID trauma.
Submitted by Catherine Christie and Michele Rowe.
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Let us Introduce You -
The UCRMN “Web minder”:
In September, our ENews began offering opportunities for various tasks to help the working of UCRMN. We want to introduce you to the Rev. Peter Chynoweth retired in Cochrane, AB, who has taken part in some of our technology workshops, and who has extensive experience working as a web minder for many different Church organizations and others and Peter has been using WordPress as his Content Management System (CMS) of choice for well over ten years.
Reverend Peter Chynoweth
Peter has developed and minded numerous sites over the past couple of decades: Yellowhead and Northern Lights Presbyteries, Jasper and Yellowknife United Churches, and Banff Men’s Conference, the election site for the current Minister of Health in the North West Territories government, and others. He has taught night school at Jasper Community Learning Council on a number of technical subjects.
Peter says, “My particular affinity is for the Open Source model for software development because of the community aspect behind this model and because of its cost effectiveness which is especially important in the economics of rural communities, and I did a ministry sabbatical in 2012 on the spiritual, ethical and theological aspects of Open Source software and its use and adoption in the church community.” (Peter and Martin Dawson have lauded Open Source software in newsletter articles and on our technology workshops).
We welcome Peter, who has offered his skills to serve the national rural community, and UCRMN as our “webminder”. Many thanks, Peter. We look forward to working with you.
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Niagara School for Missional Leadership
About the Niagara School for Missional Leadership
The Niagara School for Missional Leadership, an ecumenical gospel-focused learning community rooted in the Anglican Diocese of Niagara, is dedicated to training effective missional leaders to respond to the needs of God’s world. Courses are designed for both ordained clergy and ministers, as well as congregation members and laypeople. Our courses are for anyone who is excited about God’s mission in the world! For more information about the Niagara School for Missional Leadership, or to explore other course offerings, visit nsml.ca or contact Carrie McFarland at hello@nsml.ca
The Rural Church: Fostering Relationships without Shortcuts
The rural and remote congregations that make up our communities of faith have so much that deserves to be celebrated and is worthy of attention, but so often goes un-acknowledged. This course is designed to identify and examine the relationships that make up rural communities and what they might teach us about The Way of Jesus, relying on the classic ingredients of people, resurrection power, and God’s mission! If you like the sound of that, the Niagara School for Missional Leadership’s course, The Rural Church: Relationships Without Shortcuts is for you! Join a community of learners, along with instructor Tim Wray, in exploring, celebrating, and learning from the ministries of rural communities of faith. This course runs from January 12-February 28, 2023, and registration is open now!
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Reflections on the deep spiritual hunger and rich spiritual heritage
that surrounds us in our rural communities – with Joyce Sasse _______________________________________________________________________________________
Front Page news on Sept 29th / 22 edition of the Western Producer Newspaper ... https://www.producer.com › news › indigenous-agriculture-education-now-mandatory
Notes: each edition of the Western Producer Newspaper has newsworthy columns featuring Indigenous understandings and practices which are informative for agricultural-related people.
Article submitted by Joyce Sasse.
(This reflection from Joyce Sasse’s Gleanings From a Prairie Pastor reflects on her memories of a prairie slough and how she has continued to touch her toes in ‘sloughs’ of the world. (Note: ‘slough’ is pronounced ‘sloo’.
I used to read a story to my children in which there was a ‘slough’ – I pronounced it rhyming with ‘bough’) Catherine Christie
Joyce writes - My memory takes me on ventures to explore the slough which was almost a mile away from our farmyard – alongside an old road that was barely ever used.
While the uninformed may think a slough is only a wasted couple of acres of stagnant water, I knew different. That bit of water had a life and showed such promise that my imagination over-flowed with infinite possibilities. A vibrancy came from the insects and plants and algae and decaying life in and along the edge of “my slough” - regardless the season.
My parents worried a lot about the “dangers” of going there … They finally gave me permission “so long as I was with them” … and if dad tied a rope around my waist lest I start to “take on water”! (We prairie people weren’t swimmers.)
I preferred to concede and gave further such ventures with the folks a pass. But I continued journeying in my imagination. Throughout my life I have found such pleasure comes from touching my toes in “sloughs” (big and small) in any landscape that beckons. My understanding of “The Church Scattered” was regularly nurtured as I recalled what God’s gift of “sloughs” had to offer.
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General Council Executive
re: Designated Lay Ministers:
The General Council Executive (GCE) will be meeting on November 18 & 19, 2022, to determine a process for engaging in further discussion and clarification about the proposal with respect to designated lay ministry.
As a reminder, General Council 44 referred part B (the section with recommendations about designated lay ministry) of GCE06, “Ministry Leadership in the 2020s” to the General Council Executive for further discussion and clarification. This matter will then be returned to the next annual meeting of the 44th General Council, scheduled for October 2023.
The November GCE proposed action item is to “refer to the Office of Vocation and the Executive Minister Theological Leadership to design, in consultation with designated lay ministers, an appropriate pathway for ordering in advance of the 44thGeneral Council Annual meeting so that Commissioners see what this might look like if passed.”
Before any such pathway is developed, the General Council Office will consult with DLMs, in a process yet to be determined. The anticipation is that consultation will take place late winter 2023 (late February or March, potentially). Once a process for consultation has been developed, GCO will let DLM's know the process and the timeline.
This approach is in order to test a concrete option, with DLMs, with the GCE, and ultimately with Commissioners. Stay tuned!
BTW: If you are a DLM and did not receive the email from GCO (Michael Blair) - email your Regional Vocational Minister, and ask them for a copy.
Submitted by Eric Skillings (Designated Lay Minister) South Buxton and Talbot Street Pastoral Charges in Southwestern Ontario.
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Reaching Out to Regional Staff
The leadership team of the United Church Rural Ministry Network is reaching out to Regional Council offices to introduce themselves and share what they do for our Church - specifically Rural Churches. We want to make clear our desire to intentionally partner with the Regional Councils as a valuable network to connect, support and promote healthy rural ministries throughout the country.
We Would Value Your Help, as We Move Forward:
As we contact Regional Council offices, it will be helpful to know where members of UCRMN and subscribers to our newsletter come from.
This is how you update your information with us:
- Sign up again: Click here.
- You will get an error message (because you are already signed up), but on that error message is the Link "Click here to update your profile" - Click on that link.
- Mail Chimp will send you an email (in a couple of minutes) to allow you to update your profile. Fill in the information, and update. That's it!
Thank you so much! Feel free to mention UCRMN to your Regional Staff, when you are talking to them.
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"Co-operative Ministries":
Catherine and Eric joined in a Zoom Seminar, hosted by the United Methodist Church of USA, in late October. The Seminar was based on the Book, ""An Effective Approach to Cooperative Parishes: A Congregational Guide". (Available from Amazon.ca).
ISBN-10 1950899659
The "Take Home" message was not to wait until you financially need to look at "Co-operative Ministry" - because then, you are just sharing a minister and you are only co-operatively connected through that minister. "No", they (the Authors) suggest, "Start the process early, when you still have money, energy, time and assets - then "Co-operative Ministry" is about many or all of your ministries being shared, growing and effective in and for your community. Together we can do so much more! We are not alone! Thanks be to God.
Submitted by Eric Skillings
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International Rural Churches Association - Conference 2023:
13-19 April 2023 - in Dubuque, Iowa
Flourishing: Land, People, Community
The Bible tells us that God is a God of abundance, yet many of us live in settings/contexts that emphasize scarcity. Can we get beyond the numbers to share the stories of God’s abundance among us?
Go to Registration Page: for information and to register.
Early Bird Registration ends November 30, 2022 (save $100 USD)
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On the Affirming Connections website is the collections of videos - "Small Towns, Big Impact". Check out the videos here:
Theme: The Year of Intention.
What would a year of intention look like for your community?
National Affirming/PIE Day
March 14, 2023
"Save the Date"!
Why PIE?
PIE = Public. Intentional. Explicit. Those are the standards we hold ourselves and our welcome to when we seek to live into being Affirming, Welcoming, or Inclusive people and communities.
National Affirming/PIE Day was co-founded by Affirm United/S'affirmer Ensemble and Affirming Connections to set aside a special day every year to celebrate the full inclusion of Two Spirit and LGBTQIA+ people in faith communities and beyond!
This day also reminds and challenges us to continue widening our welcome and using the concepts of PIE Day to embody love and celebrate gender and sexual diversity in all its forms.
Brand new resources and service templates are coming soon. Check out our PIE Day website to learn more!
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UCRMN is looking for Volunteers:
Requirements:
- Work from home (using your computer and online apps).
- Eligible expenses are covered by UCRMN.
- One to four hours per month (depends on your skill and creativity).
- Directions and approval will be from the UCRMN Board.
- All meetings will be by Zoom.
Responsibilities and Skills:
- ENews Editor and "Poster" using MailChimp (9 issues per year).
- Fundraiser Committee members - one from each of the 6 "Area Regions" of the United Church of Canada.
- Workshop Coordinator using "Event Brite' (4 to 6 workshops per year)
- Board Members for UCRMN - Serve for 3 years (Monthly Zoom meeting, except July, August and December - 9 per year).
- The Board has wondered about a "Social Media" Coordinator ????
Email your interest to: office@UCRMN.ca
You do not need to be an UCRMN Board Member to volunteer - although you will report to the Board on our monthly Zoom meetings.
If you have an interest in any of the above positions, and do not yet have the skills (yet feel you can learn them) - we will help train you for the program and the position.
We will draft Volunteer Job Descriptions for each position.
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So Long For Now!
We hope you enjoyed this Edition of ENews.
Any suggestions are most welcomed.
Email editor@UCRMN.ca
Please forward this email to your Rural Ministry Colleagues and encourage them to subscribe from our webpage at www.UCRMN.ca
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Who is UCRMN?
We are a Volunteer Charitable Network that is collecting and posting Rural Ministries initiatives in the United Church - across Canada - in one place;
www.UCRMN.ca
If you have an interest in finding out more, or to volunteer as a Board Member or in some other way, please email us at office@UCRMN.ca
Blessings on your ministry!
Catherine, Eric, Donna, Felicia and Shelley
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