Welcome!

Join us for our fall regional meeting! Our theme this year is “Becoming One in Christ” as we work towards a more diverse and inclusive community, not only in our churches but in our society as a whole. Like everything else this year, we will be doing things a little differently as we take our annual meeting online and into Zoom. 

The business portion of our regional meeting will be held on Saturday, October 17  to be followed by the Celebration of Ministry service on Sunday October 18, 2020. And now, here is a few words from our president, David Leyton-Brown.

Shining Waters Regional Council Business Meeting

Please register below to attend the online Zoom meeting that will be held on Saturday, October 17, 2020. The meeting will begin at 9:00 a.m., so make sure to log in a bit early so you are ready to begin on time. Below are all the resources you will need for the meeting. This will be updated regularly as items become available, so remember to keep checking back. 

If you are unable to attend this year’s meeting, please select the ‘Regrets’ option below so we may register that into the official records and make sure we have your current information on file. 

Meeting Registration

Please register to attend this meeting if you are Ministry Personnel or an Elected Lay Representative. All others will be able to watch the live stream of the meeting on our YouTube channel, without registering. Elected Lay Representatives are elected by their community of faith or by the region.

Not sure if you are an elected lay representative or have other registration questions? Contact us at swrc@united-church.ca.

If you are unable to attend the meeting please submit your regrets below. Thank you and we look forward to seeing you soon!

 

Letter from the President

Welcome to the online meeting of the Shining Waters Regional Council!

In recognition of the expressed desire of many members of our Regional Council to have more
opportunities to interact with other members of our community in the new regional structure of
The United Church of Canada, the Shining Waters Executive decided to hold not just one but two,
meetings of our Regional Council in 2020. Then the pandemic struck and our best-laid plans went
out the window. Our May gathering and Celebration of Ministry service was cancelled, and this
October meeting is taking place online, in an abbreviated form. We all hope and pray for a return
to our hoped-for “normal” pattern of two face-to-face meetings a year when medical conditions
permit.

The theme for this Regional Council meeting, Becoming One in Christ, seems inescapable given
the daily reality of newspaper headlines and televisions news. Against the backdrop of anti-black
racism and the Black Lives Matter movement, protests against police anti-black police violence,
the ongoing struggle to achieve right relations with Indigenous peoples, and the United Church’s
commitment to the goal of being an intercultural church, we are reminded of the biblical
injunction that Christians are one in Christ. But saying it, no matter how sincerely, does not make
it so. Too many have a lived experience of discrimination, marginalization and exclusion in our
society, and in our church. We are in the process of becoming one in Christ – we must work at
it, and keep working at it, to make this vital goal a reality. This Regional Council meeting is one
step in that ongoing work. The process of becoming one in Christ continues.

Just as our individual communities of faith have adapted to new ways of worshiping and serving
their members and communities virtually in this COVD environment, I trust we as a Regional Council
will be able to do the same. May our cup be not half-full, but overflowing.

David Leyton-Brown
President, Shining Waters Regional Council

PDF Download of President’s letter