Horseshoe Falls Regional Council

WOW Regional Council Fall Meeting (online)
2024-11-16 - 2024-11-17 | Online via Zoom
Fall 2024 Meeting

WOWRC Fall Meeting (online): November 16-17, 2024
Celebration of Ministries: To be confirmed

ARW Online Clergy Gathering
2024-11-19 14:00 - 15:00, 2024-12-17 14:00 - 15:00, 2025-01-21 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Online via Zoom

HF Online Clergy Gathering
2024-11-20 15:00 - 16:00, 2024-12-18 15:00 - 16:00, 2025-01-22 15:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | Online via Zoom

WOW Online Clergy Gathering
2024-11-21 14:00 - 15:00, 2024-12-19 14:00 - 15:00, 2025-01-23 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Online via Zoom

Engage Difference
2024-11-25 - 2024-11-29 | Five Oaks Education and Retreat Centre, 1 Bethel Road, Paris, Ontario, N3L 3E3, Canada
Deepening Understanding for Intercultural Ministry

November 25-29, 2024 at Five Oaks

More information and registration here: https://www.interculturalleadership.ca/engage-difference-nov-2024-5-oaks/

Fishbowl – Cross Generational Discussion
2024-11-28 18:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | Online via Zoom
Regional Councils of ARW, HF and WOW in partnership with The Hub and Trinity UC Kitchener-
Thursday November 28th, 2024, 6:30-8:30 (all participants are asked to arrive at 6:40).
Background: Post-pandemic, Youth leaders struggle to put together groups. A message often heard from youth in the church is that what’s being offered doesn’t work for them. Being an intercultural church includes finding ways to bridge communication between different age groups/generations.
Goal– To offer a forum that brings together youth and Elders in the church– a forum that allows the two groups to hear one another and be heard by one another, and to consider what might be the Spirit’s invitation to the church for youth ministry at this time.
FISHBOWL PROCESS:
8 Youth (teens to twenty-somethings) and 8 Elders (45+) from WOW, HF and ARW Regional Councils and facilitators will gather via Zoom.

Discussion questions will invite each to share and listen to experiences of their own youth faith formation, and hopes and challenges for youth ministry then and now.
On each question, using the Zoom spotlight feature to focus on one group of eight:

Youth will invite one another to share, while the Elders listen.
Places will be switched, and the Elders will invite one another to share while the Youth listen.
For some questions, the order might be reversed, with Elders sharing first

After two rounds of sharing in separate groups, Youth and Elders will have an opportunity to reflect together as one group.

Each group will be invited to reflect on what they have heard and consider possible next steps.
Participants will be given questions for reflection and feedback, to be submitted in writing following the session.
This is a cross-cultural listening event, and a pilot project. This session will not focus on problem solving or planning. The focus of this event is to listen and learn about one another as a first step of re-visioning youth ministry in ARW, HF and WOW in this post-pandemic time.
An HONORARIUM of $105 is available for participants who are not otherwise paid for their time in this discussion.
To apply, complete the Application Form :
https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=qLUYz3gmEUCTEhXw9xV1dPBWSFWIXSNPila5mgKiAchUM0NLV0kyWUtVM1JXUEcyOUw4QlVaRlVDUS4u
Application deadline November 18, 2024

For more information contact
Thérèse Samuel tsamuel@united-church.ca
Kathy Douglas kdouglas@united-church.ca
Adam Cresswell – hubleadership@gmail.com
Aimee Belanger at youthevents@hubcommunity.ca

HF UCW Gathering
2025-01-18 14:00 (America/New_York)
Topic: Horseshoe Falls Fall zoom event
Time: January 18th, 2025 02:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://united-church.zoom.us/j/83472886564

Worshiplude 2025
2025-01-31 - 2025-02-02
Sign Up Now!

Worshiplude 2025

Fri. Jan. 31st – Sun. Feb. 2nd Ottawa, Ontario Join us for a weekend in Ottawa for Winterlude activities, a museum experience and gather with us for Dinner and Worship Saturday night at Southminster United Church (15 Aylmer Ave, Ottawa)

$75 per participant (Registration fee) plus spending money and enough $ for 2 lunches and 1 supper extra.

Youth and youth groups will need to be accompanied by an adult. (At least one adult for every 7-9 youth)

Grades 7+

Bus will begin in Beamsville, ON and travel along the QEW to 401 and on to Ottawa. We can discuss pick up locations along the route, once we begin to get registrations.

We will be billeted at a church in Ottawa. Participants can bring sleeping needs (sleeping bags, pillows, mattresses etc)

Register Now (spots are limited):https://regionalcouncil789.formstack.com/forms/worshiplude

Preaching with an Ecological Lens
2025-02-04 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Toronto) | Online via Zoom
Ministry Personnel and LLWLs,
Are you looking for ways to address the climate crisis from the pulpit?
Join us online Tuesday Feb 4th, 2025 7:00-8:30PM
Preaching with an Ecological Lens
A workshop offered by the Rev. Dr. HyeRan Kim Cragg,
Principal and Professor of Preaching at Emmanuel College.

The Rev. Dr. HyeRan Kim-Cragg is the 14th Principal and Professor of Preaching at Emmanuel College. She is the first racialized person holding both roles. Kim-Cragg received the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2020, the highest honor granted to Emmanuel Alumni. She has been actively involved in the preaching life of the United Church of Canada, a denomination that has been aspiring to become an intercultural and anti-racist church for the last 25 years. As a leading postcolonial scholar, she has written or contributed to over 15 books including her monographs Interdependence: A Postcolonial Feminist Practical Theology (2018) Postcolonial Preaching: Creating a Ripple Effect (2021), both are claimed as original contributions in homiletics and practical theology. Her most recent book is Moments in Time: Sermons from the United Church of Canada 1910-2020 (UCPH, 2024). Currently, she is preparing a manuscript for preaching addressing the climate crisis and ecological justice with a tentative title, A Homiletic of the EARTH. She is grateful to share some of her current research in this workshop.
Workshop: Preaching with an Ecological Lens
In this workshop Rev. Dr. HyeRan Kim-Cragg will share her insights into challenges faced by those of us who wish to address the climate crisis from the pulpit. She proposes five homiletical strategies that may help preachers and congregations face these challenges and tackle this crisis. The five strategies can be remembered using the acronym of E.A.R.T.H. which stand for the Elements of Life, Animals in the Bible, Rhythm of Life, Tree of Life, and Hesed (God’s unconditional love). Once briefly reviewing these five, Kim-Cragg will note the Elements of Life as Water, Fire, Air, and Soil that are prevalent in the Bible and well used as theological metaphors. She will focus on air, Ruah in Hebrew. With the deepened appreciation of this sacred element of life, Kim-Cragg will offer how to proclaim the Gospel for the sake of the Planet Earth.
There is no registration fee. The costs of this workshop are fully covered by Antler River Watershed, Horseshoe Falls and Western Ontario Waterways Regional Councils.
For more information contact Thérèse Samuel (Minister, Right Relations and Social Justice) tsamuel@united-church.ca
Click to register for “Preaching with an Ecological Lens” online workshop.
The costs of this workshop are fully covered by Antler River Watershed, Horseshoe Falls and Western Ontario Waterways Regional Councils.

Lent & Easter Round Table - Children and Youth Ministry
2025-02-05 19:00 - 20:15, 2025-02-06 11:00 - 12:15 (America/New_York) | Online via Zoom
Sharing ideas and challenges

Come prepared to share your ideas and/or listen to others

Contact Kathy Douglas for ZOOM link

kdouglas@united-church.ca

Black History Month Event
2025-02-14 13:00 - 14:30 (America/Toronto) | Online via Zoom

ARW Online Clergy Gathering
2025-02-18 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Online via Zoom
As you continue your preparations for the Lenten season, you are invited to come and join with colleagues in ministry for a time of conversation, support and information sharing.

ARW gathering Feb. 18, 2025 – 2pm
HF gathering Feb. 19, 2025 – 3pm
WOW gathering Feb. 20, 2025 – 2pm

The meeting link will be sent the week of the gathering.

HF Online Clergy Gathering
2025-02-19 15:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | Online via Zoom

UCC 360 Anti-Racism Program
2025-02-19 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-02-26 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-03-12 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Toronto) | Online via Zoom
UCC 360 ANTI-RACISM:

Have you engaged in previous anti-racism or racial justice training?
Are you ready to take your antiracism education a bit deeper, within a United Church context?

If you answered yes to both questions, this is for you:

UCC 360 Anti-Racism Program
with antiracism educator Rev Alcris Limongi, and Minister for Social Justice Dr. John Egger.
An in-depth 4.5 hour course offered over three weeks,
sponsored by the tri-regional councils of Antler River Watershed (ARW), Horseshoe Falls (HF) and Western Ontario Waterways (WOW).

Please plan to attend all three Wednesdays: Feb 19, Feb 26, and March 12, 2025 @ 6:00-7:30 PM Eastern
(Note: we take a week break for Ash Wednesday)
Session topics will include:
– A 360 View of Yourself, and developing your Antiracist Personal Purpose (APP)
– A 360 View of your immediate context (your church or regional council context)
– A 360 View of the United Church of Canada
.
(If you have to miss a session a recording of the session will be available, but will not include breakout discussions.)

This is not an introduction to anti-racism, but is intended for people who have engaged in some previous anti-racism training. If you are not sure if your previous anti-racism work has prepared you for this session, contact Thérèse Samuel tsamuel@united-church.ca

Advance registration required. Click to register now.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
There is no registration fee. The costs for this program are fully covered by Antler River Watershed, Horseshoe Falls and Western Ontario Waterways Regional Councils.
For information contact Thérèse Samuel tsamuel@united-church.ca

Bio: Rev. Alcris Limongi

The Rev. Alcris Limongi was born in Venezuela and has been a member of the United Church of Canada since 1996. She has served the Church in different capacities. She was a Th.D. candidate in NT at Emmanuel College and the Racial Justice, Gender Justice and Sexual Minorities Program Coordinator at the General Council Office. She also was the Liaison to the UCW National and to Affirm United. She was the staff lead for the GC40 Commitment to Inclusion, and has served as facilitator of the UC Racial Justice Mandatory training since 2009. As an Ordained Minister she served at Parkdale United Church in Ottawa for five years and currently is part of the Center for Christian Studies in Winnipeg staff team as Program/Educator.
She offers both experience and perspective from our national denomination structures a well from a local-congregational community and based ministries.
Rev. Alcris trained in Courageous Conversations about Race with the Pacific Educational Group. The focus has been identifying systemic racism and racial differential gaps, as well as facilitating Courageous Conversations.
Her own identity as a racialized woman in Canada, her life experience between marginality and privilege in different ways, combined with a sound theological education, and personal and theological commitment to justice, have helped her develop a particular lens, what she calls “the gift of her brown eyes” to the Church. Her passion is to encourage racial majority and minorities to engage together identifying, naming, interrogating, interrupting and dismantling racism. She is a teacher/preacher/facilitator with creativity, flexibility, and openness to respectfully listen and learn from cultural differences. She adds “English is not my native language, which is both strength and weakness. It is a strength because with language I also bring different perspectives of defining and understanding reality”.

This is not an introduction to anti-racism, but is intended for people who have engaged in some previous anti-racism training. If you are not sure if your previous anti-racism work has prepared you for this session, contact Thérèse Samuel tsamuel@united-church.ca

Registration information coming soon.

WOW Online Clergy Gathering
2025-02-20 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Online via Zoom

Flourishing: Spend a day with the Moderator
2025-02-22 09:00 - 16:30 (America/Toronto)
Flourishing: Antler River, Western Ontario Waterways, and Horseshoe Falls Regional Councils
Spend a day with the Moderator, engaging in reflection and energizing activities towards dream-oriented actions for our churches and communities.
Saturday, February 22, 2025, 9:00 am to 4:30 pm (local time).
9:00am -9:30am Registration and coffee/tea
9:30am – Welcome and Introductions
In person
Avondale United Church, 194 Avondale Ave., Stratford, ON N5A 6N4
All around the world – from universities to the United Nations, from corporations to community organizations – people are talking about flourishing. Rooted in belonging, flourishing means living with purpose and joy, and bringing bold collaborative solutions to our world’s challenges.
The Moderator, the Rev. Dr. Carmen Lansdowne, wants to bring that conversation to The United Church of Canada. She invites us to connect to one another in hope, with a deep conviction by a belief that, despite all the challenges of church life in this day and age, we can move from despair to transformation – from languishing to flourishing.
Is your church flourishing?
(Perhaps that’s the wrong question.)
Is your church contributing to the flourishing of your community?
How might we truly be a flourishing church in the world? How might we live in deep spirituality, bold discipleship and daring justice, linked from coast to coast to coast in ministry that transforms us and the world around us?
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER: Flourishing Workshop

Ontario Election 2025: More than Tariffs Workshop
2025-02-23 15:00 - 16:15 (America/Toronto) | Online via Zoom
Ontario Election 2025:
More than Tariffs A panel discussion
Sunday Feb 23, 3:00-4:15 PM EST on Zoom
Information to help you faithfully discern your vote and continue advocacy after the Feb 27th election.
Brief presentations by five panel members on selected topics.
Panelists will respond to questions from the audience.

Advance registration required:
https://united-church.zoom.us/meeting/register/Pfy-0rDhQt-l-V5KqspFkw
For more information contact:
Thérèse Samuel tsamuel@united-church.ca and John Egger jegger@united-church.ca

Moderator:
Rev. Éric Hébert-Daly serves as the Executive Minister to ECO and EOO Regional Councils in Eastern Ontario. He was ordained in 2020. He served for 5 years as Responsible, Ministries in French, for 9 years as the National Executive Director of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. Éric spent 17 years working in federal political circles and 7 years as a registered lobbyist. He also brings a hope-filled passion for the church.

Panel Members
Charles Barrett is a retired economist, who was actively involved in policy dialogue in North America, and the Asia-Pacific region in international economic relations, human resources development and capacity building. He has broad research experience and has written extensively on Canadian and international policy issues. He is a member of Riverside United Church, Ottawa and Eastern Ontario Outaouais Regional Council.

The Rev. Dr. Jessica Hetherington is an ecotheologian and ordained minister in the United Church of Canada. Working at the intersection of ecology and theology for 20 years, she inspires people of faith to transform their actions in response to the climate crisis. She currently serves as commissioner on climate justice with the World Council of Churches and the World Communion of Reformed Churches. Sign up for her weekly newsletter: Faith. Climate Crisis. Action. (https://jessicahetherington.substack.com/).

Bryan Smith is a long-term member of the Oxford Coalition for Social Justice, an organization committed to work and advocacy on a wide range of social and environmental issues locally in the County of Oxford and across the planet. It stands in for the Ontario Health Coalition and stands up for public health. Bryan is a retired teacher, and is active in providing school lunches and community dinners, and promoting local foods, the avoidance of waste, community events, and public health.

Rev. Jeffrey Dale (they/he) is the Minister at College Street United Church in downtown Toronto. Jeffrey is a harm reduction advocate and community educator, working with harm reduction advocacy groups throughout the Province of Ontario to educate communities of faith and the wider society regarding the needs of people who use drugs.

Rev. Susan Eagle is the minister at Grace United Church in Barrie. She chairs both the Ecological and Social Justice Commission for Shining Waters Regional Council, and the Steering Committee of the provincial interfaith coalition, ISARC, which does policy analysis and advocacy for income security, homelessness and employment rights. She has worked with newcomer and low-income individuals and sole-support families as a community outreach worker, and served on London City Council for 13 years.

This workshop is presented by the Social Justice Network of Ontario Regional Councils (SJNORC) with representation from Eastern Ontario Outaouais, East Central Ontario, Shining Waters, Canadian Shield, Antler River Watershed, Horseshoe Falls, Western Ontario Waterways and Prairie to Pine Regional Councils of The United Church of Canada.
Engage, Pray, Vote.

100th Centennial Round Table - Children and Youth Ministry
2025-02-24 14:00 - 15:30 (America/New_York) | Online via Zoom

Neurodiversity Round Table - Children and Youth Ministry
2025-03-18 19:00 - 20:15, 2025-03-27 11:00 - 12:15 (America/New_York) | Online via Zoom
Children’s Ministry Roundtable
Neurodiversity at Church – Drawing the Circle Wider

Join our guest, Tiffany Jull, as we discuss neurodiversity at church. As volunteers and staff, how do we tend the community of children who gather with us for programming and worship and be attentive to the neurodivergent needs of individual children?
Tiffany is a dedicated member of the United Church, starting in Nova Scotia and now at Knox United Church in Ayr. She has led Sunday School classes, Youth Groups, and Vacation Bible School. As a parent and a professional experience as a registered Psychologist, working with the Waterloo Region District School Board for over 25 years.
Choose to attend either session at the time that works best for you:

March 18th (Tuesday) at 7pm-8:15pm
OR
March 27 (Thursday) at 11am-12:15pm

These Children’s Ministry Roundtables are hosted by Regional Faith Formation staff:
Kathy Douglas (Antler River Watershed, Horseshoe Falls, Western Ontario Waterways)
Sharon Hull (East Central Ontario)
Shawn Redden (Canadian Shield, Shining Waters)

Sign up here:
Children’s Ministry Roundtable: Neurodiversity – Shining Waters

Adopt a Body of Water
2025-04-22 10:00 - 11:15 (America/Toronto) | Online via Zoom
Children and Youth Ministry Webinar:
Adopt a Body of Water 🌊🌊🌊
Contact Kathy Douglas, Tri-Regional Council Minister of Faith Formation for the Zoom link KDouglas@united-church.ca
