Church Council Members

Co - Chairpersons Carla Janzen (780)461-6123 carlajj@shaw.ca

Rob McPhee (780)462-3718 rwmcphee@icloud.com

Past Chair Kathy Poechman (780)463-7750 poechman@telusplanet.net

Lindy Mair (780)951-3914 lindy.mair@gmail.com

Finance Randy Round (780)462-1922 rauround@telus.net

Member at Large Laine Pickle (780)461-9202 ldpickle@shaw.ca

Diane Nash (780)461-0668 dcnash@telus.net

Bill McGregor (780)929-8558 wrmcgregor@shaw.ca

Minister Rev. Ian Kellogg (780)463-2202 Iankellogg@hotmail.com

Ministry & Personnel Francisco Rico (780)267-0586 frajorib@gmail.com

Presbytery Rep Vacant

Recorder Elfrieda Penner (780)463-0238 lepenner@telus.net

Stewardship & membership Darlene Hayward (780)709-7778 dmhayward43@gmail.com

Worship Cathy Bayly (780)462-1101 cathy.bayly@gmail.com

Ethel Ray (780)4620474 ethel.wellspring@gmail.com

The United Church of Canada Histories of Our Faith

A Place to Find Tangible Help Last updated: May 23, 2018

Adrian, Sherri, and their young daughter are just three of the people whose lives have been changed by the ministry of the Back Door Mission in Oshawa, Ontario. When Adrian lost his job due to a work injury in 2015, his disability payments were inadequate to the challenge of providing for his family. After Adrian and Sherri’s mortgage foreclosed and they lost their home, they turned to a homeless shelter and then emergency housing before being forced to live in their car.

At risk of losing their child for violating the regulations of the Children’s Aid Society, the couple agreed that the mother and daughter would move into a local women’s shelter. While this family has faced crisis after crisis, with the support of Back Door Mission it is finally finding ways to navigate the social assistance network. For more than 20 years, Back Door Mission has helped to relieve the burdens of poverty and social dislocation experienced by those living in economically depressed circumstances in Oshawa. Over 100 people come to the doors of its downtown facility every day. Its drop-in centre offers a welcoming space three afternoons a week where people can find shelter, companionship, and a snack or light meal. Says Don MacLeod, chair of the board, “The drop-in program provides an opportunity for community within a socially disconnected and often stigmatized population, and a place to find tangible help. This is a place where the poor, generally physically or mentally disabled in some form, can find friends and the experience of belonging.” If Mission & Service giving is already a regular part of your life, thank you so much! If you have not given, please join me in making Mission & Service giving a regular part of your life of faith. Loving our neighbour is at the heart of our Mission & Service.

To read more histories as these please click this link

Being Faithful in a Time of Great Change

Church Events

June 2nd - Communion

June 09 – Edmonton Pride

Parade (come and join the

United Church contingent

on Whyte Ave)

June 10 - Service focused

on reconciliation with

Canada’s First Nations

July 01 - No Service

July 08 - informal “coffee

& conversation” summer

gatherings begin

Sep 02 - Ian returns

Sep 09 - “Welcome Back”

Sunday

Connections Newsletter

MILL WOODS UNITED CHURCH

15 Grand Meadow Crescent, Edmonton, AB T6L 5B7

Phone: (780) 463-2202 Email: mwuc1@telus.net

www.millwoodsunited.org

May 2018

This was the title of the 85th and final meeting of the United Church's Alberta and North-west Conference, which I attended with 250 other delegates in Sherwood Park May 10-13. The "Great Change" we discussed was the restructuring of the United Church. Starting in January 2019, the 88 presbyteries and 13 conferences of our denomination will be collapsed into just 16 regions. Mill Woods United, which has been part of Edmonton Presbytery and Alberta and Northwest Conference since it was founded 42 years ago, will be part of a region that includes all of Alberta north of Red Deer. Also starting in 2019, a new bureaucracy for educating and supervising ministers and a new formula for assessing congregations to fund the work of the regions will be operational. Great Change could also apply to the life of this congregation. Sunday morning gather-ings this July and August are an example. In July, I will be on vacation; and in August, I will be on unpaid leave, which is my contribution to the staff cutbacks that the Church Council instituted last Fall. I look forward to the break, and I expect to return on Labour Day refreshed and energized. I also look forward to hearing about Sunday mornings in my absence. The general idea is to hold "coffee and conversation" times in July and August. Each one will probably have a unique flavor.

These services are a chance to express spiritual creativity. In September, I will be inter-ested to hear what you liked about them and about things you learned. Perhaps there will be elements from these Sundays that we could incorporate during the rest of the year.

More change will flow from the five Monday evening discussions called "Making A Differ-ence." I felt energized and inspired by the 40 people who participated and by all the ide-as and goodwill shared. Council will work on draft revisions to our Mission and Vision statements based on input from these five evenings. Thanks to Rob and Carla for organ-izing this series.

After a busy and productive winter and early spring, activity is slowing at MWUC. But I know that God's Spirit will be with us through the rest of the spring and summer, and that we will return to full-speed in the Fall with hope in our hearts and songs of love and jus-tice on our lips.

Blessings, Ian

On Monday May 7, 2018 we had the last of our five gatherings of our Making a Difference series. We had 41 different people attend our gatherings with the average weekly participation 27 people. We were very pleased and thankful for the participation and dedica-tion of our congregation in supporting this endeavor.

While the completion of this series represents an ending of one aspect of our work, in many ways it is just a beginning. Many ideas have been generated which with time will hopefully turn into positive actions in the life of our church congregation.

Each week after our gatherings we created a handout of responses to discussion points. These handouts were included in What’s the Buzz each week following our gatherings. We hope that you each had the opportunity to read them over. Many wonderful ideas were generated.

Our weekly topics were:

Week one: Our Purpose

Week two: Being Community

Week three: Sharing the Message

Week four: Living Hospitality

Week five: Encouraging leadership

Over the next several months we hope to involve both council and the congregation in making many of these ideas a reality in our church. Our hope is that each of you will find an idea that you feel passionate about and would be willing to share with others.

As was said by Mahatma Gandhi many years ago – You must be the change you wish to see in the world.

Once again, thank you to everyone who participated and shared of themselves during our Making a Difference gatherings.

Carla Janzen and Rob McPhee, co-chairs of your church council

From your Council Co-chairs

Have you noticed the cleaner spaces and new comfortable furniture enhancing our worship space and building?

Is this the beginning of changes in the wind? We are planning a laid back relaxing style of worship for the summer months and are thankful to you who have volunteered to lead and look forward to these services.

Change is exciting and in the midst of struggle the most amazing things have been known to happen.

I love this quote from the late story teller Stuart McLean regarding his café “We may not be big but we’re small”. We are proud of who we are, what we do in our community and how we worship. We hope you all enjoy a relaxing summer and take time to ponder your church community.

Thank you for making our lives richer.

Blessings from, Carla Janzen and Rob McPhee Council Co-chairs

Making a Difference

Pride Parade June 9 Has anyone ever cheered when they learned you were a member of Mill Woods United Church?

This happens every year when we march down Whyte Avenue with our rainbow flags flying and our MWUC Affirm banner unfurled in the Pride Parade! Please consider joining the MWUC group on Saturday June 9 for this year’s Parade. It is one of the most uplift-ing events you can experience as a member of this church.

The large United Church contingent gathers somewhere south of Whyte Ave. and east of 109 St. after 10 am. The Parade starts at 11 am and ends at the Arts Barns.

If you want to be part of the big United Church contingent, let the Office or a member of the Affirm Team (Mary-Anne, Tim, Nancy, or Ian) know.

Come walk with us in the PRIDE Parade

HEAVENLY HOSPITALITY On Tuesday, Feb. 13

th, the Heavenly Hospitality group joined forces with the Collective Kitchen folks to host this year’s

traditional Shrove Tuesday meal. About 65 – 70 people, including 20 from the Food Bank and a few of our Zimbabwean friends enjoyed pancakes, ham and fruit to mark the beginning of Lent.

Thanks to everyone who helped out – those who set up/cleaned up the tables and chairs, the pancake flippers, and everyone else who helped to make this meal a success.

On Thursday Feb 8th a few of the Hospitality members went and had dinner with a group of the students at the U. of A

We have done this for several years now and always come away being inspired by the young people we meet there. They are a very diverse group who welcome us (and our food) very warmly and engage us in topics of conversation which make us think beyond ourselves. It is great to know that there are so many wonderful young people out there!

One of our jobs is to keep the kitchen clean on Jan. 29 we and some of the Collective kitchen ladies worked together to get the kitchen back into working order. Thanks to everyone who came out to help – it’s more fun when you work in a group! On Wed. Feb. 28, we hosted the Farewell Open House for Janice Martin, who after 26 years as our church administrator decided to hang up her computer and begin the next phase of her life as a retiree.

We have hosted two Celebration of Life receptions since the beginning of the year, saying goodbye to two very dear friends of Mill Woods United Church. The first was on Jan. 20 for John Skoreiko and the second on April 14 for Rhonda Kropf. We will miss both of these wonderful people greatly and want their families to know we will be here for them in the coming days and weeks ahead.

By the time you read this, we will also have hosted a Celebration of life reception for Norma Jones, mother of Brian Jones, who is also a member of our Mill Woods family.

On May 12, we provided snacks and a light lunch for those who came to the Spring Craft Market. While attendance was down from previous years, those who did come enjoyed scones & crabapple jelly made by Enid Oldham, cheese and fruit.

Last but certainly not least, we will host the annual spring/summer luncheon of the Edmonton Presbytery Retirees group on Wed. June 6

th. It will be good to see some of our former ministers and those we have come to know over the past

several years.

As you can see, it has been a very busy time for us! We have fun working together and always enjoy providing food for our friends and family. As the old saying goes “ If there is food, they will come”. Nowhere is this truer than here at Mill Woods United. Have a wonderful summer everyone; see you in the fall.

Submitted by, Lynda Colgan and Kathy Poechman

Clothing Bank The clothing bank crew have been very busy the last few weeks packing away and moving on the last few winter items and putting out what spring/summer things we have had donated over the past few months.

Having said that, we have also been very busy with lots of folks coming in to get new clothes for themselves and their families. Things are moving very quickly and we will soon be in need of more to stock up our shelves. If you, your families or friends are beginning to bring out their spring wardrobe from the storage closet and found they no longer fit or they need an update please encourage them to pass them on to the clothing bank for those in need.

We also have continued to give out diapers to many fami-lies. We are in need of size 4 and 5 diapers for the little ones who come through our doors. If a few of you could pick up a box or 2 of either of these sizes, that would be wonderful.

Thanks to all of you for continuing to support what we do – we couldn’t do any of it without you!

Kathy Poechman

Planning the use of Church Over the past few months our church leaders have made an amazing effort to bring us together as a lively church with a fu-ture focus. Now it is time for us to look at how we might use some of the resources we have accumulated during the past years to serve the needs of our congregation and the community beyond. Here is a list of funds which currently are available, and terms of reference that have been established to govern their use. Given that we have clearly said we want to be a vibrant, active congregation, how do you think we should use these funds? How much should we save for future considerations and how much should we spend now? What projects would you be willing to undertake with available funds?

Watch for surveys and listen for discussion in the next few months. We will be putting out surveys soon. In the meantime, you can contact me with your ideas.

Wendy Phone: 780-690-8452 or Wendy.edey@ualberta.ca

At present Mill Woods United Church has five sources of funds that operate outside of our yearly financial budget and opera-tions. These are:

Capital Fund $61,583

Cash Flow Surplus $47,766

Benevolent Fund $4,246

Legacy Fund $10,000

Memorial Fund $12,634

The Capital fund was established to cover capital / building re-lated projects not seen as ongoing yearly expenses. For exam-ple, the new speaker system has been charged to the Capital Fund.

The Cash Flow Surplus is from 2013, a year we did not have a minister when a surplus of approximately $70,000 was seen.

This money has been used to cover cash flow deficits in 2014, 2016 & 2017. Our present 2018 operational budget includes a $ 8,625 surplus, which, if achieved, would be added to this fund.

Our Finance Team is considering establishing a Contingency/Reserve Fund which would formalize guidelines for the use of this cash flow surplus.

The Benevolent fund is used to support members, adherents of the congregation and the broader community in times of need. It is administered by our minister based upon his/her determination of needs. Mostly it is used to provide gift cards for food or pre-scription drugs.

The Legacy Fund has been established to provide opportunities for Mill Woods United Church to receive gifts from a living per-son, a bequest in a will, or a final gift at the time of the giver’s death.

The Memorial Fund Committee has been established to provide opportunities for gifts to be made to Mill Woods United Church in memory of loved ones or friends who have died.

Terms of reference for the Legacy Fund and Memorial Funds are as follows:

Enhance the beauty and worshipful atmosphere of the church sanctuary as a setting for Congregational worship and personal devotion.

Enhance projects, which support the Church’s Outreach in the community and throughout the world.

Provide for capital expenditures for equipment or furniture seen as long-term investments.

Make improvements to existing facilities.

Provide a resource base for training and leadership development.

Wendy Edey

Financial Update, May 2018 In November 2017, the Congregation approved a budget that included a local operations forecast for a surplus of $8,625. Working in a positive financial environment contributes to an overall positive environment within the church community.

In most year’s, results for four months are too preliminary to be relied upon for forecasting full year results. This year is no ex-ception. Local offerings are somewhat behind last year’s pace but this is not unusual for this stage of the year. Building use revenue is strong and additional growth through the year is expected. Salary costs are a little higher than we anticipated but, the full year impact of the staffing model changes have only just begun to be reflected. There is good news related to our utility costs. We have determined that we have not been recovering electricity costs from the cell tower tenant in the past and have received a significant refund for prior years. Discussions are ongoing as to the appropriate way to recover costs going forward and will result in a positive impact on the full year budget.

Although it is early in the year, after considering year-to-date results and the potential impact of various assumption changes, we still anticipate a full-year surplus in the $8,000 to $9,000 range.

The Finance Team is growing. Since the AGM in March, we have welcomed Wanda Egilsson for cheque preparation and pro-cessing; Terry Staley as Envelope Steward; Audrey Round to coordinate and process deposits; and, Dave Borynec to oversee the Count Team. Thanks so much to each of you for stepping forward in these very important areas.

Randy Round

Reconciliation Team Happenings Our Moving Forward with Reconciliation Esquao Evelyn Day will be helping our reconciliation team lead the worship service on June 10th, 2018 to mark Aboriginal Awareness Day.

Canada’s National Aboriginal Day is annually held on June 21 to celebrate the unique heritage, diverse cultures, and outstanding achievements of the nation’s Aboriginal peoples. There are three Aboriginal groups in Canada – the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.

On August 26, 2018 Dave Elliott, Evelyn Day and Mary-Anne Janewski will be hosting "Coffee and Conversation." We invite you to join us on that day for great conversation on an indigenous-focused topic.

We also encourage people to visit the MWUC website for information about upcoming reconciliation events. Sign up to "like" the Moving Forward with Reconciliation (MFwR) Facebook page for more updates on events.

Watch for updates about an evening in September to have a group discussion with all the people who have taken the Indigenous Canada MOOC course.

Mary-Anne and Nancy

Here Comes Summer And here come our informal summer Sunday gatherings!

There will be a variety of spiritual gatherings, worshipful experiences, leaders, styles, as well as coffee and conversation!

As a worship committee, we are very grateful to all the people who have volunteered to lead our summer services! We hope that

you join us in July and August.

July 1 Canada Day - No Service August 5 - Stay Tuned

July 8 - Jennifer & Rob McPhee August 12 - Darlene Hayward

July 15 - Wanda Egilsson & Celia Conway August 19 - Carla Janzen

July 29 - Laura Goss & Robin Lane August 26 - Mary Anne Janewski, Evelyn

Day & Dave Elliot

Please join us at 10:30 for our summer Sunday gatherings!

Remember to check your email for the weekly What’s the Buzz for information in July and

August, and to find out what will be happening in September.

Cathy Bayly and Ethel Ray, Worship committee co-chairs