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Bedford Park United Church
Handbook
MISSION STATEMENT
Guided by God’s Spirit,
and responding to God’s love
as revealed in Jesus Christ,
Bedford Park United Church commits itself
to be a compassionate community,
daring to take risks and enable change,
thus creating peace and justice
In our community and God’s universe.
The people at Bedford Park United Church have identified 7 areas of activity for our congregation:
1. Worship
2. Spiritual Formation
3. Reaching Out
4. Pastoral Care
5. Future Planning
6. Wider Church
7. Administration
We are pleased that you are interested in learning more about our faith life together and would be happy to answer any questions you might have.
You may also find about more about us on our website: http://www.bedfordparkunitedchurch.ca.
Worship
Worship is the centerpiece of our life together. We gather each Sunday of the year at 10:30 a.m. to praise God and grow in our understanding of our faith. Worship comforts us with the reinforcement that God is with us on the hard days and challenges us to open ourselves to care more fully for God’s good creation. We are challenged to be concerned about justice, mercy and compassion for others. We are challenged to care about our planet and learn more about how to walk more softly on God’s good earth.
In worship we sing, pray, spend time with our children, hear God’s word to us in scripture and sermon, and hear news of the life and work of our church and the broader church. We are given an opportunity to offer our gifts - time, talent and financial - for the work of healing of our hurting world.
Our worship services offer a mixture of contemporary and traditional church music. The sermon time might take a number of different forms, from the traditional sermon, to drama, to Bible study, to dialogue sermons where everyone has an opportunity to share in the reflections on the theme of the day. Our people find this worship time a time of spiritual stillness which is the perfect antidote to the busy-ness of living.
Spiritual Formation
Each week a group gathers for Bible study to prepare for the Sunday worship. This group is quite fluid in membership and always welcomes new members.
We hold a study group yearly (for approximately 6 weeks) on some aspect of our life in the spirit. This fits in with the initiative of the national church that we will all be a “learning church” together.
A group of Worship Elders give spiritual leadership in worship by writing and saying the Prayers of the People each Sunday.
On Sundays a dedicated team of people spend time with our children sharing the stories of our faith in drama, music and crafts.
Reaching Out
It is important to our witness as Christians that we have a presence in the world beyond the walls of our building. Our congregation has a new website, http://www.bedfordparkunitedchurch.ca . Several times a year we mail out a brochure to our neighbours so that they will be more aware of our mission. We also link into the United Church Wondercafe website, http://www.wondercafe.ca a place where people are invited to discuss the spiritual issues of the day.
We reach out to young people in Toronto by working with Youth without Shelter, providing a weekend meal every 6 weeks and providing financial support and gifts at Christmas time.
We operate a small food bank and give subway tokens for local people who are in need. We assist the mission of SAINTS (Student Assistance in North Toronto for Seniors - and adults with disabilities) by subsidizing their rent costs.
Our international project is support of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, which provides food to and shares farming advice with countries in need throughout the world.
Pastoral Care
As a congregation, we are committed to caring about one another in a meaningful way. This can take the form of anything from a friendly phone call, a card sent to those who are bereaved or having other serious problems, to stopping to chat on the street, or visiting people in hospital or their homes. We often help out when someone is sick. This may extend to forming a palliative care team for someone who is in the end stage of life.
Future Planning
In the same way that many of us plan our personal futures, the congregation also plans its future together. Once a year we meet for extended discern what God would have us do.
Our Building Committee meets twice a month to continue working on our plan to redevelop our site as a Seniors’ Residence with church and community space on the main floor.
Wider Church Involvement
Each congregation of the United Church is in a covenant relationship with the wider church. We promise to participate in the life of the church beyond our own congregation. Each congregation answers to the Presbytery, which is the next highest level, in matters of the proper functioning of the congregation. We are expected to provide people to work at the higher levels (presbytery, conference and General Council [national]) to ensure that the whole church functions in a healthy way. Much of the work at the higher levels is done on a voluntary basis.
Administration
The administrative functions of the church may not be glamorous but are absolutely fundamental to our ability to have a meaningful faith life together. In addition to building maintenance and tenant liaison, the Church Management Team is accountable to the congregation for all administrative duties, including:
q Keeping of records – historic roll, baptismal, marriage and burial registers; list of members and adherents (households under pastoral care); minutes of Board meetings and congregational meetings
q Liaison with staff including caretaker, secretaries, and minister, and with others including the treasurer and trustees
q Bookkeeping, accounting, and financial management – receipts and disbursements, payroll, remittance to Mission and Service Fund, reviewed/audited financial reports for the Annual Report, budget preparation, trust fund and insurance direction to Trustees
q Reporting to the national church – annual statistical report
q Reporting to the congregation – regular financial reports
The very “hub” for communication within the church and without is our office staff. In the course of her duties, our secretary provides an excellent example of caring for people of the congregation as well as other users of the building and visitors.
What does all this mean?
All these many facets work together to help us to live into our life as people committed to working to understand God better and use that understanding to work for justice in the world.
If you are interested in becoming part of our community, we would be most happy to see you on Sunday and speak with you mid-week. Our commitment to you is that we will respect your faith journey and grow along side you on the way.
July 2009
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