Pacific Mountain Region

Confronting Whiteness: An Anti-Racism Workshop for White Folks
2020-07-15 09:30 - 12:00 (America/Vancouver)
Whether you are new to this journey or have been unpacking your White privilege for decades, this workshop will help you develop personal skills for confronting systemic racism.
Learn more about how we as white people can show up for each other and racialized people in our lives.
We will gain skills to support us in moving the dial on our allyship/accomplice work for justice as communities of faith.
You’ll have the chance to talk to other White folks about topics ranging from “How do I deal with my racist uncle?” to “What’s White culture?” to “Wait, I’m a Settler?!”
The course comes out of decades of anti-racism work led by people of colour, and a persistent ask for White folks to engage in our own work of confronting whiteness individually, interpersonally, and organizationally.

Online Town Hall Conference with Trudi Rondou, Senior Manager, WorkSafeBC
2020-08-06 13:00 - 14:30
Click Here for the presentation slides from this Townhall.
Our next Online Townhall Conference is scheduled for THURSDAY August 6th, from 1 – 2:30 pm.
We are very pleased that Trudi Rondou, in her role as Senior Manager with WorkSafeBC, is able to join our early-August Townhall meeting. Communities of Faith and Ministries are still discerning best, safest steps forward this summer and fall. Trudi will be able to answer questions and offer information that will help you, in your setting, to think through the requirements.
Please note that this Townhall is 1pm Pacific Daylight Time.
Over the next while, Pacific Mountain Regional Council Executive Minister, Treena Duncan is hosting online Townhall Conferences via Zoom, for all PMRC folk who would like to join for connection with executive leadership, prayer and conversations, with time to ask the questions you have. To join the Townhall Conference, click on the link (you can join by audio only). If it’s your first Zoom experience, the Zoom link will prompt you to download the App for accessing the meeting.
Thank you to everyone to came to be part of our previous Townhall Conferences.

Online Town Hall Conference, with Treena and Blair
2020-09-09 13:00 - 14:30
Click here for the recording of this meeting.
Below is the Pandemic Continuity Plan from First United that you can use as a template.
Treena will be joined by President Blair Odney, and the meeting will feature Rev. Diane Strickland. Diane will be speaking with the title ‘Tired of COVID?’ and addressing the topic of COVID-19 fatigue.
We will also discuss ‘what to do if you have a COVID exposure in your building’. Rev Carmen Lansdowne of First United (Vancouver) will join us to share about First United’s experience of a staff member testing positive for COVID-19, and share information provided by Coastal Health.
Thank you to everyone to came to be part of our previous Townhall Conferences.

Reboot Your Worship: Pandemic Edition, with Dr Marcia McFee
2020-09-20 09:00 - 09:30
Are you looking for way to invigorate and refresh the worship services that you create each week? We hear that you are! We hope you’ll access this free 6-week webinar series from worship-arts leader, Dr Marcia McFee. Called “Reboot Your Worship: Pandemic Edition”. LeaderShift is making this webinar opportunity available at no coast for every community of faith in the Pacific Mountain Regional Council. Amen!
Click here for details.

STEWARDSHIP BUZZ! 6 Steps to Take Right Now!
2020-09-22 10:30 - 12:00, 2020-10-06 10:30 - 12:00, 2020-10-20 10:30 - 12:00, 2020-11-03 10:30 - 12:00
This dedicated online time together will be packed with amazing information about how to inspire your people about Stewardship. You will learn the difference between “fund raising” and “stewardship” and how to define actual stewardship from scarcity culture.
Click here for details.

Nourishing the Soul of the Preacher
2020-09-23 10:30 - 12:00, 2020-09-30 10:30 - 12:00, 2020-10-07 10:30 - 12:30, 2020-10-14 10:30 - 12:00, 2020-10-21 10:30 - 12:00, 2020-10-28 10:30 - 12:00
Each week we come to a text or theme and sit with it, think about it, work with it, leave it alone, struggle with it, write it, and finally dare speaking.
6 weekly online sessions: Wednesdays September 23, 30, October 7, 14, 21, 28
Click here for details.

Online Town Hall Conference, with Treena and Blair
2020-09-23 13:00 - 14:30
Our next Online Townhall Conference is scheduled for Wednesday September 23, from 1 – 2:30 pm. Click here for the recording of the Zoom call.
This week we will be joined by our new General Secretary, Rev. Michael Blair. He will talk to us about his current portfolio (Church in Mission) and his move to his new role.

Thank you to everyone to came to be part of our previous Townhall Conferences.

Kootenay Faith Fest 2020
2020-09-23 17:00 - 2020-09-27 12:00
Streaming to you from Knox United in Fernie BC, Kootenay Faith Fest Small & Mighty is four days of intentional laughter, learning, connection and worship with United Church folk who call a small community and a small church home.
Click here for details.

Break the Silence: The Power of Active Witnessing
2020-09-27 13:00 - 16:00, 2020-10-04 13:00 - 16:00
Have you ever witnessed a racist incident but didn’t know what to say or do and felt conflicted and regretful about not responding? This workshop will help participants develop their “response-ability” or readiness to respond to such incidents.
Click here for details.

Confronting Whiteness, with Anna Colina White
2020-10-01 18:30 - 21:00
Whether you are new to this journey or have been unpacking your White privilege for decades, this workshop will help you develop personal skills for confronting systemic racism.
Learn more about how we as white people can show up for each other and racialized people in our lives.
We will gain skills to support us in moving the dial on our allyship/accomplice work for justice as communities of faith.
You’ll have the chance to talk to other White folks about topics ranging from “How do I deal with my racist uncle?” to “What’s White culture?” to “Wait, I’m a Settler?!”
The course comes out of decades of anti-racism work led by people of colour, and a persistent ask for White folks to engage in our own work of confronting whiteness individually, interpersonally, and organizationally.
Click here for details.

PMRC Townhall Meeting: Sisters in Spirit, with Cheryl Bear
2020-10-07 13:00 - 14:30
Click here for the recording of this Townhall Meeting.
PMRC Townhall Meeting
Oct 7, 2020, 1:00PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Meeting ID: 977 9619 1476
Password: [REDACTED]
All are welcome to attend the important townhall gathering, with guest speaker Cheryl Bear. Cheryl will be hosted by Rev John Snow (Indigenous Minister), Rev Blair Odney (President) and Treena Duncan (Executive Minister). Cheryl is Community Minister at First United in Vancouver, and will be talking about Sisters in Spirit Day (which was this past Sunday, October 4th).
Cheryl is from Nadleh Whut’en First Nation, is a respected voice and teacher on behalf of Canada’s Indigenous peoples and has traveled to over 600 Indigenous communities raising awareness and understanding of Indigenous issues. She is a founding board member of NAIITS, an Indigenous learning community; an Associate Professor at Regent College; earned her Doctorate from The King’s University, and Master of Divinity from Regent College. Her doctoral work presents an approach to First Nations ministry from the foundations of Indigenous worldview and values. Cheryl served two terms as a band councillor for her community of Nadleh Whut’en First Nation from 2014-2018, is currently serving as a Strategic Associate as the Indigenous Relations Specialist with Canadian Baptist Ministries, and is an award-winning singer/songwriter.
You can read about Sisters in Spirit origins here.
You can read about the Oct 4th Sisters in Spirit Day here.

PMRC Financial Townhall
2020-10-08 14:00 - 15:30

2020 Annual General Meeting
2020-10-16 - 2020-10-17

Imagine! a Children's Retreat - Island
2020-10-23 - 2020-10-25 | Camp Pringle, 2520 W Shawnigan Lake Rd, Shawnigan Lake, BC, V0R 2W3, Canada
Save the Date

Confronting Whiteness, with Anna Colina White
2020-10-25 13:30 - 16:30
Whether you are new to this journey or have been unpacking your White privilege for decades, this workshop will help you develop personal skills for confronting systemic racism.
Learn more about how we as white people can show up for each other and racialized people in our lives.
We will gain skills to support us in moving the dial on our allyship/accomplice work for justice as communities of faith.
You’ll have the chance to talk to other White folks about topics ranging from “How do I deal with my racist uncle?” to “What’s White culture?” to “Wait, I’m a Settler?!”
The course comes out of decades of anti-racism work led by people of colour, and a persistent ask for White folks to engage in our own work of confronting whiteness individually, interpersonally, and organizationally.
Click here for more information.

Special Information Townhall: Palestinian Network, with Treena Duncan and Guest Rev. Keith Simmonds
2020-10-29 13:00 - 14:30
Special Information Townhall: Palestinian Network, with Treena Duncan and Guest Rev. Keith Simmonds, former human rights observer in Palestine
Rev. Keith Simmonds served as an Ecumenical Accompanier in Palestine and Israel from January through March of this year, where he witnessed and reported on human rights violations carried out upon Palestinian Children in Occupied Palestine.
Click here for Keith’s presentation.
Click here for the discussion afterwards.

Townhall Meeting with Treena Duncan and Rev. Blair Odney
2020-11-04 13:00 - 14:30
Nov 4 Townhall: Cross-PMRC Check-in and Resource Sharing
Join Treena and Blair for a conversation with one another, about what we have learned during COVID that might inform future ministry, share what’s working for your setting so that others may learn, and look ahead to strategies and ideas for Christmas season and worship times.
Click Here for the recording of the Zoom meeting.

Postmodern Prophets: 4 Windows on our World, with Emily Scott
2020-11-07 13:30 - 15:00
It takes guts to do ministry, to be resilient in facing the challenges and suffering of the world we serve, and courage to try to do something about it. Emily M D Scott knows all about that in her work as a church planter and founder of St Lydia’s Dinner church, which spanned a dinner church movement across N. America. Join Emily as she speaks from her book For all who Hunger: Communion in this shattered world on the topic of resilience (and how we might bring more of it into the world).
Prophets tell us what is up ahead, bring bold ideas, and stay connected to the Divine so they speak from the heart. In this 4 part series, Postmodern Prophets: 4 Windows on our World, some of our best post-modern prophets share what is on their hearts and minds to inspire, challenge and intrigue us. Preachers, teachers, and rabble rousers welcome!
Click here for more informaton.

Let Go: Leaning into the Future without Fear, with Matt Miofsky
2020-11-10 09:30 - 11:00
If you are a member or leader in the United Church of Canada, you are experiencing familiar structures, expectations, and habits changing as we face massive shifts in our church and social and political orders. Pandemic, elections, virtual church – you can imagine roaming through the unknown, trying on different approaches. and searching for ideas to orient yourself. Where are we? Who are we? God is calling us to unfamiliar and unknown territory. Join Matt Miofsky, lead pastor of The Gathering to explore together God’s call to trust in a future we cannot fully see — and to let go even more than we thought possible to rest in that trust.

21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act, with Bob Joseph
2020-11-15 12:00 - 16:00
This is a launch event for a LeaderShift book study to help broaden our individual and communal knowledge base across the Regional Council, about the legislation that shapes Indigenous lives today. As a church we have committed to implementing the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission – but how complete is your knowledge about the Indian Act itself? Since 1876 the Indian Act has dictated and constrained the lives of Indigenous Peoples. Deeper awareness of the legacy of the Indian Act will contribute to our collective capacity to pursue true reconciliation.

Let Go: Leaning into the Future without Fear with Matt Miofsky
2020-11-17 09:30 - 11:00
Three-week seminar, starting November 10
