OUTREACH  

          The Outreach Committee is a group of individuals dedicated to helping those in need within our community, our country and the wider world. The primary role of the Outreach Committee is to plan, organize, lead, facilitate and/or participate in Outreach activities. There is also the important role of advocacy and education; we strive to bring attention to current and emerging social justice issues.

      The areas of Outreach where Northminster United Church has been involved include:

      St. Vincent’s kitchen (on the fifth Saturday of a month)
      Simcoe Hall Settlement House
      Habitat for Humanity Global Village builds
      Ten Thousand Villages
      Sleeping Children
      Annual support for Oshawa’s Gate 3:16, AIDS Committee of Durham
            Cornerstone, YWCA, and Denise House

      The congregation of Northminster United Church also makes a substantial financial commitment to the United Church of Canada’s ministry through the Mission and Service Fund. Our commitment in 2007 is $43,000.
      Outreach meets at 7:30 pm on the third Monday of each month at a member’s home.

Each year the Outreach Committee identifies a theme for the congregation to focus on. Often the work of the United Church of Canada leads us to this theme, but the work of KAIROS and other organizations also guides and informs us.

SESSION 3:

Jesus and Empire (book study)
Presented by: tbd Friday, January 25, 2008.
Biblical scholar Richard Horsley believes that Rome has much to teach us about the workings of empire today. This book challenges us to examine the relationship between religion and politics, and to view and understand Jesus from the perspective of a wider picture of socio-political-religious unrest in a Palestine under Roman occupation. In our post-9/11 world, Horsley reminds us that the Gospels have never been so relevant for Christians living under the "peace" of empire.

SESSION 4:

Ecology at the Heart of Faith (book study)
Presented by: Rev. Sandra Farrow Friday, February 15, 2008 Beginning with the words, "one of the gifts we have received from the twentieth century's a picture of Earth as our shared home," Denis Edwards (author) helps the general reader, the preacher, the spiritual director, the student and the theologian tear down the walls that too often separate mysticism, theology, prophecy, poetry and science. In a world born of the "big bang", Edwards shows that humanity and the world are together being made into the image of God. The heart of faith is an ecological communion which holds together and grows in love towards the fullness of Life imaged in the Resurrection of Jesus.

SESSION 5:

The 100-mile Diet (pot luck dinner and book discussion)
Presented by: tbd (tentative) Saturday, April 26, 2008
"There are people in this world so hungry that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread." - Mahatma Gandhi. To coincide with Earth Day on April 22 and the Canadian Foodgrains Bank project, we will read about authors Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon and how they reduced their food miles from the North American average of 1,500 miles to an ambitious and often frustrating 100 miles. This engaging and entertaining diary of their year long experiment also touches on issues ranging from global economics to biodiversity.

SESSION 6:

The Empire Report (report, 39th General Council)
Presented by: tbd Friday, May 16, 2008
"In the 21st century world of empire, Caesar commands, God calls. Whom will we serve?" With this question begins "Living Faithfully in the Midst of Empire," a report produced by the Justice, Global and Ecumenical Relations Unit for the 39th General Council. The Empire Report documents how economic globalization is becoming more complex and insidious and is exponentially increasing the pain and misery experienced by the vast majority of God's people. In this final session we will reflect on the question of power and empire from a biblical perspective. Ref. www.united-church.ca/economic/globalization

SESSION 1:

Environmental Issues and the Christian Response (speaker)
Presented by: Professor Bill Andrews Friday, October 19, 2007
Bill Andrews, Professor Emeritus of Environmental Science at the University of Toronto, will offer an illustrated talk that begins with a summary of the major environmental/peace/justice issues that currently confront the global community. The needed response and an action plan for that response follow. Then a Christian environmental ethic is developed that will help us respond in a manner that is consistent with the basic tenets of our Christian faith.

SESSION 2:

Manufactured Landscapes (movie)
Presented by: Sharon Paxton Friday, November 16, 2007
All are welcome to attend an evening filled with thought-provoking images and discussion as we view the movie, "Manufactured Landscapes". Canadian Edward Burtynsky is internationally acclaimed for his large-scale photographs of nature transformed by industry. This 90-minute documentary follows Burtynsky to China, as he captures the effects of the country's massive industrial revolution. A natural progression from "An Inconvenient Truth", this film goes beyond climate change and looks at the vast project of modern civilization and its impacts on the world we live in. This is a stunning film that you won't want to miss.

                2006-2007 Mission and Service Fund World Development and Relief (WDR)
      The United Church works in partnership with churches and agencies that have established strong community development programs. These community-based programs focus on agriculture, water access and quality, community health, education, childcare, youth work, and HIV/AIDS prevention. The United Church is committed not only to responding to immediate needs in a crisis situation, but also to doing long-term work as communities rebuild and re-establish.

                2005-2006 Waterfocus (United Church of Canada) and Life Before Profit Kairos Campaigns
      Many believe that water is a sacred gift connecting all life. Free and equal access to water is a gift under threat throughout the world.
      At Northminster the education and awareness campaign focused on the topics of water privatization, which can deny the basic human right of access to clean water, the safeguarding of our local watersheds and the examination of water usage in our households, including bottled water.
      At our annual Outreach Sunday we welcomed guest speaker Suzanne Elston, a renowned Canadian environmental author and broadcaster. She gave us a stimulating message about water and how it relates to our lives as Christians.

                2004-2005 - AIDS Beads of Hope Campaign
      The Beads of Hope Campaign was launched as a two-year emergency response appeal, which ended on December 1, 2004. Thousands of volunteers across Canada became involved in the campaign. There were thousands of local initiatives: workshops, speakers, worship services, concerts, dinners, rock-a-thons, loonie challenges, theatrical productions, quilts and contacts with Canadian AIDS Service organizations.
      A petition containing 40,000 signatures was tabled in Parliament. Two million dollars were raised to support global partner HIV/AIDS programs, in part through the sale of 45,000 beaded pins that were handcrafted by women affected by AIDS in Africa.

Please contact the church office if you would like more information, or wish to attend a meeting.