Press Releases

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Toronto: United Church congregations throughout Canada will be marking the denomination’s 85th anniversary beginning this weekend. Local celebrations will be happening in the days leading up to and immediately following June 10, the date on which The United Church of Canada was formed in 1925. In addition to the many different activities being planned in communities from coast to coast to coast, there are a number of shared initiatives that the whole church has been invited to participate in during this anniversary celebration.

In an initiative called Making Connections, more than 2,000 congregations, community ministries, and overseas personnel were randomly matched with one another and invited to exchange anniversary greetings and get to know one another. Many congregations took this opportunity to find innovative ways to share their stories with one another. For example, two congregations arranged a conference call so they could exchange greetings and talk about what they found special about their own congregations. Another church’s Sunday school class made friendship bracelets to send to the children in their partner church.

Even though churches were matched randomly, surprising coincidences and interesting connections have surfaced. In one instance an Ontario United Church minister had placed the highest bid in a fundraising auction for a week at a cottage in PEI and then found out that her congregation had been paired with one in PEI. Needless to say, the minister is planning to visit the partner church while she is on vacation this summer.

A second 85th anniversary initiative across the church is called Sharing a Common Loaf. Locally milled flour was gathered from each of the United Church’s 13 regional Conferences. Then a group of volunteers from Wilmot United Church in Fredericton, New Brunswick, blended the flour with the other dry ingredients needed to make bannock and packaged and labelled the mix to be shipped to United Church congregations across the country. Congregations are invited to use the mix to bake bannock to be used as communion bread at their 85th anniversary worship service or to be shared at a community meal.

The third 85th anniversary initiative is an all-day open house at the United Church’s national office in Toronto on June 10. Members of United Church congregations throughout southwestern Ontario have been invited to drop in for a visit or take part in a full program of activities. The day wraps up with a worship service at 7:30 p.m. at Islington United Church in Toronto.

Another special 85th anniversary worship service will be held on Sunday, June 20, at Metropolitan United Church in downtown Toronto. This service, which begins at 5:00 p.m. EDT, will be streamed live via the Internet. For further information, please visit the More Franchises webpage.

For more information, please contact:

• Mary-Frances Denis
  Program Coordinator, Media and Public Relations
  The United Church of Canada
  Tel: 416-231-7680 ext. 2016
  Toll-free: 1-800-268-3781 ext. 2016
  E-mail: Mary-Frances Denis