Hills of Peace needs a certified lifeguard for the youth camps being held in August! Dates for this year are: August 13 - 18 and August 20 - 24.
We offer meals and accommodations during the camps. Wage will be current with local area standards with a travel allowance. Please email Eileen Johnstone [email protected] for further details. August 13-18
Age Groups: Junior High (entering grade 7 to entering grade 9) and High School (entering grade 10 and just graduated grade 12) Registration fee: $220 (subsidies available) Register at www.cwm.events Registration Deadline: Sunday, July 31 Come join us for a monthly “get together” for casual discussion of books from a wide range of genres. Open to all book lovers (some books may not be suitable for younger readers). When: Third Monday of every other month at 7pm (BC), 8pm (AB/SK), 9pm (MB). Our next meetup is on August 15! Our book for this session is: "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age—and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love for herself, the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors (“I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare”) will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned. Poetic and powerful, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings will touch hearts and change minds for as long as people read. Call Out for Hosts!!!!
Do you love to read, and discuss the books you’ve read with others? Kelly Duff is stepping down from leading our Creating Connection bi-monthly book club and we need to fill her spot. If you’re interested in leading this group every other month, (you get to choose the books) contact Debra Donohue [email protected] Annual General Meeting at Hills of Peace Campgrounds
Sunday, August 7 at 2 PM Mountain Time What do you see in the future of Hills of Peace? Please consider your involvement in the Hills of Peace and join the board! Let Noela Inions know if you would like to put your name forward or have further questions. All are welcome to join! Please contact Noela Inions for additional information. You are invited to join us for Hills of Peace Family Camp "Living Jesus, Living Peace" from Saturday, August 6, 2022 (3pm) to Thursday, August 11, 2022 (11am).
Our guest minister will be John Hamer, who serves as pastor of the Toronto Congregation and the Beyond the Walls global ministry. John serves as a Seventy and is passionate about inclusive, outreach ministry — developing new paths to invite people to Christ. The registration deadline has been extended to Saturday, July 30. If you would like to attend but the registration fee creates a financial hardship or barrier for your attendance, there is financial support available. Registration fees Adult (16 and older): $60/night ($300 full camp) Youth (12-15): $44/night ($220 full camp) Child (3-11): $22/night ($110 full camp) Under 2: No Charge For more information or to register go to www.cwm.events If you have any questions, feel free to contact Lisa Neudorf, Director [email protected] As the summer heats up I've realized that we are now just 40 days away from Mission Centre Conference! Wow! How time flies. To think that this time last year the three of us were beginning to discern and understand a calling to this work of being a volunteer Mission Centre President team. This year's Mission Centre Conference, like the conferences in the past two years, will look different as we continue to think carefully about how to use everyone's time, talents, and treasure in the best way possible. If you haven't heard, we decided to leverage our team of three to do something previously not done, which is to have your Mission Centre President be in multiple places at the same time! Gwyn will spend the weekend in Regina, Shannon in Calgary, and Kat in Vancouver. We encourage you to plan on joining us in one of these locations as we still have so many of you to meet and get to know better. Our main purpose for this gathering is to conduct the business of our Mission Centre, but it is also the way we are able to reconnect with those we don't see all the time. The world of online events has changed this, and I suspect many of you have seen a variety of faces from across the mission centre more often in the last two years than you may have before. I know I have, and what a joy that has been. But what a delight it will be to see many of you in person! I'm very excited. In preparation for conference I was reviewing the documents from the creation of our mission centre in 2004. Did you realize we are fast approaching our 20th anniversary of being a mission centre? I didn't! What a journey these last 18 years have been of stretching our hearts across four provinces to create a new grouping of faithful disciples, supporting one another in following Christ's call. I remember those first few conferences being almost like starting at a new school, so many new faces, and a few vaguely familiar ones. Now those new faces are familiar faces, and so beloved. I can't imagine this discipleship journey without all of you. While our conference is September 9th-11th, we will have opportunities in the week leading up for you to engage early. We will have two options for virtual pre-legislative sessions on September 4th in the afternoon and 7th in the evening for you to learn about our business agenda and ask questions in a more relaxed setting. There will also be a "coffee and conversation" virtual gathering on the evening of Thursday September 8th with Debra to explore questions around our theme of Growing Together. So, I hope you are able to join us online in the week leading up to conference, and then many of you in-person (or online) the 9th-11th. Even if you are not a delegate this year, you are invited to listen to the meetings, join in the worships, and celebrate with us how we are continually Growing Together. Written by Kat Goheen Canada West Mission Centre Co-President [email protected] I was so blessed to spend the weekend at Hills of Peace for the Spiritual Retreat three weeks ago. The lake, the hills, the food, the poplar trees all whispered peace to me. Two of us were there for the first time, and the campground seemed happy for our group presence after almost three years of no camps there. We gathered from three provinces and shared deeply about our response to God’s movement in our lives, guided by the stories of Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and Jesus in the New Testament. Everyone was full of insights from their lives and from the texts. I am amazed by how much growth we saw in those biblical figures within a few short paragraphs, and how we were able to identify those rhythms and movements of Spirit in our own lives. I saw myself in each of our biblical friends and was able to touch into some places within that can still use love and healing. It was brave of us to go through grief and resurrection together and I am so happy that we practiced leaning on the heart of God in community. May our service be blessed with spaciousness. May our contemplation lead us to action. May we always willingly receive the gift of new life! From our guiding poem by Joyce Rupp: It is enough for me to know the heart of God is with me, Full of mercy and compassion, tending to the wounds I bear. As we get closer to gathering together at camps again, we wanted to provide additional thoughts on our COVID guidance for in-person events. You’ll notice this is “guidance”, not rules or policies, that wording is intentional, as is the wording “Personal responsibility can look like” there are options for everyone. As you can imagine I’m sure, there was consideration of stricter requirements, like Spectacular has chosen to have. After much consultation and discernment, we instead offered this list of many ways we can all take responsibility for protecting each other at camp. COVID is still making many people ill, and leading to death everywhere in Canada, and the last thing we want is for our gatherings to become exposure events. In my social circles it has become common practice if one is going to a gathering with a larger group to take a rapid test that morning or the day before as tests are freely available at pharmacies, and testing gives a person confidence that they will not pose a danger to others. It’s not required, but it is a way to take personal responsibility. Testing regularly myself gives me peace of mind when I go to church on Sunday or gather with immune-compromised family members. We trust that this list of ways to protect one another is not new, but are the kinds of things you’ve heard public health authorities advocate for, and habits you are already taking on as you prepare for any trip or larger gathering. For example, I myself wouldn’t be able to isolate before traveling because I have to go to work, but I’m vaccinated and boosted, and I can easily take a rapid test. If someone isn’t vaccinated, and can’t access testing, this list proposes that isolating is a way to protect others. Again, these are guidelines, not rules or policies, and are intended to help you think critically and manage risk in ways that are accessible to you. Kat, Gwyn, and I are happy to address any other concerns you have or if others you speak to raise concerns, please send them to us. A picture says a thousand words! I could have told you here that the three of us were blessed to attend Gwyn Beer Sr.’s memorial this weekend in Chilliwack, but you can see in this picture how glad we are to be together, and how much we love Gwyn Sr.
We are preparing for Mission Centre Conference, and an important feature of the conference is to remember our dear ones who are members of our Mission Centre who have died this year. If you are carrying one of these losses close, please consider sending in pictures as a tribute. We would love to feature one from their youth, one from young adult or middle age, and one recent picture. You can send them to [email protected]. Our conference is different this year from any I have experienced – it is neither online only nor all of us in one place, but truly hybrid. The three of us will lead the conference from Regina, Calgary, and Vancouver, and you are free to travel to one of these sites or participate from home. You can also organize a watch party from your congregation, although you’ll have to bring your own food! We approach this 2022 conference as a time to take stock of where we are and what we can do. Our theme is “Growing Together”, and that is exactly what we hope to do! Please plan to join us on September 9-11 for this chance to grow together and discover who we are. When: July 9, 2022 at 2:00 pm MDT
Where: online via Zoom Send an email to [email protected] to get the Zoom link On Thursday June 23, 2022 the Chilliwack congregation held a Strawberry Social. This was also a surprise “Thank You” to Vilda Fetterly for all her years as the Chilliwack Branch historian. Betty Williams made a card for the branch to sign for Vilda. All the photo albums that Vilda had created over the years were set out for everyone to look at and reminisce over. Some great treats were donated to be covered in strawberries and whipped cream along with coffee, tea, iced tea and water.
A very good time that everyone enjoyed! Do you remember what it felt like to receive a party invitation when you were young? They were in the form of a card, or maybe if you’re younger than me, it came to you in an email. Whether it was on paper or digital, it was fun, even exciting and receiving the invitation gave you a feeling of being wanted and included. I’ll get back to this later. At the Nature and Nurture retreat June 3-5 at Samish Island, we ‘invited’ people outside of our church community by advertising on meeup.com and Eventbrite. One-third of our attendees were people we had never met before and who had never been to Samish Island! Our goal for this retreat was mainly to welcome people back to in-person activities. We knew a lot of our regular team would not be available that weekend, so with the small team of Patti Beer, Barbara Rose (Seattle) and myself we planned a retreat that was largely outdoors, with lots of time for visiting. We intentionally allowed up to 2 hours for meals and cleanup so everyone would have lots of time to linger over their meals and chat, and we set up the mornings with a toast bar at 7am, Yoga at 8am, and Breakfast didn’t start until 9am so that those who needed sleep could rest a little longer. Mother Nature had her fun with us, pretty much turning on the faucet a few times, but she did share the sun with us for several hours on the Saturday. We had advised people to bring appropriate clothing so we could be outside no matter what the weather conditions were, and we kept the fireplace in the dining going the whole weekend. Our activities included Dancing the Labyrinth, Meaningful Conversation Groups, Forest Bathing, Qi Gong, Blue Mind Water, Canoeing and Paddleboarding, Yoga sessions, and the 5 Rhythms. There were challenges navigating the world of Covid precautions and of course the weather, but for those of us who know Samish it so was great to be back, and our new people were wide eyed with amazement at our retreat space. One of them will be coming to Samish Reunion with her grandson, and a group of women intend to make the Nature and Nurture retreat an annual event. Back to the ‘invitation’. If you’ve ever felt like inviting a friend to one of our Community of Christ events is pressuring them, I want you to re-think that and remember how it feels to be the one who is invited. Community of Christ members have a history of being invitational and we truly are a welcoming community. Let’s remember that. And remember that during covid many people have been lonely and are searching for a place to belong. Let’s not miss this opportunity to make wonderful new friends and welcome them into our community whether it’s a retreat, a zoom session, a Creating Connection activity, online church or in-person church. To learn more about advertising on meetup.com or Eventbrite or other social media platforms, please contact me, [email protected] or toll free 1-877-411-2632 ext 4. This is YOUR invitation. Debra Donohue Creating Connection Director Join us in person for "Descent into the Heart" a spiritual retreat with Kat Goheen. A journey through scripture and spiritual practice toward intimacy with God.
When: Friday, June 24 to Sunday, June 26, 2022 Where: Hills of Peace Registration fee: $125 CAD (subsidies available) Registration deadline: Sunday, June 12 Director: Brenda Senga Register online at www.cwm.events and see more information. Yes! Be forewarned! This is an appeal for financial donations in support of the Hills of Peace Campground! The pandemic and its related restrictions have resulted in two years of programs being cancelled at Hills of Peace. No programs = no revenues. It is as simple as that. Although there have been no programs, many expenses continue. We still need a Camp Caretaker to visit the camp regularly to monitor for damage or repairs and to perform regular maintenance. We are still faced with the expenses of power, insurance and for occasional repairs as required. Our expenses will go up with a return to the “Hills” for summer gatherings. The target of this fund-raising initiative is open to whatever you can give! We have all seen the changes at the supermarket and gas pumps. Please consider making a donation to the Hills of Peace Campground. This is especially directed to members and friends in Saskatchewan and Alberta. In addition, residents of other areas may also have memories of good experiences here. We welcome whatever you might wish to donate in support of Hills of Peace. Please be generous! Note that a request has also been made to each of the Alberta and Saskatchewan congregations to support this initiative. We wish you a good summer. We look forward to welcoming all friends of Hills of Peace back to the campground this summer. Please send donations to Hills of Peace, use one of the following methods:
Registration for SPEC 2022 is open! This incredible event for teens who have completed grades 9-12 will be held on the Graceland University campus July 16-23. After two years of cancellations, the leadership team is thrilled to be back! Specific COVID-19 protocols and limits are in place this year as a precaution.
Honouring Fathers Father’s Day seems to be summed up in barbeque and crafts made from macaroni and glue, especially with puns about fishing (“Dad, you’re a great catch!”). On this day, we celebrate the qualities of nurturing, strength, and challenge that we seek from fathers, knowing that we may not have experienced those qualities as fully as we may have wished in our holding environments. I think of grandfathers on this day as well, with the extra layer of perspective and unconditional love that they are often able to offer. When I lived with my grandparents as a student as Graceland University, my Grampie could not help but jump in the car and run to the store if there was anything I needed! His love showed me the truth of God’s love. The connection that Jesus had with his heavenly father is especially touching to me. I grew up praying, “Dear Heavenly Father” in my prayers, which had a grand yet distant ring to it. When Jesus says “Abba,” meaning “Daddy,” it is sweet in a humbling sort of way. Its intimacy draws God close, without barriers or resistance. God is a mystery that transcends race and gender. Still, I wonder: could I pray to God in this way? We can have many kinds of unitive experiences with God and Spirit, but I feel that this language is a special manifestation of a soul at peace with God. I pray for that peace in myself and for you! May you find sheltering in this celebration. May you find love. May you find the peace that passes all understanding and know yourself as a beloved child of God. Join us next Monday, June 20 at 8pm via Zoom, as Caitlin Ball (Calgary Congregation) and Aymie Neudorf (Regina Congregation) host a second informative session about Canada West Mission Centre Youth Camp 2022. There will be a time for questions and answers. Click on the button below for Zoom login details.
Last week in the column we looked at membership and belonging. Today we’ll flip that coin and look within. Our humanity is hardwired for connection and at the same time tuned for meaning. Why are we here? What is the meaning of life? What is a good life? We all grow older, if we’re lucky, but we don’t necessarily grow up. It’s the time we spend in study, self-reflection, prayer, and meditation that feeds our inner life and helps us transition from milk to solid food, as Paul says in I Corinthians 3. We have many ways to distract ourselves from real, burning-bush experiences with God, and our intellect is one of the big ones! At the Spiritual Retreat at Hills of Peace (June 24-26), we will be opening ourselves to spiritual growth in a safe container at a beautiful campground. We will examine the stories of Mary, Martha, Jesus, and Lazarus for those moments of spiritual connection that show us ways to grow. We will use all of our senses to experience and appreciate the Holy. We will slip behind our figuring-out minds and listen to our hearts and bodies; to the still, small voice that longs to be one with us. As you clear your vision about where you belong and who you long to be, make room in your heart for the One who knows you best! |
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355 Elmira Road North, Unit 129
Guelph, ON N1K 1S5 Canada Canada West Mission: 877-411-2632 Canada East Mission: 888-411-7537 |
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