Tel: 204-822 4508 ppucc@mts.net www.pembinaparish.com

Mission Statement To be a living celebration of God,

as the body of Christ, serving the community and the world!

PEMBINA PARISH

Newsletter - Spring 2017

Dear Friends, One of the beautiful hymns of res-urrection we sing is, “In the bulb there is a flower”, by Natalie Sleeth, (VU 703). What an inspired hymn that works perfectly with the melody she wrote for it. The hymn talks about the cycles of life, the changes of the seasons and the promise of life that is held in change and even in death. It’s a hymn that expresses immense hope in God who holds all things. Though sometimes we cannot see the way forward, though some-times we feel most uncertain, God will show the way and the beauty and blessing of it will be revealed. We all go through welcome and unwanted changes in our lives but certainly, not all change is diffi-cult. Who is not rejoicing in the change of the season right now? Who is not welcoming the warmth and the returning of green to our colour palette?

This growth and greening is most welcome! And even if we do not know exactly what will come up out of the ground we know there will be life and it will be good! You will know by now that I am moving on from Pembina Parish to take up a new ministry posi-tion at St Paul’s United Church in Sidney BC. My last service with you will be on 7th May. I hope you will be able to join in lunch after worship at St Paul’s so that I may properly say goodbye to you. I cannot tell you how up and down these past few weeks have been. Getting ready to move a large household, chickens and all, is not a task for the faint-hearted! I confess to have been very faint-hearted at times. The prospect of the actual move is very daunting. Along with hav-

ing to say farewell to our beautiful home at Oakstead, to our family and

friends, there will

be new places and people to get to know. What a mixed bag of sadness and anticipation of the unknown! And yet, I know that all our lives are like that, - a mixed bag of anticipation for new things and sadness to let something go. We’re all there, all the time. We are like trees, constantly in the state of bringing new life into being and dying by shedding our “old leaves”. And it’s not easy. Hellos and goodbyes in the same breath. Joy and sadness mingled in the same tears. Slightly excited and nervously anticipating the un-known, - all in the same moment. I am filled with immense gratitude for knowing you, the people of Pembina Parish. What a privilege it has been to work with you, and together walk through these past five years. I feel so proud of you as a church for picking yourselves up after you had fallen so hard. You have mended so much of what was broken, brought laugh-ter back where there was silence, held each other through painful times, celebrated with each other each new birth and each new

ministry. You opened your heart to Peggy and me and we are so thankful that you took a chance on us two foreigners. We have made such good friends here and Peggy has loved her time in the choir and helping worship with the PowerPoint. Thank you, thank you, - thank you for it all! We take the beauty of the vast prairies with us, the open and endless skies, the tenacity and resilience of this place’s creatures and its people, the passion and drama of the seasons and the love, great love we have found here. I leave you with a very of one of my very favourite hymns written by Anna Letitia Waring,

In heavenly love abiding, no change my heart shall fear;

and safe is such confiding, for nothing changes here:

the storm may roar without me, my heart may low be laid;

but God is round about me, and can I be dismayed?

Happy Easter as we celebrate the Risen Christ! Let us rejoice in the Creator who calls forth spring! Our love and blessings to you. Rev. Suzanna Bates & Peggy Twyman

Coming up soon…

Rock Lake United Church Camp Quilt, Art & Craft Auction - Friday, April 21 at Kil-larney Shamrock Centre. Viewing starts at 4:00 pm, supper at 5:00 pm followed by entertain-ment at 6:30 pm and the auction at 7:00 pm. Come for an evening of FUN as we support Rock Lake United Church Camp!

Book Club - Thursday, April 27th at 7.00pm at the home of Lynn Bollenbach. The book is “Atonement” by Ian McEwan and it is available at the library.

Syrian Supper Fundraiser

Reserve the Date - Get a Plate! Sunday, April 30th 5:30pm at St Paul’s

The three Morden churches who continue to

sponsor the 2 Syrian newcomer families would like to invite you to a Syrian Supper Fund-

raiser. Funds raised will be used to work on sponsoring Halima and Abdulkadir's two sons

to come and join their family in Canada.

The Menu includes typical Syrian foods,: herbed chicken, potato eggplant beef casserole,

green parsley salad, stuffed grape leaves, seasoned couscous, naan bread, and for dessert sweetened coconut pistachio torte and Syrian butter cookies.

Chai, water and Arabic Cardamom Coffee also available. WOW!!

How much? Your choice of donation

plus a $10 food cost coverage. Over $20 donation will be receipted.

Where? St. Paul's United Church.

Limited tickets are available at the church office. Don't miss out! Come, bring some friends and feast with a meal unlike any available in our

Pembina Valley restaurants!!

The meal is being hosted by the Morden and Area

Refugee Support Group and our Syrian families.

Everyone is welcome!

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LEGACY GIVING PRESENTATION APRIL 23rd, at St Paul’s We have so much for which to be thankful. Throughout our lives, we have received gifts from others including the gift of faith. In turn, we share our gifts with others in our family, our community and our world. The bequest and legacy-giving program of the United Church helps us to plan how we can share some of our accumulated assets with our Church. Through such things as a bequest, a charitable gift annuity, securities, life insurance, we can provide money for the future ministries of our congregation and/or other church ministries. On Sunday, April 23rd Kathryn Hofley, regional Financial Development Officer with the United Church will be joining us in worship at Zion-Calvin and St. Paul’s. Kathryn will also lead a one hour legacy giving workshop following worship and light lunch at St. Paul’s. There is no cost to the lunch, which is being hosted by our Opportunity Fund Interest Group. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend.

Join us on

21st April for another

Soup & Pie! 11.30 - 1.00pm at St Paul’s

Fundraiser for Outreach Interest Group of Pembina Parish

Celebration of Bequest

Our parish was recently the recipi-ent of a generous bequest from the estate of Gordon Cowan. Gordon had designated his gift to Zion-Calvin United Church, and in keeping with past practice it will be held in the Opportunity Fund of the parish and designated for Zion-Calvin through application. A worship service that will in-clude the recognition of Gordon’s gift is planned for some time in June. We are grateful to God for this most generous gift!

PEMBINA PARISH LEADERSHIP TEAM 2017

We are delighted to introduce the Leadership Team of Pembina Parish! Bev Wilson and Debbie Hamilton are from Zion-Calvin while Marlene Holewka, Edith Lovatt and Karen Dyck are from St Paul’s. Louise Gardiner continues on as our treasurer. Karen Ching and Cathy Lone will alternate as the Ministry & Personnel repre-sentative on the Leadership team.

We want to thank our outgoing members of Leadership Team, - Shannon Holenski and Charlene Morrow so very much for their dedication and hard work and especially for their good humour and open-heartedness.

Louise Gardiner, Treasurer Marlene Holewka, Chair Edith Lovatt

Karen Dyck Debbie Hamilton Bev Wilson

Karen Ching

Your Leadership Team is here for you! Talk to them, share your ideas with them, support them and pray for them.

Cathy Lone 4

PASTORAL NOTES

Please be in touch with the ministers if you would like a pastoral visit or call. If you’d like Communion at home, we will gladly come and share with you.

If you are going to hospital and would like a visit please let us know or if you know that someone from Pembina Parish is in hospital we’d be grateful to hear from you.

Rev. Cathie Waldie Cell: 204-750 2681

cathiewaldie@mymts.net

Rev. Suzanna Bates Cell: 204-823 1261

rev.suzanna@gmail.com

St. Paul’s Sunday School Project

St Paul’s Sunday School is going to be selling flowers again this Spring. For our out-reach project, we are support-ing the “Chance 2 Grow” foundation of CFS. The Chance 2 Grow program helps supply money for children, in our area, to take part in all kinds of programs and sports.

The Chance 2 Grow project is selling Red and White Petuni-as in honour of Canada’s 150th Birthday. The plants cost $5.00 each. So, if you are doing your Spring planning please keep us in mind. The Sunday School children would love to take your orders before and after church from April 23 to

May 7th. The flowers arrive at the church on May 17th after 4:00. Thank you for your support as

we learn how important it is to help others!

Ministers, Ministry and such….

Cathie will be away on study leave from April 17th - 24th. She will be attending the "Seeking Connection" conference of Spiritual Directors International in Toronto.

Good-byes: Suzanna will be taking the rest of her leave in May to serve as part of her notice period and so her last service with us will be on Sunday 7th May. Zion-Calvin and St Paul’s are invited to come together that day for a joint worship service at St Paul’s at 11.00am. The service will be followed by a lunch for all, - not a pot-luck, so come and enjoy a meal together!

Cathie will be away on leave from 8th - 25th May and during that time Rev. Brenda Gibson (from Manitou) will be covering any emergent pastoral needs and funerals. We are grateful for Brenda’s help.

The Worship Plan for the month of May looks like this: Sunday, 14th May - Alan Armstrong Sunday, 21st May - Alan Armstrong Sunday 28th May - Teriane Lea (Conference Sunday)

On the future staffing front, the Leadership Team has approved a job description for a Gap Ministry Appointment (1st June 2017 – 30th June 2018). The person who will be appointed will give 50% time specifically to the Discernment process of Pembina Parish through support, studies, pastoral care, and worship and the other 50% of time to the general work of ministry in the parish.

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News & Notes

Each Friday we send out our weekly News & Notes by e-mail to many of our members and friends.

If you do not receive yours please contact the church office (ppucc@mts.net) and ask to be put on the mailing list for News & Notes.

Find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/PembinaParish

and on our Website: www.pembinaparish.com

Property Discernment

The Property Discernment Interest Group has been hard at work helping Pembina Parish with conversa-tions around our properties and our vision.

There are three ways we are engaging people:

1. Pembina Parish is currently undergoing a Viability Study which is taking a long hard look at the parish’s demographics, our facilities, our vol-unteer resources, financial details (including giving patterns and budgets) as well as a staff review.

2. A Community Round Table has been held at St Paul’s and was very successful. A number of com-munity leaders from Morden were invited to share their insights regarding the community’s current and upcoming needs. The Discernment Interest Group is analyzing these findings and will outline some potential mission opportunities as well as highlight some possible uses for our build-ings.

3. An Identity, Mission and Needs Analysis (IMNA) survey is ongoing. We are inviting everyone who considers Zion-Calvin or St Paul’s their church to participate in an online survey which will help to assess the thoughts and input of our members and friends. If you have not already done so, please would you go online to do this survey (one survey per person). If you need assistance or if you do not have access to a computer or the internet, please contact the church office and we can help you. Please visit this secure and confidential website to answer the questionnaire: www.imna-survey.ca. The Website is open until the end of April. Success depends on YOUR participation.

The Discernment process is ongoing and will take several more months of engaging with as many people as possible so that we may have as clear a picture as we can of where our mission lies as it relates to our buildings. Please continue to be prayerful about the present and future ministry of Pembina Parish.

Note from the Editor:

It has been my pleasure to serve Pembina Parish by creating and editing these newsletters over the past five years! God bless you as you continue to tell the story of God’s people in this place .

Happy Easter to you all!

Rev. Suzanna Bates April 2017

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