Welcome to new chair of the Regional Council, Helen Reed; thank you to Gord Waldie
Gord Waldie has finished a two-year term of chairing the Regional Council through the continued impacts of the restructuring, and straight from there into COVID. Thank you, Gord, for your steady leadership at a difficult time, and your continued work on the Executive as a member at large.
Now Helen Reed takes the chair. Helen is Ministry Personnel for the Camrose United Church, in Camrose, Alberta. Helen enjoys engagement in the wider church, administration and Pastoral Care. Her experiences include election as a GC Commissioner in 2015; Presider of Chinook Winds Region. 2019-2020; Coronation Presbytery Secretary for about 9 years, rural ministry, and small city ministry. And more recently, she was a member of the Northern Spirit Communities of Faith Support Committee.
Farewell to Jamie Mckay, Executive Assistant
Executive Assistant Jamie Mckay’s last day with the tri-Region staff team was June 9. Jamie served Northern Spirit, Living Skies, and Prairie to Pine Regional Councils, especially the Executives. In addition to taking minutes at Executive meetings and Regional annual meetings, she worked to support Shannon; and, when we were able to meet in person, was a particular support to the Keewatin Circle in Northern Manitoba. She took on the special project of design for the three new Regional websites, then worked with a staff team to get the sites up to date and launched only days before COVID hit. We wish Jamie all the best in whatever the next chapter may be, and thank her for sharing her many gifts with the church for the past four years.
Farewell to Karen Medland, Vocation Minister
Since the transition to a new structure in 2019, Karen Medland has served the Office of Vocation. As a Vocation Minister, Karen was part of a team of regionally deployed General Council Office staff in Northern Spirit, Living Skies, and Prairie to Pine. She supported the processes for the discernment, training and accreditation of people who felt called to become ministry personnel in the United Church. Karen supported ministers who were seeking to fulfill the continuing education standards, and she also accompanied ministers engaged in the formal processes for oversight and discipline. June 1 Karen started a new call to ministry and vocation with Chinook Winds Regional Council as their Pastoral Relations Minister. Congratulations, Karen! You will be missed, and we wish you God’s blessing in this new work.
Candidates in our three Regional Councils, please get in touch with Brenda Fawkes, Vocation Minister for Pacific Mountain and Chinook Winds, until a new hiring is announced: bfawkes@united-church.ca
All other inquiries, please email Marlene Britton, Team Lead, Policy and Programs for Ministry Personnel: mbritton@united-church.ca
Other staff team news
At our Region-wide celebration and Pentecost service June 5, Kathy Jackson’s upcoming retirement was honoured, even though many of us are still in denial. Congratulation, Kathy! Earl Reaburn, Pastoral Relations Minister, is on the second half of his sabbatical and will be back at work in August. If you need pastoral relations support, please get in touch with Kathy Jackson at kjackson@united-church.ca
