The congregation of Westdale United Church lives into its 3rd decade with a continued vibrancy that was obviously evident when it all began with such devoted members!
The Mission Statement of Westdale United Church states, ‘ As a Christian community, we seek to honour God and to care for one another daily. We are called to live our faith and to grow spiritually by learning and applying the teachings of the scriptures.’
Members have come to believe in their church and in their faith providing them with an anchor which guides their lives and calls them in the Way of Jesus Christ to work toward hope, justice and peace for all of creation. Come in and join the journey of faith and spiritual growth.
REV. BEV WILL BE RETIRING AT THE END OF THIS YEAR AND A TEAM HAS BEEN FORMED
TO FIND A REPLACEMENT.
Now’s your chance to help us find a new Minister.
PLEASE GO TO THE NEWS PAGE TO READ THE DETAILS.
*** Follow our Sunday morning worships on YouTube by searching Westdale United Church
To the Westdale Community of Faith,
I hope this letter finds each and every one of you having the best summer possible given the uncertainty and complications caused by Covid-19. I trust that you have in some way remained connected to your Westdale family, either through the weekly services delivered by mail or paper copy or by viewing the online videos posted through the efforts of our dedicated YouTube “expert” Tom Keeton, featuring Bev, John, Brenda, and others.
I am pleased to announce that we will be returning to in-person services on September 13th. You may have heard this via some of the above communications but your Unified Board felt it important to contact you individually to invite you to return if you feel comfortable, or to wait a bit, if you prefer, but overall to know that Westdale still welcomes you and wants to be available to you as we begin to emerge from the strict response to the virus that forced our physical building to close.
I thank those of you who responded to our questionnaire regarding whether you would consider returning at this time. The result of this “poll” is that we won’t have to ask people to attend on alternate weeks, but rather we feel we will have sufficient space for those who wish to attend, with adequate provisions for physical distancing.
You may have seen or heard of the requirements placed on the return but I cannot overemphasize that the measures and protocols in place are for the safety of everyone. Therefore some details bear repeating. We will have lots of hand sanitization opportunities, and request your name and phone number upon entry (required by regulations to facilitate potential contact tracing).
We are requiring masks and physical distancing in the sanctuary. We are utilizing ushers to seat people (some of you will recall, as do I, that many churches had ushers every week in past years). Many facilities (kitchen, coat racks, name tags, etc.) are closed for the moment, and washrooms are for emergencies, serving only one user at a time. Foot traffic is directionally controlled and the services themselves will be different from what we are used to, especially with no live singing. There will be a waiting area for those who need to wait for transportation after the service.
Unfortunately, Kid’s Club’s return is postponed to assess the impact of school re-openings and we hope to offer our young people their weekly program in the near future. In the meantime, there will be space in the sanctuary where families may sit together to attend regular service.
That’s the tough stuff, but it is good news that there will be the opportunity to worship in our sanctuary again and hear the message live, with Brenda’s music and a few new experiences along the way.
So whatever your preference, your Unified Board and I want to invite you to continue to attend, be it in person or virtually on your screen at home and rest assured that Westdale United Church is still “A Warm Place to Find Yourself”.
If you have any questions at all, please contact the church by whatever method is convenient for you and we will address your inquiry.
Most Sincerely,
Ashley LeBel
Chair, Unified Board