MARCH 11, 2026

It doesn’t matter if our church disappears

We sometimes want to give up, we’re discouraged. Would anyone notice if we just closed our doors, sold our churches, gave the money to charity and called it a day? What difference can a church make in people’s lives in an increasingly secular world? Come and explore how the church can be relevant to the world, finding ministry in new ways that remind us what we’re about.

LEAD: Richard Bott

MARCH 18, 2026

Sunday shopping and sports have emptied out our churches / It’s all about Sunday morning, at 10:30am, with a choir, a minister and an order of service

Maybe what we offer on a Sunday morning isn’t as engaging as other things… but if the only way we will be successful in our ministry is if there is absolutely nothing else to do, maybe we need to rethink how we make it the most interesting thing someone can do. How do we ensure that we are working to meet their needs rather than just trying to meet our own. Come and explore how to make church activities more relevant, useful and appealing to people.

LEAD: Mitchell Anderson

MARCH 25, 2026

Young people don’t care about church

Most young people have stopped coming to church, but maybe it’s about what we’re offering. There are increasing signs of interest from a generation who was not raised in church. Come and explore how young people are finding faith these days.

LEAD: Dana Ducette

APRIL 8, 2026

Newcomers to Canada aren’t interested in our church (it’s too boring, it’s too liberal, it’s too “white”)

We are a significantly more WASP-ish church than most of the world around us. Our communities can carry some significant prejudices that we may not realize, yet growing churches are finding ways to be intercultural and welcoming. Come and explore how we might reach out and connect with and welcome newcomers.

LEAD: Emo Yango, Desire Tiriwepi

APRIL 15, 2026

The United Church doesn’t believe in God anymore

While there are many people who make this claim, the truth is that the United Church has a deep, rich and diverse theological grounding. Some have given up theological expression because they are afraid it will scare people away. But is this actually the case? Come and explore the United Church’s theological roots and its modern-day expressions as an antidote to the public image Christianity carries in the news and in popular culture.

LEAD: Jennifer Janzen-Ball

APRIL 22, 2026

We should aim to be a megachurch

Is the megachurch the thriving church model that would best serve our moment in history? Come and explore the megachurch phenomenon, its patterns, strengths, and weaknesses.

LEAD: Frank Emanuel

APRIL 29, 2026

Our ministry IS our building / Our building is killing us

We spend a lot of time on buildings. Many of us have older buildings, struggle with repairs, dealing with rentals and tenants. Many congregations spend more time in their meetings talking about their buildings than about their ministry. Come and explore how ministry can find new life that is not building-focused or being a landlord.

LEAD: Jordan Cantwell

MAY 6, 2026

Church meetings are boring and unproductive.

Do you dread attending church meetings, whether it’s a gathering of the Outreach Committee, Youth Group Leaders, or Church Council? Come and explore how meetings can become a powerful way we live out our faith, turning your community’s decision-making into an effective and faith-filled part of your ministry.

LEAD: Tori Mullin

MAY 13, 2026

We can’t afford a full-time minister, so there is no future for us / Spiritual care is the minister’s job / We don’t have enough volunteers

As there seems to be a decreasing number of ministers, what do we do? While all congregations are lay-led in some way, many find the idea of being without ministry personnel to be challenging. Even if we could be lay-led, how do we ensure that we’re fostering the volunteers we need for this? Come and explore options for ministry that is not entirely reliant on the traditional model of a full-time minister for a congregation.

LEAD: Andrew Richardson, Janet Gear

MAY 20, 2026

The United Church is at the end of its financial and people resources. We don’t have enough.

While it often feels this way, and too often we act out of this claim, is it true? Is scarcity our story? The Communities of Faith which make up the United Church actually have an abundance of resources available to them. The fear of asking people to give, or to get involved, along with a culture of privacy, hinders our ministry and our future. Come and explore the spiritual practice of stewardship and generosity as an antidote to greed and scarcity.

LEAD: Dave Jagger

The United Church has spent 100 years establishing patterns and ways of doing ministry. Many of us are still doing what the church was doing a generation or two earlier. We want to try new things but don’t know where to start. We’ve created a narrative that doesn’t always match reality. It’s time to talk about it and unpack the things we’ve been telling ourselves.

This ten-week series of learning sessions and workshops will give participants the chance to see new opportunities, engage with new ideas, meet other lay church leaders reimagining the church of the future and start building it now.

Instructors each bring their own expertise and ability to facilitate conversation. Some sessions will have panels for questions and engagement, others will offer small group discussion and planning time. Materials will be available before and after each session to allow participants to go deeper into the subject matter if they wish.

While this program is organized by the Nakonha:ka, East Central Ontario and Eastern Ontario Outaouais Regional Councils, it is open to United Church members and adherents from other parts of Canada.

This ten-week series has been organized for lay leaders. Ministry personnel are also welcome to attend.

There are no required materials. The course is free, with donations welcome. (Recommended donation $10.)

Non. Un programme similaire, exclusivement en français, sera ouvert au courant de l’année 2026.

No, the course will be in English. A French program will launch sometime in 2026.

You are welcome to participate in as many of the sessions as works for you. The course is for you to learn, grow and connect with others. There is no penalty for missing a session.

If you miss a workshop and want to catch up later, it will be recorded and available on ChurchX. (However, you will need to be registered for the course to access these recordings.)

 A certificate of completion will be provided to all participants who participate in all sessions (present in Zoom or in online discussion chat for each session). Also, for each session in which a registrant is actively involved, an entry into a draw for a special gift will be made. For more information, please visit: https://churchx.ca/local/shop/product.php?id=372

To see if you are registered for the course, please login to ChurchX.

If you need help registering, please contact ChurchX (help@churchx.ca or 647-360-6654).