News for Synod

To follow on from our outreach of our last Diocesan Synod when we sent 5 cartons of children's clothing to the Diocese of Namibia's "Joy to the World" kindergarten we would ask each parish to send 1 or 2 sweatshirts, sweaters, or fleeces, children sizes 5-8 with your delegates to the Opening Synod Service. Once again we will use the offering received at the service to cover the costs of shipping. We will also include some early childhood storybooks which have already been donated to this Diocesan run children's program.



thank you,

Bishop Jim

Camp Clean-Up Day

Please spread the work that Camp Clean-Up is scheduled for Saturday, September 25th beginning at 10:00 am. As usual, a hot dog lunch will be provided for all volunteers. Please encourage your parishioners to lend a hand in helping to “put the Camp to bed for the winter.”

PLAINS speak Fall 2010

Come home, Come to church
This September we are highlighting ourselves – by inviting friends to join us at our spiritual homes. We are dedicating one service to especially welcome newcomers, and are inviting all members of the parish to bring a friend with them. Posters will be posted in the community, invitation cards handed out individually.
While this one service is special in that it invites newcomers (or those we haven’t seen in a while!) to come home, to church, we are always greeting new people in our midst. In this spirit, we need to remain aware of how our customs may be new to others, and help them feel at home in the community- whenever they stop in! Sitting beside someone new, helping them with the books, inviting them to fellowship – it’s all a part of being the church. We don’t want to be our own best-kept secret!
So – invite a friend to come home, to church.


Mark your Calendars!
This fall there is an abundance of celebration within our wider parish! Come out to any of the following social gatherings – we’d love to see you!
15 September – Spaghetti Supper, Christ Church Roblin
29-30 October – Rummage Sale, St, Matthew’s Binscarth
7 November – Fall Supper, Christ Church Russell
27 November – Annual Bake Sale and Tea, Christ Church Russell
4 December – Stratchlair Theatre Chorus, hosted by St. George’s Birtle
.....
And who could forget:
14-16 October - Diocesan Synod, held in Brandon
31 October – Fifth-Sunday All-Points Worship, 11:00am, Christ Church Russell (Pot Luck to follow, wear a costume for a special treat!)
14 December - Parish Council, held in Binscarth

The Rector's Calendar
This fall promises to be as Spirit-led as the summer! There will be a few times, however, when I will be out of the parish on church business:
Thurs. 30 Sept. – Sat. 02 Oct., I will be promoting the diocese’s youth programs (our amazing camp and TEC) at the Rupert’s Land Synod.
Thurs. 14 Oct. – Sat 16 Oct. I will be representing our parish at the 45th Diocesan Synod in Brandon.
Wed. 03 Nov. – Sat. 06 Nov. I will be attending the PWRDF semi-annual Board of Directors meeting and Annual General Meeting.
I will also be away on holidays the weeks of 24 Oct., 07 and 14 Nov., and 05 Dec.

Fall Worship Schedule
Starting in November our Sunday worship times shift once again! The worship time will be:
Sunday 9:30am: Russell
Sunday 11:30am: Binscarth
Sunday 7:30pm: Birtle
Monday 7:30pm: Roblin
Wednesday 7:30pm: Shoal Lake
Celebrate Harvest Thanksgiving with us at Sts. James’ and Stephen’s (Solsgirth) on Sunday 03 Oct. at 9:30am! Other Thanksgiving services take place on 10 Oct.
Remember All Hallow’s Eve with the whole parish family on October 31 at Christ Church Russell.
Christmas Eve will be celebrated at 7:30 in Birtle and at 10:30 in Russell.
Christmas Day to be determined. Regular service times continue as of Sunday, 26 December.

Scripture for Worship
19 Sept.: Jer 8:18-9:1; Ps 79:1-9; 1 Tim 2:1-7; Luke 16:1-13
26 Sept.: Jer 32:1-3a,6-15; Ps 91:1-6, 14-16; 1 Tim 6:6-19; Luke 16:19-31
03 Oct.: Lam 1:1-6; Ps 137; 2 Tim 1:1-14; Luke 17:5-10
10 Oct.: Deut 26:1-11; Ps 100; Phil 4:4-9; John 6:25-35
17 Oct.: Jer 31:27-34; Ps 119:97-104; 2 Tim 3:14-4:5; Luke 18:1-8
24 Oct.: Joel 2:23-32; Ps 65; 2 Tim 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14
31 Oct.: Hab 1:1-4, 2:1-4; Ps 119:137-144; 2 Thess 1:1-4, 11-12; Luke 19:1-10
07 Nov.: Hag 1:15b-2:9; Ps 145:1-5, 18-22; 2 Thess 2:1-5, 13-17; Luke 20:27-38
14 Nov.: Isa 65:17-25; Canticle 3 (Isa. 12:2-6); 2 Thess 3:6-13; Luke 21:5-19
21 Nov.: Jer 23:1-6; Canticle 19 (Luke 1:68-79); Col 1:11-20; Luke 23:33-43
28 Nov.: Isa 2:1-5; Ps 122; Rom 13:11-14; Matt 24:36-44
05 Dec.: Isa 11:1-10; Ps 72:1-7, 18-19; Rom 15:4-13; Matt 3:1-12
12 Dec.: Isa 35:1-10; Ps 146:5-10; James 5:7-10; Matt 11:2-11

Roots Among the Rocks

I am not easily rendered speechless. Anyone who knows me can attest to my ability to find a comment in almost every situation. I was, however, amazed and delighted – and speechless – following a presentation of “Roots Among the Rocks” in Russell on Monday 05 July.
The play is an initiative of the National Church, and had it’s debut in Halifax at General Synod in June. The play is not one story, it is a collaboration of nearly a hundred stories; the cast interviewed anyone who would talk to them about their experiences with church, and put it into 90 minutes of poetry, drama, dance, music, and prayer. The themes of love, acceptance, forgiveness, and profound faith touched everyone; everyone could relate to some aspect of the show.
With only a few days to organise and promote the event, the Wider Parish of Pelly Plains certainly stepped up to the task. Some 2 dozen people from as far as Shoal Lake and Dauphin gathered for a pot luck supper prior to the performance, following it up with desserts and conversations with the performers.
I wish that more people could see the performance, and to be touched by the prophetic voice of our church’s youth. Sadly, the troupe is not able to return to the Diocese of Brandon; they left the following morning to impress and inspire folks further west. The tour concludes in London, ON, at the Canadian Lutheran-Anglican Youth Gathering in late August.
http://rootsamongtherocks.blogspot.com

Camp needs a Nurse!

IMPORTANT:

Our Intermediate Camp, July 11-17, is in desperate need of a nurse for the week. If you know of anyone who would be willing to take on this task, please have them call Andrea Packwood at 717-0312.

Roots Among the Rocks

Ever wondered about God? Wanted to know what young people were thinking about faith? We did - and we asked!

Join us on a journey with Roots Among the Rocks Theatre Collective as we share stories of faith, life and irreverent discovery from the voices of 7 young artists.

The Wider Parish of Pelly Plains is pleased to be hosting Roots Among the Rocks on Monday, 05 July at Christ Church, Russell (corner Memorial and Assiniboine). We’ll share a pot-luck dinner starting at 5:30pm, with the production to follow. Tickets at the door, $10 per adult, $5 for youth. For more information contact Rev. Laura-Marie at 773-2096.

This is the only opportunity within the Diocese of Brandon to view this production of our national church!

Roots Among the Rocks brings together 7 young Christian artists, who have created an engaging performance that they will tour across Canada throughout the summer. Premiering at General Synod in Halifax in June, and wrapping up at the Canadian Luther Anglican Youth Conference in London in August, Roots Among the Rocks seeks to engage the Anglican and Lutheran church in a compelling conversation about faith, self, journey and community. Conducting interviews, gathering music and images, story sharing, group improvisation, and research, the company has built a show about the Church in Canada - who we are, and where we might be going.

The company is Karyn Guenther from Abbotsford, British Columbia, Magdalena Jennings from Vankleek Hill and Halifax, Nova Scotia, Melissa O’Leary Glover from Prince George, British Columbia, Carolyn Pugh from Guelph, Ontario, Peter Reinhardt from Vancouver, British Columbia, Jenny Salisbury from Toronto, Ontario, and John-Daniel Steele from Victoria, British Columbia.

Hope to see you there! And please, send along our invitation to anyone you think might be interested.


http://www.rootsamongtherocks.blogspot.com/

Prayer Request

Your prayers are requested, especially during Sunday services, for families in the North who have been affected by the massive forest fires currently raging.

Lakeside Church Service

Lakeside Church Service
Anglican Memorial Camp
Sunday, July 25
at 11 a.m.
All are welcome

TECmeet!

Reuniting old friends, new friends, good friends and you friends, since 2010!

When: Saturday, June 26th, 2010
7:00 pm to 9:30 pm

Where: St. George’s Anglican Church
Brandon, on the corner of 5th Street and Southern Ave.

Who: YOU! And everybody else!
You don’t have to have come to TEC to come to this event. Everyone is welcome!

What: A youth service, fellowship, food, and fun!
Hangout time, games, and much goodness!

For more info:
Karen: chicklette109@hotmail.com
Enoch: enoch_ouskun@hotmail.com

Diocesan Pot-Luck Dinner!! Not to be missed!

On Friday, June 25th
Let’s get together to celebrate the beginning of summer!
We will start with a Pot-luck supper at the Cathedral at 5:30 pm and have the opportunity to greet those who are new to the diocesan family in the past year and say farewell to anyone who may be moving.
Please let LauraMarie know by Wednesday, 23 June if you are able to come, so she may RSVP to the Synod Office.
All are invited—Young and Old, Clergy and Lay
Be sure to dress comfortably. There will be bocce and beach volleyball available (but not required!)
Cathedral address: 403‐13th Street in Brandon

Our Camp Needs Helping Hands...

Dear friends,

I am emailing to request HELP for June 26th /July 10th!!! These two days have been set aside as work days at the camp as we have been donated equipment to use for rebuilding the foundations under the staff cabins and clearing the required 6 feet of space around the cabins of brush. If we do not have the manpower then the generous donation of equipment will go to waste. I am asking that you please ask around your parishes for even just 1 or 2 people who would be willing to work for those 2 days up at the camp. I realize that we have taxed our volunteer labor force greatly this season, but this is the last item in this year's building phase and it must be done this season or all the donated concrete mix will go to waste as well! Thank you for taking the time to put your thinking caps on, I know there are people out there who are willing, we just have to ask.

Yours In Christ,
Chad+

Deanery Council Meeting Minutes

PARKLAND DEANERY COUNCIL MEETING

APRIL 24^th, 2010

ST. PAUL’S ANGLICAN CHURCH, SHOAL LAKE

Meeting participants congregated to celebrate Holy Eucharist at 10:45 a.m. after which we proceeded to the lower hall for lunch provided by St. Paul’s, Shoal Lake and St. George’s, Birtle.

The meeting, chaired by Rev. Chad McCharles was opened with prayer at 12:15 p.m.

A delegation from the Anglican Church Bible Camp at Clear Lake addressed the meeting and brought everyone up to date on camp activities. The delegation consisted of Carol and Richard McCurry, Tim Black and Shea Gasnarek and it was evident that they are all very dedicated to this wonderful facility. They urged everyone to consider the work weekend and the camp clean-up weekend on 1^st and 2^nd weekends of the month of May. Shea talked about her experiences at camp and how her and other youth are on fire for Christ because of camp. We were urged to go back to our parishes and encourage youth to register for camp. It is not only for Anglican youth – it’s about offering any youth a chance to experience camp.

The Teens Encounter Christ weekend of May long weekend was also mentioned. For more information, you can contact Chad McCharles or the Synod office.

Life in the Parish Deanery/Parish Sharing

Prairie Mountain Parish – Rev. Chad said that in the two years he had been there, he had seen many good things but he also sensed the decrease in numbers and admitted that it was a struggle to reach people. The parish has established outreach committees, implemented mid week services to better serve the people and several exciting things have come from that. He’s very thankful for the awesome commitment from the five congregations.

Swan River Parish – Rev. Tom outlined upcoming events in his parish and also touched on the decrease. He chooses to focus on the positive things like having some small children in church recently.

Rivers Parish – Rev. Nigel said that the parish grouping was new – only three months old and he also had only been there three months so they were still getting used to each other. They are doing a joint service on every fifth Sunday, which will help, for everyone to get to know one another.

South Parkland – Rev. Bob has four churches in his parish and they also have a joint service on the 5^th Sunday. They went through a visioning process in 2008/09 and have a framework sketched out. Two proposals they have are the odd fun time service and more partnership with other denominations.

Russell/Birtle Wider Parish – Rev. Laura Marie stated she is a new rector in a new grouping and the word she used to describe the parish was “Blessed”. The parish is

celebrating in abundance; they share the love of Christ and have lots of energy. They are learning to recognize the wider parish as one body and also have a joint worship on the 5^th Sundays. She is doing a parish newsletter, which will help keep everyone informed of events in other parishes.

Russ Hamilton said it would be beneficial to introduce new rectors to the local newspaper staff.

Chad handed out posters announcing the Children’s Festival in Minnedosa on June 5^th. This weekend was originally planned for last fall in Dauphin but there was zero registration so it decided to postpone it to this year. It was not canceled all together because each Parish had contributed $25.00 to it. Location was an issue in Dauphin. People would have had to drop their kids off and then try to fill the day until it was time to pick them up again. They changed to location to Minnedosa to try and target some of the youth from Brandon and also changed the format somewhat to include the parents. This is a deanery wide event and they will be calling for volunteers to help with it. Nigel made the observation that by changing the location to Minnedosa it certainly added a great deal of travel for the northern part of the Diocese.

Entertainment for Synod – Barb Hamilton and Francis Stewart were appointed to come up with some entertainment. Barb asked if anyone had ideas, to get them in to her.

Chad asked all Lay Readers to identify themselves and then asked if they felt they were receiving adequate support. It seems that the Lay Readers manuals have disappeared and had been out of date in any case. The Clergy draw energy from Lay Readers so it is important that they feel comfortable in the role. At the last two Synods, clergy have pushed for a new training component for lay readers but to no avail. Lay Readers were encouraged by all present to involve Paul Curtis, Lay Reader's Warden and to lobby the Bishop for a training program.

Where do we see ourselves headed in the future? We seem to be in a “hold our own” or “exist” mode and we have to change that. Chad suggested that perhaps we could copy an idea from Michael Harvey and each parish could host a Back to Church Sunday. Pick a Sunday and each person in the parish would invite one person to Church. Even if the majority of the visitors do not stay, if one person does, then it’s worthwhile. The one’s that don’t stay still have that connection. In that way, low attendance numbers could be seen as a positive rather than a threat. A congregation of eight becomes sixteen for one Sunday. We can start the process at this level and then introduce the plan to Synod.

Be it Resolved that the Parkland Deanery establish a Dream Team to explore and establish a vision for this Diocese. Moved by Tom Stradwick, seconded by Shirl Christian. Carried.

Nigel Packwood urged this to be a layperson movement. One person from each parish to sit on the Dream Team as follows:

Swan River Parish – Audrey Sercombe

Prairie Mountain – Donna Rink

Dauphin – Francis Stewart

Rivers – Sally Carter

Birtle/Russell – Betty-Ann Copping

This group met for the first time during coffee time at the council meeting and plan to be in contact soon.

Be it Resolved that the Parkland Deanery sends notice to the Synod Planning and Agenda Committee to ascertain the most appropriate time to present a vision from the Dream Team. We would further request that this time be slotted just before lunch in order to give Synod Delegates an opportunity to discuss the concept over lunch.

Moved by Nigel Packwood, seconded by Betty-Ann Copping. Carried.

Decision making process at the parish level. How should conflicts within a parish be handled? What are the responsibilities of the wardens? Conflicts should be handled by the Corporation, not by individuals. The Canons lay out the structure very clearly. Chad read the Canon that deals with conflict and it all comes back to the Bishop.

The point is, many wardens do not know what their responsibilities are. There is a section on duties and responsibilities of wardens on the Diocesan website but not everyone has access to the Internet.

It is felt that this issue does not have to go to Synod. Chad will take it to the next Executive Meeting and let it be known that there is a desire/hunger for more training or at least to define the role of the wardens, not only in the area of conflict resolution but basically their role within the church.

Laura Marie brought forward the Diocesan Environmental Stewardship Program or more aptly, the lack of one. Do we blue box? Do we conduct energy audits?

Be it Resolved that we ask the Synod of the Diocese of Brandon to establish an Environmental Stewardship Team. Moved by Laura Marie Piotrowicz, seconded by Barb Hamilton.

Tom Stradwick mentioned that there would be letters coming to parishioners, encouraging them to remember their Church in their wills. People should be encouraged

to do this but cautioned that it be done correctly so as not to tie up funds where they can never be used.

Synod dates are October 14^th – 16^th, 2010.

The next deanery meeting will be held September 11^th at Dauphin, beginning with a 10:45 a.m. Eucharist.

Moved by Nigel Packwood, seconded by Gary Workman that the meeting be adjourned, the time being 3:10 p.m.

We closed with the Grace.

Our New Website!

Welcome to the website for the new Wider Parish of Pelly Plains!
Our latest newsletter will be posted soon...