Emerging Spirit @ The United Church of Canada Emerging Spirit @ The United Church of Canada

On Sunday, May 17^th, 2008, Westminster United Church presented a life size version of the Wondercafe  Bobblehead PSA to the hundreds of people crowded together to watch the Annual Calithumpian Parade, in Thamesford, Ontario. 

Flags and a globe were added in order ensure the PSA  fit with the "Around the World" theme of the parade, and lead to the award of "Best Themed Float".   As the float went by, laughter and positive comments followed!  A clever ad presented creatively to spread the message!  Thank you Wondercafe and well done Westminster!

See the photos here and here!

Congregations in Southwestern Ontario got together to put one of the WonderCafe advertisements on their local transit buses. 

Using the Family Portrait ad, the bus advertisement asks drivers and bus passengers whether we have our priorities mixed up - and inviting them to explore the issue further at one of their local United Churches. 

 A great, innovative way to invite the community to explore the United Church! 

The following article taken from: Red Deer Advocate, June 14, 2008

Care for some caffeine and religion? By Penny Caster - Red Deer Advocate - June 14, 2008

If you are the chatty type you can usually drum up a little small talk at a typical coffee shop but there’s a place in Red Deer that serves up coffee with a little spirituality on the side, plus babysitting, if you need it.

It’s the WonderCafé and it runs on Sunday mornings downstairs at the Gaetz Memorial United Church.

And though it may not have the brand recognition factor of, say, a Tim Hortons, there are WonderCafés in various forms all over the country.

We have a contemporary service once a month, and on those Sundays we have our Wondercafe up and running. We put WonderCafe banners up on the wall, and Wondercafe coffee and coffee cups are ready for when people come in. It has made a huge difference in how our service begins. People talk informally in small groups and it really warms up the spiritual vibes in the church! We've started selling our wondercafe ceramic mugs too, with proceeds going to our Food Pantry. So far, no one has said anything 'bad' about people drinking coffee in the church. Eventually, we may do this for all the Sundays - we'll see.

Many United Church congregations across Canada are using the WonderCafe and Emerging Spirit concept to launch innovative outreach projects in their communities.  

Thanks for Bill Gillis of Crescent Fort Rouge United Church in Winnipeg who sent us pictures of the bus stop advertisements his church did to lift up their ministries.  

Each month, we post a "Wondercafe Question" in the bulletin and on the screen before service. People are encouraged to submit their answers anonymously. All answers are then printed in the church newsletter or bulletin. Questions so far have been: "Why do we refer to Jesus as He", "What question would you ask Jesus if you could" and "Faith is...". Some of the most thought-provoking and moving responses have come from our Sunday School classes. Note, we had to stress that "holy manners" would be enforced - so far so good!

We have been using the ads that are available to every United Church congregation from the wondercafe.ca website. There are two types of ads with pre-designed formats. The one I will refer to in this post is an extension of the national advertising campaign. These ads ask provocative questions, for example, "Does the SUV in my driveway make me a sinner?" They are attention getters which usually prompt a smile and create a question mark in one's mind. They invite people to open-minded and lively discussion.

At 10am, We put on fair trade coffee and put out some chairs & a table or 2, and toss out a topic. People are free to join in and chat, and usually, at 10:30 when church is supposed to start, we're tearing ourselves away for worship. It hasn't brought in new people, or even included them yet, but it's a lively conversation that has been meaningful for the group, and we're aiming to be more visible (banner etc) and more available to new folk.

This is terrific. I find myself tuning in about twice weekly to get involved in the discussions or to blog or to correspond with others. I have also learned of some great new reading to satisfy my intellectual/spiritual curiousities. As a 30-something newcomer to the UCC, this website has done more to link me to the United Church than any service so far.

Keep doing what you are doing.

Tina

Here are a couple of pictures of Rev. Gerry Foster and the congregational WonderCafe launched by St. John's United Church, Grand Forks, B.C. Thanks Gerry!