What you will find here are opportunities to serve.
I encourage you to take the time to read through these descriptions. As you come upon something that rings true to your interest, your delight, please connect with me via the form below.
There’s lots of room for questions, for conversation, for the way any one of these opportunities could be approached.
the JBUC Board
Connecting with our gifts ... increasing our vitality
Welcoming Newcomers – After an initial warm welcome, then what? What if we had a small team of people who would follow up with folks newly arriving into our midst? It’s about making a further connection, creating opportunities to get to know people, their hopes, their questions, their needs, what they care about; and assisting in orienting folks to James Bay United Church.
A great fit for you if you enjoy meeting people; you are a good listener; you care that people discover a sense of belonging and see the need to help people navigate in new settings.
Investing in Blessing – We have many stories about the ways JBUC is making a positive difference in people’s lives. What we need are people who will share those stories in ways that invite people to contribute financially to sustain and grow this vital work. It’s about connecting in ways that give people the opportunity to have a part in something truly meaningful.
A great fit for you if you are inspired by stories that tell of blessing; you are at ease and eager to make connections and to invite others to consider contributing financially.
Celebrating our Ministries– We are envisioning a once-a-month after service gathering where the congregation gets to hear about and engage with the various ministries of JBUC ... a kind of show and tell event that helps us know what’s happening, what we’re part of, and allows the ministry teams to experience the congregation’s encouragement, gratitude, responsiveness. What we need is one or two people who will coordinate these monthly gatherings --create the roster, solicit from teams a brief description to promote the event.
A great fit for you if organization / administration is your thing; you value the idea of us learning about and celebrating our ministries.
Caring for our Human Resources – It is a necessary dimension of every healthy workplace that there is a team of people attending to the well-being of staff, their working conditions and working relationships. In our case this team is called the Ministry and Personnel Committee. We need to grow this team, as after a number of years serving, 2 people are now stepping off.
This work calls for good listening skills, ability to strategize, adept at working with inter-personal dynamics, a high regard for confidentiality, attentiveness to healthy workplace environment and fair employment practices.
Caring for our Property – We are so fortunate to have an attractive, well built, well equipped, well cared for facility and grounds. The garden team meets almost weekly 3 seasons of the year, tending the grounds and gardens. Caring for the church and thrift shop buildings needs a few more people to stay on top of small repairs and general sprucing up.
A great fit for anyone with skills to tend to household maintenance; appreciate the need of keeping a place in good repair; you care about us providing a beautiful and functional place for people to gather.
Pastoral Care— Our caring for one another is what makes for that experience of a loving community. We all have a hand in the caring, AND there are some among us for whom this is our special gift, “the reason we are here”. We are looking to grow our team of pastoral care visitors, who will share in responding to the needs for support as they arise. Depending on the situation, it could be about visiting in homes, in hospital, on the phone according to each visitor’s readiness.
It calls for good listening skills, compassionate presence, grounded in the face of crisis.
Seasonal Party Planners – Our sense of community deepens through fun and fellowship and the sharing of food. In pre-pandemic days we had a cycle of community gatherings throughout the year eg. Community Carol Sing; Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner; Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper, Easter Breakfast, September Welcome Feast. As we get ready to reconnect in these ways, it would be wonderful to have a small team of people whose joy it is to reimagine and initiate fellowship gatherings ... not to do it all, but to coordinate the events, recruiting others to share in various aspects. You know who you are!