The Outreach Committee is one of the ways that Hillhurst United Church engages in issues related to social justice and the environment.
Inspired by the words and actions of Jesus, the Outreach committee addresses issues of social justice and the environment through education, advocacy and action with the intention of fostering spiritual growth and nurturing real transformation in the local and global community.
A just society is one where each member has the opportunity to develop spiritually, to pursue dreams and to meaningfully contribute to the growth and development of the community. In this definition, we think of society as local (Hillhurst, Calgary, Alberta and Canada) and global (low-income countries, high-income countries, north, south, east and west). While we are a long way from considering the whole world as a “just society”, we will strive toward this vision one step at a time.
The “Affirming” process is our way of affirming members of the
gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community within our congregation
and community. Historically, the broad Church has actively excluded
this group and treated some individuals as incomplete and unholy. We
every person is a child of God and deserves to have their soul honoured
accordingly.
One June 22, 2008 our congregation voted to accept the
following as our
statement of affirmation:
Hillhurst United Church commits
to be an inclusive community of faith
that follows in the Way of Jesus under the banner “whoever you are,
wherever you’re at, we welcome you on the journey.”
We strive to accept each other as equals and welcome the ministry and participation of all persons regardless of age, gender identity, health, race, sexual orientation, differing abilities, religion, ethnic background or economic circumstance.
We hope
that in all that we do, including our worship and community
life, God’s unconditional love is experienced. We do this trusting God
is with us on the journey.”
More information about the Affirming Process is found here.
In August 2008, three members of our congregation travelled to Zambia on an exposure tour.
Jacob Schlinker was a youth participant and Kim Locke
and Greg Powell were adult participants seeking to be exposed to
different ways of thinking and different eyes for viewing the world.
The outreach committee helped Jacob, Kim and Greg share their stories upon their return.
As part of our endeavours to understand homelessness, Tim Stock-Bateman, formerly with the Calgary Urban Project Society, led a discussion on issues of homelessness.
To share some of our learnings with the congregation, we inserted pamphlets in our bulletins over the course of a month.
We are currently planning a major water campaign for launch in the fall 2008. Some of the components of the campaign include
To encourage people to think about the carbon footprint of our
food, in
September we will lunch on food that has been sourced from within
100-miles of Hillhurst. This is no small feat but can be done! The
inspiration for this meal came from the book by Alisa Smith and J.B.
MacKinnon entitled The 100-Mile Diet: A Year of Local Eating.
For the past two years, we used the period before Christmas to
encourage people to consider the impacts of over-consumption on the
environment and on society.
Jay Baydala from Christmas Future joined us to share what he and his organization are doing to divert some of the $1 trillion North Americans spend at Christmas time to where it is needed most – in low-income countries.
See the Giving Light for Christmas page for more details and lots of ideas.