HELLO!

What a lovely Monday morning at Woodlawn United Church. As I arrived at 9 am I saw one of our rental groups welcoming their participants into the building. I also saw three United Church women arriving to sort through clothes at the dun-gen in the old church next door. I engaged both groups, but not for long, they had work to do. I did as well, I had a book to read, for the Fall Faith Study. I walked over to the bench, by the mailboxes at the edge of our large church parking lot. I had not noticed the sign on the bench before. It encouraged passers by to sit, to talk with a stranger. I did some research when I got back to the office, and surprise, I knew one of the people behind this effort. Before the funding was not renewed by the provincial government, my navigator work was sponsored by The Public Good Society of Dartmouth and the only Board Member, who worked with me for the last 18 years was Monique Mullins-Roberts. I found this article on the CBC site explaining the benches.

There are 20 benches across Dartmouth, sporting a special new sign that encourages people to stop to say hello. The Happy to Chat bench project is a Dartmouth Community Health Board initiative. "We want the signs to be an invitation to start a conversation with someone," said Monique Mullins-Roberts, a coordinator with the Dartmouth Community Health Board. "We think the signs should offer that sense that it's OK to connect with a stranger, it's OK to connect with the community." "Loneliness can have a tremendous impact on your health," Mullins-Roberts said.

When I was a student at the Atlantic School of Theology one of our professors, Shelley Finson, designed course work that included two students walking around the church they would serve for two years, going into every business, sitting in every park, walking down every sidewalk. She wanted the students to have a sense of the community, not just what went on inside the church. In my 36 years as a minister, I have always taken time to know the area where I serve, even if I don’t live there. I recall serving on a Presbytery committee that visited churches once every three years, to see how things were going, a “taking the pulse” approach to congregational health. A minister and lay leader from another church, would undertake these tri-annual visits. The two of us sat with the Church Council, the staff, the ministers, all separately, asking how things were going, how the Presbytery might help. The minister was beloved by her church. I decided to go “off script” and ask how she liked the community where the church was located. Further, since I knew the minister from the Anglican and Presbyterian churches nearby, how those partnerships were developing. There was a long silence. “I have not had time to engage with the community or colleagues” she said. She had served there for seven years. When I mentioned this to my wife, an Anglican priest, she reminded me “not all ministers make this a priority”.

Perhaps you feel likewise, the community around the church is “extra”, not a necessity. But like Shelley, I do think the church has a responsibility and an opportunity to be engaged with its community. I once went for an interview with a church. They asked me why I was applying. I responded, “There are so many new people moving into your community, I know there is a great opportunity for ministry here”. To my shock, despite this church dwindling in size, they expressed no interest in these changes. Rather, they wanted to know if I planned to do what their beloved previous minister had done, for continuity. The minute I walked out of the meeting, I emailed the chair to withdraw my name from consideration.

I am grateful Bethe, the Council, members of Woodlawn, all want to be part of the community where God has planted us. Peace, Kevin