Preparing for UCC Admissions Orientation Circle 2024
Once again the Centre for Christian Studies is running an Orientation Circle for ministers coming into the United Church of Canada from other denominations. The United Church has asked CCS to host this two-week course to give Admissions ministers some insight into Canadian context and United Church ethos and to help them develop networks of support. CCS brings its commitment to relationships and learning in community to this program.
The United Church will be sending up to 18 ministers to this online course, which will run four hours a day from August 12-24. Registered participants will be logging in from Zimbabwe, Zambia, Nigeria, Kenya, India, England, and various places in Canada. Some of the participants will be ministers who have recently found appointments in UCC congregations. Others are still in the process of trying to find appointments.
This will be the third time we have run this course, and each time we learn more about what Admissions ministers need for a smooth transition into United Church congregations. Ministers from other denominations bring wisdom, skills, experience, and different perspectives. In the Admissions Orientation Circle, we are trying to draw on that experience as an asset in adapting to a new context. There are things about the United Church, and about Canadian culture, that are, let’s face it, weird. We can’t fully prepare Admissions ministers for the culture shock, but we can give them a heads up, and we can encourage them to use each other as a resource so they don’t feel isolated in the process.
The Centre for Christian Studies is honoured to be doing this work for the United Church, and we are overjoyed to once again have the opportunity to meet enthusiastic, daring, hope-filled ministers who want to make the United Church home.
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