Community Compass
Purpose of the Community Compass
To chart Cedar Park United’s journey forward, being a progressive beacon, offering welcoming, vibrant, creative and relevant Christian ministry to all its members, participants, visitors, and neighbours wherever they are, onsite or online.
Listen to the podcast series about each of the four pillars of the Community Compass.
Rev. Dr. Elisabeth Jones and Board Chair Ron Wiebe introduce the Community Compass direction and priorities for 2024 and beyond.
Be a progressive beacon
Nourish and challenge through worship and spiritual life
Serve as a radically welcoming caring community
Support our ministries with sustainable use of our resources
Be a progressive beacon
Cedar Park United has established itself as a trusted and consistent voice for progressive Christian thinking, spiritual practice and action.
We want to maintain and grow our voice in ways that have impact in our communities onsite and online to counter increased culture of fear, exclusion and division.
Actions to support this priority will include
continuing to generate positive, affirming challenging, progressive content,
expanding the reach and impact of our content through communications across all our platforms and
encouraging alignment with our core message and identity in all that we do, onsite and online
Team Lead Norman Jones introduces the “Be a progressive beacon” element of the Community Compass in this short video.
How would you like to get involved in this area?
Connect: communitycompass@cedarparkunited.org
Serve as a radically welcoming caring community
We aim to be a truly welcoming community, exercising understanding and empathy for persons not like us, being non-judgemental and self-forgiving, and taking people as they are. We are a safe place for those who are seeking shelter from abuse or discrimination – not a complete resource, but a spiritual one. We look out for and extend support to those in need within our community.
Actions to support this priority will include
Considering how to best welcome everyone, both online and onsite, to worship and other activities, in ways that integrate newcomers and strengthen connections within the Cedar Park United community
Being aware of, and working to remove, invisible barriers that exclude some, so that everyone has opportunities for spiritual growth, connection, and social justice work in alignment with our identity and values
Refreshing the care cluster system to expand our efforts in creating and sustaining care within the community
Building on our work with community outreach and social justice partners, to spread our message of radical welcome and grow our community
Team Heidi Simmons introduces the "Serve as a radically welcoming caring community" element of the Community Compass.
How would you like to get involved in this area?
Connect: communitycompass@cedarparkunited.org
Nourish and challenge through worship and spiritual life
Helping us to centre our common life in worship that is creative, contemporary, relevant and deeply grounded in the liveliness of God, and in programmes for spiritual growth which are reflective of our progressive, affirming theology and faith in action.
Actions being proposed to support this ministry priority include:
A recently completed survey on music in worship at Cedar Park United.
The responses, along with our community compass, will help us to chart a path forward.We also plan to create opportunities for more people to get involved in imagining creative, enriching and challenging worship activities for our church community.
And we’ll be encouraging, training and nurturing hosts and moderators for study groups and workshops, in order to develop capacity within our community.
Team Leads Margrét Kristjannson (in Manitoba) and Richard Bastien (in Pointe-Claire) introduce the “Nourish and challenge through worship and spiritual life” element of the Community Compass.
How would you like to get involved in this area?
Connect: communitycompass@cedarparkunited.org
Support our ministries with sustainable use of our resources
Ensure that the community communicates effectively and has sufficient financial stability, physical resources, and people willing to dedicate their skills, time and energy to continue to live out its vision.
Actions being proposed to Actions to support this ministry priority will include
1. Effectively communicating the Community Compass priorities between the board, staff, volunteers and the broader Cedar Park United Community, building engagement and commitment to pursue these priorities going forward.
2. Applying a lens requiring the effective stewardship of human, physical and financial resources in pursuit of our Mission goals as determined in the Community Compass.
3. Continuing to explore synergistic opportunities to partner with other church and non-church organizations in pursuit of common goals and to promote ongoing organizational sustainability.
Team Lead Peter Forton introduces the “Support our ministries with sustainable use of our resources” element of the Community Compass.
How would you like to get involved in this area?
Connect: communitycompass@cedarparkunited.org
Community Compass background
Cedar Park United is a Christian community that seeks to shine as a beacon of progressive Christian thought and action.
We do our best, through our worship and all the activities and ministries of our community life, to celebrate, support and advocate for the well-being and flourishing of ALL God's creatures and ALL God’s people. We are learning to be a community that is both onsite and online, so whether you’re next door or on the other side of the world, we hope everyone can find a place of belonging and purpose in the caring community that is Cedar Park United.
Such a vision requires thoughtful, intentional planning so that Cedar Park United can fulfill God’s vision and purpose for all those within its community.
To that end, in 2023 the Congregational Board identified four elements of the collective life of the church as the focus for its discernment, energies and resources. This Plan, now called the “Community Compass”, which has its roots in the Board’s planning retreats in June and October 2023, is currently under development with the aim that it will be shared with, engaged in, and lived out by, our wider community.
A more evolved version of the Community Compass was presented to the Congregation at the Annual Congregational Meeting, onsite and online, on March 17, 2024.