Fulfilling your Purpose through work with Ministry Teams, Committees and the Church Board      

Cedar Park United lives its identity and values through the ministry teams, committees, task groups, and activities of the congregation. Currently our umbrella ministry teams, which report to the Congregational Board, are: 

Worship and Praise Ministry 
  • Works with the Ministry Team (Minister, Music Director, Administrator) to prepare the sanctuary for worship each week, to help with long range planning for Sunday worship
Pastoral Care Ministry
  • Works with Minister to provide pastoral, practical support and accompaniment to congregants who are ill, in crisis, grieving, or struggling with life challenges
Stewardship Ministry 
  • Provides direction and support for stewardship of the congregation’s time and talents, physical and financial resources, to provide a healthy basis for our overall ministry
Social Justice Ministry 
  • Provides support for various ongoing CPU social justice initiatives, as well as providing direction and leadership for focused areas of social justice ministry
Christian Development  Ministry
  • Provides direction and support for programming for growth in faith for all ages and stages from KidZone to learning groups for seniors
Ministry and Personnel Committee 
  • Provides oversight, support and direction for our paid accountable staff

 

In addition we have many groups and teams who focus their skill and talent in specific areas that support our overall ministry. This list gives you a sampling of what we currently have working:

AV Tech Team
  • Practical group which produces (with the Minister) the weekly worship PowerPoint, runs the AV desk for all worship events, and takes care of our AV technical equipment
Welcoming/ Newcomers
  • Team that provides real, practical welcome each week to long-timers and newcomers, and helps with the integration of newcomers into the community
Communications Team 
  • Hands-on team that produces informational and promotional material to communicate our ministries, both internally and to the wider community
Coffee House Team 
  • Provides hands-on support and planning for our Coffee House ministry
Property project groups 
  • Ad hoc, project-focussed groups that help to get a physical property project from start to finish
KidZone team 
  • Supports our KidZone coordinator by providing teaching and practical support to the Sunday KidZone programme
Finance
  • Treasurer and team work closely with Church Administrator for day-to-day financial matters, and with Stewardship Ministry team for goal-setting, and with Board for budgeting
Worship Imagineers
  • One-off, ad hoc gatherings of people who work with the Minister to “imagine” a season of the Church’s worship
Choirs
  • Sunday Choir provides weekly worship music leadership. Voices for Hope is a community weekday choir that sings for a cause
Fellowship planning groups
  • Groups that meet to provide leadership, planning and implementation for our seasonal “parties” (Advent, Pancake lunch, Welcome BBQ)
Learning groups 
  • All the time, for all ages, places to learn and grow in faith, meet more people, feed your spirit
Men’s Group and  Women’s Group 
  • Both groups are “self-led”, but are looking for members to take some responsibility to lead for a season or a year
NeXt and Free the Children (FTC)
  • Youth groups. FTC is a self-run multi-faith group that focuses on social justice for children; NeXt is an adult-led group exploring the intersection of the Christian faith and life, and fun. Leaders are welcome.
Healing Pathway
  • Offers a healing ministry through non-invasive procedure practiced by trained team members, using “healing touch” techniques

 

For contact people, see the Ministry Teams page

The Congregational Board

The Board serves an official function as the governing body of the congregation, following guidelines set out by the Manual of the United Church of Canada. The Board attends to the Identity and Values Statement, the Covenant for Harmony, and using these, helps to set the focus and direction of the congregation’s life and witness. We are currently using a Five Year Plan (approved in 2013 by the congregation at its Annual General Meeting) as the pathway, focus and direction for our life together. Board membership includes people active in Ministry teams, and project teams as outlined above. All are “Members” of the congregation; we try to maintain a healthy balance of long-timers, newer members, gender-balance and age range, including youth. We encourage members to serve “for a term”, and then rotate off the Board, so that the Board is refreshed and renewed by new membership.

Discerning a Call to serve in a ministry team or on the Board.

Have you been coming to Cedar Park for a while? Are you enriched by your participation in the life of the congregation? Do you feel a nudge or call to become more involved, or to use a particular skill or talent to enrich the life of the congregation? Is there a place, or ministry, or group outlined above that “has your name written all over it”? Can you commit some of your time on a regular basis to that area of the congregation’s ministry? Would you like to talk to someone to discern your call to a particular ministry?

Here’s who you can contact:

  • Sabra Ledent: Chair of Nominations. She is responsible for helping people discern a call to serve on the Board.
  • Rev. Elisabeth: Minister (often, deciding to serve on a ministry takes prayerful consideration, and she can help you with this)
  • ECL: Our Church Administrator. Elizabeth has an invaluable institutional memory and birds’-eye view of the overall life of the church.
  • Chairs or members of any of the ministry teams, committees and groups.