Summer 2026 - Message from Wendy

Hello my friends. I don’t know about you, but I am ready for summer and looking forward to some down time with friends and family. As I look ahead, I’m also reflecting on all the incredible things we’ve accomplished together as a vital and engaged community of faith since the start of the year and I wanted to share some highlights,

We Faced a Significant Financial Challenge

One of the biggest challenges we’ve faced this year has been the urgent and expensive need to fix leaks in parts of our roof. In January, the roofers met with the congregation to explain the project and provide an estimate of the cost. You all stepped up and raised the funds required in record time. Staff and parents at Glebe Montessori School also helped with fundraising and the leadership team spent countless hours working through all the complexities. Thanks to the Finance and Administration Committee, the Board of Trustees, and Jim McCulloch’s generous offer of pro bono legal support, we also secured a loan from our church region (Eastern Ontario and Outaouais Regional Office) to help us manage our cash flow. The repair work will begin soon and take place over the summer. We’re excited to have a roof that won’t leak on Rev. Teresa’s head during Sunday worship! What an extraordinary achievement, and I want to thank everyone involved.

We Continued To Build Community and Support Each Other

Throughout the year, we’ve continued to build our community and support one another. We’ve organized events, participated in outreach activities, and provided a safe and nurturing environment for our children. We’ve also been there for each other during difficult times, offering support and encouragement.

We spent some time reviewing and updating a few church policies and procedures to ensure they aligned with our vision of a warm, welcoming, and safe space for everyone. We officially welcomed the Queer Space group and the Dissociative Identity Disorder group (DID 613) into our ministry. We agreed to enhance our compassionate care support over the next year by creating a part-time Minister of Compassionate Care position, and we’re delighted to welcome Rev. Paul Dillman to the role, starting in late September. To help us connect with our community, we created a Photo Directory. We also welcomed new Council and Board of Trustees members. We updated job descriptions and embarked on a salary study to ensure that we are treating our staff with fairness and equity compared to peers and will have results to discuss with you at our Fall Planning Meeting.

We Reached Out Beyond Our Four Walls

We are active participants in the SE Ottawa Cluster of United Churches, which includes Glebe-St. James (GSJ), Riverside, Rideau Park, Southminster, and Emmanuel. This month, we welcomed Centretown United Church as a new member. Rev. Teresa, Pam Fitch, Marg Torrance, and I are your representatives to the Cluster and we are working hard to share information about our programs here at GSJ and learn about what’s offered at our sister churches. We’ll be involved in an important joint project starting in the Fall, where we’ll be discerning our journey towards 2035 with the other cluster churches. This is a unique project in our church region, as it’s the first time a group of churches will work together to discern the future. We’ll need two members from our congregation to participate in the Discernment Working Group, so please consider whether you might be interested. If you feel called to represent Glebe-St. James in this important work, I’d be happy to share more information with you.

We also embarked on a new initiative to develop informal relationships with our fellow “North of the Rideau” United Churches – Southminster United and Centretown United - with whom we share many similar issues and challenges. Over tea and ice cream, lay leaders from each congregation talk about each of our churches, our challenges and triumphs, discovering the things we have in common and ways in which we can help each other. To date we have met three times and have more get-togethers planned.

Keeping in Touch

if you would like to be added to the Church database, please send your coordinates to the Church office ([email protected]). Please note that we do not share your information outside of the church and then usually only with your permission.

Let us know if you would like to receive:

o     the weekly e-update?

o     communications by mail - Christmas card, updates, etc.?

o    phone calls from the Friendly Callers? They call to check in to see how you are doing and to let you know what is happening in and around the Church.

o     to be included in the Church database?

o     to be included in the Church directory - you can choose what info is included.

I wish you all a wonderful summer and look forward to the Fall with renewed energy and purpose.

Wendy Bergeron,

Chair of Council