Helen MacKay, sound technician, Inner City dinner greeter and more!
Volunteer Extraordinaire!
You’ve all seen Helen! She is most often working sound and lights from the back of the church.
Her name, by the way, is pronounced Mac I, NOT Mac A.
Helen is on Presbytery, and she also works with Shirley Chatfield to keep the church data base up-dated. She is the smiling hostess who meets people at the door and welcomes everyone to our Inner City church dinners. But mostly she’s simply there when she is needed. Just ask anybody at the Church. Ask her husband Stewart—or ask them at The Open Door (now Our Place) where she has been a volunteer for years.
Helen was brought up by caring parents who loved and supported her well. At one point Helen’s mother was a teacher at the Alberni Residential School and one of her students was George Clutesi, from the Tseshat Nation, who later went on to become known as an actor and as an artist (His work was shown at Expo 67.) George Clutesi kept in touch with the family over the years and Helen enjoyed listening to him speak about life. She learned spirituality and a real appreciation for nature from this wise and gentle person. She recommends his book, Stand Tall My Son.
Helen would love there to be more supported housing for the people who really need it. One day she was talking with a First Nations fellow at the Open Door. She said, "If I ever win the Lotto, I’ll put it into housing for whoever needs it." He said, "That would be good—but you know what would be even better? If they had a couple of old farm houses that needed some work with an area for a garden just beside. People would like to work to help themselves." Helen has never forgotten that conversation! And now we all know what she’ll do if she ever wins The Big One!
Rights and Responsibilities of Volunteers and Lay Leaders at First†Met
In a positive Volunteer experience there is giving and receiving in the very best sense. When volunteers share their gifts with us, they can expect to give and receive the following:
What will you receive?
- The satisfaction of knowing that you have made an important contribution to the life of the church community and to everyone who participates in its programs.
- A choice of a suitable assignment with consideration for personal preference, life experience, skills and interests.
- Supervision and direction so that you know why the task is being done and that your work is effective through sound feedback, guidance and support.
- Being heard and treated as an equal partner: to have a part in the planning; to feel free to make suggestions; to have a respect shown for an honest opinion; to have the opportunity to make a difference.
- Recognition through on-going expressions of appreciation and formal training when feasible.
- A variety of volunteer experiences and assignments
What do we expect you to give?
- To be sincere in your offer of service: know that you really want to give your time, that you believe in and value what you are doing; accept only as much responsibility as you are willing and able to deal with.
- To be willing to learn: know all you can about your job and participate in training; and welcome supervision.
- To be dependable: do what you have agreed to do; make promises you can keep; notify your staff partner as soon as possible, when it is impossible to fulfill your commitment.
- To be a team player: be considerate, respect others’ contributions; ask about things you don’t understand, get the answers you need; to be persistent, and not easily discouraged; provide feedback, suggestions and recommendations to your staff partner and other volunteers.
- To understand the functions of the staff: work with your staff person and maintain a smooth functioning relationship.
- To follow the guidelines – the policies and procedures – as established by our Church Governance.
Stories United:
Harvesting Elders’ Wisdom
Available Now!In September 2008, First†Metropolitan published Stories United: Harvesting Elders’ Wisdom (PDF), the funny, sad, moving and always interesting stories of the first group of sixteen elders as told to their companions.
Stories touch on such themes as early memories, love and friendship, accepting loss and death, building a faith community and the many faces of God.
The book is available at a cost of $22 through the First†Metropolitan church office, by mail (download a copy of the order form [PDF]), locally in Victoria through Koinonia Books, or nationally through the United Church of Canada Resource Distribution .
Have You Considered the Church in Your Will?
To ensure that yours is a lasting gift, please include a bequest to the First†Metropolitan United Church Foundation.
What Is It?
The First†Metropolitan United Church Foundation
- holds trust funds
- invests these funds
- makes grants
- assists the work of the church
The Foundation includes: The Memorial Endowment Fund and The Memorial Stabilization Reserve. Both The Memorial Endowment Fund and The Memorial Stabilization Reserve are "endowments" – only the interest is disbursed. Contributions thus become perpetual gifts, or legacies. They enable the church to extend its work beyond the provisions of its general budget. Grants are made for funding initiatives on requests approved by the Directors.
Applying for Grants
Application forms are available from the Foundation. Generally, the earnings of the Memorial Endowment Fund are for initiatives such as:
The earnings of the Memorial Stabilization Reserve are available to offset church deficits.
Contributions
The Foundation receives bequests, memorials, and special gifts and incorporates these resources into a trust.
Contributions may be directed to:
The First†Metropolitan United Church FOUNDATION
932 Balmoral Road
Victoria, BC
V8T 1A8
Additional contact information:
For many years, Metropolitan United Church served as the home of the Metropolitan Basketball Teams. Newly renamed the First†Metropolitan United Basketball Teams, upwards of 12 to 17 teams practice weekly in the Fellowship Hall and play at a local high school. This service is an “outreach” to the community, giving neighbourhood youth an outlet of healthy activity for six to seven months of the year.
Contact Rick and Sheila Vickery at (250) 479-0164 for more information.
At the Last Supper, Jesus celebrated Passover with his disciples and invited them to break bread and drink wine together in remembrance of Him. We observe this sacrament in the United Church. At First†Metropolitan United Church, we practice an “open table,” that is, we invite all those who seek to follow in Christ’s way to take communion. Membership, baptism or confirmation is not required.
Communion service is usually served using the practice of intinction. A small piece of bread or rice wafer is dipped into grape juice and consumed. At the 9:00 a.m. chapel service, communion is offered every Sunday and the elements of bread and wine are brought to the seats of those attending by lay leaders.
At the 11:00 a.m. service communion is offered several times a year, including World-wide Communion Sunday. Those attending the service are invited to come to several stations around the Sanctuary. At each station, two servers hold the elements. Once you have taken a piece of bread or wafer, dipped it into the cup of grape juice and eaten it, you return to your seat. Lay leaders watch for those who might have difficulty in leaving their seats and bring the elements to those members of the congregation. As an alternative to intinction, traditionally trays with cubes of bread and small glasses of juice are passed amongst the pews.
Baptism is the second of the two sacraments in the United Church of Canada (the sacrament of communion being the first). It is an initiation into Christianity and into our own church family and is held as part of a regular Sunday service. As such, it requires a commitment from the individual or in the case of a child, from his or her family. Adults, children and infants may be baptized. Adults who have previously been baptized into another denomination need not be baptized again; they will be admitted into membership in the Church through confirmation.
Normally, at least one parent of a child or infant being brought forward for baptism should be an active member of First Metropolitan United Church or have stated an intention of becoming a member. If you regularly attend church at another congregation, we would encourage you to have your children baptized in that church so that your church family can support the commitment you are making to your child as well as the Christian faith as a whole.
At baptism, parents are asked to commit themselves to leading their child to Christian faith by their teaching and example. The congregation vows to encourage the participation of parents and children in our community and to support them as they grow in faith. Baptisms are generally held at least four times during the year, on designated days.
In the United Church, we believe all infants are blessed and known by God. Baptism is not necessary to remove the stain of original sin from a child or to protect a child from evil. In baptism we celebrate the love that God already has for the child.
When Metropolitan United Church and First United Church joined together in 1997, it marked the amalgamation of two historic congregations in Victoria, one with Presbyterian roots, the other with Methodist and Congregational roots. The United Church of Canada, founded in 1925 by these three denominations, was at the forefront of the ecumenical movement in Canada. Together we bring over 300 years of mission and service to the life of Victoria, with a ripple effect that has literally gone out around the world. As strong winds of change have blown through society at the beginning of the 21st century, so the Spirit encourages us to become a fresh and vital community of Christ at the heart of the city.
See Also
Category: About Us | Tag(s): Our History |
The nights are long, wrapped in a wet sleeping bag, shivering from the damp and the chill, sleep comes fitfully—five or ten minutes every hour. A tree, a park bench, a doorway… these provide some shelter but safety and warmth and not common experiences for homeless youth.
First†Metropolitan United Church is one of several venues which offers night shelter for street youths each evening from November to April. It aims to provide warm, safe shelter for homeless youths aged 16 to 25 years. The coalition includes Beacon Community Services (lead agency), Cool Aid, St. John the Divine, St. Saviours Anglican, as well as First†Metropolitan United.
Volunteers are needed in two capacities:
- to be present for an evening or a morning shift to ensure the provision of a meal, and
- to donate the soup, muffins, eggs and other ingredients that make for healthy eating.
We also launch a yearly financial appeal to ensure that we meet our commitment of $5,000 towards the operational expenses of the coalition.
To volunteer or contribute in any way, please call the site coordinators, Leslie and Bob Wilson at 250-590-4586.
Are you looking for a contemplative way to reflect on your week? This is an ecumenical form of prayer accessible to all in a peaceful atmosphere of meditative chants. Come and join us at a Prayer in the Style of Taizé service. Taizé services are offered by the Downtown Churches Association once a month between September and May. To find the date and location of this month’s service, click on Events. All are welcome to attend this candlelit ecumenical prayer and music filled service.
Can’t attend a service, but want to experience the meditative atmosphere of Taizé? Listen to a few minutes of prayer with song and a bible verse recorded live in Taizé, France, courtesy of St. Stephen’s Anglican Church. Some samples of music used in services can also be found on the website of Elk Lake Baptist Church.
For more information, please contact Harry Ray of the DCA Taize Working Committee by email or Janet Gray, Committee chair, by phone at (250) 478-5066. For more information on the Taizé community and its programs, prayers, and songs, see: www.taize.fr/en.
