The Transition Team
The transition team of Joan Murray, John VanDuzer, Nancy Au, Rev. Debbie McMillan (St. Andrew’s United Church) and Rev. Christina Paradela began meeting in Sept 2025. The team will involve our Fifty community of faith in the tasks of rediscovering its heritage, reinvigorating its leadership, claiming its identity and mission, clarifying its future, and renewing its connections to the wider church and community.
It is not the team’s role to have all the answers for Fifty’s path forward, but rather to help our community of faith as a whole discover our best direction.
Our work will continue through to April 2027.
How can you help? We need everyone to bring your thoughts and excitement to the activities presented by the Transition Team.
Third Update - March 6th
Friday, March 6, 2026
The Transition Team very much wants to hear what you have to say!
We will be holding Listening Circles in March and April.
Each session will have a maximum of 8 people so sign up soon.
You might ask, “What is a Listening Circle?” Let us tell you….
A Listening Circle is a time of pondering together with others about something that we share a passion for. In this case, everyone participating will be members and/or adherents of Fifty United Church. That’s because we have a sense of Fifty’s story to date and share a curiosity about its future.
A Listening Circle is a safe and prayerful place to wonder aloud knowing that people will be listening to you. Under Rev. Christina’s direction, we will establish some holy manners first… things like promising to respect one another and not interrupt one another and to hold one another’s stories as sacred stories. In a Listening Circle we do not reply or respond or make comments on the thoughts of one another. We simply listen; we take it all in.
A Listening Circle is NOT a decision-making group. Once we have listened to one another, it might make future decision making a bit easier but this is NOT the time for any decisions. It is a wondering time.
A Listening Circle allows us to be in one another’s presence in a sacred way that makes room for the movement of the Holy Spirit. Oh, yes, and there will be juice and cookies!
Dates for the Listening Circles (and # of spots still available):
Wed, March 18th at 2:00pm – FULL
Thurs, March 19th at 7:30pm – 8
Thurs, March 26th at 2:00pm – 5
Thurs, April 2nd at 7:30 pm – 5
Reserved dates
Sun, March 22nd at noon-ish
Wed, April 1st at 2pm
Sun, April 12 at noon-ish
Sign-up sheets are at the church. Alternatively, you can email Rev. Christina at: christinaparadela@gmail.com and she will add your name to the appropriate list.
We look forward to our Listening time together. Thanks!
Your Transition Team
(Nancy Au, Joan Murray, John VanDuzer, Rev. Debbie McMillan, Rev. Christina Paradela)
First Update - Sept.-Dec. 2025
A Wall of Wonder was developed. We asked everyone to post on the wall their memories of moments that matters within the life and work of Fifty United. We had 172 responses. WOW!
On Nov 23rd our service focused on finalizing the Wall of Wonder. We also took time to recall bible stories that were reflected in the Wall and the life of Fifty. Lots of good bible stories were thoughtfully presented.
Our team has spent time reviewing each of the 172 contributions to the Wall of Wonder.
They tell a story of who we are and what is important to us. Themes that keep coming up are: our community of faith, worship, Christian faith formation, outreach (near & far) and music.
Thank you to everyone who participated in the Wall of Wonder. Your contributions give us a clear picture of what is important to Fifty United.
Second Update - January 21st
Our Jan 21st meeting was very fruitful. The following will give you an idea of the items we are working on:
The worship on Feb 8th will be led by the Transition Team. The service will be linking back to the information gathered from the Wall of Wonder and the service held on November 23rd regarding the bible stories that remind us of Fifty and our journey.
Friendly conversations have been happening and continue with families of faith in our area. Who are they? What are they up to? What does their future hold?
We are building a timeline of our team’s work. It will illustrate what we have done and a schedule for what is left to do. We expect to finalize the first draft before the Feb 8th service.
Communication – we realize how important this is. We have identified that we need to communicate well and in many ways. This will be one of our focuses moving forward.
Our AGM is March 1st. The Transition Team will be helping to lead service. Please come and encourage others to attend. It is important that we all work together for the future of Fifty.
Lent is just around the corner. It will bring us a “Time for Listening”. We need to hear each others’ thoughts. Stay tuned.