Presteign-Woodbine


Effective June 1, 2017 Presteign-Woodbine United Church and Leaside United Church joined together to become one church located at 822 Millwood Road.


SPECIAL NOTICE:

After declining attendance over the last five years, Presteign-Woodbine
United Church (PWUC) faced challenging questions as to what to do for
future growth and moving forward. Fourteen options were carefully
considered including development of a senior’s housing facility and a
community outreach service centre.

The most valued option was an official amalgamation with a neighbouring
church and to not disband altogether. The decision to amalgamate was
intentional and the option most people of PWUC found acceptable. In
January 2017 Presteign-Woodbine parishioners began to worship with Leaside
United Church and completed amalgamation in June of 2017.

Last January as part of the plan for amalgamation it was decided to sell
the Presteign-Woodbine property of .87 acres at 16 Presteign Avenue and
re-invest the proceeds less the portion attributed to Presbytery, in to
valued ministries, missions and upgrades to the facility at the Leaside
United Church location at McRae and Millwood.

A property sale team was created through combined talents of the former
Presteign-Woodbine and Leaside United Churches.  Along with the Trustees
Committee this dedicated group worked diligently from March 2017 to
November 2017 to ensure the successful sale of the 16 Presteign Avenue
property with the best possible outcome. The team focused on finding
another faith organization to purchase the building to further serve the
community.  While other churches expressed interest, none were able to
make a suitable offer. Other prospects included a potential child care
centre and a municipal park that ultimately did not materialize.  Finally,
the church accepted an offer and sold the property to a local developer
familiar with the community. The sale agreement closed on December 21st,
2017.

With the primary focus on new ministries and missions outside of the
traditional model of “church”, research is being done to create plans
through the Congregational Development Team with abundant feedback from a
recent census to guide us in exciting new directions.

In the spirit of Advent, this is definitely a time of joy in the
celebration of transition, in peace along our faithful journeys together,
in love with welcoming neighbours and hope in our missions and ministries
for the future.

Church Council
Leaside United Church
December 22, 2017

 


Presteign-Woodbine Photo Gallery

Thank you to James Beagle and Murray Fenner for taking the pictures and organizing these memories for digital viewing.

 

 

 


A Good Good-Bye

from the

Rev. Rose Ann Vita

 

I am just taking this final opportunity to let you know how much I appreciate being on your journey of transformation with you. Two congregations, focused on a future vision of sharing God’s abundant love, can do more together than each church could do alone. May you continue to be courageous as you move forward into God’s future.

My last day with the new Leaside United Church is August 31st. I begin my next appointment by Toronto South West Presbytery on September 11th as an interim with Emmanuel United Church in Brampton.

Be blessed to be a blessing, Rose Ann

 

 


It’s a Party and You’re Invited!


Variety Show April 21, 2017

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Coming Up March 5, 2017


Unanimous Vote on December 4th

comingtogetherimagetwbLeaside United Church voted unanimously on Sunday December 4th, 2016 to request Toronto Southeast Presbytery of the United Church of Canada approve the amalgamation of Leaside United & Presteign-Woodbine United Churches.

Our “Coming Together” vision is being realized now and we are enjoying celebrating worship at both churches for the month of December. Beginning January 1st, 2017 we will worship together at Leaside United Church.

 


Upcoming Celebrations at Presteign-Woodbine:

 

presteign-woodbine-2016-fall-flyer


Presteign-Woodbine and Leaside United Churches Steering Committee

Presteign-Woodbine and Leaside United Churches Joint Steering Committee

Highlights November 1, 2016

Joint Steering Committee Meeting

• At the start of the process of coming together, we weren’t sure how long it would take – what final decisions or actions would we need before coming together? How long would conversations with presbytery take? Recently things have come together quickly, which is wonderful! At our Joint Steering Committee, we revised our timeline slightly to ensure we have plenty of time for conversation, questions, and reflection before a final vote.

Timeline:

Here is our timeline leading up to our vote:
November 6 – LUC will be holding a Q&A session following the service
November 13 – PWUC will join LUC for their Anniversary Sunday: worship, lunch, and workshop (for those who are able to stay). Our guest preacher and workshop leader is John Pentland, who has written a book about transforming communities of faith.
November 16 – PWUC and LUC will have a joint Council meeting to discuss the Covenant Agreement for LUC & PWUC and “What Will It Look Like?” Appendices
November 20 & 27 – After church both Sundays, LUC will hold a Congregational Townhall after worship and PWUC will hold a Lunch and Learn after worship, to discuss the Covenant Agreement and Appendices. Please make an effort to attend one or both weeks.
December 4 – PWUC and LUC will each vote on the Covenant Agreement

• This will be our final vote about coming together. If the vote is successful at both congregations, we will continue with our plan to worship together beginning in January, and become one congregation in June 2017.

• The Joint Steering Committee wants to thank those members of both congregations who have met to discuss topics from Worship to Communications to Coffee Time to Finances to Pastoral Care. There have been good conversations, and great opportunities for more of us to get to know each other better. Three groups have created summaries called “What Will … Look Like?” to help us imagine more specifically what we want to happen as we come together.

You can read these here:

What Will Communications Look Like?

What Will Welcoming & Engagement Look Like?

What Will Worship Look Like?


Summary:

On June 19th, 2016, Leaside United Church voted …comingtogether

“For Leaside United to continue discussions and reach an agreement to merge/amalgamate with Presteign-Woodbine United Church”

This followed the May 29th, 2016 approval by the Presteign-Woodbine United Church congregation to do the same.

Our approval of this motion does not mean we have decided to get married but it does mean that we are now “going steady” and hope we might make the decision to marry in the next year!

Both congregations are now engaged in conversations to work through what would be involved in uniting our work and worship as one new congregation.  The two congregations are having some joint events and worship together in the fall of 2016 and intend to begin worshipping together on a full time basis at Leaside United in January 2017.

This is exciting for both congregations as we engage in this process of coming together.

Visit Presteign-Woodbine United Church online here: click to go to the website


Highlights: October 18, 2016:

  1. Joint Committee meetings have happened with Communications, Worship, Welcoming & Engagement and Finance.
  2. The first joint Council meeting happens Nov 16th.
  3. Had very good meetings with Presbytery. They are very impressed with how LUC and PW are handling the process of coming together.
  4. LUC will be having an information session after service on Nov 6.

Visit Presteign-Woodbine United Church online here: click to go to the website


Highlights: September 30, 2016

From the Sept. 30, 2016 Steering Committee Meeting about the coming together of Leaside United and Presteign-Woodbine United:

1. The Steering Committee will be asking four teams from Leaside United and Presteign-Woodbine Churches to meet jointly in October/November about: Finance, Property, Worship, Communications, and Welcoming & Engagement, working together to provide three to five ideas/or directions of what our amalgamated church will look like after “coming together” in the future. This is to help set directions about what we would like to do together.
2. We will be drafting a short agreement which will come to each of the Councils by Nov 16th and then it will go to the PW lunch n’ learn and the LUC congregation meetings on Nov 20th. Then there will be a final vote of both congregations on Nov. 27th.
3. We will be working with presbytery representatives towards coming together.
4. The LUC Pastoral Care and PW Visitation teams will plan to meet together in order to ensure that all individual congregation member needs are being met.
5. Members of both congregations will continue to be invited to attend committees, groups and/or any events that are of interest to them in order for people to get to know each other. The emphasis is on open communications and improved understanding.

Visit Presteign-Woodbine United Church online here: click to go to the website


Highlights: September 13, 2016:

From the Joint Leaside UC and Presteign-Woodbine UC meeting.

  1. The committee will be sharing regular highlights of our meetings, which will be posted on a designated page on LUC’s website, hopefully linked to by PWUC, and shared during worship at both congregations.
  2. Presteign-Woodbine United Church congregation will be joining LUC for worship on October 9th and November 13th including the John Pentland event.
  3. As LUC and PW continue getting to know each other, we would like to find a symbol to represent the two churches “Coming together”.  Ideas are welcomed and encouraged.
  4. PW will be hosting Lunch and Learn(s) on October 16 and November 20. One of the topics: LUC will share and discuss LUC’s mission statement and core values.
  5. The committee is working towards a four page, high level agreement, which will be voted on by both LUC and PW congregations.
  6. We are planning a number of “get acquainted” activities and we have a goal to have a buddy system (PW members paired with LUC members) in place for January 2017 .

Visit Presteign-Woodbine United Church online here: click to go to the website


 Leaside United & Presteign-Woodbine Picnic:

churchpicnic3

 

Click link for more pictures:

http://www.leasideunited.org/luc-presteign-woodbine-picnic/