Who We Are

Westminster is open, accepting, affirming, challenging, and stimulating. We seek a life in which love and justice figure prominently. We try to reach out to those who share our vision of the world as a place of peace and hope. We seek to live lives that honour and serve our God. 
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While we tend to have younger members and many children, we welcome people of all ages, both single and families. We are committed to including all people in the life and worship of the congregation. Our theological perspective, though deeply rooted in tradition, is liberal, with freedom of thought encouraged, as we seek to grow in faith and in wisdom. ​

​The Cedars is our shared worship and community centre and home to both Westminster United Church and Temple Shalom, a Jewish community of worship. It is an unusual arrangement and both congregations prosper within this unique relationship.
 
 “Daring to Dream” has been a part of Westminster United Church right from the beginning. It was September 1987 when Rev. Rupert Evans, Waterloo Presbytery’s New Church Development Officer, began knocking on doors in west Waterloo to see if any people in the community might share his dream of creating a new church in the suburbs of this fast-growing city.  
Check out our living faith story.​

What People are Saying about Us...

"Westminster is less traditional – not afraid to try something new."

"I was attending Pride Day, and noticed that Westminster was advertised in their booklet. I came and fell in love with Westminster right away."

"It’s inclusive and there are lots of opportunities to be involved."

Our Vision

Living for a Community of Service
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Westminster United Church is sustained through the Grace of God and the commitment of our people. By these principles we choose to live:
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We embrace growth and the changing needs within our congregation and community in spirit, meaning, outreach, and fellowship.

We embrace the Spirit of a uniting church through living our faith in Jesus Christ.

We embrace the care of God's Creation.

We embrace the dignity of each individual.

We embrace our vision of creating an environment that enables us to live our principles as the people of God in each day.

Our Mission Statement

To establish and develop a Church organization to be known as Westminster United Church of Waterloo, for the purpose of worshipping God, to grow and develop in knowledge and understanding of God's work and purpose in the world. To create an environment of openness for all people. To affirm that all who seek to live faithfully regardless of ability, age, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, or social circumstances are welcome to full participation in the life of the congregation. 

To foster full opportunity for full participation by all in the wider church.
To develop and promote meaningful Christian Education programs for the children and youth of the congregation, to develop and nurture a fuller understanding of God and the principles of faith of the United Church of Canada.

To present all programs in such a manner as to elicit enthusiastic participation by this most important segment of the congregation.

To carry out God's ministry of love and caring within the immediate Westminster community where congregational members live and work, including global outreach in a world where God's people can benefit from Christian love and support.

​To act as disciples of Christ and to follow the Christian teachings of the church.
To strengthen our Christian faith through increased knowledge of God, learned through participation in worship services and other church activities.

Statement of Solidarity with our Muslim Community

The members of Westminster United Church of Waterloo, Ontario, send our deepest condolences to our local, provincial and Canadian Muslim community in the wake of the vicious terror attack which killed four members of the Afzaal family in London, Ontario on June 2021, and the extensive vandalism against the Baitul Kareem Mosque in Cambridge in mid July 2021.
These acts of hatred come amongst other tragic news in Canada, with reports of increased violence towards Indigenous peoples, Blacks, Jews, Asians and other people of colour, as well as attacks on the LGBTQ2S+ community, and the discovery of unmarked graves of more than one thousand children at Indian Residential School sites across Canada, with more bodies expected to be found.
We at Westminster deeply value our relationships with communities of all races and faiths. We strongly support the right of all people to whatever faith (or no faith) they feel called.
As the Muslim saying reminds us, "A lot of different flowers make a bouquet." The diversity of our region strengthens and enhances our community, and we pledge to work against words and actions that attack anyone on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity or sexuality.
We acknowledge the ways in which we have contributed to these terrible acts by our actions and inactions. We are striving to learn and do better.
Everyone living in Canada deserves to feel safe. The vibrancy of our community is its diversity.

What you can do:
We encourage you to reach out to members of your community who might be struggling during this time of pain with a simple expression of care and without expectations that they will respond at this time.
We also need to move beyond thoughts, prayers and kind deeds - and move to real, lasting, systemic changes that ensure all people are truly safe, respected and valued.

The Afzaal family has called for everyone, "from the highest level of our governments to every member of our community," to take a strong stand against hatred.

The anti-hate network has offered three action items to help fight Islamophobia in Canada:

1. Email and call your Member of Parliament, which you can find here. The government has been sitting on legislation against online harms, including online hate. While we don't yet know the exact circumstances that led to this terrorist attack, we can say definitively that addressing online hate will make attacks like these less likely. Legislation should be introduced immediately.
2. Support the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), Council of Agencies Serving South Asians (CASSA), and others in their call for a National Action Summit on Islamophobia.
3. Echo and promote any further calls to action from the Muslim community.

We pledge to continue to echo calls for justice from communities that are affected by hate-motivated violence, and will continue to promote calls to action through our newsletters and social media platforms.

Westminster United Church Council and congregation, the Rev. Andrea Allan, Minister, and Janice Greenhalgh, Chair of Church Council, Waterloo, Ontario.  
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