Who We Are

The people of Westminster are an informal and supportive congregation that strives to live out the Gospel message day by day. We share our worship centre and even the sanctuary with a Reform Jewish congregation. We were the first United Church in Hamilton conference to become an Affirming congregation, and we are strongly committed to equity, diversity, inclusion, belonging and accessibility. 

With hope, faith, enthusiasm and hard work, we seek to be faithful to God and to help bring love, kindness and hope to the world around us. Again and again, we’ve dared to dream – and wonderful things happen.
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What follows tells more about who we are and how we got here.

Our early years

“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. 
His friendly manner and persistence paid off. A small group of people were indeed interested, and soon ten of them began gathering once a month in each other’s homes. Little by little, their numbers grew. 
Meantime, Waterloo Presbytery purchased a large lot with a house right next to farm fields about to be turned into homes on the western edge of Waterloo. 
The house was being rented at the time, so the fledgling group of worshippers arranged to hold Sunday morning services at Mary Johnston Elementary School. In preparation for the first service, flyers were delivered to area homes, posters put up and ads placed in local newspapers and on radio. And Rupert Evans continued to knock on doors, inviting people to join this new church.
The first service at Mary Johnston School was Sunday, Sept. 11, 1988. The gymnasium – soon to become our church home – wasn’t yet available, so 100 people crowded into a classroom, while another was used as a nursery. Six weeks later, our services moved to the gymnasium, where we worshipped amid the basketball hoops for eight years. We were still in the gymnasium when we became a full-fledged pastoral charge on November 18, 1990.
And it was in the gymnasium that we developed the informal, friendly, dare-to-dream ethos that has become part of the character of Westminster.
Every Sunday we hauled out the chairs for the service and put them away afterwards. On those Sundays when we couldn’t find the offering plates, we passed a frisbee instead. We held church council and other meetings at the now-empty house we called Church House, and little by little began to dream of a permanent church-like home. The only problem? Money.  We couldn’t afford a major building project, and the idea of renting space in an established church building didn’t appeal in the least.

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The beginning of The Cedars

Then one day, the chair of our committee on whether to build or not was chatting with his neighbour, a leading member of Temple Shalom, a Reform Jewish congregation. 
“Most of our congregation would love to build a place of our own, but we can’t afford it,” said one. “We’re in the same boat,” replied the other. “We’d love to have our own building but it would cost far more than we can afford.”
Suddenly, inspiration struck both of them. “What if… what if we were to build together?”
The idea captured the imagination of both congregations. We decided to co-sponsor a competition for students of architecture at the University of Waterloo to do concept drawings of what a shared Jewish-Christian worship centre might look like. We handed out $1,000 in prizes and gained wonderful insight into design possibilities as we plunged into unchartered waters. 
Together we hired an architect who was known to be process-oriented. Members of both congregations met on snowy winter evenings to share ideas about sharing a place of worship. As we gathered in mixed groups of six to eight people, the architect handed out jellybeans and Shreddies so that each group could design their own sanctuary (jellybeans for the chairs, Shreddies to mark the aisles). He’d then take Polaroid photos of each design and project them onto a screen for everyone to discuss. Little by little, we worked out how we could share the same sanctuary, with each congregation having our own distinctive space.
There were many challenges on the road ahead, but we held fast to our dream of a shared place of worship and managed to overcome each problem we encountered. 
The Cedars Worship Centre officially opened on September 5, 1996, on the lot purchased years before by Waterloo Presbytery. It was the first time in Canada – and possibly the world – that two congregations of different faiths who were strangers to each other came together to jointly plan, build and operate a shared worship centre.
We share all the facilities, including the sanctuary, kitchen and meeting rooms. A joint management committee oversees building, maintenance and rental issues. We have joint cleanup days, occasional joint services and speaker events. We respect each other’s holy days, and at times, move the day or time of our worship service to accommodate our partner congregation during their important holy days. We also seek out opportunities to work together on community outreach projects.
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From 1990s to 2019

Our Vision Statement which we developed in the early 1990s helped lay a foundation for us to live our faith. Some excerpts:
We embrace growth and the changing needs 
within our congregation and community
in spirit, meaning, outreach, and fellowship.
We embrace the care of God’s creation.
We embrace the dignity of each individual.
Our Mission statement, also developed in the early 1990s, gave expression to our goals and mission as a United Church congregation. 
Among our goals:
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 circumstance 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 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.

• In 1999, Westminster became the first affirming congregation in Hamilton Conference, offering support and full inclusion to the LGBTQ community.
  
• We also became one of the first sponsors of, and participants in, Supportive Housing of Waterloo, providing 30 apartments and on-going support for people experiencing persistent homelessness. 
  
• We were active in the Out of the Cold program providing food and shelter for the homeless in Kitchener-Waterloo.
  
• For more than a decade, we have had an active Prayer Shawl Ministry for the sick, elderly and those in need.
  
• We sponsored a refugee family from Kosovo, and more recently, were part of the Tri-Faith Action Committee (along with Temple Shalom, Muslim Social Services, a Mennonite church and Forest Heights United Church) sponsoring a Syrian refugee family and then members of their extended family.
  
• We initiated the Westminster Water Project, at the forefront of community efforts to curb the consumption of single-use water bottles at community activities and in our public schools.
  
• Thanks to “twinning” efforts of the United Church, we’ve established a decade-long relationship with the Vernon Grieves Memorial Church in Oxford House, the only remaining church serving the Bunibonibee Cree community of 3,500 in northern Manitoba.
  
• We’ve sponsored two members of our congregation to participate in UCC and TCOW work in El Salvador and Colombia.
  
• We continue to support the annual Angel Tree program of Prison Fellowship Canada, providing Christmas gifts to children of inmates from across Canada.
  

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​In 2019

• In April 2019, we welcomed a new minister, Rev. Andrea Allan, after a decade of caring, joyful leadership by Rev. Mary Savage and a year of supportive interim leadership by Rev. Meg Runhardt. 
  
• Rev. Andrea engendered new energy and enthusiasm within the congregation, with particular attention to community outreach, equity issues and support for young families. 
  
• To give life to our efforts to our efforts to be a welcoming, family-friendly congregation, we established a Prayground area at the front of the sanctuary – a play and listening area for young children and their caregivers to relax and feel fully a part of the worship service, rather than stuck at the back of the church or placed in another room.
  

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In 2020 and 2021

• The COVID pandemic hit in March, and we moved to Zoom gatherings for worship, Church Council and committee meetings, social gatherings and pastoral care – and staged our own Christmas Pandemic Play and Easter Pageant via Zoom. We managed to gather safely together at weekly food trucks and at events such as the outdoor ADVENTurous Drive Through.  
  
• In 2021, we moved fully into live-streaming for Sunday morning worship, sharing much of the equipment with Temple Shalom, and making our service available on-line in both live and recorded format. For the first time since the pandemic began, those who were accessing the service from afar could do so when they wanted to, and could hear and see our choir and pianist in the sanctuary and delight in their wonderful music.
  
• We formed an 11-member Equity and Inclusion Team and shortly after the murder of George Floyd began a series of on-line conversations devoted to the theme of Unpacking Racism. We also launched a systematic review (and reworking) of church resources, policies and practices using the Global Diversity, Belonging, Equity and Inclusion Benchmarks, and developed a Shared Covenant, which was shared with Church Council and then the congregation, to help foster our commitment to EI.
  
• We also began work towards establishing a Supervised Ministry Education position for a student candidate for ministry to strengthen our Equity-Inclusion work and Christian Education.
  
• Over the two-year period, contributions to local expenses and Mission & Service dropped, as did Sunday attendance. Finances and a sense of community were also affected by the inability (due to COVID restrictions) to host our regular church-and-community fundraising events such as themed suppers, the annual Garage Sale and our booth at the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival, among a number of activities. 
  
• With the tragic discovery of hundreds of graves at residential school sites across Canada, we reached out to our sister congregation in Oxford House, Manitoba, offering prayers and support and a special fundraising effort. In addition, we contributed the proceeds from our regular White Gift Sunday donations, which far surpassed those of previous years.
  
• Temple Shalom and Westminster together established a vegetable garden next to the synagogue sanctuary to provide food for students in need at Wilfrid Laurier University.
  
• Also working with the Temple, we created a garden now named the ‘Fedge’ to support plants natural to our area, with an opening ceremony led by local Indigenous leader Clarence Cachagee.
  
• In a variety of ways, we provided on-going community support for affordable housing, as well as  efforts to combat homelessness, support for local Muslim groups subjected to Islamophobia, and efforts to combat racism and anti-Semitism.
  

In 2022 and 2023

• We were approved as a Supervised Ministry Education site, and, with profound gratitude for supporting grants from several organizations, in 2022 we were able to hire Rebecca Whiting as a designated lay minister candidate and student (DLM).
  
• Rebecca has helped Westminster strengthen and expand our ministry of equity, diversity and inclusion, and has helped us transform Sunday School into a new, energized and re-branded Creation and Connection Time.
  

• We remain strongly committed to our relationship with Temple Shalom and our life as an Affirming congregation.
  
• ​We continue our support for the Vernon Grieves Church in Oxford House, and the Angel Tree program for Prison Fellowship Canada.
  
• We continue our Prayer Shawl Ministry, offering hand-knitted shawls, blankets and scarves to new members and those needing support, as well as to refugees and most especially, the homeless. In 2022, we provided 60 shawls and blankets to A Better Tent City, plus 20 to Afghan refugees, and in 2023 we provided 45 shawls and blankets to the homeless at the Tiny Homes community for the homeless.
  
• Together with Temple Shalom, we offered strong public support for a proposed Affordable Housing Project on land next to the Cedars, a project that initially was strongly opposed by residents in the neighbourhood. We reached out with suggestions to help bridge the gap between the developers and regional planners and the local residents. Many of our suggestions – some significant – were accepted by Waterloo Region and the developer, resulting in a dramatic change in public attitudes towards the project – from almost 100% opposition to 90% approval. We hope to offer continuing support for this project once construction is complete and the residents move in.
  
• We also sponsored several fundraising activities and active involvement in the transformation of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church into St. Mark’s Place, providing 43 quality, supportive housing units for the chronically homeless. 
  
• Over a number of years, we have also been involved with the Joint Waterloo United churches in such activities as Affirming events, Orange Shirt Day and a joint Indigenous service, as well as participation in a Crow Shield Lodge event. We also work together on a joint Youth program and a number of shared worship services during the calendar year.  
  
• We have learned (and are still learning) how much is involved in being truly accessible—such as adding a full-script bulletin for those with hearing loss, arranging rides for those who would otherwise struggle with public transit, adding caffeine-free and gluten-free items to our social offerings, and expanding our accessibility options such as repairing our hearing devices and, thanks to a community-based grant, purchasing a Braille printer, all of which enables our blind and hearing-impaired members to be more fully engaged in church activities and the worship service (including leading the scripture reading via Braille!).
  

The challenges of late 2023 and early 2024

• As 2023 unfolded, we (like many churches) began to feel more acutely the effects of the pandemic and post-pandemic challenges of reduced attendance, fewer volunteers, and the dual impact of continuing inflation and less operating revenue. 
  
• At the annual meeting in March 2023, Church Council called for the establishment of an Ad Hoc Vision Committee to investigate three challenges:  
  
  • Attendance and Membership
    
  • Volunteer Capacity 
    
  • Financial Outlook
    
• The Ad Hoc committee was asked to explore future directions for Westminster and recommend immediate, mid-term and longer- term solutions. The six-member team began meeting in May, and over the late spring, summer and fall, held in-depth interviews with 30 congregation members and staff. 
  
• The report of the Ad Hoc Vision Committee was released in November 2023, offering a detailed analysis of Westminster’s strengths and challenges, and a broad range of recommendations.
  
• During this same time period, Church Council and then the congregation learned that, without significant budget cuts and additional revenue, Westminster would run out of sufficient operating funds by June 2024.
• In December 2023 we launched a Stewardship campaign for 2024 as well as a one-time Hope and Opportunity campaign to raise an additional $45,000. Our goal, with the two campaigns, was to enable Westminster to continue operating through 2024, to give us time to determine major budget cuts and to work on immediate, medium-term and long-term options to chart our way to a viable, vibrant future.
  

The good news of 2024

• The December/January fundraising campaigns were an incredible success! Our Stewardship campaign produced a net gain of $8,000 over last year’s local contributions, and the Hope and Opportunity campaign brought in an additional $47,000! 
  
• We have established four task forces – Financial Options, Alliance Options, Priorities Options and Property Options – to examine our situation and recommend action, to chart our way forward. 
  
• We also have a Fundraising Group planning a number of events such as a Gospel/Bluegrass concert and a GST (Goods, Services, and Talents) fundraiser.
  
• We are hard at work on pursuing immediate, medium and long-term options to move forward towards a viable, vibrant future. 
  

In addition:

• Over the winter of 2023-24, we launched the Equity, Diversity and Belonging Lending Library, offering fiction and non-fiction children’s and adult books in five subject areas: 
  

- Abilities/Disabilities/Accessibility 
- Gender Identity and LGBTQ2SPlus Issues 
- Black History and Current Issues
- Indigenous History and Current Issues
- Combating Hatred and Fostering Love

• In March 2024 we celebrated the official opening of St. Mark’s Place, offering quality housing for the chronically homeless. In addition to providing food and fundraising support, we gave prayer shawls and lap blankets to each of the residents. The sanctuary of St. Mark’s has become a vibrant welcome centre and community hall, where there is a plaque in honour of a beloved member of Westminster who devoted much of her life to eradicating homelessness. 
  
• We continue our work with the other Waterloo United churches on youth programs, indigenous and LGBTQ2S+ issues, confirmation and shared services.
  
• Our relationship with Temple Shalom remains strong as we work together in our respective faith journeys to create a new chapter as partners at the Cedars Worship Centre. ​
  

​Our ministry going forward

• The people of Westminster (our congregation and our ministerial, music and office staff) continue to have enormous love and enthusiasm for this, our church. We’re an informal and  supportive congregation that strives to live out the Gospel message day by day. We’re also fully accessible, with no stairs to or inside our main building and a fully accessible washroom. We continue to dare to dream – and reach out to help make good things happen. 
  
• With hope, faith, enthusiasm and hard work, we seek to be faithful to God and to help bring love, kindness and hope to the world around us. It’s who we are and what we do.
  

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Ministers who have served us

From the beginning, Westminster has been blessed with a number of talented, dedicated ministers who have enriched our faith life and helped our congregation flourish. They are:
​Reverend Rupert Evans – 1988-89
Reverend Paul Ellingham – 1989-91
Reverend Gary Boratto – 1991-2004
Reverend Judith Evenden – 2005-2006
Reverend Mary Savage – 2006-18
Reverend Meg Runhardt –2018-19
Reverend Andrea Allan – 2019-25

In addition, we have been enriched by the support and many gifts of members of the congregation who also served as associate ministers over many years: Rev. Jack Patterson, Rev. William Klassen, Rev. John Lougheed and Rev. Joan Tuchlinsky.