Friends of Faith Lift

Donors and Alumni of Faith Lift receive a newsletter at least twice a year.

If you would like to become a Friend of Faith Lift just send us an email message

to uccm@ualberta.ca and we will put you on the list.

     Campus Ministry News   June 2013

          Looking ahead…
       Annual Faith Lift Dinner and Silent Auction
       Saturday, November 16, 2013

      Faith Lift Office is moving to SUB - Fall 2013

“An Exercise in Reflection”
by a participant in the Faith Lift Revisioning sessions
January—March 2013
This past winter I was involved with the re-visioning for Faith Lift which was initiated by Chaplain Denise Davis-Taylor and the Advisory Team. For me the re-visioning wasn’t about changing Faith Lift, rather it was an exercise in reflection and being open to changing it if that was required.
Those who participated were from the United Church
community in Edmonton and surrounding area. All in
attendance had various levels of experience with Faith Lift; some even admitted that they didn’t know what it was, but they had come out to learn more. We all shared the common
understanding that Faith Lift is important to the wider United Church community, and our exercise in reflection helped put that importance in perspective.
We started by reflecting on the past. Not necessarily Faith Lift’s past, but our own. We shared personal reflections of an experience when youth or young adult ministry had a significant impact on our lives. While we listened to each other share, we were asked to write down the values that we felt were expressed in each other’s reflection. Once that was complete, we assembled all of our sticky notes and place them on a wall.

Without talking, we organised all of these sticky note values into six groups. From these six groups came the core values of Faith Lift.
1. Open and Inclusive Community
2. Personal and Spiritual Growth
3. Serving Others
4. Leading and Mentoring
5. Life Long Relationships
6. Fun and Fellowship

Keeping the core values of Faith Lift in mind, we imagined ourselves in the future reflecting on past experiences of Faith Lift. This part of the re-visioning really pushed me out of my comfort zone; but in some respects it was the most fun, because I got to use my imagination and make up stories. The neat thing about these made up stories is that these stories could become reality because we were doing this re-visioning. It gave me great hope for the future of Faith Lift.
In small groups we composed what we thought the vision and mission statements should be for Faith Lift. Considerable refining and discussion about what words meant led to the statements above.

The re-visioning was a really important task for the Edmonton and area United Church community to take part in because it demonstrated that they value young adult ministry. I told the Thursday Night dinner group that it was heartening to see these people branch out from their home churches to come together and do personal reflection in order to re-vision Faith Lift. They came out for us and to ensure that Faith Lift will continue to be a positive force in young adult ministry.
Now that Faith Lift has a vision and a mission our next step will be to for us to put them into practice and as the re-visioning showed, we will not walk alone.

Kelsey Earle
Student Chaplain 2012 - 2013
I found the Student Chaplain position this year to be an
extraordinarily fulfilling experience. I learned a tremendous amount about myself, how I work, my strengths and weaknesses, as well as new ways to define my goals and aspirations.
I made some excellent progress on my goal of learning to listen to other people, and being more comfortable with the fact that lots of people need some time in
conversation to digest what has been said, and to think on their response. It was a revelation to me how important it can be to give people that kind of space.
I have picked up some new skills that will enable me to make those kinds of comfortable spaces for people in conversation.
The flexibility of the program and the leadership development opportunities it offers make it an invaluable resource for any student who might choose to take it on.

Your annual support and participation in Faith Lift Campus Ministry makes a difference in the lives of students at the University of Alberta.

Contact Faith Lift
Website : www.ualberta.ca\~uccm
Email: uccm@ualberta.ca
Address: 169b HUB International
Edmonton AB T6G 2E3
Phone: 780 492 4621
Donate Online
Now you can donate on line at the Faith Lift Website
www.ualberta.ca/~uccm
You will go to the St Paul’s PAYPAL site where you can pay by credit card or through paypal. Be sure to designate your donation to Faith Lift Campus Ministry in the final step

Invitation to revsion Faith Lift Januar - March 2012

Faith Lift is Re-visioning November 29, 2012

Friend of Faith Lift:

We invite you to participate in updating the vision for Faith Lift Campus Ministry.

Why Now?

As the United Church, university life and our communities change we need to take the time to determine where we are going. Without a vision to guide us it is easy to get lost. Faith lift has had a vision for the last 12 years. Are we still looking in the right direction? Have the needs of our community changed? Does Faith Lift reflect the hopes and dreams of the University and the United Church of Canada? Does the direction we are taking meet the spiritual and faith needs of our current and future community?

As faith lift moves towards building a strategic plan for the next 5 to 10 years it is important that we have the foundation upon which to direct our growth.

Who?

The more diverse the visioning group is, the richer and stronger the vision
for the future will be. We need YOU: students, alumni, donors, congregation representatives, faculty and staff of post-secondary institutions in Edmonton, and interested outsiders.

How?

We are bringing together people of diverse experiences and perspectives
to identify what we think the best path forward will be for Faith Lift Campus Ministry. It may not be the shortest or easiest way forward but one that we can continue to be proud of in the future. Together we will identify the values that will motivate Faith Lift Campus Ministry: what we want to build Faith Lift for.Then we will envision what it will look like in the future. Finally we will create the vision of where we are going.

When? You are being asked to commit 12 hours of your time. Wednesday, January 16, 6.30 – 9.30 p.m., February 13, 6.30 – 9.30 p.m. and Saturday, March 16, 9.00 – 3.00 p.m.

To Participate

Please respond to Denise Davis Taylor by email or letter or phone no later than January 10, 2013.
uccm@ualberta.ca
phone : 780 492 4621
169b HUB International Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1