At Golden Ears United Church, we celebrate and affirm the wonderful diversity of people created in God’s image and we truly welcome all. We believe that we grow more Christ-like as a community the more diverse we are.
We offer a welcome to you whether you are single, partnered, married, divorced, or widowed. We appreciate people of all ages and stages from babies to elders.
We believe that God created a rainbow spectrum of sexual orientations and gender identities. All are welcome here – cisgender, transgender or two spirited, whether you are straight, lesbian, gay, queer, bisexual, or asexual – and are encouraged to participate fully in the life of the church.
We welcome you regardless of where you came from, or where you now live, no matter your race, ethnicity, skin-colour or national origin, your social location or economic circumstance.
We won’t judge you by the size of your wallet or by what you are wearing, whether you are pierced and tattooed, or if you prefer pearls and a twinset.
We welcome and value the gifts and ministry of people of differing abilities. Wherever you are on your faith journey, you are welcome to walk with us as we walk with Christ and grow in our own faith, opening our doors, minds and hearts to you and each other.
The United Church of Canada is a mainline Christian denomination formed in 1925 from the union of Methodist, Congregationalist, Presbyterian and Union churches. Over the decades since it's inception it has sought to rearticulate the faith for each new generation.
You can read the text of our statements on faith here.
The most recent statement of our faith, The Song of Faith, is quite long and poetic, and so the New Creed (1968) is still used in our worship and life together.
The New Creed
We are not alone,
we live in God’s world.
We believe in God:
who has created and is creating,
who has come in Jesus,
the Word made flesh,
to reconcile and make new,
who works in us and others
by the Spirit.
We trust in God.
We are called to be the Church:
to celebrate God’s presence,
to live with respect in Creation,
to love and serve others,
to seek justice and resist evil,
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
our judge and our hope.
In life, in death, in life beyond death,
God is with us.
We are not alone.
Thanks be to God.
Sacraments
In common with other churches of the reformed tradition, we celebrate the Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion.
Baptism is the way that people enter into the family of faith. Just as Jesus was baptized in the river Jordan by John the Baptizer, we too use water to baptize. We baptize children and infants whose parents make promises on their behalf, and we baptize teens and adults who make a declaration of their faith. If you have already been baptized, we recognize your baptism from another church.
Communion is our celebration together of a simple meal, just as Jesus did with his friends on the night before he died. We use gluten free bread and grape juice so all are able to partake. Anyone who wishes to receive communion is welcome at the table. We usually have communion monthly on the first Sunday, as well as at the high holy days of Easter, Pentecost and Christmas.
Faith Exploration
We regularly provide opportunities for people to explore the Christian faith - either in preparation for confirmation or membership, or to dive deeper into understanding and experiencing their relationship with God. We have offered groups such as Animate: Faith, Animate: Bible and Animate: Practices. We usually have two or three six week long faith exploration groups running throughout the year.