Parkminster United Church is located at 275 Erb St E in Waterloo, Ontario and is governed by the Western Ontario Waterways Regional Council of the United Church of Canada. We are an affirming congregation and strive to be a welcoming place for people of all ages, colours, abilities, genders, and sexual orientations.
Click the headings below to read more about Parkminster United Church’s mission and values.
Who We Are at Parkminster United Church
Parkminster is a theologically evolving community of faith that:
- Embraces the sacredness of all life and the living earth
- Celebrates the rich heritage of our Christian faith
- Takes seriously the spiritual search as believers, questioners, and questioning believers
- Celebrates music as a key expression of the Spirit
- Nurtures children and youth in their spiritual journey
- Is welcoming, open, inclusive
- Respects our diversity as we seek unity in the Spirit
- Has a wealth of gifts, talents, and passions
- Practices our spirituality by serving others and reaching out to the community beyond our doors
- Demonstrates a strong sense of fellowship and commitment to caring for each other, and for our world
What God Is Calling Us to Be and Do
God is calling us to be an evolving community of faith inspired to embrace our future as we:
- Live a life of loving influence in the world
- Deepen our commitment to each other
- Nurture our spiritual vitality and growth
Statement of Welcome
In gratitude and with respect we begin by recognizing the First Nations on whose traditional land we make our spiritual home, the Anishnaabe, the Haudenosaunee, and the Chonnonton.
We acknowledge, with regret, that this history has rarely been respectful. We commit to just relationships in the present.
Along with First Nations everywhere, we recognize Earth as our mother upon whose water, air and soil we depend for our lives and our well-being.
In the midst of a climate crisis we acknowledge that, as a species, we have not acted with respect for our precious planet. We commit to learning and practising better stewardship.
Seeking true community, we welcome all who have no church home, need strength, and are seeking deep meaning.
Welcome to those who have doubts or who do not believe. Welcome to those whose faith is sure, and to those who believe, but who are asking large questions.
Welcome to visitors and to familiar friends. Welcome to grandparents, to mothers, fathers, youth and children, couples, and single people.
Welcome to people of all colours, gender identities, abilities, and sexual orientations.
Welcome to each who is seeking an understanding of community and what it means to accompany one another.
As we come together as church, we hold one another in gratitude and pray that we will be strong together, faithful together, and loving together. We seek blessing as we welcome the great gift of spirit in us, through us, and among us.
Statement of Solidarity with the Black Lives Matter Movement
We, the congregation at Parkminster United Church, express our love and support for the Black Lives Matter movement. While we as individuals are at different places on our racial justice journeys, together we commit to deepening our understanding of systemic racism and the roles we play within these systems. Together we commit to learning to work against racist oppression in its many forms.
We believe that all of us are beloved children of God. We also believe that the history of, and present-day reality for, Black people in Canada and the US has made the Black Lives Matter movement a vital tool for realizing Dr. King’s vision of a Beloved Community—one in which poverty, racism, and militarism are replaced with justice, compassion, and radical hospitality.
We honour the connections between Black, Indigenous, and Black Indigenous peoples, who share centuries of being deliberately and disproportionately hurt by white systems of oppression, and who also share centuries of courageous resistance. We honour the struggles of all people of colour in Canada as they engage with systems—and people within those systems—who see whiteness as the default. We honour BLM for its stance that “We work vigorously for freedom and justice for Black people and, by extension, all people,”1 because we believe, along with Dr. King and Maya Angelou, that none of us are free until all of us are free.2,3
1 What We Believe, Black Lives Matter
2 Martin Luther King, Jr., The Negro and The American Dream (January 2, 1961, speech delivered at Municipal Auditorium, Savannah, Georgia.)
3 Maya Angelou, CNN Interview, Aug 28, 2013 (2:22)