Get Involved

Do you enjoy making music and does music contribute to your worship experience?

At St. Stephen, music is a big part of our worship services and congregational life.  Piano and organ, choirs for old and young, bellringers, a band with vocals, guitar, bass, and drums and vocal and instrumental soloists all contribute to and enrich our church life.

Would you like to contribute but do not know how or where you fit in?
Contact our church musician, the pastor, or church office by email or call (519) 744-2521 and we can help you find a place.

All are welcome!

The more voices that we have at the table, the better we can respond to needs. Our teams and committees are looking for people who are interested in shaping how we engage with the big questions. We firmly believe in God’s grace, that we are loved as we are, and seek to act on it to create a community where everyone feels welcome.

You are loved. You are accepted as you are. Dare to live like this is so.

Please talk with the pastor if you are interested in contributing to any of these following groups.

Worship & Music

Worship is an opportunity to think, to question, and to explore our relationships with God and each other. We see ourselves as wounded, healing, healed, and healers of others. Our community of faith exists to help people feel acceptance, reassurance, love and hope.

We know that people have different needs and that no one event can meet everyone’s needs. Our hope is that by providing different sorts of approaches, over time everyone will find something in worship that speaks to them.

The Worship and Music Team supports the work of the pastor and the church musician as they craft worship. We meet every couple of months and welcome diversity at the table. Please contact the pastor, or church office, if you are interested in being part of the team that helps shape our worship.

Learning

Learning is about engaging with questions, rather than simply providing answers. How do you know what is right? What is important? How can we show love?

We have four areas where we focus our learning. Sunday school happens at the same time as worship and is for young children 

Recently we held discussions that were called After Worship @ St. Stephen. These took place at lunch time on a series of Sundays. We had presenters from different faith communities which gave us an opportunity to ask questions and learn from people who come from a different perspective than our own. We are exploring a new series to look at the experiences of people who feel marginalized in society.

If you are interested in being a part of the Learning and Youth Committee and helping to define how we expand our horizons please talk with the pastor.

Outreach

Past Special Initiatives include:

• Winter Project:  Throughout the winter, warm knitted hats, mittens, scarves, and socks are collected and donated to various local charities for distribution throughout the community. 
• Potato Blitz: In the month of February, we collect bags of potatoes that are donated to the House of Friendship Potato Blitz.  Many bags of potatoes and monetary donations have been given to the House of Friendship. 
• CLWR BALING DAYS:   Volunteers from St. Stephen sort and pack items to be shipped overseas in shipping containers.  In the past St. Stephen has donated sundresses, baby layette bundles, and tied quilts made by our Tuesday Quilting Group. 
• Food Bank of Waterloo Region: Sorting food items. This is a regular activity for our congregation and some volunteers go many times throughout the year. 
• Mill-Courtland Community Centre: ‘Back to school’ items and Healthy Snacks are collected through the summer months. One year we collected 1,390 different items from healthy snacks, to school supplies to help the children start school with all they need.  
• Thanksgiving Food Drive: During October food items were collected to support the Food bank of Waterloo. 
• Saturday Suppers at Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church: On the Fourth Saturday of each month, from January to April and again in November and December, volunteers from St. Stephen help at the Saturday Suppers.

The Outreach Committee has also actively participated in the Mill-Courtland Neighbourhood Networking Group since its founding meeting in November 2018. The purpose of the group is to develop on-going connections and collaboration between the Mill-Courtland Community Centre, its affiliated neighbourhood groups, and local schools, faith communities, and social service agencies.  Our goal is to work together to serve the neighbourhood, and to maximize the use of resources.

If you are interested in being part of this team, please contact the church office or the Pastor.

Property

This committee sees to the maintenance and protection of the property. Snow shovelling, mowing, gardening and general maintenance are done on a volunteer basis by members of the congregation.  We are always happy for people to help with this work. 

If you are interested in being part of this team, please contact the committee chair, church office, or the Pastor.

Community Life Team

• hospitality

NOUN

1. the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers.”St. Stephen is renowned for its hospitality”
   synonyms:

friendliness · hospitableness ·

Source: Oxford Dictionaries

If you are interested in helping us do just that, please contact the committee chair, the church office, or the Pastor.

How do we respond to God’s call to serve and love our neighbours?

We faithfully steward the gifts God has given us.  Stewardship includes our financial resources, but it encompasses so much more. For those who tend the land, that is a form of stewardship. How we use our time, talents and treasures is another way to love God and our neighbours, both inside and outside of the church walls.  Together, we achieve things that we could never do on our own.

Some past events include:

• Senior’s Dinner with a presentation by OneRoof.
• A fundraising effort using bread provided by Cobs Bread.  Voluntary donations are accepted. We have supported both the Food Bank and CLWR Dorian hurricane relief with the proceeds.
• Sausage and Sauerkraut Supper. Approximately 80 people enjoyed a great meal and the presentation by the Food Bank.

If you are interested in being part of this team, please contact this groups’ chair, church office, or the Pastor.

Mutual Ministry

The purpose of this committee is to assist congregations to nurture a healthy and mutual relationship between the ministries of the pastor and the church leadership.

They facilitate intentional evaluations of the pastor based on the church mission, vision, and goals and seek opportunities for growth and renewal.

If you are interested in being part of this group, please contact the church office or the pastor.

The Book and Prayer Group meets Monday morning from 10 a.m. until noon. We have lively discussion about the book we are currently reading and about any topic that comes up! Books are provided from the Kitchener Public Library’s “Book Club in a Bag” program. We end each session with prayer requests.  All are welcome!

The Quilters meet on Tuesday mornings from 9:30 a.m. to noon, from January to June and September to December. During the year, this group sends sundresses, tied quilts, and knitted teddy bears to Canadian Lutheran World Relief. Our primary focus is on making tied quilts, but we also have a small group making smaller quilts to be sold at the annual Cookie and Craft Sale.

The Card Group meets each Tuesday at 12:45 p.m. from September to mid-June.

Join us for an exciting afternoon of Euchre or Solo. There is a voluntary fee of $1 per person and light refreshments are served. If you have any questions, please speak to Larrie Brown or Larry Kennedy or call the church office for more information.

The Evangelical Lutheran Women (E.L.W.) meet many times throughout the year.  Together with the congregation, they support community and world relief projects – as well as each other.  These women often enjoy meals together and host events for the women of the congregation including the popular ‘Friendship Brunch.

Outreach projects have included

• putting together layettes for CLWR
• tying quilts for the quilters to send to CLWR
• collecting $50 in gift cards and a large box of toiletries, hats, gloves, and socks which have been given to support One Roof Youth Services at Christmas
• collecting $190 in Tim Horton’s gift cards for the Grand River Hospital Cancer Unit
• putting together and delivering plates of cookies and poinsettias to seniors and shut-ins at Christmas.

If you are interested in joining our group, please contact our group leader, the church office, or the Pastor.