We are please to welcome the Rev. Fred Monteith as our Supply Minister. His office start date was Tuesday September 6th. His term with us is for four (4) months with the possibility of an extension.

Fred is well known to our congregation. This is the church he grew up in and was ordained. We are thrilled to have Fred join our staff at First United. Fred brings with him a wealth of experience and expertise to assist us as we move forward and prepare for our new minister.

Welcome Fred!! We are so happy to have you join us.

Joanne MacPhail

Chair M&P

 

SOME WORDS TO BEGIN FROM FRED

Dear Siblings in Christ,

Grace and peace to you as we enter this time of shared ministry together. Thank you for inviting me to share in ministry with you at First United in this liminal time.

I want to especially thank Sheena, Kathleen, Jay, and Craig, for their warm welcome and making this first week at First a good time of beginning. What a gifted staff you have, and I am blessed to share in this work with them.

As you will have heard, I did grow up in this congregation and I was a candidate for ministry from First. That was more than thirty years ago. If you think that I should know you, please remind me by sharing your name when we first encounter one another. For those of you whom I have not met I share a bit about who I am.

My partner Pat and I live in Baden. We worship, when I am not serving a congregation, at Parkminster in Waterloo, where Pat is a member. We have five grandchildren, three who live in Burlington and two who live in Berlin, Germany. Pat and I love to travel in our trailer.

I have served in ministry for thirty plus years. Fifteen years in congregations in Ontario and Quebec and fifteen years as part of the Hamilton Conference staff team. Since retiring from the Conference in 2013 I have served in several supply positions across Hamilton Conference and Western Waterways Regional Council, including a year and a half of Sunday Supply at Grand River United Church in Ohswekan on the territory of Six Nations of the Grand River. I have also been engaged in several pieces of contract work for both the Conference and the Regional Council.

I am a facilitator through the Centre of Courage and Renewal. The Centre’s work involves facilitating Circles of Trust where people are invited to hear the wisdom of their own souls, to align their role and their soul. Through that work I am serving as a mentor for a person who is engaged in facilitator preparation. I am also serving as the mentor/elder for an individual who is preparing for ministry by serving Grand River United Church.

Finally, I am a member of the governing board and faculty at Kirkridge Retreat and Study Center in Bangor, Pennsylvania.

I look forward to sharing in ministry with you as you search for a new full-time minister. I look forward to the exciting new initiative which Lee Willngham has developed with Martin Luther University College. I look forward to getting to know you better.

May the Holy One bless our time together.

Yours in Christ,

Fred