Peter Woods and Nick Gummeson (Field Notes Collective) lead a participatory workshop exploring jazz improvisation as a practice of listening, lament, and faithful resistance. Through music, reflection, and a shortened “Music and Meditation” experience developed at MacKay United Church, participants will encounter improvisation as a model for communal discernment, creativity, and courageous spiritual practice.

Short Bio 

Peter Woods (saxophone) and Nick Gummeson (piano and voice) collaborate as part of the Field Notes Collective, an Ottawa-based musical project rooted in improvisation, storytelling, and community engagement. Their work blends jazz, folk, and hymn traditions and has grown from the ongoing “Music and Meditation” gatherings hosted at MacKay United Church.

Toward 2035 invites everyone in the United Church of Canada to join in prayer, listening, and shared reflection on how God is calling us into the future. It asks us to picture our church in 10 years. It is communities of faith that are resilient, inspired, diverse, and contextual. It is a church present in local neighbourhoods and connected in regional, national and global relationships.

This workshop examines the theological themes and convictions that underpin and shape Toward 2035. What does it say and assume about the Holy Spirit? About God’s future? About the nature of the church? Together, we’ll explore  how Toward 2035’s theology can strengthen, challenge and encourage us to live faithfully and hopefully within our particular contexts.

(You can find out about Toward 2035 here: united-church.ca/toward2035)

Greg Smith-Young (he/him) is a Growth Animator with the United Church of Canada. He works alongside  existing and newly-forming communities of faith in southwest Ontario, helping them strengthen their invitation to their neighbours to explore and share in the life of Jesus together. Greg also supports them as they hear Jesus’ invitation to work alongside him in their neighbourhoods. Previously, Greg served with Hope Springs UC in Elora, ON for 19 years and with Grace UC in Hornepayne (north of Lake Superior) for 8 years. Greg lives in Elora with his spouse, Barb. Their 2 young-adult children live in Peterborough and Banff.

The development of functional items like clothing, bedcovers and rugs occurred in tandem with a desire for beauty and meaning. This impulse carries with it a divine core that binds us to the Creator of all things. Both physical and spiritual wellbeing are deeply connected to my artistic practice.

Rev. Dr. Christine Johnson (retired) served pastoral charges in Ontario and Quebec for twenty-seven years. She also maintained an art practice focusing on fibre arts for over 35 years.

Visitors almost always check out our websites before they walk through the Sanctuary doors. What draws them in? What stops them from dropping by? Can reimagining your website have an impact on attendance? Enthusiasm? Ministry? In this workshop we’ll talk about pictures, text and copyright, templates to use, and sustainable ways to keep the information current. Bring samples from your own website, or sample some of mine, and let’s explore why they work and how to make them even more engaging.

Rev. Stephen Fetter recently retired from ministry at Forest Hill United Church in Toronto, and from the General Council Office where he created and maintained the United in Learning program. Juggling both jobs meant he needed to learn how to communicate with digital tools effectively and efficiently, and automate updates in ways that didn’t take over the rest of his life!