Looking for a way to meet more St. Paul’s members and make new friends? Why not give us a try?

The St. Paul’s UCW is a vibrant, active, and multi-age group of women joined in a community of faith. We are supporters, doers, and pray-ers, actively involved in worship, learning and fellowship. We have been an important part of the St. Paul’s community from the very beginning over 50 years ago.

You will find UCW members organizing events at St. Paul’s such as rummage sales (held twice a year), the Poinsettia Tea and Bazaar, and interesting speakers and programs. Our members can be found serving the community through funeral receptions, anniversary and shower parties, making casseroles for sick and shut-ins, knitting afghans for seniors, greeting at the door for Sunday services, and visiting members with flowers and support.

UCW General Meetings are held on the second Tuesday most months except during the summer. Our meetings are open to all and we encourage women to join us at 7:30 p.m. for a short business update, worship, followed by an interesting and engaging program. Over the last few years, we have had speakers about important community agencies and outreach efforts, have taken members on trips to a wide variety of locales through travel documentaries, and have learned how not to become a victim of fraud.

UCW members are organized into smaller “units” that meet each month during the morning, afternoon or evening, for fellowship, worship and programs.

We are actively seeking new members. If you are interested in becoming a member, please contact Gerry Wight for meeting times and locations.

As well as traditional membership, we are also experimenting with a “Virtual Unit” of UCW for the women of St. Paul’s who may not be able to attend meetings or join a unit, but who still wish to receive notices about meetings and events, and offer their help with a variety of tasks organized by the members. If you are interested in this new venture, please send your e-mail address to Gerry Wight.

AOTS Men's Club

St. Paul's AOTS Men's Club is a group that plans and conducts special events for the enjoyment of the congregation and also provides assistance to other groups as needed for their functions. Any profit from our events will be distributed to causes such as Lex Rutherford's work of finding water for small family farms in Kenya, Wesley Urban Ministries, Kerr Street Ministries, World Vision, the National AOTS and to St. Paul's for special projects or for use by the Property Committee.

Book Club

Do you like to read? Would you like to meet with others and casually discuss a book you have read in common? If so, then please come and join us!

The St. Paul’s Book Club meets on the first Thursday of every month. You may join us at either 1:30 in the afternoon or 7:30 in the evening. If you have finished reading the book we ask for a $1 donation. If you didn’t get the book done, we ask for a $2 donation. All the money goes to the St. Paul’s Library.

Recommended Summer Reading of St. Paul’s book Club Reading

Long Range Planning

The Long Range Planning mandate is to examine every aspect of life at St. Paul’s and make recommendations to the Unified Board for the future, to ensure a healthy congregation. In pursuit of its objectives, the Long Range Planning Committee works through the Unified Board, its committees and the congregation, designing strategies and stimulating and encouraging implementation by appropriate groups. Within this context some completion goals may be set by the committee. The Chair submits a Long Range Planning report to the Annual Report. This committee functions best with a member of the clergy as an integral part of the group.

Over the past ten years, the Long Range Planning Committee has undertaken several major projects. As a rule, this group acts as a “spark plug” to initiate the implementation of ideas and often involves the participation of other members of the congregation. This committee has been closely involved with such projects as:

1. …the development of a document called the “Property Document” which is an effort to put funds and gifts to St. Paul’s under the purview of the Property Committee and the Unified Board.

2. …a series of “Faith Journeys” that were scheduled over a period of time; these were explorations of religious traditions other than our own. Visited congregations included a Hindu temple, a Muslim mosque, a Jewish synagogue and a Buddhist sanctuary, all of which are located in or close to Oakville. We were also visited by members of an Oakville Bahá’i community.

3. …the writing and editing of a history of St. Paul’s United Church as a 50th Anniversary Project in 2006. This story was a two year project, recorded by the people of St. Paul’s and has proved to be a book treasured by present and past members of the congregation.

4. …the organization of a Farewell Party for a minister and his wife who had been part of life at St. Paul’s over a period of nine years. All of the various groups at St. Paul’s played a role in this good-bye event.

5. …the development in 2009 of a “Duty of Care” program for St. Paul’s United Church. The aim of this effort is to ensure the safety of children, youth and other vulnerable persons who are associated with activities at St. Paul’s United Church.

The Long Range Planning Committee is ever open to ideas that enhance the life of the community that is St. Paul’s United Church, Oakville and the members of this committee are always ready to welcome new people to the group and new initiatives to the ongoing agenda.

Submitted by
Janet Bollinger
Chair LRP, May 2009

Singles’ Fellowship

This group meets in the Friendship Room at 7:30 p.m. on the fourth Friday of each month, from September to June. We have approximately 23 members, mostly from our congregation but from other local churches as well.
Some of our meetings take place away from the church property. Recent outings included a visit to the Burlington Art and Cultural Centre followed by a lakeside walk and dinner at a local restaurant, and a tour of the Halton Regional Museum, followed by dinner.
At Christmas, we celebrate with a gathering at the church, which offers appetizers and a pot luck dinner, a gift exchange around the tree, followed by Christmas readings and the singing of carols.
The wind-up in June takes the form of an outdoor barbeque or ‘pot luck’ at members' homes.
We are a non-profit group but support the work of St. Paul's as well as local charities. We invite all singles to join our friendly,

Bridge

The St. Paul's Bridge Club is a group of recreational Contract Bridge players of all skill levels. We also have a group of enthusiastic spares who play when regular members cannot attend. We meet in members' homes once a month, for an evening of Bridge (16 hands). This is followed by friendly conversation along with dessert and beverages, supplied by the hosts. For information about joining us, call Diane or Andre Wolder at 905-825-4155.

Badminton

Our badminton club would welcome more players, both young and not so young. We have three excellent courts in St. Paul’s gymnasium and some racquets have been donated for club use. Bring a friend or two and join us on Thursday nights at 7:30 p.m. for fun, exercise and badminton!

Bowling

A group of us meets each Wednesday night over at Hopedale Bowl. We call ourselves The St. Paul’s Bowling League. Actually, we are made up, not only by members of the church, but spouses and friends have also joined our teams. We average about 27 bowlers a week. Some of us are good bowlers and others just come out for a good time. Before Christmas, each year, we enjoy a festive buffet as we bowl the evening away. Bowling starts in September, and we always end our season in May with a bowling banquet and awards ceremony at a local restaurant.

For more information about The St. Paul’s Bowling League, contact Bev Holmes at 905-845-2934.