"Then he poured water

into a basin

and began to wash

the disciples’ feet

and to wipe them

with the towel

that was tied around him.”

(John 13:5)

Jesus provides his followers with a model for Christian service when he takes the position of a servant. The word for service in Greek is “diakonia”.

Our English word “ministry” comes from the Latin word for “service”. A critical mark of Christian communal living is a deep commitment to serving Christ by serving those in need of compassion and care.

This ministry of service takes shape in a variety of ways in University Hill Congregation.

We have a ministry to one another ...

Our Pastoral Care Ministry works diligently to reach out to those in our number who are aching, ill, bereaved, alone or troubled. Visits, encouragement, prayer, conversation and supportive friendship are the work of the whole congregation, with co-ordination from the Pastoral Care Ministry. From the time that newborns arrive until the time when an elder dies we strive to serve one another in love as Christ commands.

Each year our Holy Week services include worship on the evening of Maundy Thursday (the day before Good Friday). On this annual occasion we remember Jesus' washing of his disciples' feet and his command that his followers do the same for one another. This humble and humbling act of mutual service reminds us that diakonia begins in simply caring for one another.

We are dispersed to serve throughout the city ...

We carry out our ministries of service to God and neighbour in a wide range of households, neighbourhoods, schools and workplaces. Though we are not a large congregation we are scattered like salt throughout a myriad of locations each week. We include homemakers, students, teachers, lawyers, business people, sales people, researchers, nurses and more along with those whose ministry is taken up in retirement or unemployment.

The ministries that are undertaken by those who make up University Hill Congregation vary widely. A mother or father strives to teach a child the ways of Christ's love. A grown child seeks to be reconciled with a sibling or a parent. A researcher on the campus searches for a cure for disease. An ethicist meets with doctors, nurses, patients and families to resolve moral dilemmas. A co-worker wonders how to support a colleague who is troubled, while striving to correct an unjust policy of the company. Students ponder the ways in which their studies do - or do not - reflect a deep calling from God - the place where our deep joy meets the world's deep need. And this is just a tiny sampling of the ways in which the our daily lives provide the location for the ministry of the congregation in the world. Our life together provides support and encouragement for these varied ministries.

We share in ministries together ...

An ongoing concern of the congregation is fostering a lively Campus Ministry at UBC. We are currently working in partnership with the Vancouver-Burrard Presbytery and the BC Conference of the United Church of Canada in seeking a Campus Minister to work with us in ministry on the UBC Campus.

Each summer we host a festive dinner with the students, faculty and staff of the Native Ministries Consortium that meets at the Vancouver School of Theology. Begun in 1998 as one way of seeking reconciliation with the First Nations of Canada, these annual gatherings are a small but important step on the path of repentance for us.

Each week we bring gifts of food to worship. Our children carry the baskets of food forward to the Table, where it is offered as a gift to God and as a ministry of Jesus. On Monday the food is delivered to the Emergency Food Bank at First United Church Mission in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Once a month some of us stay after worship to make sandwiches that are shared on Monday morning at the Mission. We offer these as small signs of God’s kingdom come, God’s will done.

One of our number, Jan Tollefson, began a ministry in the Dominican Republic as a ministry of University Hill Congregation. Jan is now in Calgary, but we continue to encourage and support her ministry of service. You can learn more about Add Your Light by clicking here.