About Us: Our Vision With God's Help: We free people to build programs, launch and staff new ones We meet the social, educational and spiritual needs of our congregation. We work in care homes, hospitals and with lonely seniors. We engage qualified persons for leadership positions in the congregation. We develop our ministries of music and children. We share our work and faith with the larger community. Creating a Strategic Plan Through our Joint Needs Assessment Committee (JNAC) visioning meetings, and a group of visionaries, we are currently creating a strategic plan. This plan will help us name our gifts and strengths as well as a strategy to live out God's call to our church community. Ministry We believe that God calls everyone to use their gifts and skills. It is common to see people contributing: helping lead senior services at care homes; hosting Happy Times - an afternoon of food and entertainment for seniors; coordinating and leading children's and youth programs; putting on special dinners, and many, many other activities that God calls us to do. Inspiring Contemporary Worship The Worship, Youth and Music Ministries work together to create a blend of fresh and familiar services. The Alberni Valley United Church (AVUC) congregation is a mix of all ages that especially value and honour children and intentionally include them in worship services by creating several children-led services throughout the year. Tradition and familiar worship rituals are very much part of every Sunday. There are also new and exciting bursts of contemporary worship ideas and music that create a renewed energy for our congregation. Youth Ministry Caring, respectful and dedicated members of our congregation lead our Children's Worship (CW) and Preschool Activities. Our CW coordinator carefully plans lessons that follow the Seasons of the Spirit curriculum. During CW, children under 10 take an active role in our Gathering Ritual and reflection activities that focus on the lessons each week. Young children (aged 1 to 4) are free to join CW for as long as they like. There are Preschool Activity Leaders available to guide them in play in our Nursery. We look forward to a time when the youth in our congregation will have their own activities and leader outside of worship time. Life can become a confusing maze for our youth. Creating a safe place to explore ideas and gather as friends will be a valuable addition to our Youth Ministry. [More info] Music Ministry Our Alberni Valley United Church Choir has two exciting parts, the Adult Choir and the Young Voices Choir. Together we dazzled the audience at the 2006 Festival of Choirs. We offer special pieces (sometimes one song, sometimes an entire collection) throughout the year to sing praises and add meaning to worship. The Young Voices was 10 strong this year. The children add a special flavour to each performance and grow with pride as the adults around them delight in their faith. The Adult Choir has more than 20 members that want to share music and fellowship together. We look forward to new members joining us whenever possible. Click here for more information on our music programs Study/Fellowship Groups Worshiping at the AVUC is very much about praising God, together each Sunday, for the blessings He brings. In addition to that, each season brings new opportunities to meet throughout the week to know God, study new and old philosophy and grow in faith. Along the way, we learn to know each other. Together, we create a faith community of care rather than distance.