Affirm United / S’affirmer Ensemble eNewsletter January 27th, 2021
eNewsletter – October 27, 2020
Draft Minutes AGM July 2019 at Hillhurst
Please find below the draft minutes of the AUSE Annual General Meeting held on July 28, 2019 at Hillhurst United Church in Calgary. Please review for discussion our our Annual General Meeting this Saturday July 25th, 2020 virtually via Zoom. Check your emails for meeting Zoom links.
2019-AUSE-AGM-MinuteseNewsletter Friday July 17th, 2020
Here is our newest eNewsletter Friday July 17th, 2020 including information about the AGM/Summer Conference, the Annual Report, Nominations Report, Nominee Bios and a special Thank You to Jordan Sullivan and more …
Your-Affirm-United-eNewsletter-_-Annual-Report-_-AGM-Summer-Conference-2020Nominations Report and Nominee Bios
Nominations Report for Affirm United/S’affirmer Ensemble (AUSE) Annual General Meeting – July 25, 2020
Presented by: Cindy Bourgeois and Linda Hutchinson, Nominations Committee
Affirm United/S’affirmer Ensemble’s By-laws giving details of Board (AUSE Council) Structure and Election of Directors is found at:
http://affirmunited.ause.ca/wp-content/pdf/AUSEbylaws.pdf
Positions for Co-Chair and Members at Large were advertised via social media, the Affirm United/S’affirmer website, and personal contact. Many thanks to Julian Munro, Council Member, and Jordan Sullivan, GCO staff support, for doing the advertising and collection of data from nominees. Thank you, also, to Michele Petick, Communications Coordinator for AUSE, for composing the short bios for all nominees which are attached to this report.
The slate of Directors for the Board (AUSE Council Members) is listed below. Continuing Council members are shown in lower case format and nominees shown in UPPER CASE FORMAT. According to the By-laws, one term of office is three years and the council should be retiring four members each year. Terms of office are shown in the chart of Council members and nominees.
AU/SE Annual Report 2019
July 10th, 2020 | eNewsletter AGM & Summer Conference 2020
Watch your in box for the latest eNewsletter from AU/SE!
Your-Affirm-United-eNewsletter-_-AGM-Summer-Conference-2020https://mailchi.mp/44617813c1a5/your-affirm-united-enewsletter-4232050
Important news: 2020 increase in membership fees
(Article également disponsible en français)
Dear friends and members in the Affirming movement: We have important news related to membership fees. At the 2019 AGM in Calgary, members present voted to make changes to the institutional and individual membership fees for the first time in over 20 years. A print mailing is going out to all current members, and to the entire national list via our e-newsletter. In the attachments below you will find:
- Current context: a brief overview
- How the membership fee increase works: an explanation of the new institutional/group/individual/household membership fees
- What your membership fees have been supporting, 2015-2019
- What your increased membership fees will allow us to do over time: the beginnings of a vision of what extra funding could accomplish
- Contact information
Please share this letter and the accompanying background information widely in your ministry, especially with governing, finance, Affirming, and program or justice-related bodies. Please take time to read the entire letter, not only the summary. This is an important change for AUSE and our members, and we have tried to explain both the reasons and the process as fully as we can.
Documents:
Cover letter: membership increase for 2020 (December 2019, PDF)
Background to the AUSE membership increase, 2020 (December 2019, PDF)
The AUSE Council thanks you for the safer sacred space you and your ministry continue to create. Thank you for all you as supporters and members have offered this growing movement of trans, non-binary, Two Spirit, intersex, asexual, pansexual, bi, lesbian, gay people and communities—and our cisgender and heterosexual allies. You are the reason for our name: ensemble (together) and united.
FREE United Church worship and education resources for our Affirming journeys
Affirm United/ S’affirmer Ensemble is a grassroots network that relies on many partnerships in its core work of advocating for and supporting safer sacred spaces. Our family tree includes communities of many different paths and traditions; our roots are mostly United Church. We welcome the solidarity and support shown by the United Church’s General Council office as together we’ve widened the range of resources that support the discernment, practice, and prayer in which any Affirming journey is grounded. Read on for some new and renewed resources. Thank you for your gifts to the Mission and Service fund, which made these resources possible.
Relaunch! Celebrating Gender Diversity Toolkit
This excellent and widely used resource has been completely updated and is (still) completely free. It’s essential, even life-saving, that our sacred spaces celebrate the gifts trans, non-binary, genderqueer, and Two Spirit people bring to our faith and community life. This comprehensive toolkit gives you many, many practical avenues for change in your ministry. Please download your copy, whether you’re Affirming, on the journey, or not there yet. There is always something positive we can do. Looking for yet more resources? See the entire range of options.
The Affirming Journey: Mandate magazine
This special issue, from Spring 2018, focuses on LGBTQI+ and Two-Spirit justice. Inside you’ll find articles on why the United Church’s Affirming journey has only just begun; intersectionality; chronicling the impact of 1988; a timeline of LGBTIQ2S+ justice in the United Church; a glossary of key terms and concepts; as well as worship resources, a Bible study, workshops, youth programing, and more—all moving toward affirming, healing, and renewal for all.
United Church Resource Distribution (UCRD) has graciously provided us with a complimentary special digitalized issue of Mandate’s “The Affirming Journey” from Spring 2018. To request your copy, please email jsullivan@united-church.ca or communications@ause.ca. An email will be sent to you with a link to where you can view and/or download this special issue.
Video: Two Spirit powwow and the Healing Fund, plus many other videos
In the spring of 2018, Indigenous and community groups in Saskatoon held a Two Spirit powwow. One of the first of its kind, and possibly the first in Canada, it was deeply important circle of spirit and prayer. The United Church was honoured to support this work through the Healing Fund. Mission and Service offers us this 3 minute video on the powwow and its importance. Please share during worship and/ or community times in your ministry, adding this resource to AUSE’s 2019 PIE Day video and to many videos from Affirming ministries.
PIE Day 2020 and Pride Sunday 2020
On March 14 Affirm United/ S’affirmer Ensemble will once again offer resources to help you have fun with pie and with PIE: how to offer a Public, Intentional, and Explicit welcome to people with diverse genders and sexualities. Watch www.pieday.ca The United Church will be part of promoting this second annual day of serious fun, serious dessert, and serious discernment and commitment. And on Sunday June 7 the church is invited to again celebrate Pride Sunday. Mark your 2020 calendars!