Links

The World Wide Web has many valuable resources for the Christian Community. The following links are some you might find useful.

United Church of Canada

• The main site for The United Church of Canada. has a vast collection of information. Whether you are interested in history, theology, social action, worship ideas, ideas for family devotions and faith formation for children, or almost anything else related to church life, you will find it here. It is changing constantly.
• The United Church Mission and Service Fund (M&S) is the fund through which we support the national church, and the many services the church provides, at home and throughout the world. Information about this fund can be found by clicking here.
• Stay connected with your church throught the On-line Communities. The United Church of Canada is happy to provide a way for you to communicate with others in your Church, your community, and around the world. Share your comments, discuss with others, post events, and learn about topics of current interest in the church. There are many communities available, with topics raning from justice issues, to Mission and Service and Stewardship, to Sunday School Teaching.
• Another useful portion of the United Church site is the United Church Resource Distribution (UCRD) site. This site includes a catalog of many worship and other resources that can be ordered, and information about how to order, either on- or off-line.
• St. Stephen's is a member of Halton Presbytery, a subdivision of the Church that incorporates Mississauga, Oakville and Burlington, and areas to the north. The web site provides information about the meetings and plans of the Presbytery, and access to the various committees within it. It also has links to the web sites of other churches within our Presbytery.
• Halton Presbytery, in turn, is part of Hamilton Conference. The conference incorporates the area from the Niagara Peninsula and the North Shore of Lake Erie, up through the Kitchener/Waterloo area, and north to the Bruce Peninsula - about 60,000 members in 250 pastoral charges. This web site provides information about the activities of the Conference.
• The United Church Observer site has further information and discussion about current and other issues dating back to 1997.
• St. Paul's United College is a United Church-sponsored college at the University of Waterloo, which St. Stephen's has supported over the years. Their site provides more information about the college.
• Five Oaks Centre, our United Church Education and Retreat Centre, offers excellent programs and retreats for all ages. The Centre is also pleased to host personal and congregational retreats.
• United Online "A Grass Roots Network For Canada's United and Uniting Church." The web site includes links to many resources, especially ones useful for ministers and leaders.

Outreach Activities

• The Compass is a food bank and counselling service, the joint effort of several local churches, of many different denominations.
• Interim Place is a women's shelter, a short-term crisis centre.
• Our Place (Peel) is a place for disadvantaged and homeless youth.

Other Links

Of course, there are many useful sites not related to our own church. Here are just a few:

• Emmanuel College, part of Victoria College, University of Toronto, provides training for many of our ministers. It also provides an extensive Continuing Eucation program that may be of interest to anyone seeking deeper understanding of their faith.
• Most Christian denominations in Canada have web sites. Here are a few:
  • The Anglican Church of Canada.
  • The Presbyterian Church in Canada.
  • The Lutheran Church-Canada.
• The United Church, and many other Canadian denominations, are members of the Canadian Council of Churches. The Council is used to co-ordinate responses to Canadian and international issues. This site also has links to many web sites related to the member churches and their work.
• The United Church, along with over 340 other churches in 120 countries, is a members of the World Council of Churches.
• The United Church, along with over 200 other churches in over 100 countries, is also a member of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches.
• The Ontario Multifaith Council is one of North America's largest organizations dedicated to advocacy of spiritual care and the protection of religious rights.
• Looking for a hymn for that upcoming committee meeting? A hymn been floating around your brain all morning, but you can't quite remember the words? Just want to listen to some uplifting sounds for a while? The Cyber Hymnal might give you what you need.
• The Christian Classics Ethereal Library has a large collection of papers and books from throughout the history of Christianity. It also has an electronic hymnary, like the Cyber Hymnal. It is a great site to browse around in, and learn something new about your faith.
• Early Christian Writings is another web site with lots of documents from the early church.
• Over the past few years, the Adult Sunday School at St. Stephen's has studied several works by Prof. Marcus Borg, including "Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time," and "Reading the Bible Again for the First Time: Taking the Bible Seriously but not Literally." The multi-faith site Beliefnet has series of papers by Borg that some may enjoy. More information can be found by typing "Marcus Borg" into a search engine, such as Google.
• The Canadian Center for Progressive Christianity is a site discussing a modern understanding of Christianity in a pluralistic world. This site presents eight points of common understanding of the community, and a program for spiritual growth and understanding built on these points.
• Bible Places provides hiogh quality pictures and other information about many of the places mentioned in the Bible.

More?

We will be extending this list as we find links that look useful. If you know of any that should be here, please pass them on to , or . Also, let us know if any of these links don't seem to be working - web sites have a habit of changing addresses from time to time.