Maureen Ellison DLM
I was very excited when I learned that I was coming to minister at Grace United Church. And that excitement has continued through my subsequent time here in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Imagine a church where every Sunday one can expect a choir of eighteen members. No one is surprised when I step away from the pulpit and just have to join them in a choral anthem!
Coming from Bloomfield United in Prince Edward County, an agrarian area which enjoys a tourist-based element and the arrival of Toronto retirees, I fully appreciated many of our town's issues, and the needs and stresses faced by residents and congregations in the region.
I believe that we are all called to ministry in some way as we share our time and talents. Grace United is an active congregation and I am pleased to be part of it. The Festival Market, the Christmas Market, and a number of Community Lunches and Dinners bring the congregation together with each other and the community. And they have helped me to get to know everyone better - as they get to know each other better!
All churches reflect our aging population and Grace United is no exception. However, as they say, 'sixty is the new fifty', and we have an amazing group for which I am very happy to be able to provide ministerial support and care. I love leading worship and my sermons are biblically based but relate to our current time and context.
And as new residents come to Niagara-on-the-Lake, a number of them continue their church affiliation with our Church here at Grace United. You will be warmly welcomed and made to feel at home when you walk through the doors. As I said initially, this is a very exciting place to be!
Grace United Church is blessed with a large choir, well beyond what one would expect from a church of our size. That's in part because we are blessed with an enthusiastic and dynamic Music Director, Esther Giesbrecht.
Esther and her family are all musically gifted, and her adult children all are involved in music at their home churches. And as well as her devotion to Grace, Esther also leads the Evergreen Singers, a secular choir drawn from the Niagara area.
We at Grace are proud of our Music Director, Esther (and her husband, Frank, who sings in the choir!), and we all look forward to the delight of hearing the Choir every Sunday. Anyone who joins us for a Sunday service will quickly understand our enthusiasm!