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Our mission statement:
With Christ as our Guide, we are called to be an inclusive, progressive faith family to worship God, nurture our community, and serve the wider world.
Lakeshore United Church belongs to the wider United Church of Canada. We are proud to be a part of a national church that strives to be welcoming and inclusive of all who seek to be on a faith journey. If you would like to know more about the United Church of Canada, please check the website; http://www.united-church.ca
With Christ as our Guide, we are called to be an inclusive, progressive faith family to worship God, nurture our community, and serve the wider world.
Lakeshore United Church belongs to the wider United Church of Canada. We are proud to be a part of a national church that strives to be welcoming and inclusive of all who seek to be on a faith journey. If you would like to know more about the United Church of Canada, please check the website; http://www.united-church.ca
Lakeshore United is a church family of seekers and wise ones... some of us are new to the faith or we have been here our whole lives. We recognize that our journeys to faith and in Christian faith are different and varied, but we find unity in following Christ.
We strive to be a welcoming place. We also do our best to support and care for one another. Sunday worship strengthens us for the journey and binds us to one another. Our church school and adult education programs help us to grow and learn. And our outreach and justice work helps us to reach beyond ourselves to touch some of the brokenness of the world near and far.
We are not perfect, but we trust God's call to us and God's faithfulness to us on the journey which helps us keep walking in faith.
Wherever you are on your faith journey, we welcome you to join us!
We strive to be a welcoming place. We also do our best to support and care for one another. Sunday worship strengthens us for the journey and binds us to one another. Our church school and adult education programs help us to grow and learn. And our outreach and justice work helps us to reach beyond ourselves to touch some of the brokenness of the world near and far.
We are not perfect, but we trust God's call to us and God's faithfulness to us on the journey which helps us keep walking in faith.
Wherever you are on your faith journey, we welcome you to join us!
Our Staff Team
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Rev. Harry Disher is our interim minister. He was ordained to United Church ministry in 1977. He served congregations in Nova Scotia, Eastern Ontario, London and Grand Bend, Ontario. In retirement he has been serving as an Intentional Interim Minister in several congregational situations. He is a trained Facilitator for the United Fresh Start program and a trained Spiritual Director. He currently lives in Grand Bend. He is married and enjoys hiking, travel, golf, reading, and creative writing. He is the author of a self-published novel “Clouds Over Okotoks”
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Hayley Linfield is our new Office Administrator. Prior to starting at the church, Hayley worked for 10 years for the Centres for Employment and Learning in various roles: office administration, employment counselling, literacy practitioner, and ESL instructor. Hayley is the mother to two nearly grown boys, Charles and Wes, and caregiver to two demanding but loving dogs. She is also a local author, often writing articles for the local papers, and has published various works of fiction, and she is an active member of the Goderich Laketown Band. Hayley grew up outside of Varna, went to university in Ottawa and lived in Toronto for 10 years, but her roots are in the beautiful town of Goderich.
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Sheila Matthews is our Custodian who cares for the building. Sheila also helps with the LUCK Club and most of the other activities around the church! Sheila is the mother of two children. When she isn't busy tidying and cleaning, organizing or setting up tables, Sheila enjoys camping, and working with children and youth and spending time with her children.
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Dr. Rev. Douglas R. Robinson is our Minister of Music
Doug was baptized in Manotick United Church and became a member of Metropolitan United Church in London, ON. As a consequence of a spiritual awakening, he was drawn into study for the ministry within The Presbyterian Church in Canada, which he served in Hartney/Melita, MB, Alvinston, ON, Thorold, ON, and Lachute, QC.
He met his wife, Linda, while he was a student for ministry at Knox College in Toronto. They now have two children, Jessica and Jonathan, and two granddaughters, Nora and Margot. Although Doug continued his study of theology at the Toronto School of Theology to the point of receiving the ThM and ThD degrees in Old Testament, music has always been an important and sustaining presence in his life. His first lessons in organ happened while he was a student at Knox College; and, wherever he was, he endeavoured to find a suitable instrument to play on and to participate in the choral music of the Church.
At the end of his service as pastoral minister in Lachute, QC, the change in emphasis for him in favour of musical activities developed in earnest. Now, back in London, he has reconnected with music and language studies at Western University and counts himself very fortunate to be able to carry out a ministry of music at Lakeshore United Church in Goderich.
Doug was baptized in Manotick United Church and became a member of Metropolitan United Church in London, ON. As a consequence of a spiritual awakening, he was drawn into study for the ministry within The Presbyterian Church in Canada, which he served in Hartney/Melita, MB, Alvinston, ON, Thorold, ON, and Lachute, QC.
He met his wife, Linda, while he was a student for ministry at Knox College in Toronto. They now have two children, Jessica and Jonathan, and two granddaughters, Nora and Margot. Although Doug continued his study of theology at the Toronto School of Theology to the point of receiving the ThM and ThD degrees in Old Testament, music has always been an important and sustaining presence in his life. His first lessons in organ happened while he was a student at Knox College; and, wherever he was, he endeavoured to find a suitable instrument to play on and to participate in the choral music of the Church.
At the end of his service as pastoral minister in Lachute, QC, the change in emphasis for him in favour of musical activities developed in earnest. Now, back in London, he has reconnected with music and language studies at Western University and counts himself very fortunate to be able to carry out a ministry of music at Lakeshore United Church in Goderich.