Rev. David Chisling B.A., B.Ed., M.Div.
Community Ministries; PO Box 20022,
Newcastle, Ontario, L1B 1M3


Community Ministries of All Seasons Church operates within a conservative farming area of Clarington. As a minister working in a wider community church I assist people. Sunday worship is not part of the mandate as I visit homes, counsel in local coffee-shop conversations, and a kind of street ministry. Three years ago we started a program to help youth offenders and their families.  2008 was a good year in this small region of Ontario.  Our “Been There” program for youth at risk expanded to include youth who had been expelled or suspended from school.  This project has been identified as unique in Canada and is gaining support throughout the region.

FORMAL WORSHIP:

As a former United Church Minister I now give my time to chaplaincy work.I do not lead formal worship as we have chosen to not incur the expense of a building as we do not need that in our active ministry. Individuals who seek worship attend other denominational venues.

COUNSELING ACTIVTIES:

The ministry includes responding to the needs of this region when requested to participate in weddings, baptisms and funerals.  It is important this report notes that most of the people who call upon me to help them have little or no formal church experience yet want Christian rites and services. This is the challenge of the work in this area but identifies the very need for my work.

SMALL GROUP WORK: 

Before every baptism, wedding, funeral and Holy Communion I gather those involved and conduct formal/ informal discussion/ instruction. What follows is the individual or family interpretation and expectation of the service. These meetings are held within the community or at a private home of the family. We offer freedom of expression – wine or juice for communion, sprinkling of water or immersion baptism.

PASTORAL CARE ACTIVITIES:

I do not need to be registered at the local hospital as I do not need a parking permit. I visit in the emergency room when required and with my clerics I am welcome at all hours in the Lakeridge Health community. During the past three years I visited Fosterbrook Care facility and have done Sunday services for their residents. I do weddings for All Sean Weddings and for members of my community here from the two church communities I worked with before All Seasons. I do funerals at 4 local funeral homes and have been asked to attend pastorally in Toronto for people who have moved from here. I am asked by Ontario Baptisms to preside at this sacrament. I also respond to former members needs and assist then with at home baptisms.

PERSONAL GROWTH & STUDY: 

Due to the large numbers of delinquent youth in this region I have invested a great deal of time and energy in a project that I call BEEN THERE. I teach gardening to youth offenders and youth at risk. As part of this enterprise I expand my ministry because of the numbers of people I meet. I spoke at the International Institute of Restorative Practice 11th World Congress – 500 delegates from around the world.  We were honoured with an article in the Toronto Star on November 1 2008 called – “A floral approach to justice”.

I am very active in the Restorative Justice movement and serve on the Oshawa Restorative Justice Committee at the Eastview Boys and Girls Club.

I am anxious to get back into AIDS work.  I was very much involved in hospice work and AIDS education when I was a minister in Bermuda 20 years ago when that AIDS pandemic grew all over the world.  I was saddened to learn in February 2009 that reported HIV/AIDS numbers are increasing.

I am very supportive of the Clarington Visual Arts Centre. This charity provides the land where I work the gardens with youth at risk.  I have also been accepted as a volunteer in the Chaplain’s office at Brookside – a provincial center where youth are incarcerated.

I do a number of funerals for the Courtice Funeral Home and the Newcastle Funeral Home. These folks allow a side of my ministry to happen. What a privilidge it is to stand with families during these difficult moments in their lives. What I have learned from them, families and business alike reaches to all the words that describe kindness, hope, respect, praise, honour and most important to me – love.

All Seasons ministry is a challenge and ministers like me live that challenge with our people.

 

Rev. David Chisling B.A., B.Ed., M.Div

 

 

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