Incumbent – Parish of the Lower Ottawa Valley

Parish of Lower Ottawa Valley

WHO WE ARE SEEKING

We are seeking an incumbent who is faithful, collaborative, compassionate, and eager. In particular, this person:

• is passionate about their faith and able to share it through engaging sermons, teaching, and leadership;
• is a skilled listener and compassionate pastor;
• has a deep respect for lay ministry, understanding themselves to be part of a team, working with us to discern our future and guide our ministry;
• is a competent administrator, comfortable with change management and planning
• is creative and will embolden us try new ways of being church
• is interested in developing ministries to reach children, youth, and families
• enjoys working with seniors and is sensitive to their needs is energetic and sociable, with a capacity to build relationships with parishioners as well as individuals and organizations in the broader community
• values ecumenical partnerships and is open to working with other churches.

Our Incumbent will live in the beautiful rectory in Hawkesbury while being present to the other towns and villages in the parish. Experience with and/or interest in rural ministry and life is important.

Although not required, the ability to speak French is a significant asset particularly in Hawkesbury, Calumet, and Grenville. Digital technology skills would also be a great asset.

WHERE WE ARE NOW

Our communities

The Parish of the Lower Ottawa Valley is roughly equidistant from Ottawa, Montreal, and Cornwall and is the easternmost parish of the Diocese of Ottawa. You can drive from one end of our parish to the other in under an hour.

We are comprised of five churches:

(in Ontario)

• St. Michael and All Angels, Maxville
• St John’s, Vankleek Hill
• Holy Trinity, Hawkesbury

(in Quebec)

• St. Matthew’s, Grenville
• Holy Trinity, Calumet

Our region offers great natural beauty and a wealth of year-round outdoor activities. Parks, trails, and rivers provide opportunities for hiking, boating, cross-country skiing, and snowmobiling. In addition, there are golf courses, ski hills, curling clubs, and skating rinks across the parish.

The largest of the communities in our parish is Hawkesbury, with a population of 10,000. This is where the rectory is located and would be home for our Incumbent. Hawkesbury is situated on the Ottawa River at the Quebec/Ontario border. It has a strong bilingual identity and vibrant community life, with excellent educational institutions, comprehensive senior care options, a modern hospital, and recreational and cultural facilities.  Perched atop a wooded hill, Holy Trinity is known as “the Church on the Hill” and stands as a welcoming landmark for the town.

The rectory, adjacent to the church, is an impressive, well-maintained two-story stone home, built in 1875. Upstairs features three spacious bedrooms, a laundry room, and a recently renovated full bathroom. Downstairs provides a half bathroom, a generous office space, a living room, a formal dining room, and a kitchen. Significant upgrades completed in 2022 ensure modern comfort.

The property also includes a convenient attached shed and garage, along with a private fenced garden, perfect for relaxation and reflection. With updated electrical and heating systems (natural gas) and a roof replaced in the last 10 years, the rectory is in good condition.

The other communities in our parish are smaller and each has their own charm.

Vankleek Hill has a population of just under 2,000 people. It is the “Gingerbread Capital of Ontario” due to its distinctive Victorian architecture and is known for its active arts and culture scene. It is home to two wineries, two craft breweries, a number of art galleries, as well as annual festivals and events.

Maxville, with fewer than 1000 residents, is home to the Glengarry Highland Games, the largest highland games in the world, and schools for piping, drumming, and highland dancing. Maxville is home to the Maxville Manor, a beautiful long-term care home.

Grenville and Calumet are quaint, Quebec villages mere minutes from one another and just across the river from Hawkesbury. The churches support the historical anglophone communities in this part of the country as well as welcoming francophone members.

We are a rural parish. Our congregations are all in small towns or villages and, while each congregation is unique, we share a strong sense of being rooted in our communities. Small towns offer a deep sense of place and belonging and, as congregations, we both benefit from and contribute to the culture of support and connection. In every congregation, we offer a warm welcome and are eager to integrate newcomers into the life of our church.

OUR WORSHIP

Our current pattern of worship is to hold two Eucharists each Sunday. In addition, Morning Prayer is led by one of our licensed lay readers a couple of times each month. When there is a fifth Sunday in a month, we gather at one of the churches for a parish-wide service. We use the Book of Alternative Services for services of Holy Eucharist and Morning Prayer. Liturgical, musical, and administrative support is provided by dedicated lay leaders in each congregation. Our congregations range in average Sunday attendance from the single digits to about 30.

BEYOND WORSHIP

In addition to our worship services, our congregations are also involved in a wide variety of outreach, fellowship, and community-building activities. Parish suppers, teas, fundraisers, ecumenical events, and town fairs fill our annual calendar. In addition, we provide financial support to many charitable organizations both in our communities and from across the diocese. All of our communities deal with challenges of food insecurity, poverty, and other social challenges.  We are active in supporting local food banks.

Our congregations also enjoy ongoing support from people who no longer live in the parish but maintain deep family and personal connections to the communities of faith that formed them. Our church buildings are in good to excellent condition. They are historically significant in their communities and beloved by our parishioners, past, present, and remote.   We are responsible for one cemetery in Grenville and share responsibility for two Protestant Cemeteries in Calumet and Maxville.

We are financially stable but are not growing and so are vulnerable to the loss of significant donors. We rely heavily on fundraising, endowments, and rentals to meet our budgets. Sustainability is an ongoing concern, both with regards to our finances and the age and number of our members.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

The Parish of the Lower Ottawa Valley is a relatively new parish configuration and we are still learning what it means to be a unified whole rather than a set of separate points.  Over the past few year, we have laid a strong foundation of collaboration, mutual appreciation, and shared vision. We want to continue the work we have begun to become a strong and cohesive parish while also honouring each congregation. We all value being able to worship regularly in our own churches. We are interested in exploring alternative schedules for our worship services including the possibility of evening services in order to increase the accessibility and range of worship opportunities across the parish.

We have enthusiastic lay leaders engaged in every aspect of parish life, including licensed lay readers, parish communications and administration, outreach, and hospitality. We know we are called to be God’s people, to live the life of faith in every community of our parish and “to know Christ and to make him known”. We are working to move from vision to action, discerning how to serve our communities, set priorities, and take first steps.

One result of this work is a new community partnership, Doors Open, which provides groceries and a meal to anyone who comes on Sunday afternoons to the hall at Holy Trinity Hawkesbury. We want to further strengthen our connections within our communities so we are able to respond to needs around us. We already have strong relationships with other churches and community organizations upon which we can build. However, as with many parishes, most of our parishioners are over 65 years old which does raise concerns about our capacity for this work in the future.

Pastoral care within the parish and to the community around us is a priority. One important expression of this is our ministry in local retirement homes and long-term care facilities, providing communion services for our parishioners as well as Anglicans and others who are not able to attend worship services in their churches.

We hope to grow as a parish – numerically as well as in faith and love. There are new residents moving into many of our communities and we want to get to know them. We would like to explore ways to “do church differently” that might connect with people not currently in our Sunday morning services, including younger people. We acknowledge that we do not know what this might look like and that we also feel some worry about being asked to change too much about how we currently do things.

HOW TO APPLY:

Please send your cover letter and CV to The Venerable Linda Hill, Executive Archdeacon
by June 1st to [email protected].