The Citizen, 2016-04-21, Page 6PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, APRIL 21, 2016.
Huron Chapel amon
Getting pampered
As part of its Faith At Home project, Huron Chapel recently
hosted a spa day for mothers and daughters of the
congregation. Here, Katie Chambers was hard at work
making Livia MacVicar's hair look great. (Mark Royal photo)
finalists for rural Halo Project
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Auburn's Huron Chapel is among
four churches in the running for two
spots in the province -wide Halo
Project.
Pastor Mark Royall says the
journey first began when a woman
named Kendra Fry reached out to
him. Working with a group called
Faith and the Common Good, Fry
contacted Royall while conducting
research into "the issues that are
facing faith communities as they
adapt in the current environment."
While many churches are facing
shrinking congregations, Royall said
in an interview with The Citizen,
Huron Chapel's following has
grown, as the church routinely hosts
hundreds in Auburn every Sunday.
Royall jokes that on most
Sundays, more people can be found
in Huron Chapel than can be found
in the entire village of Auburn, but in
recent years, the church has proven
to be quite the success story, he says.
While Royall attributes much of
the church's success to God, he does
acknowledge that Huron Chapel's
approach to faith and its
congregation is a little different than
that of other rural churches.
"We allow change in the right
areas and don't allow change in the
wrong areas," Royall said.
While the approach seems simple,
Royall said, it is one that many rural
churches struggle with, especially as
congregations shrink and churches
work to attract new members.
Huron Chapel has implemented a
number of changes to its worship
style, adapting to include modern
music and creative story -telling,
Royall said. Things have also
changed in the physical church
building, moving from pews to
chairs and implementing a number
of other changes to make the
experience more comfortable for
those attending.
While those changes simply make
sense to Royall, he says that's where
some other churches get hung up,
refusing to change worship style and
the church, due to its long history.
Where Huron Chapel won't
compromise, he said, is with the
message of Christianity. Other
churches, though, will change in this
area in an attempt to appear
progressive and bring new members
into the congregation, but what that
does in the end, Royall says, is water
down the message.
"People respect that," he said.
It is this period of growth in a time
of overall contraction that has
intrigued Faith and the Common
Good and the Halo Project.
"I am currently working on a
project with Faith and the Common
Good, the National Trust for Canada
and the Ontario Trillium Foundation
on rural faith organizations and
buildings," Fry wrote to Royall.
"I'm doing a scan of the
environment to being the
conversation about best practices for
continuance for rural faith
communities. We are looking to find
successful rural congregations and
speak to them about what they're
doing differently."
Fry is a Bayfield native who is
familiar with Auburn, so when Fry
and Royall first spoke about the
program, her first question for
Royall was, "why?"
Royall took Fry's interest in the
FROM AUBURN
church as a great compliment and he
says he looks forward to hopefully
working with the project.
Huron Chapel is one of four
finalists for the project that will
eventually focus on two final
churches for research for the Halo
Project, which is being carried out
with Toronto's Ryerson University.
Royall says he should find out
later this week if Huron Chapel has
been selected as one of the final two
churches to take part in the study.
The study tools involved with the
Halo Project were first introduced in
a study conducted in Philadelphia. It
was then first adapted in Canada for
a project in Toronto and now for
rural Ontario churches.
For more information about the
Toronto Halo project, visit its
website at torontohaloproject.com.
Faith At Home hosts mother/daughter spa day
Quite a day
Huron Chapel, through its Faith At Home project, held a
mother/daughter spa day at the Auburn church on Sunday.
Women of the congregation were treated to facials, top-
notch hair pampering and a place to soak their feet, all with
the higher purpose of connecting better with God over the
course of the day. (Mark Royall photo)
PEOPLE AROUND
AUBURN
By Mark
Royall
Call
519-441-2223
First off, I would like to
congratulate The Citizen for being
awarded best newspaper in the
country in its circulation class this
year by Newspapers Canada. I
personally appreciate very much the
opportunity afforded us all as local
residents to have a newspaper which
is so keenly aware and active in our
communities. What a thrill it is for
me to see them being recognized
this way. Well done Citizen crew.
This past Saturday, Auburn
became a vacation destination for
mothers and their daughters. The
lower part of Huron Chapel was
transformed into a spa with soft
music, comfortable couches, great
food along with different rooms
where ladies could be pampered.
When I went to take look I was
taken back by the wonderful
transformation that had taken place.
Sunday school rooms had now
become oases. The day was
organized by Ginni Butter and Angie
Campbell as part of Huron Chapel's
Faith At Home project.
The purpose of Faith At Home is
to give families the opportunities to
build relationships with one
another and with God. Ginni
Buttar said the spa day was to
purposely give grandmothers,
mothers and daughters
time to spend together where they
could make a unique family
memory.
Throughout the day
approximately 80 different
Sparling leads prayer
Continued from page 3
among the thorns. The last few
hours of Jesus' life would have
been easy to blame the ones who
had betrayed Him but Jesus forgave
them. Forgiveness helps us to deal
with the thorns in our lives.
There are three things we can do,
make friends, welcome new life
into the church and a relationship
with God and third, teach people
how to deal with the thorns in their
lives. When the Masons receive a
new member they think of him as a
good man.
The hymn, "Joy to the World"
was sung. The offering was
received, followed by the offertory
response, "Grant Us God" and the
offertory prayer.
Steven Sparling invited Gregg
McClelland to lead the prayers for
the people and the singing of the
Lord's Prayer. Steven gave a short
history of the next hymn, "Guide
Me, 0 Though Great Jehovah". The
benediction and grace were
followed by the singing of "Go
Now In Peace". Steven invited
everyone to stay and have lunch
downstairs in the auditorium. The
Mason group were piped out of the
service by their piper. Everyone
enjoyed ham and scalloped
potatoes, salads and dessert and
fellowship.
women came through the spa where
they could spend time together in
any of the eight different stations.
The spa stations included a hair
salon, a manicure and pedicure
station, a place to soak tired feet, a
facial station, a photo booth, a craft
room where they could make their
own lip balm and sugar scrubs, a
prayer room where they could spend
time praying together, and a lounge
where they could eat and visit with
other ladies.
Buttar said they received great
feedback from the ladies so I am
thinking we may see this again next
year.
"We lost our keys at a hockey game out of
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smart key for the car. Our War Amps key tag
did its job when our keys were returned to us
last week by courier, much to our relief."
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