Leadership Council First Quadrimestre Report (January – April 2026)
Your Leadership Council has had a busy start to 2026. We held two regularly scheduled meetings, hosted a Town Hall Meeting, and held our Annual General Meeting.
McDougall is extremely fortunate to have so many volunteers and staff members that make up our council. At the AGM we welcomed the 2026 Leadership Council. We would like to acknowledge our new co-chair of Ministry and Personal Margaret Holden-Scott, our new Operations Working Group Lead Marilyn Bates, Paula Sangster and Gail Feltham as members-at-large, we look forward to their viewpoints at our meetings this coming year. We would like to extend our thanks to the outgoing council members Amber Cannon and Peggy Jorgensen for their participation in the Leadership Council over the past several years.
Highlights from our meetings include:
The Shared Ministry between McDougall, Ogden, and Red Deer Lake United Churches continue to be a major point of discussion at our meetings. The Joint Advisory Council (JAC) is made up of representatives and provides recommendations to each of the councils/boards from each community of faith within the Shared Ministry. Two major recommendations that were acted on this quadrimestre were the reduction of Rev. Danah’s hours to 20 hours/week and a change to the cost share of the Shared Ministry. The ministers have identified that a year of discernment would help with the understanding and future of our shared ministry.
We were very fortunate to have had a surplus in our 2025 budget thanks to the dedicated and thoughtful work and contributions of all our staff and congregation members. Our 2026 budget looks favorable however we must remain diligent in making sure we are keeping within our means. A huge thank you to our Treasurer Norma May for her dedication and ability to keep us informed of the church’s operational budget.
After lengthy discussions and reflections, the council approved a Petition Policy which can be located on the church’s website.
We were fortunate to have Jess Dell Andrews from Campus Ministry come and share with us the work they have been doing at the University of Calgary and Mount Royal University on behalf of the United Church of Canada. For more information you can go to their website University of Calgary — Campus United.
The work of creating a new photo directory has begun and we are looking for volunteers. If you are interested, please contact the church office for more information.
For those interested Leadership Council minutes can be found posted in the Hospitality Hall, in a binder in the library, and on the McDougall website https://www.mcdunited.com/leadership-council .
If anyone is interested in becoming a member of the Leadership Council please contact the church office, Daren Patterson (daren.denise@gmail.com), or Joanne Pritchard (jmpritchard@shaw.ca).
Respectfully submitted by,
Daren Patterson, Co-chair Leadership Council
You can learn more about the Leadership Council here.