Click here to view the original article

"Do we have to go?"

Soccer. Birthday parties. A big game on TV. A late night out.

For many people, going to church fills a spiritual need, while for others it helps make them feel part of a community. Sometimes, getting to a Sunday morning church service isn't easy, especially when trying to wrestle an entire family into a state of being church presentable.

As many churches face challenges maintaining attendance, some churches are looking outside the box to find ways to connect with new people and the surrounding neighbourhood, focusing less on traditional forms of worship and instead finding ways to engage with a 21st-century audience.

Maybe COVID changed the way some people think about community and connection. Technology helped people stay connected during isolation, but it also highlighted how much people value face-to-face interaction. Whatever the reason, there appears to be a growing recognition that a church can be more than a place people visit for an hour on Sunday morning.

Cedar Park United in Pointe-Claire is a church offering more than just traditional sermons, services, and guidance. It's a community hub, committed to creating a space for people in their daily lives.

At an event held on September 19, Cedar Park United welcomed people to its "Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood: Celebrating All That Connects Us" gathering, with a series of activities showcasing what they — and their community partners — have to offer the wider neighbourhood.

The day was packed with information and entertainment, with four concerts, an eco-musical about saving the frogs, a drumming circle, chair yoga, a cooking workshop, and representatives from groups including Save Fairview Forest, Bread and Beyond, and Corbeille de Pain on hand. Ending the day with "The Longest Table," a potluck meal, the event was about creating connections between people "whose work makes our neighbourhood better," according to Cedar Park United Communications and Outreach Coordinator Martha Randy.

Whether it's their Community Connections program helping neighbours experiencing residential insecurity and homelessness, programming for children ages 0 to 5 and their parents, musical programming, or Healing Mondays, Cedar Park United aims to create what they call "3D human connections," where people from different ages and backgrounds can come together and be a part of something bigger and more interactive.

When asked how they approach being a church in 2026, when a church invitation can sometimes be met with mild aversion, Randy responded candidly, "We are a church, and we're not trying to say we're not. Radical welcome. It's what we're about."

Radical welcome. Inclusion. Whether it's providing a space for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, having multicultural speakers, or making sure West Islanders are acknowledged and cared for, Cedar Park United goes beyond the spiritual and puts its focus on the whole person, including their physical, mental, and social well-being.

Randy explained that those values extend beyond Sunday worship: "I guess it feels to me that the values of kindness and inclusivity and justice-seeking and integrity and great big love — these are what we seek to imbue into everything we do, no matter the day or the activity. So you should sense that in Sunday worship, but also at Mini Connections play group or while you're working in the garden."

Perhaps that is the unconventional approach: Cedar Park United isn't asking people to choose between being part of a community and being part of a church. Instead, it is trying to create a place where the two can exist together — where people can show up as they are, find something that interests them, and perhaps discover a connection they weren't expecting.

To learn more about what Cedar Park United has to offer, please visit their website at cedarparkunited.org.