Greetings to our partners in chaplaincy ministry,

We always value an opportunity to thank you for partnering and collaboration with your Chaplaincy.  I’m writing at the conclusion of Spiritual health Awareness Week, which was October 26-30, 2026.  Throughout the week I’ve been including you in my conversations within NSH about why “Spiritual Health Matters”.

I’m writing to you today to give you a 6-month update on how we’ve been navigating the changes to our chaplaincy service.  As you know, we not only switched to a consult based service back in the Spring, we also embraced One Patient One Record (OPOR) as a way to receive consults to spiritual care.  These have been two big changes with which we are getting more and more comfortable. 

One area to highlight with you as pastor, with your deacons (who do visitation), or with caring visitation teams is that we are not getting as many community consults as we did initially and we are not seeing as many Baptist patients make themselves known to us by requesting consults.  So, we wanted to prompt you, your ministry teams, and your congregations on the following key points.

1. We accept and will continue to accept referrals from you and your teams and can visit patients if you have heard from them that they would value our presence while in hospital.
2. We continue to ask for members of your congregation to specifically ask for spiritual care when they are asked upon admission if they want a spiritual care visit.
3. We also continue to ask for members of your congregation to communicate that they are Baptist and that helps make the consult response more efficient.

Please share these points with your congregation from the pulpit, in your bulletins, on your announcement screens prior to worship, and at your deacons/ministry meetings.  The better this word gets out the hope is that we will see an increase in the moments of care to which we can respond.  As always, we deeply appreciate your prayer as leaders, teams, and congregations. 

Thank you for your partnership and collaboration!

Rev. Joe Green

Despite the surprisingly rotten weather on Saturday, March 14, we were able to have a good morning of worship (with a very encouraging devotional from Rev. Dr. Raphael Iluyomade from New Beginnings), sharing, and business at the HRUBA AGM at Bedford Baptist Church. Sixteen churches were represented, with about 50 total attendees. Thank you all for making the time and taking the effort to come out!

We received encouraging updates from both Bayside Camp and Hospital Chaplaincy, and took time to pray for both ministries. We have a fuller slate of officers for HRUBA council this year than we have in some time, as we now have a new clerk (Elizabeth Newstead, Regal Heights), a new Chair of Licensing (Rev. Andrew Sutherland, Birch Cove Baptist), and a new Assistant Treasurer (Sarah Merrick, Regal Heights). We are grateful to welcome these folks on board. 

As we had announced in the weeks and months leading up to the meeting, we had a motion (which was approved) to raise our recommended dues from $16 to $20 per member to aim to reflect changing financial changes both within HRUBA and in terms of general rising costs. We know that some churches may not be able to increase their giving, and want to assure you that we are thankful for you and embrace you as partners in this ministry we share in Halifax. But for those churches that can afford it, this should make it easier for us to meet our commitments throughout the year. 

May God continue to bless us in the year ahead.

The association's AGM will take place Saturday morning, March 14, at Bedford Baptist Church, starting at 9 am. We will have a soft start, with a few minutes for people to say hello as registration is checked, followed by a time of worship (music by a team from Bedford Baptist and devotional from Rev. Dr. Raphael Iluyomade, our vice-moderator and pastor of New Beginnings Ministries). We will then hear updates about Bayside and Chaplaincy and have a time of refreshments before we will conduct our business.

The business is fairly straightforward, dealing with reports, nominations, and financial matters. The one special motion that will be introduced is to adopt a recommended dues amount of $20 per member per church, an increase from our longstanding $16 per member rate. Council recognizes that some churches may find this a burden, and will not be able to increase their giving, but we will be proposing this as our new recommended figure.

If you are planning to come, please register by using the following Google Form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScCpWQ8zbRPvwwB0dL-QU6h8Jk-tvTfc03ksrdvpZMp1C97Eg/viewform?usp=header

We hope to see you there!

We are excited to invite you to come together on Saturday, February 15, for an Association event designed to help us all as we make strides toward becoming intercultural congregations. Dr Steve McMullin, Professor Emeritus and Consultant on Intercultural Competency at Acadia Divinity College, will be leading us in two sessions as we learn together about this vital part of our mission.

Halifax is one of the fastest growing cities in Canada, and we have an enormous number of new Canadians coming into our region. Many of our churches have seen the effects of these changes. It is exciting but can
also be overwhelming as we seek to keep up and minister well amidst the new diversity in our churches.

This event will be hosted by New Beginnings Ministries, 26 Cherry Brook Rd, Cherry Brook. We are grateful for New Beginnings' willingness to share their facility and their hospitality with us.

Coffee and lunch are a vital part of this event, as you'll have the opportunity to form and deepen relationships with others who share in our wider community, so come early and plan to stay for the duration!

The event will begin with registration at 9:00 am, and will run from 9:30 am - 2:00 pm.

PLEASE REGISTER TO INDICATE YOUR PLANS TO ATTEND THIS EVENT:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSco9mjlNRZvPahTk9L6mDlNPIQv1BgK7NX9S2QOw4_7Aa2CHA/viewform?usp=header

Dr McMullin will lead two sessions:

Session 1: Why Intercultural Congregations? Why Now?

As people from around the world move to Atlantic Canada, what are the implications for Christian witness and ministry?

Session 2: Becoming Intercultural Congregations: What Does It Mean?

In practical ways, how can local congregations incorporate people from around the globe in ways that are faithful to our Christian mission?

About Dr McMullin:

Dr. Steve McMullin served as a pastor for 27 years before becoming Professor of Evangelism and Mission at Acadia Divinity College. He and his wife Rosalie have facilitated international student ministry for many years at RiverCross Church in Saint John. Having retired from ADC at the end of 2022, he now serves as Professor Emeritus and as Consultant on Intercultural Competency.


We hope to see you there!