News

Fall back...  It's that time of year again. Next Saturday, October 31, don't forget to turn your clocks back an hour before you go to bed -- and enjoy that extra hour of sleep!

The Sunday October 25, 2026 worship service is available for viewing here. (click on square in bottom right corner for full-screen view); The news drop-down menu item above contains links to the bulletin and an archive of recorded services.

The bulletin for Sunday October 25, 2026 includes info on the following:
    welcome / note re: pastoral assistance     recent deaths (Visser, McBurney)     Today devotionals
    Fundraising Concert (Oct. 30)     Bake & Craft Sale (Oct. 30)     Daylight Saving Time (Oct. 31)
    free wheelchair, walker     assistive devices available for loan     Presbytery Youth Retreat (Nov. 6-8)
  -   click on bulletin image to go to bulletin


  This coming Friday, October 30, we invite you all to a "double-header" event at Parkwood - starting off @ 7 PM with an a Evening of piano, songs & stories featuring Scott Voelzing, followed by a Craft & Bake Sale being organized by the Pastoral Care Team. Donations of food and crafts may be dropped off at the church on Friday, October 30 between 9:00 a.m. and 12 noon. Click on either image for full-size poster with details.

  Recent leadership changes... There's been some shuffling and realigning going on in leadership circles here at Parkwood. What was formerly the Finance Team has taken on the added responsibility of supervising the Administrative Assistant, and as such is now known as the Finance & Administration Team (Dennis Featherstone continues as leader). We also have two changes in team leaders: Marcia Harten is the new leader of the Pastoral Care Team and Jill Wu is the new leader of the Leading with Care Team. The website's leadership page has been updated accordingly - it lists the leaders, including photos, contact info and links to each team's terms of reference.

  We are sad to announce the homecall of Jan Sheridan on Sunday, October 11, 2026 in Ottawa. Let us give thanks to God for Jan's life and faithful service among us, and let us hold her family in our prayers at this time. Our Clerk of Session has provided a tribute written by Parkwood Session about 7 years ago, giving thanks to God for Jan's service on the 50th anniversary of her ordination as a ruling elder at Parkwood. Read it here. A memorial service for Jan is being planned for mid-November at Parkwood Church.

  We are also sad to announce the passing of Tim Visser on September 30 in Perth and of Suzanne McBurney on October 18. A service will be held in July for Tim in Perth. Please keep Alice and daughter Suzanne and family in your prayers. For Suzanne, you can read her obituary here. Please keep Terry and children in your prayers. A private family graveside service and interment will take place at the Sand Point Public Cemetery.

Mission Team Special Appeal 2026 #3:   The Mission Team's third special appeal for 2026, commencing September 13, is for Operation Come Home, an organization providing programs supporting homeless and at-risk youth between the ages of 16 and 29, helping them to pursue goals and with personal growth.   More info from the Mission Team here. More info is available on the OCH website, here.

Parkwood Pulse news... Good news: at it's regular meeting on September 28, Parkwood session agreed to continue the Pulse newsletter, and have appointed a new editor, our Admin Assistant, Elizabeth Mabie. Thanks for your willingness to undertake this important task, Elizabeth! Now, team leaders and other Parkwood folk - we need articles, advertisements of upcoming events, reviews of past events. It may take a while to get the first fall edition up, so stay tuned...

  Session news...  At it's regular meeting on September 28, the Parkwood session agreed to a team name change, and a new supervisory arrangement. Henceforth, the Finance Team will be known as Finance & Administration, and will assume responsibility for supervision of the Administrative Assistant. As such, Elizabeth Mabie will become an ex-officio member of the team. Team terms of reference will be rewritten accordingly. Up to this point supervision of the Admin Assistant has been a shared responsibility between the minister and the Facility Management Team.

  The Fall 2026 Edition of the Presbyterian Connection Newspaper is now available here.

  Website revamp...  Parkwood has had a presence on the World Wide Web since April 1996. Over it's 30 plus years the website has gone through two major redesigns, and is due for another, as well as a "passing of the torch" to a new generation of web designers and maintainers. A team consisting of Luis Cortorreal and Chen Chen, under the direction of Jim MacDonald has been at work on a new site design since last fall. At some point soon the plan is to run the two sites - new and legacy - in parallel and once the kinks are ironed out, it will be "out with the old, in with the new".

  A Stewardship Letter dated May 8, 2026 was sent out to Parkwood folk inviting them/you/us to "share in a season of stewardship" in an era of increasing costs and financial challenges. You can read the letter here. To help us keep track of this campaign, please mark donations for this purpose using the term "Personal pledge". To the end of September, $8,510.00 has been donated in response to this need. In addition, the June & September Thrift Salea raised $4,016.60

  Church School Classes 2026 - 2027   (pdf)   (registration form)
Babies & children are welcome in our worship service. After the children's story, the children are welcome to go downstairs to the Fellowship Hall where we will spend time learning children's hymns. The children will then split up into age appropriate classes,  If the parent wishes, a nursery room is provided for children 2 and under. It is located on the upper level next to the library. A sound system is available to hear the worship service.
            Pre-school (age 2) to Junior Kindergarten meet downstairs in the Fellowship Hall (Pamela Pestaluky, Olivia Meyia-Takoukam)
            Senior Kindergarten to Grade 3 children meet downstairs in the Garden Room (Lorrie McEwen and one other)
            Grades 4 through 6 meet downstairs in the Meeting Room (Joanne & Thom Meredith, Happiness Otokhine)
            Grade 7 through high school meet downstairs in the Youth Room (Vicky Henry)

Events

October 2026 @ Parkwood

Facility Management on call... This month, if there are any issues with the property or building please call Alta MacFie or Jim MacFie (613-723 7865/613-410-7865).

Parkwood Men (& Ladies):  The next men's breakfast will take place on Saturday, October 3 @ 8am, and again for this meeting the ladies are invited. Please join us for a time of fellowship & sharing in the Fellowship Hall at the church. Coffee & muffins will be served. Our theme, continuing from May, is 1970s-era Jesus Music and some of the pioneer musicians of that time whose songs we use in worship to this day. We'll be viewing the 2nd half of a 2-part documentary on the subject.

  The English as a Second Language (ESL) conversation group continues to meet on Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m. in the church library. This is a great opportunity to practice speaking English or starting to learn. Please contact the church office if you have any questions or wish to join the group.

  Parkwood Youth... Here's what's happening this month, including start time...
        the regular in-house monthly events will take place Friday, Oct. 9 @ 7 PM. and Friday, Oct. 23 @ 7 PM.
Check the calendar for activities, or watch for an e-mail from Vicky.


  Lunch and Learn...  Monday, October 19  (lunch @ noon, talk @ 1pm): This month Susan and Mel Finlay will be our guests, and they'll introduce us to their ministry, Nation at Prayer.

Pastoral Care Communion...  The next Pastoral Care Communion will take place on Tuesday, October 20 @ 2:00pm in the sanctuary, followed by refreshments in the Fellowship Hall.

  Mark your calendars for Friday October 30 @ 7 PM, for an evening of piano, singing and stories. More info to come.

The Sunday afternoon Bible Study which takes place Sundays @ 1:00 PM via Zoom.
resumes September 20.
contact:  Dora Brown:   phone  613-224-9110  ·  email  .

Barrhaven Bible Study: takes place Wednesdays from 7:30 - 8:30 PM via Zoom.
Fall term starts Oct. 21 and runs through Dec. 15;  consult online calendar. The group will be studying the book of Romans - the Apostle Paul's grand, systematic explanation of the gospel, teaching that justification and eternal life are received by faith alone in Christ's righteousness.
contact:  John Fair:   phone  613-823-9970  ·  email  .

Next month & beyond @ Parkwood

Please check the weekly bulletin and/or monthly calendar for other upcoming events. Both can be found in the "news" drop-down menu.

Media

Library

Did you know that you can search the catalogue of Parkwood's library books online? We now offer a visual tutorial to get you started - click on the image to go to our library page. Also, check out a couple of new library books - info on page 8 of the May 2021 Pulse.



Photo gallery

Click on the photo album icon to check out our photo gallery featuring some happenings during 2025: reception of new members and the 60th Anniversary Team's photo collection on display in the lower corridor.



Recordings

recordings of services are made each week and are available at reasonable cost. Since we began livestreaming, you can watch past services on our YouTube channel. If you or someone that you know is having difficulty or simply does not have the equipment, please let us know and we will try to help in whatever way that we can -- call the church office (613-225-6648 ext. 114) or contact one of the members of the Pastoral Care Team (see list) or an elder (see list).





RightNow Media (RNM) is a video resource library material for Bible study for adults, youth and childen. It has been described as "the Netflix of video Bible Studies". We have a subscription, so access is free for anyone at Parkwood. More info including how to sign up on page 1 of the Dec. 19/20 e-letter. Check it out! Click on the RNM logo to go to their homepage. Register for your own account (under Parkwood's license) here.  RNM can also be accessed on your smartphone or tablet via a downloadable app. The RightNow app can be found here,





Parkwood's YouTube channel is where our weekly livestreamed worship services are broadcast from, and where past services are stored for viewing after they have been livestreamed; the channel also occasionally features videos of other events in the life of the congregation. We invite you to visit "Parkwood Ottawa" on YouTube - click on the YouTube logo to go there; please consider subscribing to our channel. To do that you'll need a separate YouTube account, but there's a benefit: whenever a livestreamed service is about to take place, you'll receive notification by email with a link to the service. Also, videos are archived from time to time and removed from the channel. There's a complete list of archived services, both audio and video, here, If there's a service in that list you'd like to see again, please contact the webservant.

Miscellaneous