A Toronto church built on shared values, not shared beliefs, invites newcomers to its last three Sundays and a Thursday book study, in person or online.
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA, October 7, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — West Hill United is entering the final weeks of The Art of Community, an eight-week Sunday series and companion book study on the practices that make a community deeper and stronger, and it is inviting anyone curious to join for the closing sessions. The remaining Sunday gatherings fall on October 11, 18, and 25, in person in Toronto and online. The Thursday book study continues online at 3:00 p.m. ET, offered in partnership with Spiritual Seekers United in Community of Edmonton.
The series takes its structure from Charles Vogl’s The Art of Community: 7 Principles for Belonging, which draws on thousands of years of accumulated wisdom to name the elements that shape meaningful community: belonging, boundaries, rituals, shared stories, symbols, spaces, and pathways into deeper participation. West Hill has approached those principles less as ideas to study from a distance than as tools its members can put to work, both in the life of the community and in their own.
The series arrives at a moment when the places people once gathered to talk about what matters most have thinned out. In 2023 the U.S. Surgeon General declared loneliness a public health epidemic, and public health voices in Canada have raised the same alarm. For many people, church was where those conversations used to happen, and it is no longer somewhere they can stay while keeping their integrity intact.
“Years ago, when I resigned from ministry, it was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do, and one of the hardest parts was leaving the community that had literally helped raise me,” said Joe Pittenger, Executive Director and Community Leader at West Hill United. “People from the church took me in as a teenager after my father passed away. It was the place I grew up in, and the place that helped me through college and beyond.”
“Many of us can’t say for certain that we believe certain things,” Pittenger said. “So where do we go?”
West Hill’s answer was to organize itself around shared values instead of shared doctrine. Years ago the community asked whether it wanted to turn people away because they could not affirm supernatural events, or could not affirm that a particular book is the word of God, and it decided that it did not.
“We reason that the way you live is more important than what you can or cannot believe,” Pittenger said. “To be able to build community in a space where tradition doesn’t dictate the conversation is freeing and life-giving.”
The Sunday talks stand on their own, so no reading is required and newcomers can join for any of the remaining weeks. Those who want to go further are welcome at the Thursday book study, with or without the book. Copies are available through charlesvogl.com/books, the Toronto Public Library, and other local libraries, and West Hill has a small number of discounted copies for anyone for whom cost is a barrier.
Sunday gatherings run at 10:30 a.m. ET at 62 Orchard Park Drive, Toronto, and online at zoom.us/j/370030792. The book study meets online Thursdays at 3:00 p.m. ET at us06web.zoom.us/j/83255680690.
“Whether you’ve been with us every week or it’s been a while, this is a good place to jump in,” Pittenger said. “There’s a place for you here.”
About West Hill United:
West Hill United is a non-theist community in the tradition of the United Church of Canada, built on shared values rather than shared beliefs. It welcomes people no matter what they believe, and asks them to seek truth, live fully, care deeply, and make a difference. The community gathers Sunday mornings at 10:30 a.m. ET at 62 Orchard Park Drive in Toronto and online, with participants joining from across North America, Europe, and Africa. Learn more at westhill.net.
About Spiritual Seekers United in Community:
Spiritual Seekers United in Community (SSUC) is an Edmonton-based community partnering with West Hill United on the weekly book study for this series. Learn more at ssucedmonton.com.
Joe Pittenger
West Hill United
+1 419-779-8903
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