West Hill United Church

Sunday, 09 March, 2024 - 10:30 AM

In honour of the 115th International Women's Day, West Hill invited Andrew Welch to deliver another of his unique perspectives for our traditional "Women Rock" service.  Feeling somewhat unqualified to speak on this particular topic, Andrew turned to the WorldWide Web for help, and will share with us his trip down the Women Rock rabbit hole.

Watch the 40-minute video (starting at 23:41)

There's a saying for some that when Life gets messy, you eat it over the sink, and Andrew takes big bites.  This Sunday, he went out on a limb and shared his latest (and still largely unprocessed) thoughts on a potential purpose to Life.  Inspired by research into why civilizations fail, Andrew will take us on his cognitive journey to find more meaning, and, thanks to us, his exploration on how this pseudoscience might connect to the essential theme of our Visionworks values.

At the end of his Dickens/Solstice perspective last month, Andrew challenged our congregation to come up with the topic of his next presentation.  Perhaps that was taking a chance, but that's what he got and that's what he'll be sharing about next Sunday!  Is taking a chance the same as taking a risk?  Is it a gamble?  Is it a good thing?  Like most good topics at West Hill, it's all a matter of perspective, and unique ones are Andrew's particular specialty.  Change is the only constant, they say, but the amount of change does vary, and right now West Hill is piling change upon change.  Is the congregation taking chances?  Should we be taking more or less?  Andrew cannot guarantee future results - only food for thought.

The morning after the longest night, and three days before Christmas, Andrew Welch returned to West Hill United Church (virtually, this time, starting at 11:05 in the video) to deliver his own unique take on the winter solstice, oral traditions, and trials and tribulations of Ebeneezer Scrooge.  Working within the framework of Dickens' popular classic, Andrew shows that this so-called 'timeless tale' is, in fact, increasingly timely.  "A Christmas Carol" is a Victorian ghost story that is 100% about values - our guest speaker's favourite subject!

Mike Nickerson wrote this persuasive message about how living well is easier than you think.  The thought-provoking stories are narrated by Andrew Welch.

As part of a panel discussion for the Canadian Association for the Club of Rome (CACOR), Andrew was challenged with sharing some very new perspectives on the world's toughest systemic challenges.  His presentation is 27:40 to 43:40, but the preceding talks are really fascinating, and set up a powerful context.  If you like what you see, let it run to hear the discussions that follow.  Some real thought leaders in this field were in attendance.

Andrew Welch presents at a hybrid meeting of the Canadian Association for the Club of Rome (CACOR) to discuss a peer-reviewed paper that describes a human behaviour crisis as being behind some of our global challenges.  The recording had some technical diffculties, but meeting was really well-received by the members, and the section with the author (from 09:30 to 35:30) is quite clear.

This is the concluding installment of Andrew's 3-part address to the congregation at West Hill United Church.  (View the first or second parts.)  In the previous two months, he related some of his work on values to this congregation's declaration of their values, called VisionWorks.  In this sometimes radical wrap-up, he takes the content of the previous two perspectives to the streets to see how it might inform our actions for the real world.  We are facing an unprecedented crisis, and many say that civilization is on the line.  Andrew's conclusions are unexpected and thought-provoking, as always.

The author was invited back by the Canadian Association for the Club of Rome (CACOR) to give another hour-long PowerPoint talk, introducing some of the more innovative ideas from Our Second Chance.  This lively Zoom presentation, styled as a more in-person session, apparently inspired one of the most lively chat discussions and post-talk Q&As in the CACOR series.

This is the second of Andrew's 3-part address to the congregation at West Hill United Church.  (View the first one.)  In 30-minutes, he shares his ground-breaking discovery on making qualitative values (such as justice, compassion, and spirituality) visible within a model that makes them more accessible to rational study and thought.  This novel application of an existing framework has great potential for helping us to manage our own inner conflicts, as well as seeing our connection to the natural world (which fully embodies the same principles to sustain growth and sufficiency).

Andrew was invited to address the congregation at West Hill United Church, speaking on human values, and specifically referencing their impressive 2-page VisionWorks document.  This half-hour 'sermon' gives an excellent introduction to Andrew's views on what he calls our value personae, as well as opening us up to one of his most important concepts: the contrast between number-based-values and qualitative (or human) values.

A brief promotional video, produced by the Canadian Association for the Club of Rome (CACOR), extracted from a full CACOR talk on The Value Crisis, presented by Andrew Welch.  The video highlights the author's key attribute of number-based value systems - that More is ALWAYS Better.

The author was invited by the Canadian Association for the Club of Rome (CACOR) to give an hour-long PowerPoint talk, introducing The Value Crisis, and relating the material back to the many topics that are of specific interest to CACOR.  The audience was a well-read group of intellectuals, and this Zoom presentation offers an excellent overview of The Value Crisis for that type of viewer.

This Zoom panel discussion was organized by the Canadian Association for the Club of Rome (CACOR).  Andrew Welch opens the discussion with a brief 10-minute presentation, outlining his unique take on the importance of conflict in value systems.

The author was invited by Whole Village (an Ecovillage in Caledon, Ontario) to introduce his long-awaited sequel to The Value Crisis.

Climate change, cultural diversity, work/life balance, social inequity, electoral reform - all these challenges have a common thread that might surprise you, according to Andrew Welch, author of The Value Crisis.  His unique perspective on numbers and how we measure value offers a subtle but powerful explanation for our accelerating self-destructive behaviours, and what the solutions for the next generation might entail.

Check out one of Andrew's best talks!