It’s been a month.
The Spirit’s presence at the All Canada Church Summit was unmistakable and completely awe-inspiring. The Spirit brought together folks who were dreaming, praying, and ready to learn and collaborate. All four happened at the Summit. It was a transformational time.
The Summit page on the Toward Canada* website (accessible here) offers a huge amount of information about the Summit: the documents include a two-page summary of the event, a picture/slideshow summary, a copy of the tone-setting presentation by the board chair, links to each of the keynote speakers’ presentations, the (amazing) 16-page Consolidated Workgroups Final Report, even a playlist of the songs sung in worship.
So now what?
The work, the joy, the hopefulness continues. All in a different form. Much of the activity of the Toward Canada Board had been aimed at setting up this Summit for the express purposes of hearing the voices of churches looking for a different future and helping to establish a landing place for those churches who were praying for one. Well, both of those purposes were fulfilled. Thank God for his incredible grace!
As we speak, several of the churches that were represented by delegates at the Summit are considering becoming catalyst churches - congregations that choose to publicly, prayerfully, and materially begin the process of transitioning from Toward Canada (TC) to the next phase of a Reformed fellowship of churches in Canada. That’s a process that requires much prayer, thought and discernment. Other churches are considering becoming observer churches - congregations that are supportive of the direction and spirit of Toward Canada but are not in a position to make a public commitment. Observers stay engaged, receive regular updates, and participate in conversations while discerning possible future involvement. That too, requires prayer and conversation.
Meetings, both zoom and in-person, are being planned for the near future. And the newsletters will continue.
There’s a new day; it has arrived. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Blessings all, and thanks.
Peter Bulthuis
*Unofficially, we have begun to use this as the name for our organization, as opposed to the full name: Toward CRC Canada.
