Dear Canadians,
And they were altogether in one place. June 18, 2026.
We came by ones, by twos, by threes, until we were all here. In Ancaster, ON at the Mount Mary Retreat Centre. We did not come with some kind of starry-eyed dreaming, nor were we waiting for marching orders. We have come ready to do heavy lifting.
Registration at 3:00, dinner at 5:00 and getting down to it by around 6:30pm. But not before hearing from our God, singing his praise and speaking with him. Oh, the voices raised in song. Folks singing different parts, in harmony, from soaring sopranos to sonorous basses. That’s a metaphor for the church, isn’t it? Different yet holding that same goal of offering our gratitude and our petitions to the God who made and saves us and calls us as his image-bearers to be peacemakers, justice seekers, collaborators. Being surrounded by such a cloud of witnesses is simply amazing.
Then we were ready to roll up our sleeves. The planning was complete. We were ready to work together toward the goal (and I’m repeating here from the last post): “The retreat is intended to move participants from a collection of independent churches, toward: a recognizable, invitational, and values-shaped fellowship.”
Through presentations, questions, answers, conversation, we agreed on our way forward this weekend: have small-group conversations around seven key value statements, flesh them out in the groups and in plenary sessions, and emerge at the end with something that we would be able to say: Yes, this is who we are, and this is what we want to look like together. A large ask. All the different voices in this structured setting need to be heard, all thinking carefully and speaking wisely. All wanting to create something that emerges out of those values. We tentatively adopted the vision, mission, and values statements as foundational to what we want to do this weekend (the value statements listed previously). Without value statements, without an agreed-upon vision and mission, without those foundations, we would be like a house built on the sand.
And so, we start our conversations. During the day today, we start drilling down and defining the meaning of the value statement (given the group to which we belong) and listing the organizational implications of that value. After supper, all together, we’ll have rich conversations about each group’s thinking and gather the wisdom of the whole. Every person engaged, every person helping. Oh, the brilliance in and of this amazing cloud of witnesses.
May God continue to bless us.
It’s a new day.
Blessings,
Peter Bulthuis
Note: the image is of the Mount Mary Retreat Centre, where the delegates are meeting. The image was obtained from their website: Mount Mary Retreat Centre | Diocese of Hamilton
