General Council 45 seems to be barrelling along towards us, and as the Spirit moves us towards discerning which of the named (and maybe yet unnamed) nominees for Moderator might step into this office after me, I am also acutely aware of the fact that as of the day of writing this report I have 173 days left in office.
FlourishingThis winter/spring marks the final events for the Flourishing workshops. We held an event in Toronto February 15, and will be doing one in Stratford ON, on February 22. The first weekend in May we will be in Edmonton for Northern Spirit, and then we’ve incorporated the workshop as Theme at the Chinook Winds Regional Council the subsequent weekend in Calgary.Last weekend, during our reflection time wrapping up, a lay leader shared that she belongs to a struggling community of faith where an average of 10 people come to church on a Sunday. She came to the workshop with the assumption that I would be giving examples of what other congregations were doing to flourish. Instead, through the process of the workshop, she was leaving with a bunch of her own ideas and some processes to take back to her congregation, and also knowing that they could reach out to the Growth & Ministry Development unit for support. That was about the best feedback I think I could have received.I’m so grateful that the development of the workshop coincided with the creation and staffing of the Growth & Ministry Development unit, and that Cam and the growth animators have been through all of the workshops with me and that this work and resource will now live with them.
(Re)GenerateWe have now completed four of the six residencies of the (Re)Generate leadership development program. With the support of the Theological Leadership unit, a cohort of 32 ministry personnel from across the country have forged strong bonds of support and a community of learning; fruits of the program will continue to serve them as individuals but also the church as a whole as they continue to support each other into the future. Together with facilitators from inside and outside of the church, we have spent time on strategy & faith and why there doesn’t need to be a binary between the two, managerial leadership, giving & receiving feedback, financial literacy, and fundraising. We will be spending one more week on other management oversight like capital planning/development, statutory requirements for charities, and risk management in an online residency in May, followed by presentations on their Capstone projects in their final residency at Five Oaks in June. Jennifer Janzen-Ball and I will have time with Laura Fouhse this coming month to debrief, followed by a week of planning for the future of leadership development in May.Our videographers from the comms team also came out to Five Oaks in January and so you’ll see some video collateral developed out of the interviews with participants.Life of the Church, Strategy & New BusinessOver the next weeks I will be in discernment about what to report to the General Council about my term as moderator.The church continues to struggle with narrowing down on the most impactful ways to use our general council offices, Regional Council offices, and other resources of financial budgets and people hours. As we will see in some of the proposals coming back to the church, there are ways that the regional councils continue to need to live out their oversight roles that replaced presbyteries. This includes consistency in the ways the finances of Communities of Faith are reviewed, especially before postings for ministry vacancies are made public, as well as strategic use of properties and church buildings.One of the things I’ll be working on with the theological leadership unit in my final months as moderator, is where we can provide resources to bring the institutional ‘management’ of the church into the 21st century. For example, how do we ensure that M&P committees are adequately equipped to act as the “supervisor” of our ministry personnel. How do we ensure Stewardship committees know how to fundraise effectively and to incorporate giving & generosity as part of our faithful formation of disciples, especially in a world that is growing more and more unaffordable for many. How do we do risk planning and analysis to ensure we have adequate insurance coverage, including ensuring (note: requiring) that rentals of our buildings are covered by the insurance of our tenants. How do we ensure that our buildings are well cared for and used to the highest and best use of the needs of our communities, and whose job is that? How do we make decisions, at all levels of the church, that are both faithful and strategic? I continue to ponder these questions alongside the participants in (Re)Generate and the senior leadership team and my MAC.In the meantime, I’m looking forward to upcoming events for the church’s Centennial, as well as attending the regional council meeting for Chinook Winds, and the joint Festival of Faith for Shining Waters and Canadian Shield Regional Councils this spring.It’s a short report, but also feels like it’s been a short time since my fall report to GC45 – I look forward to a more fulsome report to go into the GC45 Workbook.Travel/Meetings since November 2024 GCE Meeting:
