Leaders in Canada Gather and Grow Together

As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” … There should be no division in the body, but its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

1 Corinthians 12: 20-26

This was the tone as 36 Leaders from 11 Canadian churches met in Toronto at the annual ‘Canadian Church Leaders Retreat’ from Thursday April 30^th to Saturday May 2^nd. As we met and discussed the current state, needs, and future of the Canadian work – a spirit of humility, agreement, and cooperation was obvious to all.

As we began our meeting on Thursday evening, Brian Felushko preached a lesson from the opening chapters of the book of Revelation reminding us that ‘Jesus still leads His Churches’. When we reconvened on Friday morning, Kevin Robbins preached a lesson entitled ‘In Praise of Involvement’, which prepared our hearts and minds for the afternoon sessions of discussion and decision making. After a lunch break, Mike Lock moderated these sessions, during which we discussed a number of items and the following decisions were made:

Relationships: We unanimously agreed that we need multiple relationships between the church leaders (evangelists, elders, etc.) and that our relationships should provide both mentoring and friendship for everyone. We also agreed that these relationships should be transparent; that we all should know who is in each others lives and that our churches should be aware as well. We ended the meeting by sharing specifics with the group.

Edmonton: We also discussed the situation in the Edmonton church, which has now been without a full time Minister for almost two years. Manuel Francois St. Cyr (of the Edmonton leadership team) made an ardent plea for us to ‘please help them’ by sending someone to work full-time in the church. Several ideas and persons were suggested … and an action plan is in the works. God willing – this situation will be resolved soon!

Canadian Church Leaders Meetings: In the past, we have met together once a year to discuss the Canadian Work. With all the financial concerns; other meetings we attend; and just generally being busy with church and life – even this has seemed difficult. However, after this meeting, it is our collective judgment that we should meet twice a year. It was also agreed that no one should miss for financial reasons. In the future, we will pool resources in order to help those who cannot afford to attend.

Future Plans: We agreed that future plans that might affect other churches or our country in general should be discussed as a group. These may include – Church plantings, significant hirings, Elder appointments, controversial doctrinal positions and so forth. We agreed to indentify and discuss some of these ‘hot topics’ at our next meeting in the fall of this year.

Finally, thanks to those who planned and organized the meeting: Kevin Robbins (Evangelist/Region Leader, Toronto), Mike Lock (Elder, Toronto), and Brian Felushko (Elder/Evangelist, Vancouver).

May God bless all our brothers and sisters worldwide … and please pray for us here in Canada …

Mike Luzine

Minister / Rocky Mountain Church of Christ

Calgary, Alberta

posted by Jerry Maday