‘There’s a ‘U’ (in Neighbour)’ And Other Observances from the Canadian National Gathering

“There’s a ‘u,’” a chorus of voices rang out from the back of the room, wanting to be clear on the Canadian spelling as notes were jotted down from reporters sharing wisdom and challenges from their particular focus area to the gathering of Canadian Christian Reformed Church in North America members. “Intentionally building internal and external neighbours ... to love people well” was one insight. But aside from that typographical assertion, there wasn’t a demonstrable ‘Canadianess’ to the gathering. “I would say it is Canadian,” executive director-Canada Al Postma told The Banner, “because it is a gathering of Canadian leaders of Canadian churches exploring what it looks like to do ministry here in Canada—we don’t need to keep declaring it as specifically Canadian.”

Canadian members and leaders in the CRCNA have been gathering for national conversations about ministry every three years (or close to it) since 2016 in what’s called the Canadian National Gathering. The third gathering was delayed by a year, from 2022 to 2023, so the fourth gathering, May 28-31 in Ancaster, Ont., came on the 10-year anniversary of the first.

Wendy DeJong, a participant and Gathering steering team member from Classis Niagara, said this year’s format was very different from the 2016 event in Waterloo, Ont., where she remembers traditional keynote-style speakers followed by small group discussions. This time six feeder groups worked together on areas of interest to contribute information to the whole group. DeJong was in the Leadership Ecosystem stream. The weekend also included streams on building authentic community, faith formation for children and youth, conflict navigation, discipleship pathways, and community outreach, which the participants changed to “community engagement.”

Postma said there were many possibilities of streams they could have chosen, but “by focusing on these six areas we think we can have some productive conversations.” With that in mind, the steering team requested that Canadian classes nominate participants from nine potential categories who would have experience to contribute—such as seasoned officebearers (those who hold the office of pastor, elder, or deacon), conflict negotiators, cross-cultural ministers, young adults, and leadership developers. “Being specific about what experiences we are looking for to come into this space can be really helpful,” Postma said. In that way, “you don’t simply have people who like to come to gatherings, but they know what they’re bringing.”

Stream leaders, made up of ministry staff from Thrive, Calvin Theological Seminary, Canadian Intercultural Ministry, Diaconal Ministries Canada, and Resonate Global Mission, crafted their materials particularly for the Canadian National Gathering, designing the sessions to have the groups glean wisdom from one another, guided by Scripture and the Holy Spirit.

In the culminating “all together time,” representatives from the streams shared a visual representation of their work along with a list of challenges or barriers and learned wisdom, drawing on the idea from the parable of the wise and foolish builders (Matt. 7:24-27) to dig down to foundational wisdom on which to build. Then, reflecting on the relayed details and in line with the theme “Foundation to Future,” classis representatives distilled what they saw to be one piece of foundational wisdom and one way to build into the future.

Some of the shared responses were “we’ve come through a time of being builders of institutions, but it seems the Holy Spirit is suggesting us to invest relationally into people”; “remember the importance of ‘Word and Spirit,” not be just informed about God but formed by the Word of God; “keep learning together to follow the Spirit”; “be gospel-centered, focused, and oriented—not ashamed of the gospel”; “build awareness of resources”; and “the question before us is not what are we going to do, but who are we going to be—it’s not the path before us but who holds the path.”

Diane Klingenberg, Classis Ontario Southwest, was participating at her first Canadian National Gathering. She said she appreciated the time to network and learn from other ministry leaders, such as hearing from participant Sylvie Charliekaram about an AI-powered translation system, trained on biblical terminology, that Charliekaram and her husband use with their Farsi-language ministry so participants can learn from the English sermon at Willowdale CRC in Toronto, Ont. Klingenberg sees a possibility for the same type of technology in her church’s Spanish-language ministry.

Elly Sarkany, a worship and faith formation coordinator in Barrie, Ont., said she appreciated the future focus of this year’s event.

Postma said the entire budget for the event was covered through denominational ministry shares from Canadian churches, with small contributions from the classes and some individual donors. There were 111 participants, some of whom were also steering team members or Canadian Ministry Board members, and 25 staff. All 12 Canadian classes were represented.