The Canadian National Gathering will take place May 28-31, 2026, at Redeemer University in Ancaster, Ont. Held every three years, the Gathering brings together Christian Reformed churches from Canada to discern and explore what God’s call is for the CRC as a community of churches. The theme for 2026 is Foundation to Future.
The Gathering will intentionally reflect on the history of the Canadian CRC, recognizing it as the foundation that has shaped the present. From this shared history, the focus will shift to how churches from across Canada can build on the strongest elements of that foundation to support one another and move forward together into a healthy and vibrant future.
The Canadian National Gathering will lean into the CRC’s deep foundation in Scripture and theology, asking how these continue to speak with relevance and faithfulness in today’s context and into the future. Participants will reflect on the past to shape what lies ahead, drawing on the wisdom, practices, and lessons of earlier generations to discern pathways for the church in the years to come.
Josh Sweetman, a member of the Canadian National Gathering steering committee from Classis Huron, said, “I hope people can walk away filled with joy, realizing what God is doing in our churches around Canada.”
The Gathering is intentionally designed not as a traditional conference, but as a shared space for learning and discernment. Using a “flipped classroom” approach, participants themselves are understood to be the primary contributors, bringing experience, insight, and practice into the conversations. Rather than moving between multiple workshops, each participant will engage in a single stream throughout the time together, allowing for exploration, collaboration, and discovery. Participants are invited and recommended specifically for their ability to contribute meaningfully within their assigned stream, to discern where God is at work locally, regionally, and denominationally, and faithfully joining God in that work.
The six streams of the Gathering are leadership ecosystem, conflict navigation, faith formation for children and youth, discipleship pathways, community outreach, and building authentic community.
These streams were chosen by the Canadian National Gathering steering team, made up of one person from each Canadian classis. “While there are more than six important areas of ministry, the team believes that these six are key for the churches across Canada right now,” said Al Postma, executive director for the CRC in Canada. “Every participant will be placed in one of these streams where they will go deeper into the ministry area alongside others.”
Following the decision to discontinue exploration of a Classis-Quinte hosted ecclesiastical gathering, the materials developed through that process have been received and will be reviewed as part of the planning for the Canadian National Gathering.
Springing from a 2013 report to the Board of Trustees of the CRCNA on “Cultivating Binationality in the CRCNA” (see Acts of Synod 2014, pp. 432, 440-42), the Canadian National Gathering is a time to strategically celebrate, discern, and envision bold next steps for the CRC in Canada locally, regionally, and nationally. Gatherings of this type take place in Canada every three years as a way to have national conversations about ministry in local congregations and as a national and binational church.
As the Canadian National Gathering approaches, please pray that this will be a time of discernment, worship, and community. Pray for the future of the Christian Reformed Church in Canada and that God would continue to move.