Monday Again

The inaugural session of the National Board of The Wesleyan Church of Canada as an established conference convened on Wednesday and Thursday this week in Ottawa.  This special edition of IMA includes the following important update from our National Superintendent, Dr. HC Wilson.

 
Greetings! I am pleased to respond to the invitation from DS’s Moore and Rigby to include this short note in To Count it All Joy  and It’s Monday Again.
This past week we held the first meeting of our full National Board (NB) of The Wesleyan Church of Canada in Ottawa. This dynamic group includes 4 persons from each district plus me serving as Chair, for a total of nine persons which includes DS’s, pastors and lay leaders. Great group.
We spent a day and a half with facilitator Chris Williams as we worked through a StratOp experience as we seek to define and refine our vision, mission and go forward plans for our Canadian conference. Chris was a great help to us and we are all stoked as next steps are pursued.
We also spent time meeting just as a board and outlining immediate next steps. Assignments were given, working groups established, follow up dates set and forward plans in focus amidst a spirit of optimism and “let’s go.” I will be meeting by ZOOM later this month with the two working groups and the full board will be “Zooming” with Chris as well.
The NB unanimously requested that my term as NS be extended to June of 2019 so that our first reports to the two District Conferences; our first National Conference and our initial participation as a National Conference in the 2019 International Conference of The Wesleyan Church would be complete along with the launch of other initiatives. With the concurrence of our GS, I am honoured to accept.
Watch for more word as this new chapter in the life of our church in Canada develops and grows. Onward and upward.
H C Wilson
National Superintendent
The Wesleyan Church of Canada


 

• Andy Philips (Jonesport) celebrated his first salt water baptism last Sunday afternoon following a testimony of thanks for a faithful grandmother who had taken the candidate to church as a child and prayed for him faithfully through the years. Andy shares, “God is working in people’s lives drawing them ever closer to Him!” PTL!
• Also, Mark Brewer (Crosspoint) held a baptism yesterday – praise to Jesus for the eight lives who crossed the line of faith!
• A celebration service was held yesterday afternoon at Blissfield Wesleyan. Services have been discontinued for nearly two years and the full-house service to honour the 65-year life of this church family included greetings from the district, several church members including the Sullivans and Gillespies, and former pastors CK Chitty (letter), David Ingersoll, Garry Campbell, and David Sullivan.
• Praise God that Shawn Craven (Havelock, NS) and family returned home on Wednesday and joined their church family for worship yesterday.  Shawn tweeted, “Thank you to @HWC_NS and @WesAtlantic Tribe for all the love and support you have shown our family. We will be forever in your debt!”
• Missions Pastors don’t miss the GPAtlantic announcement in Upcoming Events for a Missions Roundtable on November 8th at District Office.
• Sincere condolences to Allen Lee and family on the loss of his father (Glen H. Lee) last Sunday, September 24th. We are grateful for the many ways Allen serves our ministerial tribe as District Clergy Care Director.
• AJ Plaizier (Yarmouth) held a youth rally on the last weekend of September with over 160 in attendance. A senior from the church who was blessed through one of the rally’s acts of service said, “Everyday now I pray for God’s leadership in the lives of our youth.”
• Ellen & I enjoyed our evening on Friday with the Central Nova Scotia/PEI Zone Ministerial potluck including pastoral families from Connection, Cornerstone, Deep Water, Hillside, Metro, and New Hope. Great to see such a young crop of amazing PKs!

GPAtlantic Missions Roundtable: I am excited about an upcoming opportunity for those on the Atlantic district with missions as a part of their ministry portfolio. On November 8th we are planning a day at district office that is geared just for you. Presenters will include Jackie Fussner from Global Partners as well as Dr. Matthew Friedman, Program Director and Professor of Global Ministry at Kingswood University as resource people that day. Our goal is to provide opportunity to share best practices and strategies for connecting our churches with GP and Kingswood and the resources that they can provide. The roundtable will begin at 10:30 a.m. and conclude by 2:30 p.m. Program costs and lunch are complimentary. Please email me to register (denn@cornerstonehfx.ca) – questions/suggestions welcome!

It will take time for life to return to normal again for people living in many areas in Cuba. At this point, they are in survival mode.
Fortunately, we are continuing to receive information from our Wesleyan network about how we can best help. Infrastructures – health, education, power, and communication – have all been heavily impacted.
Your support of the CERF helps provide medications, water filtration systems and food to meet the immediate needs of those who are suffering.
Just to give you an idea of the costs, please refer to the list included. It is a guideline only and does not include shipping to Cuba or the cost of distribution in country.
There are many needs in the world today. It is easy to get overwhelmed but Canada is in a unique position to provide assistance to this little island paradise that Canadians enjoy so much!
Let’s stand in solidarity with Cuba and reduce the needless suffering. Thank you for donating to CERF today!
Assit Cuba Now

Kingswood University’s dynamic youth event ENCOUNTER is happening October 13-14. ENCOUNTER is designed to engage youth (grades 8-12) in worship, through music and the Word, and to challenge them to explore the call God has placed on their lives.
Only $60 per student. Early-bird rate deadline September 19th. For more details and to register: https://kingswood.edu/encounter

Harvest Women’s Conference
Worship – Guest Speakers – Food – Friends – Fun – Annual Women’s Conference located in Quispamsis, New Brunswick. October 27 – 28, 2017. harvestconference.ca

Awakening youth rally is geared towards both Junior/Senior High students and will occur on November 17-18 at Hillside’s Parkway Campus of Hillside. Check out awakeningrally.com  for more info on speaker, band, and registration.

Have you heard of CMASH? CMASH stands for Canadian Medical and Surgical Healthcare. As part of Global Partners Health Network (GPHN) we send teams of medical professionals who offer their expertise to Wesleyan mission fields internationally. For the last 7 years we have been focusing our efforts on Haiti and the Wesleyan hospital in La Gonave. We are now looking at other countries like Zambia. Not only are our teams helping the poor and the sick but the experiences are touching team members lives as well. You can find out more about CMASH on our website www.cmash.ca.