Mission and Leadership Tools for all of Ontario, Featuring International Thought Leaders

March Summit Offering Interpretation in French, Spanish and ASL

What does spiritual leadership look like in today's complex and challenging context? Ontario Conference will tackle this question and more during a province-wide Mission and Leadership Summit to be held Friday, March 4, and Sabbath, March 5. It will run from 6:30-8:30 pm on Friday and 4-7 pm on Sabbath, Eastern time. All plenary sessions will be streamed onto youtube.com/adventistontario, and workshops will be hosted in Zoom. To ensure a broader reach for this initiative, we will be offering French, Spanish and ASL interpretation on both days, and a call-in service for seniors and others without internet.

This summit will take a fresh approach to spiritual leadership via devotionals, TED talk-style presentations, engaging roundtables and interactive seminars. Our roster of international thought leaders includes Pastor Allan Martin (Teaching Pastor, Younger Generation Church), Pastor Alina van Rensberg (Young Adult Specialist, South Queensland Church, Australia), Pastor Joanne Cortes (DC Campus Pastor, Beltsville Seventh-day Adventist Church) and Dr. Leslie Pollard (President, Oakwood University).

As in 2021, our primary mission this year is “Connecting Like Jesus". However, in 2022, we will also focus on developing the spiritual leaders needed to accomplish this mission in every congregation. Themes covered throughout the weekend will include spiritual development for leaders, inter-generational team building, God's mission for the church, inreach vs. outreach and leaders as agents of change. In addition, concurrent seminars on Sabbath afternoon will delve into the great commission, Indigenous ministry, social justice, immigration/refugee ministry and resilience for leaders.

The time for such an event is now. Local church evaluations have revealed that most of our congregations are declining or plateauing. Sadly, some of our large congregations are not healthy, and some congregations are busy but not active in their primary purposes of ministry and mission. As author, coach and speaker John Maxwell said, “People never rise higher than their leaders.” This summit will help us become a conference of growing and multiplying congregations.

Speaking on the significance of this event, Ontario Conference President Mansfield Edwards stated, “We are undoubtedly living in momentous times. The coming of Christ is near, and the Church must rise up and be the body of Christ in this world. It is time to return to the ministry and mission Christ laid out for us. Our leadership summit will thus be a Conference-wide refocus for our churches, leaders and officers. Let us gain the leadership tools to help our churches connect like Jesus and hasten His return.”

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To download the promotional video, please click here.
To download the promotional graphics, please click here.