Regional Gathering, West

Regional Gatherings are events for the EMCC family of pastors, leaders and global workers. With one event in the East and the other in the West, these twin events are held between General Assemblies. 

It is a time for inspiration, celebrating what God is doing in our midst, learning, connecting, and facilitating family conversations.

• Click the button to preview a digital copy of the Regional Gathering West schedule.
  WEST SCHEDULE PDF

Friday, April 26
2:00pm	Registration
3:00pm	Are We Stuck? – Steve Schaufele, EMCC Pastor at Foothills   Community Church, Okotoks, AB.
4:00pm	Empathy: The Language of Love Your Church Must Speak for Grieving Hearts to Heal – Shirley Thiessen, Founder and Executive Director of CornerBend Grief Ministries
5:00pm	Dinner – off site
7:00pm	Collective Impact, Engaged Together in His Good Work – Tracy Minke, Kevin Hegeman, and John Cressman The public is invited to join us for this EMCC Worship Service
9:00pm	Fellowship Gathering – Join your friends and colleagues for a time of fellowship
Saturday, April 27
8:00am	Prayer Breakfast – Together in Prayer
9:30am	Break
9:45am	Networking with Peers – Engage & Connect with EMCC Pastors & Leaders
10:30am	Tentmakers: Combining Work and Faith – James Watson, Research Fellow with the Canadian Institute for Empirical Church Research, Wycliffe College at University of Toronto Growing Young(er): Why Prioritizing Next Gen Ministry is Essential to Revitalizing Your Church! – Gen Epp, M.A. in Leadership and Evangelism from Wheaton College and Member of the EMCC National Next Gen Team
11:30am	Lunch – on site
12:30pm	Mobilizing the Local Church for Mission Engagement – Nicole Jones Qandah, Director of EMCC World Partners
1:30pm	EMCC Matters – EMCC National Board & EMCC President
3:00pm	Closing

Workshops

• Unstuck & Revitalization – Steve Schaufle
  
  Is your church stuck? What would it look like to get unstuck? How much work is it going to be to change? How long will it take? Will it be worth the effort? Moving your church towards life doesn’t have to feel like death. Let’s talk about a doable process for revitalized ministry and church life.

• Empathy: The Language of Love Your Church Must Speak for Grieving Hearts to Heal – Shirley Thiessen
  
  Most people don’t know what is helpful to say or do to support a grieving friend. Fear of doing the wrong thing stops many from doing anything. Carrying each other’s burdens is the responsibility of every Christ follower, not just the pastors. From her personal grief journey, Shirley will share best practices to accelerate trust, fuel connection and amplify your church’s influence. In this workshop, you’ll discover practical ideas and proven resources for your church to be a haven of hope and healing. Every person who attends this workshop (online or in person) will receive a free copy of Shirley’s book, “The Little Black Funeral Dress.”
  
  
• Tentmakers: Combining Work and Faith – James Watson
  
  What makes work faith-full? Tentmakers or pastors who are multi-vocational, bi-vocational, or co-vocational have offered their insights into what makes their combinations of employment meaningful. Research with Canadian leaders provides an opportunity to reflect on how the pieces can fit together and what this may mean for the future of the church in Canada. If you would like to read about the research, there is a report on the research (canadianmultivocationalministry.ca/report) and a recently published book (Tentmakers: Multi Vocational Ministry in Western Society). Your questions are welcome. Come join the conversation.
  
  

• Growing Young(er): Why Prioritizing Next Gen Ministry is Essential to Revitalizing Your Church! – Genevive Epp, EMCC Next Gen Team Member

  This is a workshop that's crucial for the future of our churches: we need to be Growing Young(er). It's not just a catchy phrase; it's a call to action that carries immense importance for the vitality and sustainability of our EMCC family. This interactive session will explore the work of Fuller Youth Institute, “Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church” by Kara Powell, Jake Mulder and Brad Griffin, to help us think more holistically about how to revitalize and innovate in our individual context. This is for any church leader who understands that their church needs to be growing younger but isn't sure how to get there. Join the EMCC Next Gen team as we dive into these six core commitments that your church needs to grow young! All churches grow old... but strategic churches are growing young!

• Mobilizing the Local Church for Mission Engagement – Nicole Jones Qandah 

  Wondering how to connect with your changing neighbourhood? Curious about the shifting global mission landscape? This workshop will give you a greater idea of the consultations World Partners staff are happy to offer as a service to you as members of EMCC. We would love to help you engage in mission strategically. Our heart would be that these consultations help EMCC, and each of you, sense your part in a larger story of theglobal church on the move.

Register for the WEST Regional Gathering:

*Note: Click the 'Add Attendee' button to register for yourself and any additional attendees and fill in the required fields. Contact communications@emcc.ca if you have any questions. 

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• To register for the Ethos course in the West, click here.
• For more details on registration fees and accomodations, click here.
• To register for our East gathering, click here.