How Many Churches in the Fellowship
Each year I give you the current number of local churches that make up our Fellowship of churches.
We have completed all five Regional Conferences and you’ll read reports below from each of our Regional Directors.
As of this week, our Fellowship numbers are:
Report from Fellowship Pacific
All In: Individual . Team . Mission ─ That was the theme of Impact 2019 (the conference name) which took place in Delta, BC on April 24-26. With a focus on relationships, Impact took on a whole new look and feel that allowed pastors and delegates more time to connect with each other. The atmosphere was energized and fun as guests enjoyed an opening celebration reception to kick off the next two days. They were treated to a great time of worship, and stories from eight different speakers (including Jon Thompson of C4 Church in Ajax, ON) who brought the theme to life with their personal stories of being “All In” for Christ as individuals, as part of a team, and “on mission” in their communities and beyond. Focus groups for small, medium, and large churches provided some excellent resources and information for our churches. Impact 2019 wrapped up with a meaningful time of worship and communion which reminded us that being “all in” means, “…we must carry out all that God requires (Matthew 2:15).”
David Horita, Regional Director Fellowship Pacific
Greeters at South Delta Baptist Church
Jayson Oldham leading worship
Report from Fellowship Prairies
Our Regional Conference (Equip 2019) took place on May 2-3 at West Edmonton Baptist Church. We had a great time together anticipating what our future holds, while reflecting on God’s goodness to us currently. A panel of some of our new church planters, along with one of our Colombian church planters, was both inspiring and informative. We have seen God adding to our Region through some church plants recently, and are intentionally focusing in this direction going forward. This information and encouragement was helpful to process what involvement might look like as we move ahead in this area. We are grateful to God for another great year!
Mark Breitkreuz, Regional Director Fellowship Prairies
President Steve Jones at Equip 2019
Panel of some of our church planters
Report from FEB Central
Held at Forward Church (Cambridge, ON) and with an attendance over 300, this year’s FEB Central ‘Recharge’ conference was an encouragement to all who attended. Mike Bullmore, Pastor of Crossway Community Church in Bristol, WI spoke on “The Sufficiency of the Word in the Life of the Church.” Max Oates (City Centre, Mississauga, ON) led worship, and we enjoyed a special presentation by Heritage’s choral group directed by Doug Thomson. Five workshops were offered and one that attracted special attention was ‘Handling Public Backlash to Church Sexual Ethics’. It was about the experience of one of our churches when a human sexuality discipline case went viral on social media. The insights and lessons shared were timely and extremely helpful – a workshop all of our churches would benefit from hearing. This year’s recipient of the Eagle Award, who received a standing ovation, was Pastor Don Perkins. Don has endeared himself to so many and over five decades has discipled and mentored countless individuals for the Lord. Another highlight was welcoming 10 new churches, eight of which were church plants that have now achieved full autonomy. In addition to our formal gatherings, we were enriched through informal times of eating, connecting, and networking together. Yes, in one way or another, we left Regional conference feeling ‘Recharged’!
Bob Flemming, Regional Director FEB Central
Regional Director Bob Flemming praying for the pastors of 10 churches
that became members of the Fellowship this year
Pastor Don Perkins, Eagle Award recipient
Report from AÉBÉQ
The Sommet 2019 is a new initiative from AÉBÉQ which joins two of our best events: our annual Congrès and the conference “Un pas plus loin.” This new way of organizing this event came from a thoughtful reflection. We wanted to reach a significant number of the members of our churches and interest them in the mission in Québec. More than 200 people participated and we believe the number will increase in the years to come. Everyone agrees, this event was a divine success!
Louis Bourque, Regional Director AÉBÉQ
Presentation on church planting
Members from the church in Le Plateau (Montréal, QC) were presented
Norton Lages, main speaker
Report from Fellowship Atlantic
Fellowship Atlantic’s Regional Conference was held at Crossroads Baptist Church near Truro, NS on May 10 and 11. Our Region consists of 19 churches; 17 of those were represented at our conference this year, a new record. The theme was church planting, and Brad Somers (PAXnorth, Halifax, NS) was keynote speaker. He connected the early church planting formulae from Acts 2-17 with modern-day planting. We heard verbal reports from every one of our attending churches. Crossroads’ hospitality was great. National representation included Steve Jones, Dan Shurr, and Richard Flemming.
Worshipping together at PAXnorth
Brad Somers speaking
After reading these Regional reports, we can only stand amazed at how God has truly blessed our Fellowship over the past year. All glory goes to Him, the immortal, invisible God, in whom we move and have our very existence.
“May we shout for joy over your victory and lift up our banners in the name of our God...” Psalm 20:5