Fall Update
News on the VOTE (FNC 2017), Day of Prayer, and Bible Engagement Project
I wanted to give you an update on our recent FNC 2017 (Fellowship National Conference) held in Toronto from November 13-15, 2017. We had a very important VOTE on our Membership – Baptism issue… Keep reading to learn more.
November 5-19 — #TheGreatestBook
It was good to hear from some of you and your local churches who participated in our Fellowship Bible Engagement project, #TheGreatestBook. In an age where Bible illiteracy is so prevalent it’s our hope that this brief reminder underscores the need for the Fellowship family to be in God’s Word regularly. Study after study shows that regular Bible reading and study significantly impacts a believer’s spiritual maturity.
Comments received from #TheGreatestBook participants include:
“We attend at First Baptist Church in Timmins. My family and I have been reading the 14 day Greatest Book devotional for our family bible time each night. Thank you for taking the time to share this resource with Fellowship churches. The reminder to focus on God’s Word is both essential and rewarding. Thank you!”
— Nathan Kring
“Steve, thanks for presenting the greatest book initiative, and for the provision of the excellent resource materials. Our people are using the 14 day devotional, and hearing a three week sermon series on why and how to read the Bible. A most excellent challenge which should slow down and maybe even help reverse the troubling downward trend of neglect of this most excellent Word.”
— Roy Sommerville, Pastor, Queensway Baptist (Etobicoke)
If you and your church missed getting involved in our Bible Engagement Project from November 5-19, why not consider doing it sometime in 2018? All the resources and tools for the two-week project are available at www.thegreatestbook.ca where you’ll find #TheGreatestBook 14-day devotional, sample sermons, and age-appropriate Bible studies for children, teens, and adults. All resources are written by leaders within our Fellowship family.
November 13-15 — FNC2017
Our National office has plans to send our churches a full report of FNC2017 in early 2018. In brief, our National Conference in Toronto was very well attended with 166 churches and 379 delegates and other attendees registered. The theme, 500 and Beyond, sought to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Our speaker, Dr. John Neufeld of Back to the Bible Canada, did an outstanding job pointing us to the scriptures that instrumentally reformed the church in the 16th century, with a special call to preachers and teachers to preach the text boldly.
We spent time in praise and prayer together, hearing great reports of mission advancement. Fellowship International and Fellowship Chaplaincy reported a record recruitment year and FAIR (our humanitarian relief department) announced a new organization partnership with BridgeNorth, a ministry to the sexually exploited in Canada. We gained practical insights in workshops, heard from OMF’s Executive Director Jon Fuller on current mission practices in Canadian churches, and from Trinity Western University's Carson Pue on their very public religious freedom court battle with the provincial Legal Societies of BC and Ontario. TWU will defend their case on November 30 through December 1 at Canada’s Supreme Court… we are encouraged to pray on Sunday November 26 in our churches for religious liberty in Canada. All this was capped off with a great banquet and laughs with the improv troupe The Fidgets.
OUR MEMBERSHIP VOTE
In the middle of FNC2017 we gathered together in a business session for discussion and a VOTE of our Membership-Baptism issue. We have been dialoguing on this issue for three years. At FNC our delegates voted on “National Council’s MOTION”… 451 votes were cast (79 were remote votes) and the result was as follows: YES – 53% NO – 47%. The motion failed as it required a two-thirds threshold. A second “member’s Motion” was discussed but later withdrawn by the mover and seconder.
November 19 — Fellowship Day of Prayer
I hope you and your church took advantage of our annual Fellowship Day of Prayer. I’d love to hear back from some of you on what your church family did to focus on the Fellowship in prayer on Sunday, November 19. If you missed this opportunity, why not consider scheduling another Sunday worship service or other gathering.