Assembly 2015: Growing Up Together Summary

CBOQ Assembly 2015 Summary Dear CBOQ Family, It has been so good to be together.

Hearing the corporate worship you provided, noticing the hallway reunions, engaging in discernment together towards the Mind of Christ; all these things have reminded me how blessed we are to be in community in this family called CBOQ. Thank you for your faithful input and questions during our business meetings. Thank you for celebrating new pastors and churches with us. It was good to recognize those who have faithfully served for years and those who’ve parted our presence to be with our Lord. Thank you for your contributions to the work we accomplish together in the name of Christ. We are indeed Growing Up Together.

We want to continue to fulfill our commitment in the relationship between your local church and CBOQ by equipping and encouraging the leaders in your congregation. Keep us posted on how we can walk with your church, your association or with a group of ministry specific leaders to provide support and resources. Share with us the stories of what God is doing in and through your churches.

Lastly, we want to invite a deeper commitment from your church to the work we accomplish together. The signals of that commitment might be consistent participation in this gathering every year at Assembly—we’re glad you came. Another signal might be a deeper financial contribution to CBOQ to ensure we are able to continue living out our mission of equipping leaders and churches.

Still another signal would be a commitment for your church to be in consistent prayer for CBOQ over the course of a year. Whatever your church decides, we are grateful for the opportunity we have to journey together.

I look forward to seeing you along the way. It will be good to worship with you, pray with you, meet challenges together and celebrate what God is doing in your community. I sure hope to see you again next year at Assembly, June 9-11, 2016.

How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!—Psalm 133:1 Many blessings,

Tim McCoy Executive Minister, CBOQ

Thursday

Thursday’s business sessions began with prayer, and then began the celebration! We welcomed three new churches and 15 new (or new to us) pastors this year.

Michel Belzile, CBOQ’s 2014-2015 Board President shared his insights into the function of the board—that they are here to ensure that CBOQ is working well for you, our member churches. As part of that good work, Michel announced that Tim McCoy has agreed to continue to lead CBOQ for another five years and formally launched our 2015-2017 strategic plan, (printed in this year’s Resource Guide) alluding to many exciting things to come.

Miranda Queh expressed her gratitude for our churches’ financial support in her final Treasurer’s Report.

In addition, the delegates accepted the 2014 audited financial statements, 2015 revised budget and 2016 draft budgets. Miranda is retiring this year and passing the torch to Peris Kamotho, CBOQ’s new Director of Finance and Administration.

In the afternoon, Tim welcomed our other new directors: Dallas Friesen, Director of Congregational Health

and Melody Currier, who was promoted earlier this year to the new position of Director of Operations and Membership. Tim also shared some of the amazing things God has done through us. He told us as well about doors God has opened, such as with the New Paths conference, as we seek to “reset the relationship” with our First Nations neighbours.

In a special section after the Executive Minister’s report, Tim reminded us all of CBOQ and our churches’ covenant relationship of mutual support and led a discussion session called The Mind of Christ (see below).

Our new president, Donna Chapman closed the business sessions by encouraging us to welcome every kind of person to our tables. Her family connection is clear: “This is a denomination that I have been part of since I was ten. You are family to me and I hope I am to you.

And it is my prayer that together we keep proclaiming a God who is saying: ‘I’m throwing a banquet, and all you mismatched, messed up, marvelously hungry people out there are invited.’”

In the evening, we heard from our plenary speaker

The Mind of Christ

Tim McCoy posed three questions to the delegates to consider, discuss and discern what God is saying.

1. What does it mean to be autonomous yet associate?

2. What does it mean to honour and respect each other’s church and Assembly decisions in our CBOQ family?

3. How do we find the mind of Christ as an individual, as a congregation and as a family of churches?

Some common themes arose from the small group discussions.

We are a family. And like any family, we have our independence, but we share common genetic traits. There is some tension built into this reality, as there is in all families, but our togetherness gives us access to collective wisdom and strength.

Family requires sacrifice. It means choosing to give up some measure of autonomy. Association is a choice that involves sacrifice.

We sacrifice part of our freedom

to each other, while recognizing that the opposite of division is not uniformity.

Our family has values. We are grounded in Scripture, and experience prayer in community as together we seek the Mind of Christ.

So much so, that at Assembly 50 years before, this was the exact theme that God stirred in the hearts of Canadian Baptists! God is with us!

If you have further comments, please email them to fromthefloor@baptist.ca.

Gary Nelson, President and Vice Chancellor of Tyndale University College. He focused his first talk on “Recovering our Radical Roots,” allowing us to see ourselves as a people of reaction and principle, helping us to understand more about our origins as Baptists and what that means for us today.

Friday Tim McCoy opened Friday’s session by inviting us to consider who we are and who we will be, then invited our valued partner organizations and some CBOQ staff directors to share what God is doing through them.

CBWOQ highlighted their vision for silent stand-ins, prayer and support for their Buying Sex Is Not a Sport campaign, which is closely tied to upcoming Pan Am Games events.

Brian Craig, Director of Leadership Development at CBOQ shared his thoughts on our history and present as people of passion and excellence, but also some of the challenges that come with pastoral service. He encouraged us to ask ourselves who is mentoring us and who are we mentoring?

He also encouraged us to support our pastors in ongoing development to ensure that they are getting the care and support they need to serve God and their communities well.

Stan Porter from McMaster Divinity College shared their commitment to excellence and interest in raising up future leaders. Gord Heath from the Canadian Baptist Archives added cinematic flair sharing how they are our “Monuments Men (and Women),” dedicated to the safekeeping of our common history.

Matt Wilkinson, CBOQ’s Director of Youth and Family Ministries, gave us a clear picture of the importance of investing in the next generation by demonstrating how many in the audience became Christians at a young age. In Matt’s words, “The landscape of the church in Canada is changing, but the message of Jesus hasn’t.”

Clint Mix, CBOQ’s Director of Church Planting and Mission demonstrated the importance of church planting by showing us the family tree of churches like Toronto Chinese Baptist Church, which is now a parent, grandparent and

great-grandparent to other successful congregations. He also introduced Roberto Ascencio, who is currently planting a new church in Cambridge, ON, giving us the chance to hear some of his vision for his community and offer prayer support.

Staying closely with finding out more about our roots, Canadian Baptist Ministries began with a Morse code recording of an early Canadian Baptist missive, pointing out just how long we Canadian Baptists have been talking to each other.

Not stuck in the past, they also talked about their future, including commissioning Emad and Almass Botros who are heading to Lebanon. We also had the chance to hear about exciting growth in Chinese ministries. On a more somber note, we also said our formal farewell to Sam Chaise, current Executive Director, as he has decided to leave CBM in the fall. Sam will be missed indeed!

In the afternoon, we all split up into our respective workshops where everyone had the chance to learn more about how God is moving in churches and in our culture. There were themes of change and transition and how we can respond to them.

There were discussions about innovative ministry, and the chance to learn more about the Psalms and how they can lead us into worship.

Saturday In the evening, Steve Bell led worship that brought our Canadian Baptist family together to praise God. Instead of traditional Executive Minister’s remarks, Tim McCoy used his time to issue a participatory call to prayer, reminding us that the body of Baptists ought to be a living prayer. He invited all the pastors to the centre of the room and led the assembly in prayer first for the spiritual, physical, relational and emotional health of pastors, and then invited the pastors to pray for church representatives. It was a time of invitation of the Holy Spirit and mutual support and care.

Gary Nelson again took the stage for his second talk, “Swimming in Both Streams,” where he shared his struggles of trying to figure out how to identify himself as a “convention” Baptist. He encouraged us to find out who we are, and then live it in our unique Canadian Baptist identity. His challenge was clear when he said, “We do better when we live up to our social justice history, and when we have a sense of mission.”

Saturday began bright and early with learning sessions, this time focused on more practical applications in ministry. There were themes on worship, how to welcome newcomers, learning how to speak truth in love, how to respond to global crises and those who are affected by them, responding to the spiritual needs of youth in times of transition and elements of church finances and governance.

After the learning sessions, we reconvened for a final worship session with Steve Bell, who has done so much to lift our hearts and spirits before the throne of God. Gary completed his trilogy of talks by explaining how our Baptist uniqueness gives us some advantages in missional living. He suggested that there are keys to dealing with our present realities in our past—that our revolutionary ancestors can show us how to move beyond reaction and fear and into faith. We don’t need to be cookie-cutter congregations. We have the freedom to respond to our local context and culture and be who God is calling us to be.

Thank you for coming to Assembly 2015: Growing Up Together. See you on June 9, 2016!

For photos and details on Assembly 2015, check out baptist.ca/assembly in the days to come!