Pastor Adam Van Dop

Have you and your fellow council members ever struggled to find best practices for tracking visitation, and measuring the goals you've put in place for visitation of your church family? Do you desire to find helpful methods to ensure that all members of your church are known, loved, and accounted for? 

Together, we will take a look at a way to help you find your way. This is a process which involves volunteer Care Team Leaders working closely with Visitation/Pastoral/Ministering Elders, as a way to see that your church family is well cared for!

Gary Veeneman

This workshop is designed for new deacons to learn about their role, but also for experienced deacons to be refreshed and to share their insights with those who are new. Incoming deacons will be inspired to actively engage in their diaconate, appreciate previous diaconal work done by the church, and be given a chance to share their aspirations for future endeavours. At the end of the workshop all participants will emerge with more of a unified understanding of their role as deacons and be more familiar with Diaconal Ministries Canada and how it can support their diaconate.

Pastor Jenna Fabiano

Being appointed as a leader of your church as a woman can come with unique or unexpected challenges, many of which don’t come to the surface until we’re already in the role. What are some of these challenges? How might Scripture be able to inform our understanding of women in leadership and help us to face some of these challenges? Join us for this workshop as we share, discuss, and learn about the unique gifts that we offer as women to the church and how those gifts can be used to the maximum potential.

Note: This workshop is intentionally geared towards women, although men are more than welcome to join.

Pastor Steve Berkenpas

Visiting those with dementia has a unique set of challenges, often leading people to be under visited and cared for. I know in my own circles visiting a person with dementia can end up being so discouraging that we can be fearful in even arranging another the visit. This breakout will open with some practical considerations of what dementia is and how a Christian perspective provides hope. It will also focus on some practical tips on how to do effective visits with both those with dementia and their caregivers.  

 Faye Martin

All around us, real situations of Church Leadership Sexual Misconduct & Abuse continue to come to light.  What does that mean for how churches respond?  We will dig into a new & recent scenario that challenges us to examine the how, why & impact of our responses as church leaders while exercising the high calling of our responsibility and power to do good.

Tim Sheridan | Resonate Global Mission

Many leaders are suggesting that the North American church today is facing a "discipleship crisis." What has contributed to that? What important questions should we be asking if we are going to help foster a disciple-making culture in our local congregations? What learning and insights can we gain from the global church? These are the core questions we'll be engaging in this breakout session.

Pastor Mike Koot

In this breakout we’ll focus on how to use a “visit” to discover, encourage, and gently blow on the spark of faith in the lives of those you visit, so that they are encouraged and sense that Jesus has come close to them. We’ll work to accomplish this by exploring very practical “how-to” steps for the visit, including aspects of the visit from pre-visit to post-visit.  We’ll also consider potential problems you might encounter during visits, and how to avoid getting sucked into visit “traps.”

Wilma Van der Leek

Wouldn’t it be amazing to be a leadership team with the ability, like the men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do? (I Chron. 12:32). In this break-out, we’ll look at the difference between deciding and discerning, with an emphasis on the role of scripture. Some of the very real barriers to but also genuine possibilities of discernment will be engaged.