By Leandro Palacios, Director of Communications

I am deeply thankful to all those who took a few minutes to offer feedback about your experience participating in our Organizational Meeting on Saturday, January 17.

Although we have held Canada-wide online gatherings in the past during our All Voices discernment process, this was the first time members from across the country participated in a business meeting with full voice and vote, including those gathered in person at nine remote sites. This is an important step that reflects our commitment to moving onward together in innovative ways.

Your feedback about this milestone matters. Everything we learned—especially how you felt about this experience—will inform how we prepare for future events, particularly our upcoming Canada Mission Centre Conference on November 7.

What are participants saying?

As of January 28, 78 participants had responded to the survey. Almost 82% of respondents indicated they are in the 65+ age range. This reflects the demographic reality of our membership, and it also points to the ongoing need to work together to imagine new ways of engaging younger members and seekers in this important aspect of the life of the church.

Most participants reported that technical aspects of the meeting ran smoothly, including ease of access and audio quality. While 91% of respondents expressed satisfaction with advance communications and the availability of key documents, a small number indicated they had difficulty finding this information. We will continue to refine our communication practices to make them as clear and accessible as possible.

Overall, participants felt the pacing of the meeting was appropriate and that taking additional time for voting was understandable in order to include those participating from remote sites. At the same time, some respondents noted frustration with delays and suggested more clarity when announcing voting results, such as sharing percentages.

Many participants identified the highlight of the day as the sense of connection with members from across Canada. Other aspects that stood out included the clarity of process and leadership roles, the worship service, and the voting and decision-making process.

When asked about future Canada-wide gatherings, most respondents indicated a preference for online or hybrid formats. When in-person participation is possible, respondents most often named shared meals, fellowship, and opportunities for learning and discussion as meaningful experiences.

Thank you for sharing your voice. Please continue to reach out with your feedback. I look forward to the next opportunity to put into practice what we learned from this first Canada-wide meeting, so that each time we gather, technical challenges and great distances do not stand in the way of experiencing the presence of the Spirit leading us onward together.

By Lanette Vawter, Director of Leadership Development

As the newest director for Community of Christ Canada, I am pleased to introduce myself and look forward to our work together. I am committed to fostering inclusive communities where everyone feels they belong and can contribute meaningfully to our shared mission. My role involves connecting with and supporting current leaders, as well as overseeing and implementing a leadership development strategy across Canada.

Growing up in the Prince George Mission of Community of Christ in British Columbia in the 1960s and 1970s, we met primarily in each other’s homes. I learned at a very young age the value of the scripture:

“For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” (Matthew 18:20, NRSVUE)

It was in this small mission that I learned how the Spirit of God infuses even the humblest of gatherings with meaning and purpose. The humility and faithfulness of this congregation continue to inspire and support my own faith development. The knowledge that each life matters and has something to contribute has shaped my approach to leadership.

My values of inclusion and belonging have influenced my work as a director of community services for an organization that supports persons with intellectual disabilities. These values also inform my personal relationships, my work as a spiritual director, and my life in the church as a member and an elder. As we move forward together, I hope we can deepen our engagement and act with greater love to make the peaceable kingdom a reality.

By Leandro Palacios, Director of Communications

This past Saturday, January 17, will be remembered as the day Community of Christ in Canada began a new era as one unified mission centre. We were blessed by the presence of Apostle Shannon McAdam, Apostle Lach Mackay, Janné Grover of the First Presidency, and members from coast to coast, who gathered online to sustain the leadership team, the Mission Centre President of record, other officers, and the new Mission Centre Council, and to approve the unified budget that will support our mission and ministry moving forward.

Thanks to the efforts of our tech team, led by Troy Roach with the assistance of Jeanny Jakobsen and Quinlan Stevenson, we were also able to welcome members who gathered in person at nine remote sites, including groups at the Chilliwack, Edmonton, La Salle Road, Stratford, Thunder Bay, and Woodfield churches, and at members' homes in Barrie, Saskatoon, and Senlac (see photos below). This hybrid approach will be considered as a possible model for future Mission Centre conferences.

Our organizational meeting was also an opportunity to come together for worship. We are thankful to Kat Goheen and Dawn Dawson for coordinating this time of prayer, reflection, and hymn singing, reminding us that even when the occasion is a business meeting, we intentionally invite the presence of the Spirit to guide us and to unite us as the body of Christ, even when disagreement arises.

Together in worship, we reaffirmed our commitment to ministry and mission by responding together, “we will,” to the five invitations read by the leadership team. These followed the five guiding steps for disciples that our Prophet-President Stassi Cramm offered during her sermon at the 2025 World Church Conference:

• “Will you commit to lives of discernment, seeking God’s guidance in all things?”
• “Will you commit to faithful stewardship, bold leadership, and courageous response?”
• “Will you commit to strengthening local witness while celebrating our global identity?”
• “Will you commit to being temples of peace in your own lives and communities?”
• “Will you commit to accountability, reflection, and faithful response to the Spirit’s call?”

To all these invitations, we replied together, “we will!”

We sustained the members of the Canada Leadership Team:

• Vonda DenBoer, Director of Camping and Campground Sustainability
• John Hamer, Director of Outreach and Innovative Mission
• Leandro Palacios, Director of Communications
• Sam Smalldon, Director of Shared Services, CFO, Mission Centre President of Record
• Lanette Vawter, Director of Leadership Development​

This Saturday, January 17, we will gather to bless the framework that will guide and support our shared ministry and mission in Canada. Following a time of worship and prayer—when we will renew our commitment to discipleship as we enter a new era—we will move into the business portion of the meeting. 

​The agenda includes several items, including sustaining the Mission Centre President Team, Financial Officer, Mission Centre Council, and other appointments, along with approving the Canada-wide mission budget that unites the CEM and CWM budgets previously approved in September.

We have gathered here the most common questions and concerns raised during this week’s pre-legislative sessions. Please take a moment to review these responses as we prepare for the Canada Mission Centre Organizational Meeting.

Who can vote at this Organizational Meeting?
All members of Community of Christ in Canada who have completed registration will have voice and vote at the business meeting.

Who will preside, and why?
Because the terms of the previous mission centre presidents concluded on December 31, Apostle Shannon McAdam will preside over this organizational meeting.

Will all members vote to approve the minutes from the CEM and CWM conferences?
Yes. The minutes from the most recent Canada East and Canada West Mission Centre conferences will be considered together in a single motion. This means all members will vote to approve the minutes of both conferences. As with any item, members may choose to abstain if that feels appropriate.

How will quorum and voting work?
Standard Community of Christ conference procedures will apply. No new or special rules are being introduced.

What is the Mission Centre Council, and how were members selected?
The Mission Centre Council will support the Canadian leadership team by offering counsel, providing accountability, and helping guide the mission centre’s direction. The proposed members have been carefully selected to reflect the geographic, age, gender, and experiential diversity of Community of Christ in Canada.

Are there changes to budgets or assessments?
There are no changes to budget amounts for 2026. The Canada East and Canada West budgets, both approved in September, are being combined for administrative purposes only. Existing assessment models will remain in place for 2026. Any future changes would require broad consultation and a mission conference decision, with 2027 being the earliest possible implementation.

Will future mission centre conferences be online or in person?
All future conferences will provide the option to participate online. Congregations may also choose to host local gatherings during conferences using a remote location model. In addition, the Canadian leadership team and the Mission Centre Council will consider opportunities to gather in person when possible. We recognize the importance of maintaining the tradition of in-person Mission Centre conferences.

Join us on Saturday, January 17, 2026, beginning at 12:00 p.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. MT / 2:00 p.m. CT / 3:00 p.m. ET.

We look forward to sharing this historical moment with you as we take this crucial step onward together as one Canada Mission Centre.

The agenda, registration link, and important documents—including budgets, previous conference minutes, and information about the proposed Mission Centre Council—are available on the conference webpage.

Last Saturday, November 22, more than 30 members from across Canada participated in our first Communications Town Hall—including eight from the Chilliwack congregation. This was an opportunity to meet face to face with the members of the Communications Team and learn more about what we do and what our priorities are for 2026. We also had a chance to hear questions and insights from attendees across the country, helping us better understand how our team can support ministries and programs at the local level as we move onward together.

In this article, we share key takeaways from this event, including highlights from the presentation and answers to some of the questions we heard from attendees from across Canada.

Who We Are

The Communications Team is currently composed of Jeanny Jakobsen from Saskatoon, SK, serving as Operations Specialist; Quinlan Stevenson from Stratford, ON, serving as Communications Coordinator; and Leandro Palacios from Toronto, ON, serving as Director. We are hoping to add a Graphic Designer to the team (if you are interested, you can find more details here).

What We Do

• We work to keep members and seekers up to date with what’s happening in the church. 
• We create and distribute media resources for outreach, worship, and learning. 
• We work to strengthen public awareness of Community of Christ in the Canadian context and to invite new people to participate in our online and in-person communities and ministries.

To do that, we aim to clearly express who we are, what we do, and what we believe. This is why we uphold visual standards and communicate our identity, mission, message, and beliefs as stated in Sharing in Community of Christ, while reflecting the Canadian cultural context.

Our Priorities for 2026

Key priorities include:

• Strengthening church identity and connection across Canada: our community does not end at the physical walls of our buildings, let’s create ministries with participants from coast to coast and celebrate missions together.
• Creating digital libraries of sermons, prayers, meditations, lectures, podcasts, and music that feature Canadian ministries and voices—to complement the resources published by the World Church.
• Telling the story of Community of Christ in Canada to invite people to Christ: learning together to invite by sharing meaningful, inspiring stories.
• Strengthening communication at the congregational level by connecting with current Communications Officers and inviting others to serve in this role: 16 congregations have already appointed a Communications Officer! 

Feedback and Questions from the Town Hall

1. How do we develop and maintain relationships with local members who can no longer attend in person?

The local community is unique and we want to continue to support this type of gathering. However, connecting with those who cannot attend in person does not have to be centered around the Sunday service (by adding more cameras and microphones), but by trying something new. For example, the Scarborough congregation holds their regular in-person service some Sundays but gathers every Thursday for a fully online service. That allows people who can no longer attend in person to participate fully, and “quality” becomes less about production and more about community.

Our team is hoping to create and nurture connections with people across Canada, no matter what congregation they come from. Onward Together does not only mean that two mission centres are becoming one. It also means that to fully take advantage of the opportunities ahead of us, we must let go of thinking that our church community is only the people who used to come in person to our building. Identity based on a building has not helped us invite people to church in the last few decades. Instead, we want to promote Canada-wide communities that share common passion and vocation.

This question was related to how to run a successful hybrid service. While IT recommendations and support are not functions of the Communications Team, we remind everyone that a guideline for online and hybrid services is available on our website.

2. Can you blur faces in photos we share with the Communications Team?

No. Before sharing photos with us, you need to ask permission from anyone whose face is clearly visible.

3. What are the minimum communications channels a congregation should manage?

We heard questions like: Can someone help us update our website? Should we be on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X? How much time should we dedicate to these things?

You don’t have to be on every social media platform and you don’t need to have your own website. But of course, you can. However, the more channels the more time it will take to manage them. Here's what we suggest:

Appoint a Communications Officer if you haven’t yet. This way we can ensure that all the information about your events, ministries, and contact information are up to date on the website of Community of Christ in Canada. This is more important than managing your own website because communityofchrist.ca will normally rank higher on Google searches. 

If someone in the congregation uses Facebook regularly, they can dedicate one hour per week to manage your congregation’s Facebook page.

If someone in the congregation uses Instagram regularly, they can dedicate one hour per week to share photos on a church account. Instagram posts can be automatically shared on Facebook.

What about TikTok, X, YouTube? These platforms require more content creation. Content has to be about a topic, not about promotion or invitation to a church event, the algorithms don’t like promotional content unless you pay for it.

Online channels are not the only way to promote your activities. For example, in Toronto, a small note in a free magazine brought hundreds of people to our in-person lectures. Think of what might work in your area, like a bulletin board at the library or community centre. 

4. Are you creating media content that we can post on social media?

We encourage you to share in your congregation’s social media channels all the content that we publish online as Community of Christ in Canada. But we do not create content tailored for your local events and ministries. We can work with your Communications Officer to build templates so that you can create quality graphics and video that will look professional and follow current social media trends. 

5. Are we developing guidelines for congregations to effectively and safely promote their work on social media?

We are. Once those become available early next year, we will publish them on the website and announce them in our newsletters and social media.

I want to thank all those who participated in the first of many Communications Town Halls. I am looking forward to seeing you at our next session (the date will be published shortly). In the meantime, should you have any questions, concerns, or feedback, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Leandro Palacios
Director of Communications – Community of Christ in Canada
[email protected]

By Leandro Palacios, Director of Communications

How do we keep members connected across great distances? To what extent should we embrace new technologies and trends in our efforts to spread the Gospel? How far should we go in adapting our places of worship to new tools? Although we might think these questions belong to the modern age, they have a long history in Community of Christ.

​A century ago, as the church was re-establishing its presence in Independence, Missouri, while maintaining strong roots in Lamoni, Iowa, President Fred M. Smith saw the need to reach out to members scattered across the world. Travelling often between the two cities, he envisioned a new way to connect them: through the airwaves. Radio was still new and exciting, and very few Christian denominations had dared to use it. That didn’t stop our church leaders from setting up a radio station, authorized by the U.S. government under the call sign KFIX (later KLDS). This made the RLDS church one of the first denominations in the United States to own a licensed station. The first broadcast took place in January 1925 from Lamoni and reached members in several nearby states. Later, a radio antenna was installed on the tower of the Stone Church in Independence, and the broadcasts began reaching listeners as far as Canada and beyond.

A hundred years later, these same questions still echo — perhaps louder than ever. Many members today wonder how we can stay connected across great distances while still honouring regional traditions as we move onward together as one mission centre. The internet and social media give us powerful ways to reach each other, but they also bring new challenges. Is TikTok an appropriate way to share the Gospel? How do we communicate effectively on Facebook? How do we keep our online spaces safe and inclusive?

The choices we make today are as significant as those made by our pioneers who once raised an antenna over one of our most sacred spaces. And because what we do today is history, we are called to tell the story — so that 100 years from now, someone else might be inspired to boldly try something new, something we cannot yet imagine!

Where to start?

We will consider how to tell the story at our first Communications Town Hall. Everything we do when we gather can become part of our shared story of community and discipleship if we remember that these moments belong to a greater story that reaches all the way back to the first disciples. Storytelling can transform the way we live and share our mission. Join us as we learn how to tell the story of Community of Christ in Canada—together!

Communications Town Hall
📅 Saturday, November 22
 ⌚ 10 am PT / 11 am MT / 12 pm CT / 1 pm ET
 🖥️ On Zoom – open to members and seekers

Meeting ID: 878 5553 5695
Passcode: 081015

We’re launching a new quarterly Communications Townhall to connect with congregations, members, and seekers across Canada and strengthen how we share our stories and celebrate missional success. This will be a space for conversation, learning, and collaboration. Our first meeting will be November 22.

Come meet Communications Officers and other dedicated individuals guiding communications efforts at the local level. Get to know the people serving in our national Communications Team. Help us ask the right questions and find the right answers—together.

All are welcome—young and old, tech-savvy and tech-beginner, members and seekers alike. Together, we’ll talk about how communications can help you achieve your goals, and we’ll take note of any local concerns or challenges you are aware of.

Our first Townhall will focus on “Telling the Story.” Too often, our event announcements stop at dates and locations. But how do we make our invitations more engaging? How do we tell stories that make others want to join us? How can we share our stories so that our mission is remembered and celebrated?

We’ll explore questions like:

• If I were looking for a church, what would I want to know before walking through the door?
• When we say “all are welcome,” do we speak in ways that help newcomers actually feel included?
• How can we avoid church jargon and connect through stories that feel real and relatable?

We’ll also look at simple ways to:

• take photos that faithfully capture what was felt
• record meaningful reflections and lessons learned—not just statistics
• share those stories on social media

Each gathering can become part of our shared story of community and discipleship. Storytelling can transform the way we live and share our mission. Join us as we learn how to tell the story of Community of Christ in Canada—together.

📅 Saturday, November 22
 ⌚ 10 am PT / 11 am MT / 12 pm CT / 1 pm ET
 🖥️ On Zoom – open to members and seekers

By John Hamer, Director of Outreach and Innovative Mission

The Canada West and Canada East Missions have now voted overwhelmingly in favor of creating a unified Mission Centre for Community of Christ in Canada. We haven’t rushed to make this decision, nor have we acted in haste or without due consideration. The process began four and a half years ago, when Apostle Art Smith asked me to assist him in facilitating a discernment process Canada-wide to imagine our future as a sacred community.

We invited the participation of “All Voices” — everyone who is a stakeholder in the ministries of Community of Christ in Canada, whether they connect through an established congregation with a building or one meeting in leased space or homes, or a group that meets online like “Sharing Love in Mission,” or some mixture of online and in-person. Or perhaps they connect to the church primarily through camping programs, reunions, or retreats. Perhaps they are focused on one of our charitable affiliates like Zerin and Sionito social housing, the Agape House, the Encounter World Religions Centre, or World Accord. Or maybe they connect with us through one of our new expressions: Creating Connection, Awakening Spirituality, the global community Beyond the Walls, and more.

What makes you passionate about this diverse movement? What are your hopes for the future? Listening to all the voices, several common themes emerged: 

1. the importance of making our campgrounds and camping programs sustainable,
2. developing a new generation of volunteers to lead us in relevant mission, 
3. doing outreach to invite new people into the community in innovative ways. 

We wove these together into a Shared Vision for Community of Christ in Canada and a plan that we entitled “Onward Together!”

With the resolutions enacted by our conferences, West and East, we will now move Onward Together as one Community of Christ in Canada. I was privileged to be present in person at the host location of both conferences, and I feel like the collective spirit was energetic and excited!
​
Like nearly all churches based in the developed world, we are facing significant challenges. Canada, unfortunately, leads the world in generational decline in adherence to a religious community — that is, there is a greater gap between the high number of Canadians in the Baby Boom generation who say they are members of a church and the low number of Canadians in Gen-Zed — a wide generation gap that is bigger than any other country’s! [1]
​
The National Trust for Canada estimates that fully one third of the nation’s existing church buildings will be lost in the next decade alone! [2] This is a staggering figure, but we can see it in our own denomination as congregations across Canada have been weighing the decision or have already made the decision whether to maintain an aging building has high operational costs while being underutilized through the week.

Yet as we move Onward Together as one Community of Christ in Canada, we are uniquely positioned among churches to address these challenges. We have built out charitable affiliates that effectively engage in relevant mission. Look at the Encounter World Religions Centre, which delivered 20,000 program hours last year and has become a resource for police officers to increase their religious literacy, which helps avoid misunderstandings in Canada’s diverse society. Executive Director Brian Carwana has been recognized as an authority on religious affairs by Canada’s national media, and by the government, as he received the King Charles III Coronation Medal.

Look at our social housing charities, Zerin and Sionito, which continue to develop new projects expanding housing for hundreds of people who might otherwise be in danger of homelessness. Just last Friday, the President of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the federal crown corporation that oversees housing in Canada, visited the new Sionito Project on Finch Avenue in Toronto, identifying it as a model for social housing in Canada.
​
Look at our international development affiliate World Accord! They have empowered tens of thousands of women and men in a dozen countries over the past 45 years. Executive Director Kristen Parmera has announced the launch of Accord Adventures — allowing young people and others here in Canada to travel to Central America, meet the locals, to share ideas and expertise — with the goal of engaging a new generation in a lifelong commitment to sustainable mission.

Our camping programs continue strong with vibrant family camps from McGowan’s Lake and Noronto in the east and north, to Erie Beach on the Great Lake’s shore, to the Ziontario Campground, to the Hills of Peace on the Albertan prairies, and Samish Island on the West Coast. These are supplemented by children’s and kids’ camps, camps for high-school-aged young people, retreats for women, for men, and for seniors, and special spiritual and meditative retreats. Our Onward Together plan has tapped Vonda DenBoer as our national director for camping and campground sustainability — to help all of us plan for the future of these sacred spaces and programs.
​
All of our congregations are engaged in missional activities in their own communities — whether it’s circles who get together to knit “tukes” (or hats) for the homeless, doing collection drives for food banks or collecting Christmas gifts for needy children, or hosting AA groups and providing other needed community services. Unfortunately, we are often so busy doing the work of mission that we forget to tell everyone else what we’re doing.
​
This is why celebrating mission is part of our Onward Together strategy. How does “Celebrate Mission” work? At the conferences, Leandro Palacios, the national director of communications for Community of Christ in Canada, reminded us about the benefits of sharing stories about what we’re all doing: 

1. The stories are inspiring; when we hear the good work being done in Stratford or in St. Thomas, it reminds everyone that we’re part of something bigger than ourselves that is having effects across the country and around the world. 
2. Hearing about the good work you’re doing may give other congregations and members the same idea: why aren’t we doing that here in our town or city? 
3. Celebrating mission, telling our stories, is an essential ingredient to inviting new people to share. There are people in your neighbourhood who would be very interested in doing the kind of good work that you’re already engaged in. But how are they ever going to hear about it unless we share what we’re doing? 
4. The reality in our increasingly online world is that if we don’t post about it: if it’s not in our Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok feeds; if we haven’t put it on our website and in our email newsletters, it doesn’t really exist. 

The truth is that you’re much more likely to remember a vacation or a special event if you have a photo than if you don’t. And so, it’s a goal of Onward Together to encourage every congregation, every expression of Community of Christ in Canada to recruit a communications officer so that Leandro can empower them to help you and all of us Celebrate Mission.

There is so much more that we have to celebrate! Newly energized and committed to a mission, we now have a plan for moving Onward Together as one Community of Christ in Canada. In the coming weeks and months, we will continue to explain additional aspects of the Canadian strategic plan for our members, congregations, reunions, charitable affiliates, and everyone who is a stakeholder in our shared mission.

Endnotes
[1] Pew Research Center, The Age Gap in Religion Around the World (2018).
[2] National Trust for Canada, Endangered Places List 2020.