A Moment with the Mission Centre President–Mission Conference

I encourage you to have a look at the information currently available about the Canada West Mission Online Conference available here. The first thing that shows up on that page is an invitation to “Register Now!” Please do so.
 
Scrolling down you will find a “short form schedule” for the conference. Activities begin Thursday evening, September 9, and continue through Sunday afternoon, September 12. Sessions are well spaced out, so you need not worry about being glued to your computer screen for eight hours a day. I won’t summarize the schedule here. After all, it is already a “short form schedule.” Watch for more details to be released in the next week or so.
 
At this time last year, we had optimistically (realistically we thought) believed that we would have an in-person conference this year. As we went through the peak of the “third wave” earlier in the year and we were faced with making the decision about in-person or online, it was simply more prudent to plan for online.
 
Then as the pandemic seemed to ease in June and early July it was easy to second-guess ourselves and wonder if we should have opted for the in-person option – which would have been hosted by the Chilliwack Congregation. It seemed too late to “pivot” to in-person, so we have continued to plan for on-line.
 
Now it is clear that had we opted for in-person, we would have been pivoting back to online on short notice. COVID infection rates are increasing in all four of our provinces in Canada West Mission Centre. It would be difficult right now to justify an in-person conference with the risks of travel and of bringing people together from across the mission centre.
 
Despite the disappointment of not meeting in-person, I trust that most members understand the necessity of the on-line option yet again.
 
And – yet again – we optimistically look forward to meeting in-person for next year’s mission conference.
 
Meanwhile – register for conference and come along as we celebrate our theme: “How Can We Keep from Singing?”
 
As always, I pray for you God’s blessings of joy, hope, love, and peace in these challenging times.
 
Steve Thompson
Canada West Mission Centre President
steve@communityofchrist.ca