A searchable, downloadable PDF of the original article, with photos of the Annual Meeting, appears below. Photos by Jack Harewood and David Stewart.

The Annual General Meeting and March Renewal Day was hosted by Paris Presbyterian Church with enthusiasm and evident joy that set the tone for the whole event.

This year we took a different approach and held the AGM Friday evening following a time of worship led by the Paris Worship Team created for the occasion. The congregation entered into the singing with gusto and the worship leaders signed some of the songs to add liturgical movement to the worship. The Reports told of the advance of the work of Renewal highlighting the faithfulness of our members in financial and prayer support and rejoicing that membership was increased again this year. Other highlights included the report on the first Men’s Network Conference and the overwhelming attendance of 600 people (including over 100 teens) at the November Ecumenical Renewal Day that we initiated with the Anglican and United Church Renewal groups.

The Reports from the three active Regional Renewal Teams were encouraging and I can now report that the Spring BC Renewal Day held in Coquitlam with Dr. John Vissers as speaker on the theme “Active Evangelism – Sharing Christian Hope and Hospitality,” was a wonderful blessing to the over 100 who attended.

We celebrated the twentieth anniversary of Channels Magazine and Dal (managing editor for all 20 years) and Kit Schindell were honoured at a dinner with the Renewal Fellowship Board which preceded the AGM, at the AGM with a plaque and gift, and through spoken tributes by Don MacLeod and others.

Saturday was begun with worship led by the Worship Team from Innerkip Presbyterian Church. Their skill and devotion were evident as we lifted our hearts in praise of God. The theme speaker was Dr. Harold Percy who is probably the foremost authority on evangelism in the mainline Canadian churches. His obvious enthusiasm and commitment to be an encourager not only of reflecting on evangelism but in doing it became clear as the people’s hearts were inspired to see evangelism in terms of the theme, “Evangelism: the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory of God.”

The first workshop was led by Dr. Martin Kreplin, Renewal Fellowship Board Chair, who introduced participants to Natural Church Development. This is not so much a program as a recognition of the basic characteristics of every church that is a healthy growing church. The approach is to discern what area needs to be healthier so it does not become a stumbling block to growth. It is hoped that many of our congregations will enter into this helpful process and for those who couldn’t attend the workshop Martin is keen to share with you what he has learned and seen in his own congregation, St. Andrew’s Moncton, New Brunswick using this process.

The second workshop was led by Dr. Neal Mathers who taught people how to share their faith. This was a timely, practical and much-needed topic to enable us to overcome our reluctance to actually do evangelism.

The Evangelism Seminar participants, led by Moderator Calvin Brown, were Stan Cox from Paris, who shared how God led them from a declining small-town congregation to an active and growing one (worship attendance more than tripled); Chris Little of Innerkip who spoke of how an active commitment to disciple in small groups plus a renewed seeker sensitive worship were aspects that led to growth in their congregation; and Carol Smith who spoke of how “clustering” in her congregations led to a spiritual awakening for lay ministry and aided the congregations to realize their true identity and vision.

Carey Nieuwhof told the story of how Trinity Community Church came into existence when three rural and static Presbyterian churches came to realize that the ministry was more important than struggling to maintain the buildings. He shared five Keys to effective Evangelism at Trinity:

1) Pray for a biblical vision of the church
2) Figure out how the vision will apply to your community
3) Honestly evaluate your church
4) Become committed to change
5) Remember it’s all about life-change.

It was a wonderful day and many commented that it was the best Renewal Day they had been to in years.