Mapping the Future

Everything has shifted.

Everything!

And if it hasn’t yet, it will and at lightning speed.

Where is the church? Reacting, ignoring, mimicking, stumbling, shrinking, dying.

You know this. We as the CBAC know this. And while we have made our own shifts, revamped our vision, focused on moving where God is moving and encouraging new growth, we are also deeply concerned. There are problems – we need to face them and we need to work to find solutions.

This winter we pulled together a team – a team of your leaders, chosen from our churches, Council and educational institutions – to rigorously look at the CBAC’s future trajectory. This group has met twice and will be meeting three more times before the summer.

Emerging from the conversations are focused statements on what we are encountering including issues such as leadership, culture, governance, and much more – all in the context of biblically connecting God’s good news in Jesus, through the church to our world.

God loves the church. And we want to reclaim this truth – that local, visible communities of believers around Atlantic Canada, can be effective and viable in fully living out the good news of Jesus through caring for the poor and marginalized, birthing new leaders, equipping disciples while fully meeting the realities of this secular age. Because God not only loves the church, he uses the church to love the world.

The CBAC still wants to be a part of God’s plan in Atlantic Canada. Would you pray for the future trajectory team knowing and trusting that it is always God’s purposes to move us from death to life? Once this team’s process is completed we will be bringing their findings to our whole CBAC community so that we can all participate in the conversation.

Here is who is on the team:

Pastor Tammy Giffen (Immanuel Baptist, Truro)
Rev. Kevin Matthews (The Point Church, Miramichi)
Rev. Dr. Rhonda Britton (Cornwallis Street Baptist, Halifax)
Rev. Norm Pearce (CBAC Council)
Rev. Dr. Stephen McMullin (Acadia Divinity College)
Rev. Dr. Harry Gardner (Acadia Divinity College)
Rev. Dr. Bruce Fawcett (Crandall University)
Rev. Dr. Robert Knowles (Crandall University)
Rev. Brandon Thompson (Atlantic Community Church, Hampton)
Rev. Dr. Todd MacLeod (Jacksonville Baptist, Jacksonville)
Rev. Dave Morehouse (The Journey Church, Moncton)
Rev. Renee Embree (CBAC Staff/ADC Faculty)
Rev. Kevin Vincent (CBAC Staff)
Rev. Dr. Garth Williams (CBAC Staff)
Rev. Greg Jones (CBAC Staff)
Rev. Dr. Peter Reid (CBAC Executive Minister)

A bit of background – The team was appointed from the Executive Minister’s office. The idea of the need for this came out of conversations at the Board of Ministerial Standards & Education around a crisis of leadership in the denomination. The team will be bringing their findings to the wider CBAC family for input later on. If you have questions or input, please contact Dr. Peter Reid, CBAC Executive Minister – peter.reid@baptist-atlantic.ca.