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Tentmaking in the Canadian Church: possibilities for innovation and positive disruption


Tentmaking in the Canadian Church: possibilities for innovation and positive disruption

Thursdays: April 13, 20 & 27
1:30 - 3pm ET

The landscape of the Canadian Church is shifting. What if that is actually a good thing? What if there are opportunities to disrupt unhealthy systems and move toward a future of increasing flourishing for leaders and congregations? 

One tool of disruption is to limit the influence of money on the ministry in Canada. Multivocational ministry allows leaders to earn a living from multiple sources while also having greater freedom to be truth-tellers in those places.

Join us to hear stories of tentmakers in Canada and think about the positive impact on the Canadian Church.

 

Week 1 (April 13) - Wisdom from old ways for new days

with Lea Wilkening & Amy Bratton

Join Lea and Amy, both from the New Leaf Network and the Canadian Thriving in Multivocational Ministry Project (CTMMP) as they cast a vision for multivocational ministry that contributes to thriving leaders and congregations across Canada.

Week 2 (April 20) - Out-of-the-Box ministry

with Beth Anne Fisher

Join us as we examine how serving in a system that doesn’t fit can impact your well-being. If you find yourself there, how can unconventional ministry set you free to answer the missional and vocational calling on your life.


Week 3 (April 27) - Boots on the Ground

with storytellers: 

  • Gabe Wee

  • Terence S

  • John Vanderstoep

Is this multivocational life sustainable? Can juggling multiple vocations and paycheques contribute to greater thriving and freedom? Hear from those who have been living this life. Gabe Wee is a Pastor at Toronto Life-Spring Christian Fellowship with his wife, Karyne, and also owns several food service businesses. Terence Schilstra is a Missional Community Leader of The Table in downtown Thorold and owns a construction supply company. John Vanderstoep is the Pastor of The Bridge and owns a real estate company. 

 

Presenters & Storytellers

Featured
Beth Anne Fisher

Beth Anne Fisher’s passion for thinking theologically about mental health comes through her own experiences with ADHD, depression, and PTSD as well as walking alongside loved ones through a range of diagnoses, crises, and struggles. She supports ministry leaders and students through her work at Emmanuel College (U of T) and with New Leaf Network & Briercrest Seminary. She is also a PhD candidate at Emmanuel College and a candidate for ordination in the Presbyterian Church in Canada.

Amy Bratton

Amy Bratton is the Director of Operations & Publishing for the New Leaf Network and the project manager for the Canadian Multivocational Ministry Project. She lives in Saskatoon, SK with her husband, Tim, and their two sons, Oswald and Ira. She is a lay leader at Riversdale Neighbours church and an Adjunct Professor with Rocky Mountain College in the area of Spiritual Formation. She writes and speaks about the history of Christian spirituality, with a focus on the early Methodist understanding of Christian maturity known as “perfect love.” Read more from her in her book Witnesses of Perfect Love: Narratives of Christian Perfection in Early Methodism.

Lea Wilkening

Lea Wilkening works with the Canadian Thriving Multivocational Ministry Project (CTMMP), a partnership of New Leaf Network and Briarcrest Seminary. She is also pastor of The Cottage, a church plant in Oakville, Ontario. Some of her "sacred side hustles" involve performing and teaching improv, serving on charity boards, and parenting her two teens with her husband, John. Mutli-vocational ministry is a great fit for her and she loves supporting and learning from other multi-vocational leaders.

John Vanderstoep

John Vanderstoep loves Jesus. He’s married to Carol. They have five children (plus 5 partners) and a grandchild. They love Fergus, especially their neighborhood. They dream about what the church can be and grieve what it often is. They are hopeful. He works as a realtor to serve others and pay the bills. They lead a home-church called The Bridge and their recent focus is to ruthlessly eliminate the toxin of hurry while they live as Jesus-focussed people of peace.

Gabriel Wee

Gabriel Wee is the lead Pastor at Toronto Life-Spring Christian Fellowship and owns 4 BeaverTails franchises in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). He is married to Karyne and have 4 children; Justus, Hope, Mercy and Faith.

Both Gabe and Karyne grew up in the church where they met, fell in love, and got married. During their younger days, both fell away from the Lord for many years, but through miraculous encounters with the Father’s love and the embrace of a loving church family, their lives were redeemed and restored. Now they can’t help but share that love with others.

The desire of their heart is to see people fall in love with Jesus both inside and outside the church

Terence Schilstra

Terence Schilstra is a missional community leader at The Table, serving among the urban poor in downtown Thorold, Ontario where he lives with his beautiful wife Karen and their four children. He has been involved in church planting and missional communities in various capacities for more than a decade. His passion and calling are to cultivate the imagination of the church towards faith and missional engagement in their neighbourhoods.

Terence is also an entrepreneur. He and his wife own and operate a small aerial lift rental company in their city. Before he went into co-vocational ministry, Terence worked as an overhead crane technician for 15 years, serving the industrial sector throughout North America. This high risk work earned him a plush six-figure salary and a corporate vehicle. Terence and his family had a comfortable lifestyle and home in one of the wealthiest suburbs in their city. That is, until they received a Divine call to give it all up to live and serve among the urban poor in their city.

 

Register

There are two options to access the New Leaf Learning Centre: a monthly subscription or a one-session pass (below). For the monthly subscription, please visit here.

 

The suggested amount is $30 ($10/week); simply choose your amount in the drop-down menu and “sign up now”.

We would like for you to join us, so if you can’t afford the registration at this time, please reach out to us and we will make sure you are able to participate: admin@newleafnetwork.ca

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Earlier Event: April 1
Bridging Us: A Learning Party
Later Event: April 26
Transformational Coaching Spring 2023