Learning Centre sessions are recorded and made available afterwards for those who sign up but cannot attend in person

Week 1 (Oct 24)

We’ll be joined by Leah Reesor-Keller, author of Tending Tomorrow: Courageous Change for People and Planet, on tending the embers of hope: conversations about climate anxiety, fighting despair and living in hope in a time of upheaval. 

Week 2 (Oct 31)

On the 31st we’ll engage with Leah Reesor-Keller and her colleague, Beth Lorimer, on church as movement: why congregations and people of faith have a unique role to play in the climate justice movement, and practical ideas for responding faithfully to a world in crisis. 

Week 3 & 4 (Nov 7 & 14)

Week 3: Recently A Rocha Canada and Tearfund Canada teamed up to survey young Canadian Christians about their views on biodiversity loss, climate change, and faith. We will discuss the findings and the implications for the credibility and potential of churches.

Week 4: The world is facing enormous ecological problems. In the final week we will explore a question for churches living in the midst of these challenges: How, and who, are we to be?

Many Christians and faith communities across Canada desire deeply to meet the Calls to Action developed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Final Report. But sometimes knowing where to start is a difficult task. 

Join us for a three week series, in preparation for September 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. We'll learn how "unsettling" worship can prepare us to engage in the work of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and how one church practices right relations in their context. Come and learn, be inspired and "unsettled" in this timely Learning Centre series. 

Learning Centre sessions are recorded and made available afterwards for those who sign up but cannot attend in person

Weeks 1 & 2 (Sept 12 & 19)

We’ll be joined by Rev. Dr. Sarah Travis, Associate Professor, Ewart Chair in the Practice of Ministry and Faith Formation at Knox College, Toronto.

Week 3 (Sept 26)

In this session we will hear the story of how Lakeview Church has explored what it means to participate well in acts of Truth and Reconciliation. This church does not have everything figured out, nor have they arrived at some final destination. However, they have a beautiful story of listening to Indigenous voices, building friendships with a nearby First Nation, and humbly following the Spirit towards new experiences. Their story offers inspiration and tangible invitations for other Christians to step into the work of Truth and Reconciliation.

Spring has fully bloomed across Canada, awakening us to a symphony of blooming wildflowers, vibrant green trees, and new life in the warming sun. We love to celebrate these new beginnings and fresh hope as they manifest within the life of the church. Join us for a three-week series from pastors and ministry leaders who are planting seeds and seeing new life emerge here on Canadian soil. Allow these inspiring stories to ignite and encourage your creative missional endeavours within your local context.

Learning Centre sessions are recorded and made available afterwards for those who sign up but cannot attend in person

Week 1 (June 6)

This week in the Learning Centre, we are joined by Michael Garner, an Anglican priest and chaplain at the University of Ottawa. 

During this session, we will learn from Michael about how his church in Ottawa addressed significant challenges facing their neighbourhood. Their story will encourage and inspire, reminding us that the local church can break inertia and find solutions around an issue when we approach God prayerfully and with open hands.

Week 2 (June 13)

This week in the Learning Centre we are joined by Alicia Wilson and Siobhan Koch, co-creators of IMBY - In My Backyard. An innovative Christian non profit focused on addressing the affordable housing crisis and loneliness epidemic. 

During this session we will learn how IMBY came to life, how they created their first build, and their dreams for what comes next. IMBY is truly worth celebrating - a made in Canada, good news story of what can happen when Jesus followers pray, dream and collaborate to meet the needs of their neighbours 

Week 3 (June 20)

During this session, we will learn from Jared about how his new church plant in Saskatoon addresses the challenges of deconstruction in Canada. We will spend time wrestling with some early reports from this fledgling congregation at the crossroads of faith and the arts. 

The sacred art of storytelling is present in every aspect of human life and faith. Stories can heal us. Stories can illuminate our limitations and failures. Stories can encourage us and bring us hope. They can draw us into deeper ways of following Jesus. 

Come and learn from academics and practitioners in a Learning Centre series about the power of story and the way it intersects with repentance, evangelism, formation and community building. 

Learning Centre sessions are recorded and made available afterwards for those who sign up but cannot attend in person

Week 1 (May 9)

As more and more stories are shared about oppressive, marginalizing practices within the church, it can leave us feeling defenseless, downhearted, and just plain angry. What do we do in the face of spiritual abuse, church hurt, and religious trauma? How do we move forward together? Andrea shares her research into spiritual abuse, and creating healthy church cultures by learning from our past to move into our future.

Week 2 (May 16)

Week 3 (May 23)

Recent trends in theology, neurobiology, and human geographies give attention to the emergent qualities of life through shared experiences, everyday routines, embodied movements, and what might otherwise be viewed as "unexceptional interactions" with people and places comprising our lives. Attention to these everyday encounters helps draw us away from the 'framing' and 'fixing' of people and places that closes us to the unique possibilities and full potential emerging among them. In short, while everyday experiences and "unexceptional encounters" offer only small hints of what becomes of them, they are nevertheless the very soil in which life and its possibilities emerge. Ethnographic research - including autoethnographies and storytelling - offer helpful insights into such "unexceptional encounters" by allowing the formative elements of one's experiences, rhythms, movements, and places to be seen, heard, and known for what they truly are. This move toward non-representational thinking is a necessary component to research and relationality as it acknowledges the self-evident uniqueness of human lives and opens us to new possibilities of knowing and living together in authentic community. 

Week 4 (May 30)

Tim Bratton is the playwright and performer of the show, My Little Plastic Jesus. Join Tim at the Learning Centre to hear about how telling his own story, through the story-rich medium of theatre helped to address big ideas and complex situations with grace and laughter. The show is described as "a solo living room show, where Tim Bratton finds hilarity and heartache as he unpacks his upbringing in evangelical pop culture, examining its folly and redeeming its faith. Experience an insider’s quest to unravel his own existential crisis by deconstructing the culture he grew up in, with both satire and love."

As Jesus followers, we want to do good and make a difference, especially as it relates to working towards Truth & Reconciliation with Indigenous people. Have you ever experienced that sometimes our intentions to do good haven't always translated into the positive impact or changes we intend?

Through this 4-week series with MCC, we'll unpack what may hinder us from contributing to lasting peace and justice. We’ll examine examples and case studies in approaching the good we intend in our truth & reconciliation efforts to reveal our core assumptions, values and biases toward how transformative change should and does happen.

The goal of this series is to grow curiosity and awareness about how we are approaching truth & reconciliation efforts so that we can all do good…better and be walking a path towards accompanying Indigenous people in Truth & Reconciliation.

Learning Centre sessions are recorded and made available afterwards for those who sign up but cannot attend in person

Week 1 (April 4)

Introduction to our 4 weeks together and what’s needed in order to move from reactionary towards transformative responses. Introduction to using the Asset Based Quadrant Model as a tool to move towards transformative responses. Stories and case studies on the “TO” mode of change.

Week 2 (April 11)

Deeper Dive on the “FOR” mode of change with a story and case study.

Week 3 (April 18)

Deeper Dive on the “WITH” mode of change with a story and case study.

Week 4 (April 25)

Deeper Dive on the “BY” mode of change with a story and case study.

Presenters

Whenever the church has aligned itself with worldly, coercive power, it ends up on the wrong side of important justice issues. But when the church cooperates with God's power through his presence among the least powerful, its witness for Jesus transforms the world and the church into a better place.

Join us for a 4-week book study starting in March with David Fitch and his new book “Reckoning with Power: Why the Church Fails when it’s on the wrong side of Power”

Fitch has worked carefully to create space to have a much-needed conversation around power systems at work in the church today and the well-documented abuses in Christian leadership. The church in Canada is not immune to this. This book offers theological scholarship, ecclesiological critique, and a hopeful path forward for those who desire to follow in the way of Jesus and lead with Godly power. 

New Leaf desires to be a place that catalyzes essential conversations for the church in Canada. Come ready to wrestle with this book together with like-minded leaders. 

From the publisher’s description:

In Reckoning with Power, David Fitch unpacks the difference between worldly power, or power over others, and God's power, which engages not in coercion but in love, reconciliation, grace, forgiveness, and healing.

In a world where we can see the abuses of power everywhere--in our homes, schools, governments, and churches--Fitch teaches readers how to discern power and avoid its abuses and traumas. By learning from the church's historical pitfalls, Fitch empowers Christians to relinquish worldly power and make space for God to disrupt and transform our culture for his kingdom.

Learning Centre sessions are recorded and made available afterwards for those who sign up but cannot attend in person

Schedule

Week One: Introduction, Chapters 1 and 2

Week Two: Chapters 3 and 4

Week three: Chapters 5 and 6

Week Four: Reflections and Q&R live with Fitch

Facilitators

TBA

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.

From the early days of Christianity, theology has been in dialogue with other areas of human knowledge as we seek to understand complex truths about God, the universe, and humanity. For most of history, philosophy was theology's primary dialogue partner; over the last century, social and neurosciences have replaced philosophy in the western world as the dominant way to understand human experience.

Join us for this Learning Centre series sessions exploring why and how we might integrate insights from social and neurosciences into our Christian reflection and ministry leadership. 

In the first week we'll look at human bodies, emotions, and how we form bonds with one another. In the second week we'll look at the systems and structures within which we live and function, and explore how power might function to create driving individuals communities ecologies.

Learning Centre sessions are recorded and made available afterwards for those who sign up but cannot attend in person

Presenter

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.

In the shifting context of the Canadian church, how do we talk about Evangelism? In this two session mini series we’ll look at some tools that will help gauge congregational gospel readiness and help local churches start vital conversations about faith sharing in its local context.

Join Jared Siebert, gifted evangelist, and church planter with years of experience coaching church plants as he wrestles with new ways to imagine sharing the Good News. 

Learning Centre sessions are recorded and made available afterwards for those who sign up but cannot attend in person

Schedule

Week One - February 1st

Week Two - February 8th

Presenter

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.

Join us in the Learning Centre starting January 11th, for a Book Club featuring the newest book published by New Leaf Press! Jon Coutts (Author and Editor), Heather Renée Morgan (Author and Editor) and Cynthia Tam (author) will be joining us to share about the overall project, their personal writing and reflections and the way in which they wrestled out our faith together with respect, love, thoughtfulness and grace.

Through a collection of essays and responses, Looking Back, Leaning Forward explores the context of a Canadian church by wrestling with the past story in light of the current realities. These academic essays offer a beautiful blend of practical and academic thinking, many written by those who are pastoring local churches. Though this book offers challenge and hope to those who find themselves in the Christian and Missionsiooary Alliance, these writings offer gifts to anyone engaged in ministry in Canada. Contributions to this book were made by Ray Aldred, Cynthia Tam, Jon Coutts, Heather Morgan, Joanne Beach, Ric Strangway, and many others, with an afterword by David Fitch.

“Canada, an increasingly secularized country in the West, is a field of mission. The writers of this book are extending the fourfold gospel of the Christian and Missionary Alliance into the changing contexts of Canada – and by so doing, they help us all discern how we might do similar work. I believe God has been at work in the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada – the church of my heritage – for over a century. We do not simply leave all of that behind. We bring it forward into dialogue with the many challenges that the current cultures present. We take these distinctives that have shaped our lives and we extend them: We listen to the challenges of our cultures, and in an act of dialogue we seek to faithfully extend, deepen, and translate these beliefs in a way that expands them into the places we find ourselves.”

David Fitch, author of Faithful Presence, B. R. Lindner Chair of Evangelical Theology at Northern Seminary.

Learning Centre sessions are recorded and made available afterwards for those who sign up but cannot attend in person

Schedule

Week One - January 11th with Jon Coutts

Week Two - January 18th with Heather Morgan

Week Three - January 25th with Cynthia Tam

Presenters

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.

During the Advent season, the church waits in anxious expectation for the coming Messiah. But Advent and the Christmas season can often feel overwhelming, bust and rushed. We want to offer you a gift in this season - the gift of a slowed-down place (at least for an hour or so).

Carve out time for prayer and silence on Thursday, November 30th and December 7th. Join this Advent Learning Centre space where, together with friends, we'll enter into a time of prayer, silence, and other spiritual practices to center our lives on Jesus. Skilled spiritual directions will offer a mix of ancient and modern prayer practices and postures to slow down and pay attention to the ways in which the Spirit is speaking. Come be refreshed - come and "be".

Learning Centre sessions are recorded and made available afterwards for those who sign up but cannot attend in person

Week 1 (Nov 30) - with Jonathan Puddle

Week 2 (Dec 7) - with Vania Levans

presented by Sustained in collaboration with New Leaf

Integration: Christ in the Everyday is a workshop presenting a framework for bringing our multi-dimensional human experiences into formal theological reflection. What encounters might occur as we seek God’s presence in our internal worlds, our interpersonal relationships, our institutional affiliations, and our political, cultural, and ecological environments?

Do you/your community find yourselves unsure of the way forward? Do you find yourself struggling to connect abstract theological ideas to everyday life? Are your theological perspectives or spiritual practices breaking down?

Broadly speaking, integration is the practice of bringing different parts into a peaceful relationship with one another, allowing difference and distinction to co-exist and dialogue together within a greater whole. An integrative approach to theology navigates the conflict and uncertainty that arise between our pre-existing or inherited theological commitments and the new perspectives and experiences we encounter.

Drawing on insights from neuroscience, psychology, and other social sciences, Beth Anne will offer an approach to theological reflection that brings our full human experience into dialogue with God, Scripture, and our inherited traditions.

In this workshop we will discuss three core needs of each human, explore four realms of human experience, and utilize contemplative stillness with the goal of expanding our capacity to encounter God and navigate the inevitable tensions and challenges of leadership.

Join us online

Please note that the original dates offered in October have been moved to November

The same 2 hr workshop is offered two times (choose one):

• Option 1: Monday, November 20, noon-2 pm (Eastern), 11 am -1 pm Central, 10 am-noon Mountain, 9 am - 11 am Pacific

• Option 2: Thursday, November 23, 8 pm- 10 pm (Eastern), 7 - 9 pm Central, 6 - 8 pm Mountain, 5-7 pm Pacific

Cost: $45

Registration

The human experience includes sexuality, so in an effort to encourage holistic wellness, we are opening up space for a positive conversation about the goodness of sexuality during our Learning Centre. The largely silent approach to sexuality is not serving this topic well. We will talk honestly about how sexuality is dysfunctional in our churches and wrestle together with better ways to engage our whole being including sexuality.

Learning Centre sessions are recorded and made available afterwards for those who sign up but cannot attend in person

Week 1 (Oct 26) - Let’s talk about purity culture with Val Hiebert

In this session, we will wrestle with the phenomenon of Purity Culture. Sociologist, Val Hiebert, will share the description of purity culture and the impact it is having on our churches. With the help of pop culture such as books, instructional videos, rings and event Purity Balls, purity culture has impacted the sexual understanding of a generation or more. We will open the conversation to wrestle with this influence.

Week 2 (Nov 2) - Let’s talk about porn with Val Hiebert

In this session, we wrestle with the ubiquitous presence of pornography in our culture and our churches. Taking a sociological approach to porn, Val Hiebert shares the realities of porn in society, including within the church. We will open up the conversation about the impact of porn on our whole beings.

Week 3 (Nov 9) -Let’s talk about the positive with Leah Perrault

In addition to the dysfunctions about sexuality that exist in our culture and churches, there is a significant impact from the silence about the positive experiences of sex. Author and speaker, Leah Perrault, will approach whole-person sexuality from the perspective that our sexuality is part of our spiritual formation. To say it another way, our sex lives lead us toward holiness.

Week 4 (Nov 16) - Let’s talk about patriarchy with Jared Siebert

Patriarchy’s toxic effect on the sexuality of women is well documented. Women are decades deep into this work of liberation. Sometimes overlooked is the work that men have been doing as they work to set themselves free themselves as well. In this conversation we will be taking a second look at the ways patriarchy deforms male sexuality and the good news that can be found in walking toward whole-person sexuality and holiness.

Week 5 (Nov 23) - Questions and Wrestling

After these conversations about whole-person sexuality, we want to open up the floor to the wrestling the community has been doing. Through the opportunity for anonymous questions and honest conversation, we will wrestle with real-life questions about how sexuality can be part of a healthy embodied experience.

Presenters

Join the Learning Centre for a 5-week series exploring how our own stories, both ancestral and present day, offer meaningful answers to the question many settler and white people ask when thinking about addressing systemic racism; "What is the work that I am to do?" 

This multi-modal facilitated group experience will incorporate psychoeducation, a theology of shalom, somatic exercises, ancestral family history and reflection exercises to disciple our way into healing and solidarity. 

Using materials as inspiration from Elaine Enns & Ched Meyers’ book Healing Haunted Histories, we will take a look at the storylines we walk with, the stories we walked from and in the present day and the stories that inspire and sustain us. If you are able to read this book beforehand or during, it will certainly deepen your engagement with the material but is not a pre-requisite. 

Week 1 (Sept 7) - Introduction

As a group we will familiarize ourselves with somatic tools, basic psychoeducation, and theological underpinnings to engage in cross-cultural solidarity and a discipleship of decolonization.

Week 2 (Sept 14) - Engage

We engage our senses and our understanding of your ancestral and Christian faith history within the larger story of race in Canada. We will exploring the ghosts and questions that inhabit the geographies in which our ancestors have lived.

Week 3 (Sept 21) - Explore

We will explore our unique stories of being white inherited to us as well as our current favourite false white identities. Using the concept of “Songlines” we will explore the stories that formed us and the new stories we tell ourselves

Week 4 (Sept 28) - Respond

We will engage a Bibliodrama exercise of Mark 10:17-31 through a re-narration of Indigenous Jesus and Powerful Settler Official to form a springboard of brainstorming experiments for restorative solidarity. At the end of this we will ask you to answer the question "How will you engage with the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept. 30th in response to the learnings from this group?"

Week 5 (Oct 5) - Reflect (with Elaine Enns and Ched Myers, authors of Healing Haunted Histories)

In our final session we will be welcoming Elaine Enns and Ched Myers. We’ll make space for supportive storytelling of our learning and engagements on Sept. 30th, as well as next steps of a sustained discipleship path for allyship in cross-cultural relationships and addressing systemic racism in our specific context.

Facilitator

In June, the Learning Centre will be turning our attention to the work of NAIITS an Indigenous Learning Community (formerly the North American Institute for Indigenous Theological Studies). Their annual symposium opens on June 1st. In the following weeks will we explore in community and with experienced presenters what we are learning and how we can better respect, appreciate, and engage with indigenous heritage and expressions of faith.

Week 1 (June 1) - NAIITS opening evening session

The Learning Centre attendees will be attending the virtual opening session of the 2023 NAIITS Symposium

Week 2 (June 8) - Stewards of land and heritage

View the 2022 Saskatchewan documentary Custodians: A Story of Ancient Echoes. The film tells the story of a small rural community that responds in a unique way to an abundance of Indigenous heritage visible in the surround pastureland. It raises questions of what it means to pay attention to the land, to steward the land, and to work towards respectful relationships even when there are no Indigenous communities in the area.

Week 3 (June 15) - Q & A

A time for Q&A with one (or more) of the key players in the documentary Custodians: A Story of Ancient Echoes

Week 4 (June 22) - Let’s process together

During the session we will process together our experiences at NAIITs and what we have learned from the past few weeks.

Presenters

From outdoor prayer walks to small groups to churches that only meet outside, many Christians in Canada are finding renewal in their faith by heading outdoors. What gifts does getting outside give to us and how can embodied practices and a deep connection to the land revitalize our connection to God? Come and learn from pastors leading outdoor churches, storytellers with new outdoor experiments and spiritual directors using the outdoors and contemplative practice to journey towards loving themselves, others, God, and our world.

Week 1 (May 4) - Get outside and try something new

with Elle Pyke

Why are so many Christians heading outside? How can liturgies and spiritual practices that invite the natural world to participate change the way we see and understand our faith and connection to God? Using the church calendar and the rhythms of the 4 seasons, Elle will share about an experiment she's participating in connecting with the great Creator in the great outdoors! 

Week 2 (May 11) - Take off your shoes, you are standing on holy ground

with Wendy Janzen

Hear the story of the epiphany that led Wendy to start a forest church, and subsequently co-found the Wild Church Network. Forest Church/Wild Church are unique expressions of church, where we worship both in and with all creation. It is not just taking a regular worship service and moving it outdoors - it is engaging with God's imminent presence among us, recognizing we are standing on holy ground, and opening ourselves to ways that creation itself both praises God and reveals God's love, wisdom, and provision. There will be an invitation to get outside if possible for 15 minutes in the middle of our time together, then return for sharing and further conversation.

Week 3 (May 18) - The Kin_dom of God is like...

with Wendy Janzen

Let's join in a conversation about how we can tend our souls and nurture our relationship with Christ, the firstborn of all Creation, through time spent in nature. The Bible is an outdoor book, and Jesus' ministry was an outdoor ministry, and yet we are largely an indoor culture. What have we lost from so much time indoors, and what do we gain from taking spiritual practices outdoors? Wendell Berry has said, "The Bible is best read outdoors, and the further outdoors the better." There will be an invitation to get outside if possible for 15 minutes in the middle of our time together, then return for sharing and further conversation.

Week 4 (May 25) - The whole world speaks of resurrection

with Christa Hesselink

For our last session, longtime friend of the New Leaf Network and Spiritual Director Christa Hessilink will join us to lead a guided contemplative prayer session around the themes of Spring and post-resurrection. Christa will share how she uses the outdoors in her work of Spiritual Direction and coaching with her organization SoutPlay. Come and receive rest and transformation for your soul. 

Presenters

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