“It was the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit who transformed mere men and women who had been following Jesus into mighty apostles who turned the world upside down in the book of Acts,” says Pastor Mansfield Edwards.  “For too long we have simply spoken about the Holy Spirit without experiencing the reality of His presence and power in our lives and in the life of our church.

“Today, the same Holy Spirit that was poured out at Pentecost is available to every child of God and in Ontario, we want to experience Him leading our church and in our personal lives. To this end, the Ontario Conference has heavily invested in materials for every congregation to embrace the Holy Spirit and for every willing person to put their spiritual gifts into action.”

In a virtual meeting with all pastors on March 23, 2023, Edwards introduced them to Equip, a new resource package for coaching members and others in using their spiritual gifts. It provides resources to bring health and strength to disciples in the church. As it coaches members, it calls them to “connect and commit them to places of service that will build up the body of Christ, reach our communities, and help others prepare for Christ’s coming”.

The president pointed out that far too often members are placed in positions of leadership and service without any reference to the gifts of the Spirit.  Too often they are either misplaced or only occupy positions for only a year or two.  “The gift of the Spirit does not have a term limit of one or two years,” he said. “Also, what about the vast number of other members who are not placed in leadership positions?  Are the gifts of the Spirit only recognised in those who are elected to office?”

Edwards told the pastors that Equip will help to radically change how we view our roles as disciples in the local congregation.  Everyone who has responded to the call of Christ has received a spiritual gift specifically for the building up of the body of Christ. “The Holy Spirit and how He works in our church must be a reality in our congregations,” he said.

Equip will be sent to every congregation in Ontario by the end of April 2023. Some congregations have already received theirs.  It is likely that most congregations will make use of Equip as early as possible and not delay using it because they know that the Holy Spirit must be the foundation of all they do if they are to be successful.

Communications Department

Wellington, director of Professional Services at the NAD, was giving a presentation on March 25, 2023, at Ruth Seventh-day Adventist Church in Brampton, to church communication leaders, pastors and members in the North West Metro ministerial region.

He noted how the recent Covid-19 pandemic had rapidly increased the pre-existing trend of online worship. Within a few months, nearly all churches switched to virtual services and churches moved to cater for online congregations. Today, most congregations are holding hybrid services where some attend physically as before while others remain at home with no intention of returning to in-person worship. Wellington praised the efforts churches made to stream their services but challenged them to do more than simply provide the means for people at home to watch the services.

“Our streaming and online presence must not be for the comfort of our members,” he said. “We must be intentional in whom we are targeting. We want to engage with them and introduce them to Jesus.”

It is clear that Wellington sees the online world as an opportunity for churches to have a far greater reach beyond its local. However, he emphasized the importance of churches being intentional and resisting the temptation to copy others. “Be yourself and know your audience,” he said.

He also warned against simply streaming the entire church service or prayer meetings, “Not everything should be streamed and we must be careful what is streamed because when people see your stream, you are representing all Adventists.”

He emphasized the need to plan the worship service with the streaming target in mind. Hence the need for shorter, better-organised and spiritually relevant services.  A short worship service with good music and Biblically engaging, relevant preaching should attract an online audience to return regularly or even to attend in person.

One of the most challenging areas for his audience was his strong emphasis on trained personnel operating the audio-visual equipment and managing the stream in a church.  As one pastor commented later, “We can hardly find people to manage what we have right now. How can we do what’s being recommended?”  However, Wellington was sympathetic to his plight, noting that it is a gradual process and each congregation must work according to its resource.  In some cases, should congregations should not stream until they have laid out a careful strategy.  It is best to hold off streaming rather than present something that will not represent the church at its best.

In a spirited question-and-answer session, the questions and comments showed revealed an appreciation for what Wellington had presented.  It was clear that Wellington had inspired his hearers and motivated them to share in his vision of what is possible through streaming. 

Halsey Peat
Director