It’s not long now before the friends and family of Living Stones will have the opportunity to be together again! It is like having a family reunion when we meet in one place for worship, learning, prayer, fellowship and of course – great food!
This year we will be hosted by our brothers and sisters of Chapel Place Church in Markham, ON and we have extended our time! This gathering will begin on the evening of Friday, May 9th, 2025 go through the whole next day Saturday, May 10th.
We are looking forward to welcoming our theme speaker Dr. James Watson who will share about being a missional church. James is a graduate of McMaster Divinity College (MDiv) and Fuller Theological Seminary (PhD). He has been a pastor, congregational revitalization consultant and church planting coach for two decades interdenominationally, including 15 years at the Territorial Headquarters for The Salvation Army Canada and Bermuda. He has been involved in research on evangelism, Canadian church responses to immigration, tentmakers (covocational/multivocational ministers), and most recently a 2024 research fellow studying church planting in Canada at University of Toronto (Wycliffe College’s Canadian Institute for Empirical Church Research). Currently he is an instructor in the Doctor of Ministry program at Tyndale University and on the national team for Church Planting Canada.
As well as giving our Saturday morning theme address, he will follow that with a workshop on tentmaking ministry. More and more the church will need to adjust our models and expectations and bi-vocational pastors will become a common way of filling the needs of the church. What does that look like? How can we make it workable? What needs to change in how we do and be the church?
As we seek to grow the church in this post-Christendom culture, many people are finding a greater depth to their faith through some of the ancient traditions of spiritual disciplines. Kyoungsoo Hwang will lead us in a spiritual exercise to begin our day on Saturday and then offer a workshop on spiritual disciplines to encourage you as you walk with Jesus.
We plan to have a workshop offered also on youth ministry. What is the culture of our youth today and how does that speak to how we reach out and engage them in the church? Leadership still to be announced.
Chapel Place has a wonderful worship team who will lead us with music and praise both days. I’ve worshipped with Chapel Place and I can attest to the joy of their praises to God!
All meals and snacks are included in the cost of the conference and we will enjoy Middle Eastern food for at least one meal and snacks! Dinner on Friday and Saturday nights and lunch on Saturday are all included in the price of registration. Mmmmm…
We hope you will join us. If you like to save money, register by March 15 to receive the early bird rate of $120 for the whole conference! From then to the deadline of April 25 it will cost $140. Bring your friends from church, family members, neighbours!
Billets can be available if you let us know on the registration form. Otherwise there is a hotel recommended that is just down the street from the Chapel Place building.
We look forward to seeing you in May! Register at: www.livingstoneschurches.ca/nec/ Download the conference flyer.
