CALGARY, AB (May 13, 2010) – The new constitution ratified by delegates to the Evangelical Covenant Church of Canada Annual Meeting will allow the conference to hold future gatherings simultaneously in different sites.
The locations would be connected via technology that would enable the delegates to participate and vote in real time, says Superintendent Jeff Anderson. The expanse of the country makes the idea especially attractive.
“The geographic reality that we face here really makes the use of technology in this way a practical necessity,” says Glenn Peterson, pastor of Lighthouse Community Covenant Church in Sarnia, Ontario, and chair of the conference. “I’m excited to see how this innovative approach to a very practical need will play out here.”
The most recent meeting was held at the Kensington Road Church April 29-May 2.
The constitutional changes were needed because the previous document was 50 years old and needed to be replaced to address current situations, Anderson says. Most importantly, he adds, the new constitution addresses the dual status of the conference as a regional conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church and also as a Canadian denomination.
Other changes include:
- The Executive Board has been renamed the Leadership Team. The team will choose their own officers from among themselves rather than having the Annual Meeting elect them.
- All credentialed pastors are now automatically delegates. “We do not want to send the message that senior pastors are important, and associate and youth pastors are not,” Anderson says.
- The change will not count against the formula that determines how many delegates each church can send to Annual Meetings.
Delegates approved the conference’s first-ever budget of more than $1 million. The budget anticipates the potential of planting three churches in the coming years.
