2026 Post-Conference Report
On behalf of your EFCC family, I bring you warm greetings!
This past June, the Evangelical Free Church of Canada gathered for its biennial conference at Winnipeg Evangelical Free Church. This was a celebration and homecoming for our church delegates who travelled from across Canada to join with their brothers and sisters in Christ!
Centered around the theme of In All Things – The Centrality of Jesus Christ, we celebrated Who it is that unites us as Evangelical Free Churches – our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Sessions, Worship, and Breakout Sessions
Our plenary speaker was Dr. Matthew St. John. Matthew is Lead Pastor of New Hope Evangelical Free Church in Minnesota and Board of Governors Chair of Trinity Western University. Matthew nourished our souls and led us in worship through the Word as he lifted our eyes to Christ. Matthew’s three conference sessions will soon be available to all of our churches. We encourage you to consider using them for your Sunday services, in a special series of Sunday school classes, or some other creative gathering!
The Winnipeg EFC worship team led us well throughout conference as we sang praises to God. On Friday morning, worship leaders from several of our EFCC churches joined them. It was a joy to see our people sharing their gifts and partnering together as one family. Delegates were additionally equipped and encouraged by several breakout sessions as each explored how their churches could minister to one another well and reach their communities.
Annual General Meeting
We held our Annual General Meeting at the onset of the conference and dealt with important EFCC business. EFCC Conference delegates:
- Elected new leaders for our Board of Directors and committees; and,
- Approved our 2027 EFCC Budget and 2025 Audited Financial Statements.
Banquet and Reports
On Friday night we travelled to Steinbach, where Emmanuel Evangelical Free Church hosted the President’s Banquet. We enjoyed a fabulous meal together, and heard from several of our friends during the evening program:
- Dr. Todd Martin – President of Trinity Western University – shared updates on the University, including the arrival of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS at TWU);
- We celebrated as we heard testimonies from several students who have benefited from our Project:LEAD bursaries;
- Rae Phillips, Director of Organizational Relations and Strategic Projects for the Evangelical Free Church of America, brought us welcome and encouragement from our brothers and sisters south of the border; and,
- I shared my heart regarding the bright future I see for the EFCC.
In between the scheduled events, there was time for people to connect with old friends, make new friends, and talk about life and ministry.
There was a palpable sense of family and excitement as we looked to our future as the EFCC! One pastor commented that this was the most encouraging conference he has ever attended.
We are very grateful to Winnipeg EFC for hosting us so well and to Emmanuel EFC for putting on a great banquet. We hope you will consider joining us next year in Calgary for our 2027 Theology Conference, and two years from now at our next EFCC Conference! Plan to come and to fully take part in each family gathering, and anticipate leaving encouraged and refreshed as we celebrate God’s goodness to us as the EFCC!
