2023 National Leadership Conference and Annual General Meeting

If you were unable to attend our National Leaders Gathering and Annual General Meeting on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, or would like to re-watch a session, we invite you to watch the various livestreamed sessions that are now available here.

MORNING PLENARY SESSION: ALIGNED FOR MISSION

General Superintendent, Dave Wells, and various members of our PAOC family (Andy Gabruch, Travis Holownia, Paul Fraser, Sirkku Lepojärvi and Laura Bronson) shared around the themes of prayer, spiritual renewal, Spirit empowerment, unity and enhanced alignment, renewal of personal evangelism and equipping evangelists, and vital, multiplying churches.

(Opening time of worship by host church, then session begins at 20-minute mark.)

BREAKOUT SESSION: ESSENTIAL TRUTHS

The adoption of the PAOC Statement of Essential Truths (SOET) has led to the development of Essential Truths: The PAOC Statement of Essential Truths | Commentary released in March 2023. In this session, Dr. Van Johnson and members of the PAOC’s Theological Study Commission provide further insight into the development of the SOET Commentary and its use as a valuable resource for PAOC pastors, leaders and local churches.

PAOC ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2023

This session includes the business conducted by the PAOC, including executive officer reports and financial reports, as well as voting.

ALIGNED IN ENGAGING NEWCOMERS

Hosted by Mission Canada, the national mission agency of the PAOC, this interactive forum provides insight, PAOC examples, and practical resources, as we align for mission in reaching those coming to Canada from other parts of the globe.

Themes and participants are:
Engagement via Cultural Church Hosting – with Blake Davidson and Nasrin Housseinia
Intentional Cultural Staffing and Cultural Group Engagement in the Local Church – with Yajaira Gomez
Multi-generational Engaging with 2.0’s and 3.0’s – with Harold Guttierez
What’s Available to Help my Church – with Charles Hermelink
Engaging Refugees in Canada – with Natalie Rogge and Obed Rod
Effective Engagement with Migrant Workers – with Craig Forbes
International Student Engagement – with Jeff Weston
Launching / Advancing ESL as an Outreach Ministry – with Noral Woodburn

On behalf of your PAOC executive officers—Dave Wells, Craig Burton, and Murray Cornelius, we welcome you to join us in-person or via live stream for a NATIONAL LEADERSHIP GATHERING and our 2023 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (AGM). This is a biennial event of our PAOC International Office to gather leaders for vision casting around mission and ministry and to care for constitutional requirements and necessary voting. We were grateful to be able to host our hybrid General Conference last May 2022. We welcomed so many of you who travelled to Winnipeg to be face-to-face with other leaders in our PAOC family. We anticipate seeing many of you again if you live within a reasonable travelling distance and are able to join us in the Greater Toronto Area for this one-day event in March.

Our theme: Aligned for Mission. In many Christian circles, 2033 is being commemorated as the 2,000th anniversary of the death and resurrection of Jesus, His ascension, and His outpouring of the Spirit on His church to fulfil His mission. This has resulted in a unified understanding in many parts of the global church that the Lord of the harvest is calling His people to be “aligned for mission.” So there will be a decade-long, multi-component focus pointed towards a unified mission that would see the gospel of the kingdom preached in the whole world.

As a global Pentecostal Fellowship, we will be working with others towards fulfilling the Great Commission in this generation. We affirm the numerous 2033 initiatives focused on everyone hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ. We will call upon our member congregations to mobilize prayer, leadership, compassion and resources to contact every unreached person. We believe the next 10 years will be the greatest decade of fulfilling the mandate of Jesus as together, empowered by the Spirit, we proclaim the Good News and establish new churches. What exciting times to be living in!

As we come together with intentionality of being “Aligned for Mission,” our emphasis as Pentecostal leaders will be on:

A fresh focus on personal witness and evangelism
Evangelists who are equippers of all believers, along with fulfilling their own distinct calling to reach everyone who has not heard the gospel
Aligned multiplication network endeavours for a kingdom increase of disciple-making communities
Enhanced prayer movements where every church in the nation is a “house of prayer”
Church movements and resource ministries aligned for mission—globally, nationally, regionally, and locally.

We look forward to seeing you, either onsite in Mississauga or online. You are an integral part of our PAOC family and our mission going forward as a Fellowship.

ONE-DAY EVENT: Tuesday, March 21, 2023

LOCATION: PORTICO a community church
1814 Barbertown Road, Mississauga, ON, L5M 2M5

TO REGISTER: Registration will go live on our Whova App on Monday, February 6, 2023. Credential holders will receive an email prompt that day with registration particulars.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND: This day is open to all PAOC credential holders, church staff and leaders, boards, lay delegates, and visitors. Voting in the afternoon Annual General Meeting will be limited to those credential holders with voting privileges and those who are registered as lay delegates from their local church.

SCHEDULE: TUESDAY MARCH 21 2023

8:00 - 9:00 am	REGISTRATION (coffee provided)
9:00 - 10:25 am	PLENARY SESSION: “ALIGNED FOR MISSION” (held in main sanctuary and via live stream / French translation provided on Zoom) Various members of our PAOC family from across the country will be sharing in this forum-style session around the themes of prayer, spiritual renewal, Spirit empowerment, unity and enhanced alignment, renewal of personal evangelism and equipping evangelists, and vital, multiplying churches.
10:25 - 10:45 am	COFFEE BREAK
10:45 -12:00 pm	BREAKOUT SESSIONS You will have the choice of two breakout sessions, intentionally focused on constitutional decisions made at our 2022 General Conference:
	ESSENTIAL TRUTHS(held in main sanctuary and on live stream, French translation provided on Zoom) The adoption of the PAOC Statement of Essential Truths (SOET) has led to the development of a companion piece being released entitled, Essential Truths – The PAOC Statement of Essential Truths Commentary. Dr. Van Johnson and members of the Theological Study Commission will highlight the use of this valuable resource for pastors, leaders and local churches.
	RIGHTFUL USE OF AUTHORITY (in chapel / off-site attendees can register in advance to join via Zoom /English only) The identification of “abuse of power” as a cause for disciplinary action for credential holders, the need for effective processes to identify and respond to such occurrences, and the resulting opportunity to re-emphasize the qualities of biblical authority, have led to a process of clarification of procedures and of resource development that is being overseen by PAOC’s executive officers and the General Executive. Ron Davis, who is serving as the ongoing co-ordinator of this process, will facilitate an in-person, interactive session.
12:00 - 1:30 pm	LUNCH (included for those who register in advance on the Whova app – no cost)
1:30 - 3:00 pm	PAOC ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (in main sanctuary and on live stream) Voting will be conducted through the Simply Voting platform. Voting delegates will be required to register for the AGM in order to participate in online voting. If attending in person, be sure to have a device with you which you can vote from (i.e., laptop, phone, iPad).
3:00 - 5:00 pm	ALIGNED IN ENGAGING NEWCOMERS (in main sanctuary and on live stream) Hosted by Mission Canada, this interactive forum will provide insight, PAOC examples, and practical resources, as we align for mission in reaching those coming to Canada from other parts of the globe.