WELCOME MESSAGE FROM DAVID WELLS

“We – The Called”

On behalf of the General Executive and my fellow executive officers, I welcome you to General Conference 2024. We are very grateful for the sacrificial preparation and warm welcome offered by superintendent Jason Small and our Western Ontario District (WOD). Team members from WOD have worked in collaboration with our International Office working group to ensure GC 2024 will be memorable and impactful.

Memorable and impactful goes with Niagara Falls, doesn’t it? From the time my wife, Susan, and I first visited “the Falls” in the 1970s until now, the sense of being overwhelmed by an atmosphere of awe and power never went away. It was at that time in our lives that we were responding to the memorable and impactful call of God that both of us had experienced in our youth. God had captured us to be and to do what we were called to do. Our sense of shared calling grew. Fast forward a few decades—well, maybe not so fast—and here we are today, with you, as fellow pursuers of our Lord’s calling on our lives.

This calling is not for us alone. This time together is designed to equip us to help others, especially those younger than ourselves, and those with no sense of God’s call on their lives, to come to a place where the Lord captures them with their memorable, impactful call to Him and the purpose they are designed for.

At GC 2024 we will focus on the vision we share with many in the global church that “EveryOne” would have the opportunity to hear and respond to the call to follow Jesus. The calling on developing the next generation of children, youth, and young adults through discipleship and mentorship will also be at the core of our time together.

Clearly none of this can happen if prayer and a deep spiritual life is not central, with every church a “house of prayer.” Marked by vitality, they multiply and are effective in mission in Canada and globally. GC 2024 will feature strategic hubs built around these themes as we interact in environments of mutual sharing of challenges, opportunities, and resources. Our pre-event gatherings for Next Gen leaders and our Multiply Network will prepare the way to engage these themes.

We are “The Called,” and we take our Lord’s call to those we are sent to. I welcome you as we prayerfully gather in “the Falls” for this memorable and impactful time together.
     — David Wells, General Superintendent