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Dear Friends 

On Saturday May 30, our Diocese gathered for a Mission Conference. The theme of the conference was “Moving in Mission, Guided by Spirit.”   

During the conference, I spoke about the state of the diocese and how I see things at this point in our history.  I noted that our Diocese was established in 1879, but in 1929 the see city moved from New Westminster to Vancouver.  Only 50 years after the Diocese was formed, we made a significant shift to have our Cathedral in downtown Vancouver.  We made this move for a variety of reasons, but it is important to note it was a response to the changing needs of the communities around us.  

That decision reminds us that our diocese has always adapted and renewed the way we live out our Anglican faith in this part of British Columbia and Canada.  

The same is true now.  The world is changing around us, and we now seek to respond to this changing world.  The Holy Spirit is still calling us forward and to be the Church of our times; responding to the gospel of Jesus Christ in 2026 and beyond. 

And we are doing this in a variety of ways in our growing Diocese as we see signs of new life in so many ways.  

The video of the talk that I gave at the Mission Conference can be found here.  I invite you to watch it and listen for where God might be inviting you and your parish (or other place of worship) to heed the call of the Holy Spirit and look to the future knowing that while our world changes, God and God’s love does not. Our mission is still to do the work of the gospel, but to do so in a way that makes sense in this time and place.  

As you watch this video and engage in your own process of listening for God’s call, a group of people from the diocese and I are doing the same as part of a formal process of developing a Ministry Plan for our diocese. The goal is to identify where the Holy Spirit is calling us to bring God’s presence into the world, and in what way.  

May you sense a new call of how the Church of our times might be the Body of Christ in this region of our province.   

Blessings and Peace 

+John