Wednesday, September 26

11:00 am – 4:00 pm

Deeper Learning Pre-conference (extra cost)

4:00 pm – 6:30 pm

Registration (supper on own)

6:30 pm – 8:15 pm

Opening and Keynote #1 – Jennifer Keesmaat (pre-recorded)

A Portrait of Faithful Presence: Believe, Understand, Act

The greatest challenges of our time – radicalization, exclusion, growing inequality, environmental degradation - increasingly materialize in our cities, where over 80% of the global population now lives. Can we be a part of transformative change? How are we to act – and embody a faithful presence? Hope-filled citizenship and engagement in local communities and across the globe provides inspiration and is a tool for fostering belief and understanding.

8:30 pm – 9:30 pm

Reception in the 29^th Floor Summit Dining Room overlooking the city

Sponsored by CARDUS

Thursday, September 27

7:00 am – 8:30 am

Breakfast in the 29^th Floor Summit Dining Room

8:30 am – 9:00 am

Opening Devotions and Worship – Karen Burke

9:00 am - 10:00 am

Keynote #2 – Sylvia Keesmaat

Faithful Lament and Prophetic Presence

In a deeply broken and fragmented world, faithful presence means both hearing and learning from the cries of the vulnerable, including the cries of creation. The biblical story provides a model for what such listening looks like and what such learning might create.

10:00 am – 11:00 am

Refreshments and Networking

11:00 am – 12:00 pm

Breakout Sessions #1: Faithful Presence and …

·        “Faithful Presence and the Environment”: Karri Munn-Venn (Citizens for Public Justice)

·        “Faithful Presence in an Era of Reconciliation”: Mike Hogeterp (Centre for Public Dialogue, CRC) and Jonathan Maracle (Broken Walls)

·        “Gospel Music—‘Community in Motion’”: Karen Burke (York University)

·        “…Inter/Intra Faith Dialogue”: Andrew Bennett (Cardus) and panel

·        “…Our High School Student Resolutions”: Model United Nations high school student delegates

·        “…Urban design”: Jennifer Keesmaat

·        “Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI): Core Procedures and the Policy Development Journey”: Ed Noot (SCSBC) and Sylvia Keesmaat

12:00 pm – 1:00 pm

Lunch in the 29^th Floor Summit Dining Room

1:00 pm – 2:00 pm

Keynote #3 – Richard Peters and Jane Miller

Faithful Presence through Crucial Conversations

Faithful Presence sounds well and good while we’re here together in Ottawa. What does it look and sound like in the tough moments of our day to day reality? You’ve all been there sitting across from a student, parent, or even donor or board member. You know you are about to have a DIFFICULT conversation. You’ve never had this conversation. It may have never even crossed your mind as a possibility. But how could you have prepared for it anyway, even if it had?

Enter the actor/improviser. For over two decades the banking sector and conflict resolution experts have been employing professional actors to prepare their employees/clients for difficult conversations. It is the safest and most effective way to understand how you will respond when the pressure mounts. Our professional actors will take our “Faithful Presence” crucial conversations and role play them with and for us. This session will empower you to respond with grace when “Faithful Presence” is about your performance in those tough moments, not here in Ottawa, but where your leadership is called on every day in your home communities.

2:30 pm – 5:00 pm

Walking Tour: Supreme Court and Parliament Hill

5:00 pm – 6:30 pm

Reception on the Hill

Greetings and Encouragement from Members of Parliament—Room 100 of the Sir John A. MacDonald Building. Optional Parliament tours starting at 6:00 PM

6:30 pm

Supper on own

Friday, September 28

7:00 am – 8:30 am

Breakfast in the 29^th Floor Summit Dining Room

8:30 am – 9:00 am

Opening Devotions and Worship

9:00 am - 10:15 am

Breakout Sessions #2: Faithful Presence and …

·        “…Our graduates”: Preparing the Next Generation to be a Faithful Presence in Canada: Beth Green (Cardus)

·        “…Gospel music is Whole Body Singing”: Karen Burke

·        “…Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity”(SOGI): Core Procedures and the Policy Development Journey Part 1:
Ed Noot (SCSBC) and Sylvia Keesmaat

·        “…Belonging and (dis)ability”: Sara Pot (OACS Communities of Belonging Liaison) and Elizabeth Dombrowski (CLC network)

·        “…Bridging the Gap… Islam and Christianity”: Amir Mahadi (Joshua Expeditions)

·        “…Preserving your School’s Christian Character”: Albertos Polizogopoulos (Vincent Dagenais Gibson LLP/s.r.l.)

10:15 am – 10:45 am

Refreshments and Networking

10:45 am – 12:15 pm

Keynote # 4 – Sylvia Keesmaat

Faithful Justice and a Reconciling Presence

Through an engagement with biblical stories of hope, we will explore how listening to the cries of the broken creates in us a deep hunger for justice and reconciliation, one that enables us to be a faithful and reconciling presence in our communities and world.

12:15 – 12:30 pm

Closing Devotions

12:30 pm

Lunch on own