Evangelical Missiological Society and Lausanne Movement in Vancouver Migration, Mission, and Multiplication Movements
On June 21, 2017, Missions Fest Vancouver in partnership with Outreach Canada hosted Dr. Narry Santos, Vice-President of the Evangelical Missiological Society (EMS) and Dr. Richard Cousins, Associate Director of Lausanne Canada for an evening presentation on the current trends impacting missions, migration, and multiplication in Canada.
Dr. Santos began with an overview of these trends and an explanation of the terms interwoven with his personal experience as a pastor and missionary church planter with Greenhills Christian Fellowship, a church family started by an American missionary in the Philippines. There are 23 church plants alone in the Philippines and 2 in Canada, with a vision to plant 7 more churches by 2024. This is based on their philosophy of ministry encapsulated in the 3M’s: Missional, Metropolitan, and Multicultural. He concluded with an overview of EMS, which is focused on bringing together the Assembly, Agency, and Academy to discuss missional trends and theories
Dr. Cousins then continued the presentation with an overview of the Tyndale Intercultural Ministries (TIM) Centre which addresses the training of intercultural ministers. The TIM Centre provides inexpensive and accessible theological training at the certificate level. The first graduating class were pastors from Greenhills Christian Fellowship. He concluded the presentation with an overview of the Lausanne Movement, which brings together 1,000’s of delegates from all over the world with an interest in global missions
In March 2018, EMS and Lausanne Canada hope to host a national conference in Vancouver as a joint venture in partnership with local churches and mission agencies.