BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:icalendar-ruby CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260816T035530Z UID:163-185112@stcolumbatofino.ca DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251114 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251115 CLASS:PUBLIC CREATED:20250908T090717 DESCRIPTION:

\nWe Together is our regular (once every other year) diocesan c onference to remind us of the ways we are connected\; we are stronger toge ther. We are bound in countless ways\, in our structures\, in our prayers\ , and through the stories we tell. We are each other's concern\, and we ar e each other's gift.\nThis year is God is not Elsewhere. The God of our sc riptures and stories\, the God of our traditions and rites\, the God who w hispers through music and poetry\, is the God moving here and now. Not jus t in times and places long ago and far away\, but within our places\, our communities and our people. This year's We-Together will highlight the gif ts of a selection of people from our diocese\, as we reflect together on s ome of the ways that the God who is in our midst is stirring and calling u s on our journey together. We will eat and laugh\, we will learn and be ch allenged\, and together we will be nourished for our journey. \nThe confe rence will begin on Friday evening November 14th with an evening banquet a t St Pauls in Nanaimo followed by an opening address. On Saturday we will gather at St. Pauls for a full day of workshops featuring our speakers Joh n Thatamanil\, Jonathan Thomas\, Jenny Replogle\, Christine Conkin\, Gordo n Smith\, Brendon Neilson and Denise Doerksen.\nFinancial Aid Information\ nIf you would like to attend but the costs are unaffordable\, please selec t the subsidized ticket rate and we will be in touch with you about comple ting the grant form. Funds have been provided by the Education Trust Board with the requirement that a form be completed. The available grants will cover travel\, food and accommodation\, not the cost of the ticket to atte nd. There is max. of $175/person and funds will be distributed according t o the Diocesan Travel Reimbursement Policy. To review this policy please v isit www.bc.anglican.ca.\nAll grant funds will be mailed by cheque after the event is over and once the form is complete.\nSchedule\nNovember 14\, 2025 Friday Evening\n5:30pm Doors open and Registration\n6:00pm Banquet an d opening session\n9:00pm End of Event\nNovember 15\, 2025 Saturday\n8:45a m Doors open with Coffee &\; Registration\n9:15am Opening prayer and we lcome\n9:30-10:30am Session I or II (Participants will have a choice) with Jonathan or Jenny\n10:30-11:00am Coffee break\n11:00am-12:00pm Session II I or IV (Participants will have a choice) with Denise or Gordon\n12:00-1:1 5pm Lunch (Lunch not provided)\n1:30-2:30pm Session V or VI (Participants will have a choice) with Christine or Brendon\n2:30-3:15pm Final Group Ses sion (Everyone) with John J Thatamanil\n3:30-4:30pm Closing Eucharist with Bishop Anna\n4:30pm End of day\nSpeakers &\; Talks\n

\nJohn J. Thatamanil\nThe Love that Is Not In Hiding: If God is not else where\, God must be available to experience here and now. What wisdom an d practices do we need to access the love that is not in hiding? Recalli ng Karl Rahner's dictum\, "The Christian of the future will be a mystic or not at all\," this talk suggests that an embodied encounter with divine i mmanence is desperately needed to bring Christian spirituality into maturi ty. \nJohn J. Thatamanil is Professor of Theology and World Religions a t Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. He is the author of Circling the Elephant: A Comparative Theology of Religious Diversity (2 020) and The Immanent Divine: God\, Creation\, and the Human Predicament\ ; An East-West Conversation. His areas of research include theologies of r eligious diversity\, comparative theology\, philosophical theology\, and e cotheology. He is committed to seeking interreligious wisdom by learning f rom the practices and insights of other religious traditions. He is also a Past President of the North American Paul Tillich Society. \nJohn is an Anglican Priest in and Diocesan Theologian for the Diocese of Islands and Inlets. John was born in Kerala\, India and migrated to the US as a chi ld when he was just shy of 9. He traces his love for Indian religious trad itions to his desire to learn more about what it means to be an Indian kid growing up in the US.\nJohn is married to Kate Newman who is the Religio us Educator at Christ Church Cathedral School and currently a PhD student at the University of Victoria. He is father to Moses Dryden and Kate Fulto n-John. The “Two Kates” problem is a source of regular hilarity at hom e.\n

\nJenny Replogle\nGod is Not Elsewhere: The Benedictine Life in Congregations: During this workshop\, we will draw on the princip les of the Benedictine Life and explore together what they have to offer t o us called to lead the church today. Through stability\, we practice reco gnizing God’s presence among us in this particular place and time. In ob edience\, we will consider practices that help us listen with open hearts and minds to those God has called us to share life with. From that place\, we will explore what conversion of life will look like for us and our com munities as we are transformed more into the body of Christ. As we explore this way of life together\, we will draw on both the depths of our faith tradition as well as organization development and change processes to enab le us as clergy to lead and thrive in the places we are called. \nJenny s erves as Canon for Lay-led Parishes and Parishes-in-Transition and Interim Executive Archdeacon. In her role\, she helps to empower\, train\, and eq uip ministry in parishes that do not have permanent clergy\, to help them be more faithful\, healthy\, and effective in their particular contexts. S he also works with parishes who are in a transition of clergy leadership a nd clergy interested in serving parishes in our diocese. She is passionate about working with individuals and communities as they discern how God is calling them in their own unique ministries\, bringing the processes and work of our Church in line with the faith and values we profess\, keeping our baptismal vows to seek and serve Christ in all persons\, and holding t he dignity of every human being at the centre of our work.\n

\nJonathan Thomas\n\nWondering Through the B ible: A Primer on Children's Spirituality - Children's formation needs to begin by simply teaching them to know and love the foundational stories o f our faith. To do that\, they need to not only hear the stories\, but ent er into them\, embody them\, and learn that they are their stories. Using the "wondering questions" technique from the Godly Play Foundation\, we wi ll explore how to lead children (and adults new to the faith) deeper into the stories and the realization that they are characters in this holy narr ative. The techniques and spirituality of Godly Play can be used\, even wi thout the materials\, to enliven the stories and deepen faith.\nThe Very R ev. Jonathan Thomas is dean and rector of Christ Church Cathedral. He went to Princeton Theological Seminary thinking he would get a doctorate in th eology but found that his real passion was for teaching regular people in churches why our faith matters in our daily lives. He is a trained Godly P lay instructor\, has two young kids of his own\, and probably loves teachi ng children most of all.\n\n

\nGordon T Smith\nHopefu l Realism and the Call to Mutual Encouragement: We need to cultivate the capacity to name reality while sustaining a resilient hopefulness. To this end we turn from both toxic positivity and cynicism. We avoid bot h the way of despair and despondency and the way of “never is heard a di scouraging word.” We face reality and we know the way of lament. We feel the full force of the brokenness of our family systems\, our ne ighbourhoods and our world\, including Gaza and the Sudan. But we do n ot despair\; we sustain a resilient hope even in the fact of a polarized a nd authoritarian age. And in the face of deep wrong\, we discern what to say and what to do\, without pretending to be heroes or magicians. Can we do this? We must: for the sake of the church and for each paris hioner – whether called into business\, the arts or education or the dom estic sphere. To this end\, we cultivate the capacity to be a means of encouragement to others – either in the homily\, or our writing or in s piritual direction or any one-on-one conversation.\nGordon T Smith is the executive director of Christian Higher Education Canada\; he is a former u niversity president and seminary professor and continues as a Teaching Fel low at Regent College\, Vancouver. He is the author of a number of publications\; upcoming – In the Meantime: Living in Light of the Ascension [Cascade\, 2025]. He and his wife\, Joella\, live in the Sou thern Gulf Islands and typically worship at Christ Church Cathedral in Vic toria on the week-ends. \n

\nDenise Doe rksen\nArt Can Save Us!: The loss of the presence and practice of art is a loss of a spirituality that impacts everything truly valuable in life. W hat might it mean to reclaim our generative potential for being co-artists with God as Divine Artist? This and other questions will be the foundatio n for presentations\, discussions\, and artistic exercises. \nThe Rev. De nise Doerksen is currently serving as the incumbent at Holy Trinity Angli can Church in North Saanich. She is a textile and fibre artist who is pa ssionate about creating art and fashion that is eco-friendly and sustainab le. She is also an iconographer and has written icons of St. George\, St. Elijah\, and Theotokos Oranta. \n

\nChristine Conkin\nFollowing Jesus - Leading i n Community: Lessons from the dance floor. In a world that so highly valu es leadership\, how do we learn to engage Jesus' call: "Follow me!"? What are the dynamics of following and its dynamic relationship with leading? Social swing dancing offers a unique perspective and opportunity to learn good followship with joy and rhythm. These lessons from the dance floor he lp us deepen our practice of faithfully following Jesus in the church and beyond.\nThe Rev. Christine Conkin has served in ordained ministry since 2 006 in both Calgary and Victoria. Her spiritual life is grounded in dance and a variety of active outdoor activities\, which combine with her biblic al and theological studies to inform her interest in the transformation of today’s church. She is currently Incumbent of St. George\, Cadboro Bay in Victoria\, BC.\n

\nBrendon Neilson\nWithout Metaphor\, No Saving God: We often t hink of metaphor as a more abstract form of thought and speech than more ' literal' forms\, but what if I told you it was indeed the opposite? In thi s session we will explore briefly together how metaphor works\, and what t hat means for our experience of this life\, and how that works into our th eologies and how we embody our convictions. Metaphor is central to theolog y and connects us to the past\, and to our physical world in beautiful way s. \nBrendon Neilson has worked in the synod office since 2018 and curren tly serves as Executive Director of the Diocese. He has an underlying conv iction that faith is made true in the living of it. While property issues and redevelopment projects take up most of his time these days\, the quest ion of what faithfulness looks like in the systems and structures of our d iocese is central to how he approaches the work. LAST-MODIFIED:20250908T090717 LOCATION: SUMMARY:We Together 2025 URL;VALUE=URI:https://www.stcolumbatofino.ca/events/we-together-2025/2025-1 1-14 ATTACH;FILENAME=LOGO 1_WETOG2025.png;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://dq5pwpg1q8ru 0.cloudfront.net/2025/09/08/16/07/16/0516330a-7c97-475b-9c9f-8d1e12420d81/ LOGO%201_WETOG2025.png END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR