Woods Harbour Wesleyan Baptism
Woods Harbour Wesleyan (James Murphy) celebrated three baptisms on Sunday with 94 in attendance! The strategic partnership with Yarmouth Wesleyan (AJ Plaizier) continues to bring renewal and growth – a celebrated model for revitalization as churches link arms to reach this community.
Culture of Care – Flourishing in Ministry Assessment
- All credentialed ministers will be receiving an email later today with a link for your confidential FIM Assessment as outlined below. Thanks in advance for your priority completion of this item as we take a deep dive together in shaping a meaningful culture of care for our pastoral families.
Amherst Wesleyan (Evan Oxner) baptized seven transformed lives this Sunday – PTL! In another model of strategic partnership, Evan was in Truro at Connection where he is also serving as Lead Pastor to prepare for Campus Pastor Emma Mullen who will begin in November.
- Assistant Pastor Bradford Jordan shared an encouraging report about the fall launch in Amherst, “It has been pretty awesome so far. It hasn’t been just numbers, it’s been high engagement with worship and deep discipleship; our grade 9 girls group meets Sunday afternoons now for Bible study with their small group leader, totally their initiative!”
Canada Life Health Plan Info
- CLICK HERE for the “Welcome Package” PDF to Canada Life.
- The primary reason for this shift is to keep our premiums at the current rate as long as possible. Staying with Blue Cross would have resulted in significant increases. You will continue to submit the same monthly rate for Canada Life.
- All of your current team (including support staff) should have received communication directly from Canada Life regarding the shift to their health insurance from Medavie Blue Cross. If any of your employees have had opportunity to register yet, please get them to reach out to Karrilee to get in the plan ASAP.
- There is a reset on all coverage, so the next three months will allow for a full year of coverage before it resets again in 2026. This is a value-add bonus!
- CLICK HERE for the one-hour recording of the Orientation Session with Canada Life.
You will be able to register for My Canada Life at Work on October 2nd.
QUESTIONS? Please call 1-800-957-9777
For over a year, Woodstock Wesleyan (Dale MacDonald) has been working on a discipleship process that was initiated by a move of the Spirit within several lay people, including Tara and Tami who spoke at Beulah this summer. The Follower’s Footpath draws inspiration from hiking and trails with Christ as our guide who calls us to grow to guide others along the way. Modeling Jesus (and John Wesley) we have groups for every level of commitment from people outside of the church to mature believers.
- A large group attended to the Marketplace conference at Beulah which was very impactful. They continued meeting with this group over the summer and training them and casting vision, and there are now 18 “guides” leading groups – 10 of them being first-time leaders. We commissioned these guides on a couple of Sundays ago in a powerful time of prayer and commitment.
The stretch goal of 7 groups has turned into 22 groups – PTL! Youth & Communications Pastor Ryan Genereaux shared, “People were hungry for God and after only two weeks we have 72 people signed up for groups (plus an entire local Junior Hockey Team that Neil Horner is a chaplain for and the Youth group which has also switched their groups to Discovery Bible Study, adding around 60-70 additional people outside our church being discipled).
- Beginning with Outposts, people are introduced to Trail Heads, which leads to Explorer on to Trekker and then maturing into Guide. As people journey through the footpath, the level of accountability and responsibility grows, as does the potential for spiritual growth. The Bible is our curriculum and the Spirit is our Teacher.
You can see our process at https://woodstockwesleyan.org/groups/ and if you want to learn more about developing a process for your church, reach out to Tami (tami@atlanticdistrict.com) or if you want more detail about ours you can email us at office@woodstockwesleyan.org. We’d love to share resources we’ve developed!”
Our first Atlantic District Commissioning Sunday for unleashing lay leaders as disciple-makers! When are you planning a Commissioning Sunday at your church?
October is Pastor Appreciation Month
- CLICK HERE for all Pastor Appreciation Month Resources provided by our Wesleyan HQ.
- CLICK HERE for a helpful article to share with your church family about this important month ahead.
Hope Wesleyan (Joanne Ozon) celebrated it’s10th Anniversary this Sunday! It was an energized service and Mike Ozon share, “God didn’t bring us here to make friends, but to make family!” And the family of God has taken root once again.
- CLICK HERE to enjoy an inspiring video celebrating this decade of life as rebirthed by Carl & Evelyn Brewer
Joanne shared that over the past two weeks, fundraisers for the annual special needs outreach event (Illuminate NS) have already exceeded the funds necessary for 2026 and they have begun saving for 2027.
- This past Christmas Eve the Hope Wesleyan hosted a special Filipino service which was a huge success and they have ongoing connections with this community of new Canadians!
Deep Water BLT (Timothy & McCaila Andrews with Lead Pastor Nathan Maskery) raised over $30K to offer the 4th Annual Fall Fair with over 2,500 in attendance throughout the day – their biggest and most successful even to date!
Here are some highlights:
- 44 local businesses and organizations who partnered
- This included two Members of Parliament – Lena Metledge Diab being one of them (Minister of Immigration for Canada)
- Thousands of dollars worth of food and toiletry items were collected for our BLT Food Pantry initiative, to be distributed in the coming weeks and months
- We set up an Alpha Course tent at the event where we handed out invites to our Alpha program starting in October at Deep Water BLT.
The Andrews shared, “What began as a small neighbourhood block party just four years ago has now grown into a truly beautiful expression of community that our neighbours look to in the BLT area.” Let the Church be the Church!
Framework (Jason Blaikie) focused its annual Love Aroostook initiatives the end of September to kick off with the Fort Kent Community Center demolition. This will be the future location of a community center and a new Kingdom location through the Multiplication Network that Framework is leading.
- Jason shared, “Around 30 people from Framework, the Fort Kent Community and the Fort Kent University came together to kick start Love Aroostook. The rest of the week we are partnering with local organizations and neighborhoods as we show them the love of Christ.”
Scott Prime (New Hope Wesleyan) had the privilege of partnering with Church Vitalization Canada in Ontario this past weekend, exploring new and practical ways to help churches thrive — including those here in the Atlantic District. This collaboration is part of an ongoing effort to strengthen and equip local churches for greater impact in their communities and to advance the mission of multiplying hope throughout Atlantic Canada.
Another Caton’s Island Project Begins!
Director Dean Stephenson shared, “A special thanks to all the people that helped get the canteen pad poured today. There’s eight guys that came from Beulah Camp.
- Doug Tatton
- Dave Powell
- Stephen Cann
- Jason Cheney
- Steve Bradley
- Larry Walsh
- John Hachey
- Bruce Cheney
Jordan Israelson and I along with a bunch of guys from Top Quality Builders rounded out the crew. The game plan is to have it all framed up and ready to finish by spring so that it will be ready to go before 2026 camp starts.”
- The dedication of countless servants make our Atlantic District Camp Ministry an effective gift to unleash churches for transformed lives – thank you all!
One of those servants listed above, also recently led in the most significant Browns Flat funeral in recent memory to Celebrate the Life of community patriarch John Donald. Thank you, Steve Bradley, for serving both behind the scenes and in the hour of critical need for others like the Donald family to model what the love of Christ looks like when we pour it out for His purposes.
- Speaking of effective Kingdom servants…
Dr. HC sent along this pic of a a recent visit with the longest serving Ordained Wesleyan Minister of 76 years (1949) in our Atlantic Ministerial Tribe! Rev. Arnold Stairs was the first preacher to graduate from KU in 1948, and this Saturday he will celebrate his 99th birthday! Why not CLICK HERE and send him a birthday greeting to thank him for setting a platinum standard through his many years of Kingdom service?
In other camp ministry news, Director-Elect Wayne Clark shares:
“Mike White, who has faithfully served as our Beulah Camp Caretaker for the past five (5) years, has concluded his service with Beulah Camp and Conference Centre and is moving on to pursue new opportunities.
- On behalf of the Atlantic District, we express our sincere gratitude to Mike for his leadership in ensuring the camp has functioned smoothly year-round. We also extend our thanks to his wife, Nicki, for her support of Mike and her graciousness in accommodating the many unexpected demands that came with the role.
The caretaker’s responsibilities extend far beyond regular working hours, often requiring availability day and night. We are deeply grateful to Mike for stepping into this position at a critical time of transition for Beulah Camp. Mike, we wish you every success as you move forward into this next chapter and the opportunities it will bring.”
Bangladesh Bound!
Last month the initial team for our February 2026 vision trip to Bangladesh had a video meeting to discuss the ministry opportunities and logistics around the trip. District Director of Global Partners Denn Guptill (Cornerstone Wesleyan) shared, “We are excited about the impact that will be made during our ten-day trip. There is still room to join the team, for more information visit – www.globalpartners.ca/bangladesh or CLICK HERE with your questions.”
Denn also shared…
We have an exciting opportunity to bring hope and health to Haiti. World Hope International Canada is completing a blood bank facility at