executive director’s report
Executive Director Highlights
2021
A Season of Transition and Growth
2021 bears witness to the reality that life is never static! Life truly is made up of seasons that unfold, develop and come into full fruition, or fade into the next season, and 2021 was a year of transition into a new season for Canadian Baptist Women of Ontario and Quebec. In April, Jennifer Shewan finished her term as Board President and Dr. Darlene Maxey began her term as our President. Also in April, Rev. Diane McBeth announced that she was coming to the end of her time of leading CBWOQ, and in September, I officially began my tenure as Executive Director. Transition can feel unsettling, and I am very grateful for the CBWOQ staff and board who have stayed steady and weathered these changes well. As a relative newcomer to the world of Canadian Baptists, I am especially thankful for the warm welcome I received, for the many people who took time to answer my questions, and for the incredibly dedicated, gifted and Christ-loving team of women I now have the privilege of being part of. Even in the ongoing transition, however, 2021 proved to be a busy and productive year. Our theme for 2021, Encourage Love | Inspire Good
(based on Hebrews 10:23-24), was accomplished in spades. We supported Canadian Baptist Ministries projects internationally, several refugee centres locally, gave to international work through Canadian Baptist Women, participated with Baptist World Alliance—Women’s World Day of Prayer, and had a full year of programming. Annual Baptist Women’s Conference At our virtual conference in April, women were uplifted, equipped, blessed and challenged by plenary speaker Karen Wilson, workshop leader Mee Yun Kim and drawn into God’s presence through Jenna Cowan’s inspired worship leading. We had 446 women who registered and, since then, over 600 views on our YouTube channel and website. We learned that while we missed being together in person, there were also many advantages to meeting online as women who would not have been able to travel to attend were able to join in. We took the feedback from 2021’s conference to plan a hybrid conference for this spring—April 22 and 23—in which women everywhere will be able to access the conference and live • January - February 2022
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