Back in May, our team spent a day at Camp Cairn with staff from the three Ontario Presbyterian camps - Cairn, Gracefield and Kintail. The camps brought their year-round and seasonal staff together before summer began. They did some training and planning, connected with each other, and just enjoyed being together before the busy season started.

Our team was invited to come up for the day and spend some time with the staff and hear about what it’s like to serve in this area of ministry today.

Summer is often a time of transitions. Sometimes we are saying goodbye and other times we are saying hello. Doing this well can allow people who have served faithfully to leave feeling valued and loved. Welcoming new ministry leaders with intention and care can set them up for flourishing.

There’s a stereotype about rural churches — that folks who worship there aren’t open to new perspectives, that they won’t engage diverse theologies or biblical scholarship. Anyone who’s lived and worked in those communities knows this simply isn’t true. 

Earlier this month, Ministry Forum Director, The Rev. John Borthwick had the opportunity to preach as part of Knox College’s annual Soccer Sunday service - a celebration that brought together faith, community, and the rich history of the beautiful game.

One of the churches we’re working with through our Virtual Front Porch Initiative shared something in their application that caught our attention. They talked about becoming a church with an intentionally strong culture of inviting.

It’s a phrase not often heard in mainline church circles, but it was intriguing!

We're offering one ministry pair the opportunity to attend The Lester Randall Preaching Fellowship 2026 together.

If you've missed an episode, or just want to revisit a conversation that resonated with you, now is a great time to catch up. We would be honoured if the Ministry Forum Podcast became part of your summer listening rhythm.

In April, we held kick-off meetings to gather all those interested in participating in the first cohort of Listening Partners, and we have collected application forms.

In collaboration with other Ontario-based peer support organizations, we have begun building a comprehensive training program for our first cohort of listening partners to ensure they feel well-equipped to engage in listening conversations. 

To ensure that all Listening Partners have time to complete their training - and to respect the need for rest and time away during the summer months - we are postponing training for our first cohort to begin in September of this year. 

No agenda. No expectation that everyone will agree. Just a space to listen well, speak honestly, and reflect together on the updates, reports, conversations, and chatterings from General Assembly 2026.

This week on the Ministry Forum Podcast, we’re joined by Rev. Dr. Grace Ji-Sun Kim for a conversation about climate justice, theology, water, suffering, connection, and the ways creation care touches every part of ministry.

After a recent conversation on the Ministry Forum Podcast with Rev. Julielee Stitt about rural ministry in Eastern Ontario, we spent some time reflecting on the themes that surfaced throughout the discussion. Alongside insights from pastors, ministry leaders, articles, and books focused on rural church life, this piece explores what rural congregations might still teach the wider church about community, participation, hospitality, pastoral care, and faithful presence. While rural churches face very real challenges, they also continue to embody forms of shared life and belonging that feel increasingly important in today’s fragmented culture.

So, a while ago, we shared the news that Revival is happening although it is Quiet. This came from reports out of the UK and the US that data was showing that young people were expressing interest in Christianity, the Bible, and the Church. Now, the data points were relatively small… but the report from The Bible Society of the UK was meant to be encouraging.

A year on… and they have a confession to make. The data that they used was flawed…

A few weeks after Courageous Faith in a Time of Fear, we’re still reflecting on the conversations around ministry, justice, fear, and public faith. Plus, revisiting our podcast conversation with Fr. Joash Thomas about what courageous discipleship looks like right now.