EMS Canada 2026 - Ontario (Toronto)

📌 This event is at Toronto, ON and EDT timezone online. If you are attending in a different city or timezone, please register at the correct location:

• Alberta (Edmonton) → https://ems-ab-2026.eventbrite.ca
• British Columbia (Langley) → https://ems-bc-2026.eventbrite.ca
• Manitoba (Steinbach) → https://ems-mb-2026.eventbrite.ca

Join us for the Evangelical Missiological Society (EMS) Canada 2026 Regional Conference, a multi-provincial gathering where scholars, practitioners, and learners engage in mission-focused discussions relevant to the Canadian context. This year’s theme “Theological Anthropology for Missional Engagement” is central to missiological reflection and practice, since acts of gospel witness, service, and cultural engagement all rest on assumptions about human identity, dignity, and destiny. In a rapidly changing world—marked by shifting views of spirituality, ethnicity, gender, technology, and ecology—the church must embrace a biblically faithful and missionally engaged understanding of the imago Dei.

Paper presentations will address how the Church engages dynamically across one or more of the sectors:

• Academy – theological formation and educational communities
• Assembly – local churches and denominational life
• Agency – mission organizations, ministries, and networks
• Agora – marketplace, workplace, and public life

“Apocalypse and Imago Dei: Socio-political Implications for Mission.”

David Guretzki is president/CEO and resident theologian at the EFC, a position he’s held since January 2023. He served as its executive vice-president and resident theologian from 2017 to 2023 and on its board of directors from 2008 to 2017.

From 1993 to 2017 he worked at Briercrest College and Seminary in Caronport, Sask., as professor of theology, church and public life. He currently serves on the international council of the World Evangelical Alliance, on the board of Christian Higher Education Canada, and as an adjunct professor at several seminaries.

He earned a PhD in Western Christian thought from McGill University and undergraduate and graduate degrees from Briercrest College and Seminary, as well as a graduate diploma in bioethics from Saint Paul University (Ottawa).
David has published three books and many articles, reviews and book chapters. His teaching and research included the theology of forgiveness and reconciliation, the Trinity, the Church, marriage and illness, Karl Barth, human dignity, and conscience. Since 2016 he has written and taught on the theology and ethics of euthanasia and assisted suicide (known as medical assistance in dying or MAiD in Canada). He writes the award-winning regular column Cross Connections for the EFC’s magazine Faith Today.
David has regularly preached and taught in various church contexts across Canada. He is married to Maureen and together they have three adult children. He enjoys spending time with Maureen, astrophotography, amateur radio, and reading.

Response to David: TBC (AB)

“From Human Centeredness to Divine Action: Imago Dei as God’s Commitment to Humanity’s Wholeness.”

Rev. Dr. Victor I. Ezigbo is Wycliffe College’s first Professor of World Christianity and Intercultural Ministry, a post he took up on January 1, 2025. Dr Ezigbo has also been granted full graduate status by the Toronto School of Theology which means that he will be able to supervise PhD students.

Dr. Ezigbo comes to Wycliffe from Bethel University in St Paul, Minnesota, where he has been Professor of Theology since 2008. After receiving his BA from ECWA Theological Seminary in Igbaja, Nigeria, he studied at Wheaton College and received his MA in 2002. In 2005, he obtained an MTh at the University of Edinburgh, and was awarded a PhD from there in 2008. In 2014, he was Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh, and in 2022, he was Visiting Research Fellow at Yale Divinity School.

He is the author of Re-imagining African Christologies: Conversing with the Interpretations and Appropriations of Jesus Christ in Contemporary African Christianity (2010); Introducing Christian Theologies: Voices from Global Christian Communities (two volumes, 2013 and 2015); and The Art of Contextual Theology: Doing Theology in the Era of World Christianity (2021). His book, Christology and the Enactment of Jesus Christ’s Presence, is expected to be published next year by Cambridge University Press.

His wife is a nurse and they have two children.

Response to Victor: TBA

“Walking the Good Road to Tselem: Rethinking Identity, Mission, and Reconciliation through an Indigenous Lens”

Shari Russell is Anishinaabe/Saulteaux (Nahkawininiwak in our language) registered at Yellow Quill First Nation in Saskatchewan. She is married to Robert and they have three adults sons: Charles, Gavin and Brannon. When their sons were young, Shari reconnected with her biological family and community. This journey of reconnecting to her cultural traditions has been healing and restorative as Shari seeks to engage both her Indigenous identity and faith journey as a follower of Jesus. Shari currently serves as the Director for NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community, which has been a rich and rewarding experience.

Response to Shari: TBA

EMS Canada 2026 Regional Conference Papers

Tyndale University (ON Venue):

“Mutual Witness and the Gift of the Other: Christological Fullness and the Expanded Imago Dei

in Missional Encounter” (Alex Lee)

“Leading as Image-Bearers: Theological Anthropology, Formation, and Missional Leadership in a

Fractured Age” (Cathie Ostapchuk)

“Racism as Disease in Need of Healing” (Dan Sheffield)

“Created for Home: Reimagining Theological Anthropology for Mission in Quebec” (Elizabeth

Lacavalier)

“Did the CN Tower Ruin Canadian Faith?: Re-Shaping Mission with History” (James Tyler

Robertson)

“Testing Intercultural Belonging” (James Watson and Mark Chapman)

“Mission in a Shared Atmosphere: Human Vocation, Creation Care, and the Sin of Defilement”

(Julianna Phail)

“Becoming Rooted: Reclaiming Indigeneity, Land, and Ancestral Memory as Christian

Mission” (Laura Bevan Alexander)

“Becoming Fully Human: Evangelism and Imago Dei” (Lucas Burton)

“‘In Christ’: Becoming Truly Human to Participate in God’s Mission” (Marilyn Draper)

“Exploring the Filipino Concept of ‘In-Between’ (Pagitan) in Human Personhood and its

Implications to Biblical and Missional Engagement” (Narry F. Santos)

“Prophetic Disruption and Human Vocation: A Theological Anthropology for Missional

Leadership and Public Witness” (Willy Kotiuga)

“Public Witness, Political Theory and Practice: How the Imago Dei Can Aid International

Development” (Yamima Shahbaz)

“Beyond Anthropology: Imago Dei based Theology of Social justice for engagement of India’s

majority Other Backward Castes” (Yashwant Koli)

CanIl (BC Venue):

“Imago Dei on Screen: An Exploration of Relational Story-Sharing through Secular Film” (Heesun

Nam)

“Do You Want to Get Well?: Three Forms of Healing in African Pentecostalism” (Jean Nikuze)

“Remnants of the Divine Image: Engaging Moral Consciousness in the 21 st Century” (Michael

Witten)

“Earth-Keeping in the Way of Jesus: Creation Care Practices Offer Vitality to God’s People

and God’s Mission” (Rick Faw)

“Far More than Stewardship: The Missional Presence of the Restored imago Dei in midst of the

Contemporary Ecological Crises” (Samuel Chiu)

King’s University (AB Venue):

“A Comparative Theological Reading of the Japji Sahib: Implications for Christian Anthropology

and Missional Engagement” (Joel David)

Networking with missional-minded leaders, practitioners and scholars across Canada

📌 Membership Perks: Want to save on registration? Become an EMS Canada Member and enjoy discounted rates for both the regional and national EMS conferences, along with an eBook copy of the EMS annual compendium. Join Membership here (in USD).

For questions or to volunteer, contact Dr. Narry Santos, EMS Regional VP for Canada Region at or [email protected]

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