We Together 2025

We Together is our regular (once every other year) diocesan conference to remind us of the ways we are connected; we are stronger together. 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 are each other's gift.

This year's theme is God is not Elsewhere. The God of our scriptures and stories, the God of our traditions and rites, the God who whispers through music and poetry, is the God moving here and now. Not just 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 gifts of a selection of people from our diocese, as we reflect together on some of the ways that the God who is in our midst is stirring and calling us on our journey together. We will eat and laugh, we will learn and be challenged, and together we will be nourished for our journey.

The conference will begin on Friday evening November 14th with an evening banquet at St Paul's in Nanaimo followed by an opening address. On Saturday we will gather at St. Paul's for a full day of workshops featuring our speakers John Thatamanil, Jonathan Thomas, Jenny Replogle, Christine Conkin, Brendon Neilson, Gordon Smith, and Denise Doerksen.

Financial Aid Information:

If you would like to attend but the costs are unaffordable, please select the subsidized ticket rate and we will be in touch with you about completing 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 attend. There is max. of $175/person and funds will be distributed according to the Diocesan Travel Reimbursement Policy. To review this policy please visit www.bc.anglican.ca.

All grant funds will be mailed by cheque after the event is over and once the form is complete.

Schedule

November 14, 2025 Friday Evening

5:30pm Doors open and Registration

6:00pm Banquet and opening session

9:00pm End of Event

November 15, 2025 Saturday

8:45am Doors open with Coffee & Registration

9:15am Opening prayer and welcome

9:30-10:30am Session I or II (Participants will have a choice) with Jonathan or Jenny

10:30-11:00am Coffee break

11:00am-12:00pm Session III or IV (Participants will have a choice) with Denise or Gordon

12:00-1:15pm Lunch (Lunch not provided)

1:30-2:30pm Session V or VI (Participants will have a choice) with Christine or Brendon

2:30-3:15pm Final Group Session (Everyone) with John J Thatamanil

3:30-4:30pm Closing Eucharist with Bishop Anna

4:30pm End of day

Talk

The Love that Is Not In Hiding: If God is not elsewhere, God must be available to experience here and now. What wisdom and practices do we need to access the love that is not in hiding? Recalling 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 immanence is desperately needed to bring Christian spirituality into maturity.

Biography

John J. Thatamanil is Professor of Theology and World Religions at Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York. He is the author of Circling the Elephant: A Comparative Theology of Religious Diversity (2020) and The Immanent Divine: God, Creation, and the Human Predicament; An East-West Conversation. His areas of research include theologies of religious diversity, comparative theology, philosophical theology, and ecotheology. He is committed to seeking interreligious wisdom by learning from the practices and insights of other religious traditions. He is also a Past President of the North American Paul Tillich Society.

John 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 child when he was just shy of 9. He traces his love for Indian religious traditions to his desire to learn more about what it means to be an Indian kid growing up in the US.

John is married to Kate Newman who is the Religious Educator at Christ Church Cathedral School and currently a PhD student at the University of Victoria. He is father to Moses Dryden and Kate Fulton-John. The “Two Kates” problem is a source of regular hilarity at home.

Talk

God is Not Elsewhere: The Benedictine Life in Congregations. During this workshop, we will draw on the principles of the Benedictine Life and explore together what they have to offer to us called to lead the church today. Through stability, we practice recognizing God’s presence among us in this particular place and time. In obedience, 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 communities 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 enable us as clergy to lead and thrive in the places we are called.

Biography

Jenny serves as Canon for Lay-led Parishes and Parishes-in-Transition and Interim Executive Archdeacon. In her role, she helps to empower, train, and equip ministry in parishes that do not have permanent clergy, to help them be more faithful, healthy, and effective in their particular contexts. She also works with parishes who are in a transition of clergy leadership and 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 the dignity of every human being at the centre of our work.

Talk

Wondering Through the Bible: A Primer on Children's Spirituality - Children's formation needs to begin by simply teaching them to know and love the foundational stories of our faith. To do that, they need to not only hear the stories, but enter into them, embody them, and learn that they are their stories. Using the "wondering questions" technique from the Godly Play Foundation, we will 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 narrative. The techniques and spirituality of Godly Play can be used, even without the materials, to enliven the stories and deepen faith.

Biography

The Very Rev. Jonathan Thomas is dean and rector of Christ Church Cathedral. He went to Princeton Theological Seminary thinking he would get a doctorate in theology 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 Play instructor, has two young kids of his own, and probably loves teaching children most of all.

Talk

Hopeful 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 both the way of despair and despondency and the way of “never is heard a discouraging word.” We face reality and we know the way of lament. We feel the full force of the brokenness of our family systems, our neighbourhoods and our world, including Gaza and the Sudan. But we do not despair; we sustain a resilient hope even in the fact of a polarized and 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 parishioner – whether called into business, the arts or education or the domestic 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 spiritual direction or any one-on-one conversation.

Biography

Gordon T Smith is the executive director of Christian Higher Education Canada; he is a former university president and seminary professor and continues as a Teaching Fellow 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 Southern Gulf Islands and typically worship at Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria on the week-ends.

Talk

Art 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. What might it mean to reclaim our generative potential for being co-artists with God as Divine Artist? This and other questions will be the foundation for presentations, discussions, and artistic exercises. 

  Biography

The Rev. Denise Doerksen is currently serving as the incumbent at Holy Trinity Anglican Church in North Saanich. She is a textile and fibre artist who is passionate about creating art and fashion that is eco-friendly and sustainable. She is also an iconographer and has written icons of St. George, St. Elijah, and Theotokos Oranta. 

Talk

Following Jesus - Leading in Community: Lessons from the dance floor. In a world that so highly values 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 help us deepen our practice of faithfully following Jesus in the church and beyond.

Biography

The Rev. Christine Conkin has served in ordained ministry since 2006 in both Calgary and Victoria. Her spiritual life is grounded in dance and a variety of active outdoor activities, which combine with her biblical 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.

Talk

Without Metaphor, No Saving God: We often think 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 this session we will explore briefly together how metaphor works, and what that means for our experience of this life, and how that works into our theologies and how we embody our convictions. Metaphor is central to theology and connects us to the past, and to our physical world in beautiful ways.

Biography

Brendon Neilson has worked in the synod office since 2018 and currently serves as Executive Director of the Diocese. He has an underlying conviction 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 question of what faithfulness looks like in the systems and structures of our diocese is central to how he approaches the work.

Host or Publisher Anglican Diocese of British Columbia