the free methodist church in canada
EPISODES
Wesleyan Holiness Women Clergy Conference
Why on earth would this group of women pastors go from Canada to Minneapolis in February? Not only is it farther north than Toronto, risking snow and ice, but this city has been in the news for months as the “tip of the spear” for ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) actions, resisted by many citizens. Minneapolis is battered and torn right now.
Yet two years ago, it was announced that the Wesleyan Holiness Women Clergy Conference, E2026, would be held in Minneapolis this week. Over 600 women pastors, ministerial candidates, students, and some male advocates from five denominations have come together for three days of wonderful worship, powerful preaching, equipping seminars, and networking.
The crowd is beautifully diverse. The music is bilingual in English and Spanish. The first preacher, an African American, exhorted us to embody the gospel this week. She said that our purpose for this conference has broadened out from soaking in the truth and beauty of the gospel and our calling as women on mission with Jesus, to demonstrating that beauty to others all around us through our unity and love.
This is a fitting way to prepare for Women’s History Month. These Wesleyan-Holiness denominations have historically championed the full inclusion of women in the church, including leadership roles. We are honoured to be among these passionate worshippers of Jesus, and to pray for the peace of the city where the Lord has sent us.
**March 8, 2026 is International Women’s Day. For more information about the Wesleyan Holiness Women Clergy organization, you can visit their website here.
Ghana’s Annual Conference
What a wonderful week! This year, our Ghana mission team was simply Rev. Jervis Djokoto, Rev. Joseph Seidu, and me. Rather than travel around the country, this year we stayed in Accra and spent our time in equipping leaders. I met with the BOA and then we all three led a whole day marriage seminar (at their request). The pastors’ wives (and one pastor’s husband) came to participate in this seminar and, for the first time, the Provisional Annual Conference meeting.
As part of the annual meeting, every pastor and church planter gave an oral summary of his or her written annual report, including membership and financial data. Several showed photos so we could picture their church plants, the progress on constructing their building, or land they have managed to purchase. After their presentations, other delegates asked questions or offered advice, which was kindly offered and well received. It was real “conferencing.”
FMCIC has committed to stand alongside this newly-forming church in Ghana with our prayers and financial support. One reason we didn’t take a big team and travel around this time was that last year’s team suggested we come every other year, and on the years when the churches who love our work in Ghana do not send any team members, they could send an offering equivalent to what they would have spent on sending a team.
Please consider donating to our growing ministry in Ghana. Pastors and church planters serve sacrificially, often in areas with real strongholds resisting the gospel. As their partners, let’s do our part to encourage them with monetary support, which goes to the national church and is distributed among pastors based on need. And remember to pray!
Paula Moriarity will lead a team next March. Consider joining us!
Next Gen Ministry
Director of Ministerial Formation, Kevin Stenhouse, talks about Next Gen Ministries with Rev. Jay McIntyre.
Link to Next Gen survey: https://fmcic.wufoo.com/forms/nextgen-leadership-survey/
Coffee with Paula Moriarity
Are you interested in global missions but feel you don’t know much about it? Did you know the FMCIC offers many opportunities to get involved? Join Paula Moriarity, our Director of Global Missions, for a conversation about how God is moving through our partnerships, encounter trips, projects, child sponsorships and more. Ask your questions and learn how you (and your family or church) can become involved.
Date: February 4, 2026
Time: 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM EST
If you have any questions please email: paula.moriarity@fmcic.ca
Week of Prayer & Fasting
Friends,
I’m so grateful for the Week of Prayer and Fasting. On Sunday night, we had about 130 gathered via zoom, which would equal one person per church. Monday evening’s turnout was also more than 100. That’s wonderful!
It strikes me that this national prayer meeting, which includes a time of teaching and other contributions like testimonies and Q&A, is like a new wineskin for the new wine of the Spirit’s work in our day. When we head into our smaller breakout room times of prayer, it feels like we’re in the room with one another, saying “Amen” to each other’s sincere spontaneous prayers. God’s Spirit is uniting us.
I’ve joined similar prayer meetings with FM leaders from across Latin America and Asia, and even one that included FM leaders from five continents praying for one another. Enormous geographic distance, amazingly close communion!
If you haven’t joined in yet, please do. Invite your church members. It will make our connection to one another in the FMCIC more tangible and renew your church’s prayer life. And, by the way, the teachings that are being posted on our website each day have French subtitles, so we welcome our Quebec churches to benefit from them. The gatherings on Tuesday and Thursday have simultaneous translation into French.
Lord, renew us again!
https://fmcic.ca/prayandfast2026/
Induction Services
This past weekend, two of our Free Methodist churches in Ontario formally inducted their new pastors for ministry in their local context. Rosemary Legge has been serving Dryden Free Methodist Church since November 1, 2025 and Colin Leaver just began as the new Lead Pastor at Picton Free Methodist Church, effective January 1, 2026.
A Service of Induction is a meaningful time whereby a new Lead Pastor affirms their calling and commitment to the local church and the local church, in turn, formally welcomes the Pastor into a place of leadership and authority. In the case of both Pastor Colin and Pastor Rosemary, their ministries are affirmed by the denomination while they are still on the credentialing journey.
Congratulations to Dryden FMC and Picton FMC on the induction of your new Pastors! May this be the beginning of a wonderful season of fruitfulness and joy in your communities of faith!
Thank You For Giving Generously
FMCIC, I want to thank you for your rapid response to my appeal for emergency relief for our loved ones in Sri Lanka. Several of you responded quickly, and we were able to send $10,000 within a week of the typhoon.
In the grand scheme, that is a drop in the bucket. Large international aid agencies and governments are assisting on a massive scale, since the devastation was so widespread.
But for our own people, our Canadian Free Methodist contributions of dollars and prayers spoke volumes. We are in this kingdom enterprise together. We care. When one part of our body suffers, we suffer with them.
Paula Moriarity, our Director of Global Missions, stays in regular contact with our ministry leaders in Sri Lanka and has some photos to share here.
Once again, thank you for your compassionate response. When the time is right, we will send more relief for their ongoing efforts. God bless you!
And don’t forget to pray for the church in Sri Lanka, with whom we have a unique relationship. God is using our partnership for his glory and the good of his people.
From Paula:
Devastating flooding, from Cyclone Ditwah, had severely impacted our brothers and sisters. The Sri Lanka FMC is a Mission District of the FMCIC. God moved in big ways and our Free Methodist family responded generously to help. Various pastors (including Rev. Pramila) were able to use the money sent from the Bishop’s Relief Fund to purchase much needed food and medication to distribute to their congregation members as well as to non-believers in their community.
National Prayer Week 2026
How does a group of about 125 churches, distributed from British Columbia to Quebec, experience the important reality of our oneness in Christ and his mission? In many places, the nearest Free Methodist church is hours away from us, so it can be hard to feel like we’re “one.”
Thankfully, we anticipate coming together for our General Conference every three years (April 14-18, 2027), and each Spring we gather for Regional Gatherings (eight of them this year from March to June). But how else can we connect on a national level?
Our annual Week of Prayer and Fasting is another important shared spiritual experience in the Free Methodist Church in Canada. Sunday, January 25, we’ll begin with a zoom service at 7 PM Eastern Time in which I’ll introduce our theme, “Unleashing Holy Freedom” and we’ll spend time in prayer. Monday through Friday, the regular noon Eastern Time zoom prayers will centre on different aspects of this theme, and each evening at 7 PM Eastern Time, we’ll gather again around our zoom screens all across the country for reflections from the Scriptures and prayer. The final service on Sunday, February 1 will be in person at Wesley Chapel in Scarborough, Ontario, and livestreamed for all who want to join but can’t make it to Toronto that evening.
Prayer is the lifeblood of communities of faith. Corporate prayer enhances our focus and unites us in purpose. Fasting is a tried-and-true means of grace—forgoing food or another legitimate blessing for a season in order to consecrate our time and attention on God.
I warmly encourage you to begin the New Year by entering into a shared obedience to our Lord’s command to be people of prayer. Let’s do it together.
Merry Christmas!
Christmas greetings from some of the many nationalities that make up the global FMC.
Advent Reflections
I spent many hours over the past weekend driving through blinding snow. My destinations were certainly worth it—our FMCIC staff Christmas party, Jay McIntyre’s ordination in Barrie, ON, and Queensway FMC in Niagara Falls. And those hours of wintry weather in Ontario gave me enough time to listen to Handel’s “Messiah” twice!
Every Advent season brings me back to that unparalleled masterpiece—three hours of nonstop Scripture set to music. The contralto solos always make me think of of my mother, who reminded us every year that she had sung those solos in her high school choir. One of those solos is from Isaiah 40:11(KJV), “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young .”
An ordination in the middle of Advent brings into vivid focus the role of pastor as shepherd. In English, it’s not obvious, but in the Greek in Latin languages, “pastor” and “shepherd” are the same word. I love how the metaphor in Scripture modulates from each of us being a sheep in his flock to some of us being called to follow in the footsteps of the Good Shepherd by becoming shepherds ourselves.
1 Peter 5:2-3 exhorts all of us pastors to this holy calling: “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.”
As our Great Shepherd provides, guides, guards, and tenderly cares for us as his sheep, let us offer the same grace to our people.
Youth Conference – Lima, Peru
We are inviting our churches to support the upcoming 2026 Missions trip to Peru, Easter Weekend (April 2-6, 2026) for the JUMELI Conference by praying, considering sending participants, or giving financially to help sponsor someone who feels called to go. Because JUMELI’s registration deadline is December 31, 2025, those wishing to participate—or churches wanting to donate toward a participant—are encouraged to do so before year-end. Your prayers, involvement, and generosity will help strengthen our global Free Methodist family.
An Invitation to Join God’s Work in Peru
Bishop’s Relief Fund
The situation in Sri Lanka is very serious with severe flooding affecting the region. Please give to the Bishop’s Relief Fund to provide them with much needed assistance.
Commissioning Service
On Sunday I had the joy of presiding at the Commissioning Service of Lanny Heinlen at Westdale Park FM Church near Kingston, Ontario. Alongside Ordained Ministers, the FMCIC recognizes and blesses Commissioned Ministry as a distinct form of ministry. We are grateful to commend these persons, who serve the church as Associate Pastors in specialized ministry areas. Lanny collaborates with Lead Pastor Will Keller, who values Lanny’s unique gifts and special calling. Similar to a service of Ordination, our Sunday afternoon event highlighted the beauty of the Holy Spirit’s call in Lanny’s life and featured an opportunity for Ordained and Commissioned Ministers present to lay hands on Lanny and his wife Dorothy and offer prayers of blessing.
I love how God has designed the Body of Christ with complementary giftings and roles, so that the whole Body will be built up. Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Shepherds, and Teachers invest in equipping every member to embrace the life of discipleship and service in the Church and the world. Pastor Lanny, may the Lord supply all you need to work alongside Pastor Will and all the members of the Body at Westdale Park to carry out God’s unique mission in your community!
Sri Lanka – Our Daughter Church
Bishop Linda talks about our relationship with our daughter church in Sri Lanka.
Remembrance Day
Chaplain Bob Lay shares some thoughts about Remembrance Day, from his home in Meaford, ON.
2025 Better Together Converge
Bishop Linda, Deva Ratnam and Paula Moriarity joined others from across Asia, in Chiang Mai, Thailand for this year’s conference.
Fall Gatherings
The ministry centre staff, as well as leaders of our pastoral networks and coaches gathered in Pickering, ON for worship, connection and business discussions.
2025 Fall Ministers’ Conference
Photos highlighting this year’s Western and Eastern Fall Ministers’ Conferences.
Superintendent Ahmed Quarshie
Some background about our partnership with Ghana
In 2005, the Free Methodist Church in Canada began a ministry partnership with Ghana and in 2009, the Ghana Mission Disctrict came under the oversignt of the FMCIC. Since then we have been helping and encouraging our Free Methodist leaders with ongoing ministerial training and organizational development. Ghana is now a Provisional Annual Conference.
The Free Methodist Church in Ghana has an ambitious goal of 100 sustainable and self-propagating churches in Ghana by 2031 with 100,000-plus members. They are working to build and establish a Free Methodist Church women’s college. They also have a vision for and aim to establish economic empowerment programs like an indigenous food factory, a cloth-weaving factory and a bakery. And, of course, they plan to launch a theological school to prepare ministers.
We are so grateful for the leadership of Superintendent Ahmed Kenneth Quarshie as he leads the Ghana Provisional Annual Conference.
