Fruitfulness and Connection at Canopy 2021!
By Jenny Wilson, Canopy Administrator
We are delighted to be able to share some news about Canopy 2021, which will take place online, hopefully with local hub gatherings, from 1-3 October.
Together over the weekend we will be drawing on the passage in John 15, where Jesus talks about remaining in the vine – being connected with Jesus, being connected with other branches in the vine and being fruit-bearers! What does fruitfulness look like as we look to the future as churches together and in our own contexts? How can we be more connected to God and to each other? How can we be fruitful in our care for creation?
Our programme will start on the Friday with a National Prayer Evening. There will be contributions from many of our churches across Scotland as well as an opportunity to pray for newly accredited ministers and commission our new National Team members. We are excited that we will also have a programme for children and young people too, which will tie-in to the themes we will be looking at together over the weekend.
As part of the programme on the Saturday we will have input from Dr Ruth Valerio, an environmentalist and theologian, social activist and author. Ruth is currently the Director of Global Advocacy and Influencing at Tearfund. Ruth will be helping us to understand more about climate change and our role as Christians and as church communities.
There will be a number of seminars for people to choose from on the Saturday afternoon including seminars on climate change, connection to others (including in the digital arena) and also thinking about fruitfulness in mission, both in the local setting and online.
On Sunday morning we hope congregations will join in with our livestream, where we will have worship, teaching and stories from our churches. We are also stepping out in faith that we will have live baptisms to join in with and celebrate during our Sunday morning together!
Although this will be an online conference, we are hoping that churches and smaller groups will be able to meet together, whether in church buildings or in homes to participate in Canopy 2021 as we come together once again under the canopy of God.
I do hope that you can put the dates in your diary and join with people from across our network of churches at the beginning of October!
