Motto—Prepare a people for the soon return of Jesus Serving as President for the Alberta Conference during this term has been a unique experience. Everything began with the usual expectations for normal church life. However, the last few years have been anything but typical with the introduction of Covid-19. We saw the shut down of churches in person either entirely or in various percentages. As of writing, we are allowed one-third of capacity. Sadly, our province has seen the loss of many of its citizens. Our Church has also lost many people due to this disease, including some I knew personally as friends. Despite this reality, the Church has continued to share the gospel with the people of Alberta and the NWT. Our Church has passed the milestone of 12,000 members and looks forward to the next significant marker of 13,000 members. Our Conference continues to support evangelism with one of the largest budgets per capita of any conference in Canada. Our Churches have responded to the shutdowns with a quick transition to online services. This has meant that both church services and evangelistic programs have been mainly done online. Despite this encumbrance, our churches have continued to grow. Our members have continued their faithfulness, and tithe contributions have held firm during this dark period. To God be the Praise. Our youth and young people continue to receive a large portion of our resources. Our education system continues to grow. We now have 11 schools in our province, including the addition of Parkview Adventist Academy. Our student enrollment has increased by about 5% per year over this past term. We now have over 1,300 students in
our education system. In addition to the regular appropriations to our schools, the Conference has contributed approximately $700,000. Our schools have significantly improved their collective debt. Over this past term, the receivables have decreased from $2.8 million to just over $600,000. We thank God for his blessings towards our schools.
Alberta Conference SDACC Session Report 2021
President’s Report
We have continued the practice of providing chaplains for each high school, in addition to supplying Burman university with the services of its Chaplain. Nearly 300 students have publicly committed their lives to Jesus during this term. In addition to this, our young people have benefited from the various youth programs made available through the youth department of the Alberta Conference. These include Adventurers, Pathfinders, and Master Guides. Our summer camp program also attracts many young people over the summer months. In addition, there are many youth directorinitiated programs and mission trips. First Nations work in Alberta continues strong. Mamawi Atosketan Native School (MANS) remains the only Seventh-day Adventist native school in Alberta and Canada. During this term, we were able to add a new high school and industrial arts building to the MANS elementary school site. The Conference is in deliberations about the possibility of building a Church Building on the Reserve. Another exciting program surrounds our need for our congregations to have a building of their own rather than renting. We have 34 congregations that are currently in rental agreements. 7
