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Church property was a frequently-discussed topic among listening groups, strategic planners said. Photo: Harold Stiver/Shutterstock

A first round of strategic planning consultation sessions with Canadian Anglicans has revealed a sense of profound change at hand in the church, the Council of General Synod (CoGS) heard at an online meeting Nov. 6-8.

The coronavirus pandemic, Marshall told CoGS, appears to be revealing the church’s values but also its areas of weakness, “helping us see the ways that we’re fragile in new and different ways.” One theme that had emerged, she said, is the sense of a “seismic shift” underway—a perception that the Anglican Church of Canada is “increasingly seeing the inevitability of large, transformative change, Pentecost change, on every level and in every way.”

The top five areas of interest, according to very preliminary findings from this survey, were:

• Communication with and among Canadian Anglicans;
• Dismantling racism and colonialism;
• The self-determining Indigenous church;
• The national church’s convening, connecting role; and
• Youth ministry.

Read Tali Folkins' article at anglicanjournal.com