Date/Time
Date(s) - April 10, 2026
8:30 am - 3:45 pm
Location
Trinity Western University
Categories No Categories
Join us for Evangelical Missiological Society (EMS) Canada 2026, a multi-provincial gathering, happening in-person or online!
📌 This event is at Langley, BC and PDT timezone online, hosted by Canada Institute of Linguistics (CanIL) at Trinity Western Universit (TWU). If you are attending in a different city or timezone, please register at the correct location:
- Alberta (Edmonton) → https://ems-ab-2026.eventbrite.ca/
- Manitoba (Steinbach) → https://ems-mb-2026.eventbrite.ca/
- Ontario (Toronto) → https://ems-on-2026.eventbrite.ca
Join us for the Evangelical Missiological Society (EMS) Canada 2026 Regional Conference, a multi-provincial gathering where scholars, practitioners, and learners engage in mission-focused discussions relevant to the Canadian context. This year’s theme “Theological Anthropology for Missional Engagement” is central to missiological reflection and practice, since acts of gospel witness, service, and cultural engagement all rest on assumptions about human identity, dignity, and destiny. In a rapidly changing world—marked by shifting views of spirituality, ethnicity, gender, technology, and ecology—the church must embrace a biblically faithful and missionally engaged understanding of the imago Dei.
Paper presentations will address how the Church engages dynamically across one or more of the Four As sectors:
- Academy – theological formation and educational communities
- Assembly – local churches and denominational life
- Agency – mission organizations, ministries, and networks
- Agora – marketplace, workplace, and public life
Conference Highlights
2026 EMS Canada Plenary Keynote Speakers & Response
David Guretzki
“Apocalypse and Imago Dei: Socio-political Implications for Mission.”
David Guretzki is president/CEO and resident theologian at the EFC, a position he’s held since January 2023. He served as its executive vice-president and resident theologian from 2017 to 2023 and on its board of directors from 2008 to 2017.
From 1993 to 2017 he worked at Briercrest College and Seminary in Caronport, Sask., as professor of theology, church and public life. He currently serves on the international council of the World Evangelical Alliance, on the board of Christian Higher Education Canada, and as an adjunct professor at several seminaries.
He earned a PhD in Western Christian thought from McGill University and undergraduate and graduate degrees from Briercrest College and Seminary, as well as a graduate diploma in bioethics from Saint Paul University (Ottawa).
David has published three books and many articles, reviews and book chapters. His teaching and research included the theology of forgiveness and reconciliation, the Trinity, the Church, marriage and illness, Karl Barth, human dignity, and conscience. Since 2016 he has written and taught on the theology and ethics of euthanasia and assisted suicide (known as medical assistance in dying or MAiD in Canada). He writes the award-winning regular column Cross Connections for the EFC’s magazine Faith Today.
David has regularly preached and taught in various church contexts across Canada. He is married to Maureen and together they have three adult children. He enjoys spending time with Maureen, astrophotography, amateur radio, and reading.
Response to David: TBC (AB)
Victor Ezigbo
“From Human Centeredness to Divine Action: Imago Dei as God’s Commitment to Humanity’s Wholeness.”
Rev. Dr. Victor I. Ezigbo is Wycliffe College’s first Professor of World Christianity and Intercultural Ministry, a post he took up on January 1, 2025. Dr Ezigbo has also been granted full graduate status by the Toronto School of Theology which means that he will be able to supervise PhD students.
Dr. Ezigbo comes to Wycliffe from Bethel University in St Paul, Minnesota, where he has been Professor of Theology since 2008. After receiving his BA from ECWA Theological Seminary in Igbaja, Nigeria, he studied at Wheaton College and received his MA in 2002. In 2005, he obtained an MTh at the University of Edinburgh, and was awarded a PhD from there in 2008. In 2014, he was Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh, and in 2022, he was Visiting Research Fellow at Yale Divinity School.
He is the author of Re-imagining African Christologies: Conversing with the Interpretations and Appropriations of Jesus Christ in Contemporary African Christianity (2010); Introducing Christian Theologies: Voices from Global Christian Communities (two volumes, 2013 and 2015); and The Art of Contextual Theology: Doing Theology in the Era of World Christianity (2021). His book, Christology and the Enactment of Jesus Christ’s Presence, is expected to be published next year by Cambridge University Press.
His wife is a nurse and they have two children.
Response to Victor: TBA
Shari Russell
“Walking the Good Road to Tselem: Rethinking Identity, Mission, and Reconciliation through an Indigenous Lens”
Shari Russell is Anishinaabe/Saulteaux (Nahkawininiwak in our language) registered at Yellow Quill First Nation in Saskatchewan. She is married to Robert and they have three adults sons: Charles, Gavin and Brannon. When their sons were young, Shari reconnected with her biological family and community. This journey of reconnecting to her cultural traditions has been healing and restorative as Shari seeks to engage both her Indigenous identity and faith journey as a follower of Jesus. Shari currently serves as the Director for NAIITS: An Indigenous Learning Community, which has been a rich and rewarding experience.