EFC declares its priorities
Gary Walsh’s leadership showing its stripes
By
Doug Koop
ChristianWek Staff
TORONTO–The changing shape of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada (EFC) came into much sharper focus following the organization’s general council meetings late last month in Toronto.
After nearly a year and a half in office, EFC president Gary Walsh is beginning to implement a three-pronged restructuring scheme that builds on a recently redefined set of priorities. It comes after "an exhaustive process of listening to the evangelical community," he says. "We know what the body is saying."
A major element of the revamped EFC will be to re-name and enlarge the mandate of its existing Ottawa-based national affairs office, which will now be called the Centre for Faith and Public Life. Continuing under the leadership of Bruce Clemenger, the centre will be hiring more staff. Janet Epp Buckingham, a longtime member of EFC’s Social Action Commission, has agreed to serve as a consultant on the new centre’s project for Religious Freedom in Canada.
"There’s a call for us to do more–not less–quality research in areas that may be less visible than the few issues that commonly interest evangelicals," says Walsh. "We want to be in the public square on an ongoing basis with the credibility to represent vital Christianity."
At the same time, the Centre for Ministry Empowerment is being launched out of the EFC’s national offices in Markham. "If the first thrust is aimed at culture, the second is aimed toward the body of Christ," says Walsh. EFC staffer Aileen Van Ginkel will be heading it up.
According to Walsh, the second centre will try to teach and model partnering within the evangelical family, develop conferences and seminars, and bring ministries together for strategic alliances. One change now in the works will see EFC’s fall general council meetings held as "equipping conferences" in regions across the country.
Walsh points to the existing work of Vision Canada 2000 (coordinating evangelism efforts), and the need to recycle position papers created for public policy into education tools for churches as Ministry Empowerment projects.
"We have no interest in competing with our constituent members," he adds. "Our goal is to assist our member organizations in accomplishing their goals."
The third EFC thrust–communications/publishing–has yet to be fully defined. "This is a very large field, and we’ve barely begun the conversation," says Walsh. "We have Faith Today, and we’re going to be imagining new fields of communications and publishing, seeking to align this whole communications areas with EFC’s mission statement."
In the black
Meanwhile, staff cutbacks in June and a favorable response from donors brought EFC through the summer in the black. "Last year [EFC’s fiscal year begins in June] ended with the unfortunate reality that we spent more than we raised," says Walsh. "Fortunately we had reserves to cover what we spent."
Revenue in fiscal 1998 was down more than half-a-million dollars from the previous year. Part of the reason, say observers, is that Walsh is unwilling to use evangelical anger as a stimulus for people to write cheques. The reality, they say, is that evangelicals often give because they get mad about a particular issue.
When broached with that suggestion, Walsh maintained that "EFC will always be concerned about issues. We’ll continue to work on a broad base of issues. We’ve been counseled to be less reliant on [single issue campaigns] and to shift our emphasis to a base of donors who are deeply committed to our role in public life."
The task of developing that base will fall largely to EFC’s as-yet-unnamed vice president for Ministry Advancement. Walsh expects to make that announcement soon. "The new person’s job description emphasizes the relational side of the giving base," he says.
