Rendez-vous Reimagined

by | May 1, 2020 | Features, News, Participants, Supporters, Uncategorized, Volunteers, Workshops

Rendez-vous 2020 will be going ahead 11-14 August 2020 – just in a different way.

2020 is turning out to be a year of the unexpected and that means Rendez-vous 2020 will be a Rendez-vous unlike any other. Due to the ongoing health crisis, we won’t be able to hold a large gathering in Calgary this summer. It’s up to us to dream together what it means to be a community of faith, even if we can’t all be in the same (physical) space.

Through real-time online events, recordings, and DIY workshop kits, we will celebrate bold faith, brave space and brazen grace. Here’s what you can expect:

  • Inspiring speakers, powerful worship and singing your favorite songs
  • Fun, engaging and interactive workshops and activities
  • New friends from across the country and around the world
  • Awesome t-shirts (yep, it will be a Rendez-vous to remember!)

While we get everything ready behind the scenes, here are some things we want you to think about.

  • How can we celebrate the bold faith of The United Church of Canada, even when love for our neighbours means we can’t all be together? How can we share our faith with each other and the world even as we care for each other – from a distance?
  • What does it mean to create brave space when the barriers to participation – health, geography, finance, and just plain internet access – are more significant than ever? How can we include everyone to celebrate our faith gone wild when we cannot gather?
  • What does it mean to accept brazen grace when we are living with so much anxiety? How can we transform fear and uncertainty into love and hope – for ourselves and for the world? How can we sit with those feelings when they can’t always be transformed?

We don’t have all the answers and we are going to need your help to reimagine Rendez-vous 2020. Even if we have to rethink where and how we will gather, we want you to remember that this is your church, your event, and your chance to change how we relate to each other across the differences that keep us apart. This is not just Rendez-vous reimagined, but church reimagined. And we want you to be a part of it.

Announcing Rendez-vous Featured Guest Speaker: Right Reverend Richard Bott

by | Jan 23, 2020 | Features, Uncategorized

The Rendez-vous 2020 team is excited to announce a featured speaker: Richard Bott, Moderator of The United Church of Canada!

Born in Marathon, ON, on the traditional and unceded territory of the Biigtigong Nishnaabeg, and ordained in 1994, the Rev. Bott has lived his life “as a beloved child of God” within the United Church. He has served communities of faith in Ontario and British Columbia, most recently Pacific Spirit United Church in Vancouver, and is well known for his skills as a leader, writer, and educator, and an active user of social media.

Moderator Bott is passionate about the possibilities that we have in front of us as a church, and encourages all of us to ask and attend to both the pain and the joy that is being expressed, and then to take action on what we’re told. Entering the role of Moderator at a time when significant changes to church structures are underway, he believes that the purpose of those structures is to help the wide diversity of communities of faith across the church live into their ministries.

He is also taking on the role at a time when the Executive of the General Council has defined the triennium’s focus as one on discipleship, a focus he welcomes. “I believe that each of us needs to explore what this faith in God means to us; and what Jesus means to us,” he says. “As we explore it as individuals, I hope that we can find way of exploring it as communities of faith and fellowship.”

Announcing Rendez-Vous Featured Guest Speaker: Maricar Delfun

by | Jan 23, 2020 | Features, Uncategorized

The Rendez-vous 2020 team is excited to announce a featured speaker: Maricar Delfun!

Maricar P. Delfun is a Pastor of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines currently on special assignment as Program Coordinator of the Regional Ecumenical Council in the Cordillera. She is also the newly elected Co-Coordinator of the Association of Women in Theology. She has been in development work since 2005 and has an experience in organizing work within the ecumenical circle and the indigenous peoples. She is an indigenous woman from the Tingguian tribe of the Cordillera, Northern Philippines and an advocate of the indigenous peoples’ collective rights and for environmental protection and integrity of creation. She is also the convener of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines – United Church Workers Organization of the North Luzon area. She obtained her degree of Bachelor of Ministry from the Ecumenical Theological Seminary and a Certificate in Christian Education.

Announcing Rendez-vous 2020 Featured Guest Speaker Dr. James Makokis!

by | Dec 3, 2019 | Features, News

The Rendez-vous 2020 team is excited to announce our featured guest Dr. James Makokis!

Dr. James Makokis is a proud Cree from the Saddle Lake First Nation in Northern Alberta. Dr. Makokis’ strong connections to preventative health, spirituality, and Two-spirit perspective has helped him save lives within the LGBTQ2 and First Nation communities. He also leads one of North America’s most progressive and successful transgender focused medical practices. He is one of the few physicians in Canada who facilitates the wellness of Transgender people through supporting hormone replacement therapy.

Dr. Makokis is a leader and well-known expert within the Indigenous, LGBTQ2 and medical community, and has maintained his cultural beliefs and spiritual practices in all areas of his life. Dr. James Makokis has also had a wide range of unique experiences, from travelling alongside former Governor General Michaëlle Jean on a diplomatic mission to Brazil to working with Dr. Patch Adams in the Amazon Jungle. He also served as the Spokesperson for the National Aboriginal Health Organization’s Role Model Program. He and his partner, Anthony Johnson who is also Two Spirit and has a similar story to Dr. Makokis, were recently crowned the Season 7 winners the Amazing Race Canada.

Every Canadian needs to hear Dr. Makokis’ story to discover a meaningful role in the Reconciliation process.

We’re all looking forward to hearing from Dr. Makokis at Rendez-vous 2020. Registration will open in March 2020, so start packing!

Announcing Rendez-vous 2020 Featured Guest Speaker Pam Rocker!

by | Dec 3, 2019 | Features, News, Uncategorized

The Rendez-vous 2020 team is delighted to announce our featured guest Pam Rocker!

Pam Rocker is an atypical activist, speaker, award-winning writer, and musician. She was also chosen as one of Calgary’s Top 40 Under 40!

“LGBTQ2S+ equality, faith, love, and laughter are my passions.

I seek to communicate with humanity and humour, and to challenge prejudice in non-prescript ways. Exploring theology, feminism, equity, and what diversity really means, is what gets me up in the morning. 

For almost a decade, I’ve worked for the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) people in faith communities, organizations, and in society. I also teach and speak on social media theory, social change, corporate diversity and inclusion, comedy and music.“

Check out Pam’s amazing work on her website here: http://www.pamrocker.com/.

You can also catch up with her on social media: