On Saturday, July 16th, 2022 took place the AMAC’s 1-day retreat to celebrate the 175th Anniversary of the Armenian Evangelical Church. This event was held at the Grace United Church, in beautiful Gananoque, Ontario. The congregants of the 4 Armenian Evangelical Churches of Canada were excited to be a part of this very long awaited post-Covid gathering. It was also enjoyable to be able to travel once again, in buses, like back in pre-Covid days.
The day started off with some fellowship, over coffee and sweets. Afterwards, everyone was invited in the church sanctuary. Rev. Takouhi Demirdjian-Petro first took the altar and welcomed all the attendees. It was then time for Raffi Shnorhokian, the AMAC President, to take the stage. He also offered his welcoming greetings and then led the congregation into a worship service. It was beautiful to see the participants wholeheartedly praising the Lord, with Armenian hymns and worship songs.
Rev. Georges Dabbo was then invited to lead the room into prayer and then present the guest speaker, Dr. Setrag Khoshafian, from Boston, Massachusetts.
Dr. Khoshafian’s presentation was titled: “Armenian Evangelical Movement – Blessings and 21st Century Challenges. The journey continues…” He gave a small glimpse into the history of the Armenian Evangelicals, as well as into their contributions to the world. He then briefly described the timeline of the different emerging trends throughout the years, all the way to the new challenges we’re facing in our modern era. He completed the speech with examples of ways to rekindle and revive who we are as Armenian Evangelicals. Some of the solutions we parted with included Bible studies, new songs and new Christian literature, reaching out to new generations, preaching the Gospel to different nations (even Muslims), etc. Let’s all take what we learned and discovered here at heart, and go back to our churches, revived and replenished, ready to do even more for God’s kingdom.
Having filled up our minds and hearts, it was now time for filling up our appetites, in true Armenian fashion. What better way to do so, then with some delicious Montreal lahmajoun and some chikoefte. Afterwards, some of the attendees went on a sightseeing tour or a boat cruise of the 1000 Islands, while some stayed back and enjoyed time of fellowship with friends they hadn’t seen in years. After the leisurely time, we all headed back to the church basement, to enjoy some coffee and desert, as well a celebratory birthday.
Following the coffee break, we all went back to the church sanctuary, to participate in the AMAC Member’s meeting, headed by Raffi Shnorhokian. He started by presenting all the work that AMAC is involved in, whether it be in Armenia/Artsakh, Lebanon, Syria, as well as Canada. True to its’ mission, AMAC tries to help out with Child Sponsorship programs, as well as Kindergartens, Scholarships, etc.
AMAC was created 38 years ago. It was very interesting to see that some of the founding fathers of AMAC, Mr. Hagop Basmadjian and Mr. Mihran Jizmejian, were still a part of the committee up until today. Mr. Jizmejian had requested to officially retire from the AMAC board and he was awarded with a commemorative plaque for his many years of dedicated service to the AMAC. Mrs. Jizmejian also received a bouquet of flowers. Also, the new committee members were presented to the congregation and were prayed over by Rev. Georges Dabbo.
The afternoon continued with a communion service and ended with worship songs. All participating families received a party favor, consisting of Rev. Demirdjian-Petro’s “The TRUE Gift Lives ON…” book, as well as “The Thousand Islands” souvenir book. What a nice conclusion to an amazing and beautiful day. We all departed and went back home with new memories, as well as a newfound zeal to pursue our individual and collective mission to follow God, as well as love and serve wholeheartedly.
Lara Kassardjian
