What a blessing it was to be part of the Blue Ocean learning journey.
The People
Our Blue Ocean leaders hosted us in a missiologically challenging and theologically encouraging learning experience. Both the formal session discussions and the informal dinner table conversations were deeply inspiring! I left our times together with a greater understanding of who God is, what he is up to in the world, and what he is calling his church into. Deep spiritual friendships were formed along the way!
The Places
Our adventures in each of the three cities that we travelled to—Vancouver, British Columbia; Sacramento, California; and Chicago, Illinois—were amazing! It was a gift to explore these cities as tourists but also as missionaries, discerning together where God was at work in these places.
The Purpose
Thank you to the NAB for hosting a fantastic event. Upon returning to the bi-vocational work of classroom teaching and church ministry God has placed me in, I feel more spiritually inspired and practically equipped for life on mission with Christ and his Church. I recommend Blue Ocean to anyone who loves God, loves the Church, and wants front row seats to what Christ is doing in the world!
—Natalie Warkentin (Blue Ocean Alumnus, 2023–24)
Blue Ocean is a transformative one-year learning experience. You’ll be part of a cohort that journeys together throughout the year, exploring what it means to join God on mission, be formed into the character of Christ, and dwell in your neighborhood – sharing and living out the Gospel. It includes three in-person learning modules, each held in a different location. Participants come from across North America, each serving in leadership roles at NAB churches of varying sizes and ministry styles.
The first module runs October 21–24, 2025, in Vancouver, British Columbia, and focuses on missional theology – joining in with the God of Mission. The two subsequent modules take place in February (location to be set) and May (in Medina, Ohio).
You can learn more about Blue Ocean and sign up for the upcoming cohort by following the links below.
find out more about blue ocean
In addition to the first module of Blue Ocean happening in October, there are a number of other events happening this fall being hosted by the Missional Initiatives Team, all of them open to anyone in the NAB and completely online (so no travel necessary).
- Reframe – Training to provide an evaluative framework to help you and your church assess your evangelistic equipping efforts.
- Over Zoom – October 1, 8, 15, & 22
- Taster Table – Weekly gatherings intended to create space for those in church leadership to look at a different way of being God’s people amid seismic cultural shifts.
- Over Zoom – October 2, 9, 16, & 23
- Book Study – A discussion group for the book Forming Communities of Hope in the Great Unraveling by Alan J. Roxburgh and Roy Searle.
- Over Zoom – October 30, November 6, 13 & 20
You can find more details about each of these events by clicking on any of the events or by following the link below.
see all the upcoming missional events
The next issue of Onward – the free(!) NAB magazine full of news, stories, and updates from the North American Baptist family – is nearing completion. We are so excited to share this issue with you, but it’s not set to arrive in mailboxes across Canada and the US until mid-October. Thankfully, that should give you plenty of time to sign up to receive your free copy if you aren’t already on the mailing list. If you don’t receive this biannual publication and would like to, simply follow the link below, select the box for Onward, and fill out your name and address.