The Inflection Point – Sept Update

From Rev. Ben Roberts, Artizo Director of Training

When I started with the Artizo Institute five years ago, I was given a mandate to refresh and renew our curriculum and training methods. We wanted to reinvigorate our ministry and ready ourselves for another twenty years of successful training. To use a building metaphor, this was the work of firming up the foundation that we were building on, and clarifying the blueprints we were working from – making sure our training methods were top notch and our training outcomes were gospel-driven leaders, equipped and ready for ministry in this cultural moment.

We’ve seen this effort bear good fruit in our graduates, who showcase their conviction, competency, and character as they go on to serve in the church. Our apprentices become Artizo’s greatest assets and advocates, because they carry with them the mission of training trainers, and speak to the value of Artizo’s framework in their faithful ministry.

We had a snapshot of this dynamic at play recently, reported in our previous newsletter, when our apprentices helped us in recruiting the next batch of Artizo apprentices. As a result, Artizo received many more applications this year. After our interview process, we have accepted six new apprentices for 2023-2025, giving us a total of nine apprentices in training for the coming year.

Of course, this will mean we need to continue improving our training capacity, and the main way we do this is by developing additional trainers who can sustain a high amount of attention and care for each apprentice. This is now possible because we have developed a well-documented curriculum along with the necessary processes to enable consistent training in multiple locations.

Our partnership with four lower-Mainland ANiC churches this year will not only allow us to continue a high standard of training, but set us up for continued growth and sustainability in years to come.

Our apprentices now are:

At St. John’s Vancouver, Trainer Ben Roberts

• Ryan Spear (Year II) –, Ryan is a Regent student who is particularly focused on broadening and deepening in understanding the Bible. In his second year, he’ll be continuing to gain experience in children’s and youth ministry, while also assisting in biblical study guide production and study leading.
• Jacob Vandiver (Year II) – Jacob is a Regent student keen on continuing to develop his pastoral ministry skills as he pursues the discernment process. Jacob will be assisting in small group leadership, catechesis, service leading, and pastoral care.
• Andrew Hochhalter (Year II) –, Andrew is a Regent student moving into his Th.M this year. He will continue to focus his attention on youth ministry, as well as growing in his preaching and general pastoral abilities,
• Brian Pate (Year I) –, Brian is a Regent student keen on completing his M.Div. and continuing his discernment of Anglican Ministry. Brian has a wide variety of parish ministry experience, and particularly wants to develop his preaching capability.
• Zella Christenson (Year I) –, Zella is a Regent Student with missions experience who has previously worked with the Navigators in Puerto Rico and at UBC. Zella loves opening the word of God and seeing people learn and grow, and is keen on pursuing a variety of experiences in her apprenticeship.

At St. John’s Richmond – Trainer: Sean Love

• Matthew Myers (year I) – Matt is a Regent student with a good amount of previous pastoral experience. He particularly wants to learn about ministry and preaching in the Anglican tradition to prepare him for the next chapter of service.

At St. Peter’s Fireside – Trainer: Phil Pearson

• Hosea Sheen (Year I) – Hosea is a Regent student who is pursuing Artizo to grow in expositional preaching. He hopes to continue studying theology and ministry in his desire to serve the church.
• Sarah Jeong (Year I) – Sarah is a Regent student and also assists in running Regent’s M.Div. department. She has a background in global missions, and is eager to further hone her skills for ministry.

At King’s Cross Church – Trainer: Jeremy Graham

• Jeremy Derksen (Year I) – Jeremy is a Regent student who most recently taught in Sweden. He is newly married to Eunice, and keen to discern his calling to ministry and grow in his ability to serve the church.

We have nine future leaders in training – and are excited that we’ve accepted double the amount of apprentices as last year!

We believe that this year represents an inflection point, an exciting new step forward for Artizo, where our work of refreshing and renewing has begun to bear fruit and open up new opportunities.

Obviously, none of this would have been possible without your financial giving, prayers, and personal support of our apprentices – for which we are very thankful.

As our commitments, relationships, and training capacity grows, we will need your support in increasing measure. Please continue to pray for us and support us financially in the year to come.