OC Director's Blog: Special Announcement

A special word from our Executive Director, Craig Kraft

Merry Christmas!  As we slide into the last days of the year, we are excited to celebrate our Savior’s birth. Adding to the excitement and celebration of the season, Heather and I are thrilled to announce a change in our ministry with Outreach Canada. We invite you to pray with us as we anticipate this transition. 

We are entering our twentieth year of ministry with OC and the fifteenth year as the Executive Director. These have been great years, and things continue to grow, expand, and improve. We joined OC in 2003 to go as missionaries to Southern Africa. In 2008, we returned to Canada and I became the Executive Director. In 2009, I helped form the OC Global Alliance with our partners in the USA, Taiwan, Singapore, Philippines, India, Brazil, Guatemala, Colombia, and the UK. Since then, I have served on the guidance team of the OC Global Alliance and watched as Outreach Canada and the Alliance have grown. 2023 will be a year of transition for us as I finish my term as Outreach Canada’s Executive Director.   

I have accepted an invitation to develop a new leadership position with our OC Global Alliance. Our Alliance now has fifteen missionary Mobilization centers worldwide, representing almost 1200 missionaries. We are creating a new position to help coordinate our communication and collaboration between our partners. As an Outreach Canada missionary, I will serve as a coach, champion, facilitator, and ambassador for the OC Global Alliance.

With the support of my family, our board, and our team at Outreach Canada, I am very excited to accept this new position and enter a new chapter of ministry with our global partners.

Message from the OC Board

We are grateful for Craig’s leadership over the past fourteen years. He has led Outreach Canada through a tremendous time of growth and innovation. We are excited to see Craig and Heather move into this new area of leadership with the OC Global Alliance as an extension of the work God has been doing through Outreach Canada. This is a unique opportunity for us to participate in what God is doing globally through our Alliance partners.

Outreach Canada was a significant contributor toward the formation of the OC Global Alliance 12 years ago, and our team served as a model to others of how international teams can be both interdependent and autonomous as they work together to expand global missions in the new millennium. Craig has been at the center of this development from the beginning, and we recognize this as a natural progression for him and a great fit for his unique leadership skills and experience. 

The OC board will work closely with Craig through this next year of transition. We covet your prayers for Craig as he prepares for this new chapter in our ministry and for us as we plan for leadership succession and transition at the end of 2023.

Outreach Canada Continues to Grow!

Our team is positioned well for transition. We have a very strong leadership team in place and a great board. We are praying that ministry will continue to accelerate in the months and years ahead.

We already have new people in the pipeline to join us in the new year. God is drawing new people to join our team and advance discipleship and church planting in Canada. Our family of ministries continues to excel as we follow our ministry strategy:

• Recognize critical needs and opportunities for the Canadian church
• Respond with innovation and relevance
• Rally the Body of Christ toward cooperative solutions.

The chart below demonstrates our growth over this past decade.

An Encouraging Story

I (Craig) recently had lunch with one of our chaplains, who shared an encouraging story. Chaplaincy is a ministry of long and steady faithfulness; we don’t always see immediate results. This chaplain shared a story about a man who reached out to him for help. As the chaplain met with this individual, the man said he needed to make some big changes in his life. The chaplain asked, “Where do you plan to start?” The man said, “I need God in my life!”

This resulted in a great conversation, and this man and his family decided to follow Jesus. They now attend a local church and have their children in Sunday School. They are growing and learning together as they read Bible stories to their kids and are being discipled by other adults in the church. 

Our chaplain was so thrilled to see the fruit of his faithfulness. This was the result of years of relationship building and being available. This is a great example of how God uses our team to serve in unique ways.  Often it is just a matter of being present with people.

Looking Forward

God has been preparing us at Outreach Canada for this transition. Please continue to pray with us as we look forward to how God is moving and as we continue to serve leaders and make disciples.

In January, Ray Woodard, chairman of the OC board, will join Craig Kraft to share more about these upcoming transitions.

Dr. Craig Kraft is the Executive Director of Outreach Canada. After 15 years of pastoral ministry in western Canada, Craig, with his wife, Heather, served with OC in southern Africa before returning to lead the ministry in Canada. Craig is a graduate of Northwest Baptist Seminary at ACTS and a graduate of Asia Graduate School of Theology with a Doctor of Intercultural Studies. His study has focused on diaspora missiology in Canada.  His dissertation explores the potential for revitalizing Canadian churches through the practice of biblical hospitality with refugees and immigrants. Craig loves to watch sports, work in the yard & spend time in the woods.