On September 23, 2024, in Newark, NJ, an important Mission to Seafarers (MTS) Canada regional meeting took place ahead of the North American Maritime Ministry Association (NAMMA) Annual Conference. The meeting, chaired by The Rev’d Joshua Messick, MTS Chaplain from Baltimore, provided an opportunity for the Mission to Seafarers Canada team to connect, reflect, and collaborate with colleagues from the United States and around the world. The Rev’d Judith Alltree, Regional Director for MTS Canada, was also present and emphasized the significance of gathering the mission’s global and regional communities to better serve seafarers.
Reflecting on the meeting, Rev’d Alltree highlighted the logistical advantage of hosting the regional gathering alongside the NAMMA Conference. “This is effectively our Mission to Seafarers Canada annual conference,” she explained. “For economic reasons and everything else, we thought, let’s try and have one adjacent to the NAMMA conference. Everybody just came out a day early. But it’s about connecting up as Mission to Seafarers, and we’re really lucky this year because we’ve got so many people coming in from New Zealand, England, Australia. We’ve got several new Canadian folks as well, and it’s been a great experience.”
One of the central themes of the meeting was fostering “collegiality and continuity of care” within the organization. This was especially important as the Mission to Seafarers has expanded its regional scope to include U.S. ports like Baltimore, Seattle, and Houston. “It’s about building on our relationships,” Alltree noted, “which will encourage us and help us in taking care of seafarers better on the other side.”
Rev’d Joshua Messick echoed this sentiment. “We are here today exploring how we can better foster collegiality and continuity of care to serve seafarers better,” he said. The gathering offered an opportunity for both new and veteran members of the Mission to Seafarers to connect, share their experiences, and strengthen the bonds between their centers. Messick emphasized the importance of knowing who to reach out to in times of need, particularly when dealing with complex seafarer welfare cases. “The hope is to better understand our shared identity as Mission to Seafarers,” he said, “but also to make sure that everyone within our organization knows the broader context of our ministry. When we have an issue on board a ship that we can’t address right away, we know who to call to make sure the seafarer gets the care they need.”
The meeting featured representatives from across the MTS network, including Sue Dight, Regional Director for MTS Australia and Papua New Guinea, and The Rev’d Lance Lukin, Regional Director for MTS Oceania and New Zealand. Their participation underscored the global reach of the mission and the importance of international collaboration. Messick acknowledged that working with ecumenical partners enhances their capacity to care for seafarers: “We can’t exist within our own context alone. We can’t do this work well on our own. We need these partnerships, not just within Mission to Seafarers but in the broader seafarer ministry community.”
The success of this gathering, with attendees both in-person and online, reinforced the mission’s commitment to keeping the “family” of MTS connected and collaborative. Thanks to the support from The Seamen’s Church Institute for providing the meeting space, the participants left energized and ready to continue their work—better equipped to serve seafarers around the world through shared knowledge and strengthened relationships.
This regional meeting marked an important step in ensuring that Mission to Seafarers, Canada, and its international partners remain unified in their mission to provide care and support to those who work at sea.
