Mennonite Church Eastern Canada
Conference of Mennonites in Alberta
Mennonite Church British Columbia
MC Canada
flying solo
"We've been flying solo
for twelve hours now," said Mennonite Church Canada general
secretary Dan Nighswander, opening a lunch-hour event on February
1. That day marked the end of the binational Mennonite Church
in North America, and the official beginning of new responsibilities
for Mennonite Church Canada. Denominational minister Henry Paetkau
presented Nighswander with two symbols. A globe represented MC
Canada's missional goal of reaching out from across the street
to around the world, and a guest book symbolized the goal of striving
to do together what we cannot do alone.
Paetkau's hope was that MC Canada will receive many visitors from
around the world, and that we will be able to reach out to them
with hospitality and record their visits in the guest book.
About 70 staff from MC Canada and MC Manitoba, plus volunteers
and guests, gathered for a brief worship service. Participants
thanked God for 140 years of Christian service through the binational
church, and sought fresh guidance as Canadian and American churches
continue to work together in new ways. The event took place at
the Mennonite Heritage Centre Art Gallery.
-MC Canada release
More staff for
Formation Council
Anne Campion of Stratford,
Ontario, began as director of Youth Ministries for Mennonite Church
Canada's Formation Council on February 1. She will work out of
Stratford and continue as youth minister in the Avon Mennonite
Church.
Kathy Giesbrecht and Connie Loeppky are co-directors of the Resource
Centre in Winnipeg as of February 1. They are working out practical
ways of sharing the work. Connie is beginning her half-time position,
while Kathy will continue at half time while increasing her pastoral
responsibilities at the Springstein Mennonite Church.
Lois Bergen will continue as administrative assistant to the Formation
Council, which includes her work with Der Bote, the German-language
periodical. Connie Wiebe is also an administrative assistant to
the Formation Council. Mennonite Heritage Centre and Gallery staff
and Der Bote staff continue their positions as before.
-From Formation Council
release
Two learning trips
for young adults
The MCEC Student and Young
Adult Commission and Mennonite Central Committee (Ontario and
Quebec) are offering two exciting learning trips for young adults
this Spring.
The first is another Northern Exposure trip from April 22-28.
This is a great chance to experience the hospitality of northern
First Nations communities. Lyndsay and Job Mollins Koene, MCC
staff in Timmins, Ontario, have hosted this trip for the last
five years.
The second trip is a long weekend in Montreal from May 17-20 entitled
"QUOI? Quest for Understanding our Identity." This trip
will explore both the cultural and religious history of Montreal,
and the personal quest for meaning and identity.
For details, contact Mark Diller Harder at (519) 650-3806 or e-mail:
markdh@mcec.on.ca.
Retreats to focus
on hospitality
Bob Wiebe, director of Education
Ministries for Mennonite Church Manitoba, will lead a retreat
on "Nurturing hospitable hearts" at Camp Assiniboia,
April 19-20. This is a new retreat and Wiebe describes himself
as a "learner" on the hospitality journey. He is looking
forward to joining with others on this journey.
This retreat will be based on the biblical teachings developed
by Michelle Hershberger in her book A Christian View of Hospitality:
Expecting God's Surprises.
Wiebe says, "Our vision for this retreat includes an audience
of participants both male and female, representing persons of
all ages, rich times of biblical teaching with 'lights going on'
as hospitality comes into focus, persons sitting, walking, journalling,
or otherwise appropriating the new concepts, and a bond of committed
fellowship formed as individuals covenant to share their journey
for forty days following the retreat."
Chinese church
closing its doors
After a year of struggling
without a pastor, Saskatoon Chinese Mennonite Church is closing
its doors. The closing ceremony will take place on March 17 in
the afternoon.
The congregation was begun nine years ago, meeting for several
years in the basement of First Mennonite Church in Saskatoon.
It has been made up mostly of students who are transient. Hence
there is no core group to stabilize the small fellowship.
The last pastor left at the end of 2000. Since then, a leadership
team has led the services. Both the conference and the church
spent the past 12 months looking for a new pastor who could preach
in either Cantonese or Mandarin, but none was available.
The remaining 25 members will be joining the Chinese Alliance
church.
"They are going with a blessing," said conference moderator
Armin Krahn. The church building will either be sold or rented
out to a Hispanic congregation.
Update on
Welcome Home
Despite verbal assurances from
the Alberta government that it wishes to keep the Welcome Home
Community going, no written commitment has been received. Therefore,
the Edmonton program was suspended as of February 15.
Thanks to generous responses to a recent fund-raising appeal,
some special community activities, such as a retreat weekend at
Camp Nakamun, will continue.
Welcome Home Community provides support and life skills training
to families at risk. The provincial Family and Social Services
minister asked Edmonton Mennonite churches in 1995 to begin an
initiative for families. The churches launched the Welcome Home
Community, despite their bad experience with an earlier government-funded
project (see Dec. 3, page 13).
Search continues
The Conference of Mennonites in Alberta is looking for someone to fill the full-time position of conference minister/missions facilitator. No suitable candidate has applied and the search is continuing.
Get ready
to paddle!
Camp Squeah's annual Paddle-a-thon
is on for April 20-21, and is open to all who would like to paddle
down the Fraser River to raise money for Camp Squeah's bursary
fund.
Each summer, nearly 60 young people volunteer their time as staff
at camp. Many feel called to this summer ministry, but those returning
to post-secondary education in the fall find money is sometimes
tight. The Squeah bursary is there to help.
Last year, the Paddle-a-thon raised in excess of $20,000 for this
fund! Ninety percent of the money raised goes directly to the
fund, while 10 percent goes to an endowment so that we can continue
to build support for the future.
If you would like to paddle, contact Squeah at (888) 380-2267.
If paddling is not your thing, but you would like to volunteer
as a support person or make a donation, contact the camp or talk
to the camp representative in your congregation.
New church launched
Mennonites across the United
States on February 1 celebrated the official beginning of Mennonite
Church USA. The new church includes 21 area conferences, 1,062
congregations and 114,743 members.
The launching of MC USA also brings losses.
"This day is bittersweet," said Miriam Martin, Atlantic
Coast Conference administrator. "It's also meant an acknowledgement
of the loss of congregations...and some congregations who are
still not sure if they'll be moving forward with us."
Five area conferences have chosen provisional membership, which
allows them five years to decide whether to join MC USA.
Because of polity differences, GC area conferences automatically
became full members.
Some celebrations of the transition had to be postponed because
of an icy storm in the Midwest. Staff at the former General Conference
headquarters in Newton, Kansas, marked the transition by rearranging
their offices to reflect the new structure, but the Mennonite
Mission Network in Elkhart, Indiana, had to postpone its celebration
until February 4, and Executive Board until February 6.
The mission network held its launch through a three-way conference
call between offices in Newton, Elkhart and Harrisonburg, Virginia.
The Executive Board marked MC USA's birth with a conference call
between Newton and Elkhart.
-From MC USA
Unless otherwise credited, the articles in TheConferences pages were written by: Daniel Rempel (Mennonite Church Canada), Maurice Martin(Eastern Canada), Evelyn Rempel Petkau (Manitoba), Karin Fehderau (Saskatchewan), Donita Wiebe-Neufeld (Alberta), Angelika Dawson (B.C.). Go here for a list of contact information.
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