Canadian Mennonite
Volume 10, No. 03
February 6, 2006


TheChurches

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Mennonite Church Canada
Mennonite Church British Columbia
Mennonite Church Alberta
Mennonite Church Saskatchewan
Mennonite Church Manitoba
Mennonite Church Eastern Canada
From our leaders

Mennonite Church Canada

Prayer requests

Please pray for:

• Cindy Buhler and Tobia Veith, MC Canada Witness workers in Macau, who are working closely with a family from the Macau Mennonite Church whose 12 year-old daughter disappeared for several days in the third week of January.

• The increasing difficulty in obtaining religious visas for Cuba, in large part due to the many groups who have abused this visa in recent times.

• Jeff and Tany Warkentin, new appointees with Witness International Volunteers in Burkina Faso, who will be in language study in Ouagadougou for several months. Pray for their orientation and for a fruitful ministry in expanding God’s church around the world.

• The upcoming MC Canada Leadership Assembly, March 1 to 4, in Winnipeg, where General Board, Council and staff will be meeting for discernment and discussion.

New opportunities in February Equipping

The February Equipping pack-et, now available in church offices, highlights the joys and challenges of new possibilities and opportunities. It includes:

• A celebration story featuring “a mini learning tour” to South Korea organized by teenager Stefan Froese, son of former missionary parents, who invited two of his friends to accompany him on a return journey to Korea so that they could learn something about his “other home” and better understand each other.

• A poster announcing an upcoming “learning, sharing, praying” tour to Macau-Hong Kong, led by Samson Lo, MC Canada Multicultural Ministries director, from April 20 to May 1.

• A Resource Centre update, which highlights new releases such as the new “compilation DVD” of MC Canada ministries in Canada around the world.

• The annual MC Canada report to congregations by Jack Suderman and Henry Krause, which “rejoices” in a “significant year of ministry” in areas ranging from an “unprecedented demand” for teaching peace theology in many areas around the world, to a thriving PrayerNet ministry.

Mennonite Church British Columbia

Business meeting cancelled this year

B.C. Mennonite Women in Mission (BCWM) has announced that the annual business sessions normally held in February will not take place this year.

According to president Veronica Thiessen, the executive had contacted churches asking what Saturday of the month would be most suitable, but no date could be found.

Instead, all business decisions will be made at the BCWM annual Inspirational Day, to be held this year on May 7 at First United Mennonite, Vancouver.

“We agonized over this at our executive meeting in December and this is what we came up with,” says Thiessen. “We will compile the annual booklets early and mail them at least a month in advance of the Inspirational Day. We are asking the ladies to go over the reports and minutes, and discuss them so that we need only to move their acceptance as printed and circulated at the Inspirational Day.”

Mennonite Church Alberta

Congregational transitions

• On Jan. 22, Edmonton’s Holyrood Mennonite Church voted on whether to extend a call to a pastoral candidate. Before the vote, the congregation agreed that they wanted at least an 85 percent approval before they would proceed with a call. There was a great feeling of rejoicing when Werner DeJong received a 98 percent affirmative vote and was called to be Holyrood’s new senior pastor.

DeJong was pastor at Petitcodiac Mennonite Church in New Brunswick for the past eight years. He will begin his ministry at Holyrood in mid-June.

Hugo and Doreen Neufeld will remain in their interim position with the congregation until the end of March. Mike Perschon, Holyrood’s associate pastor, will continue working three-quarter time until the end of 2006.

• Shami and Deanna Willms, who share a full-time position as associate pastors at Calgary’s Foothills Mennonite Church, have resigned their position effective late spring. The Willms have been much appreciated and valued at Foothills, and within the Alberta conference, for their excellent work and strong relationships with young people.

Deanna will return to teaching and Shami will go back to doing the computer work that he enjoys. The couple looks forward to continuing to worship and serve in the Foothills congregation.

Foothills held its annual meeting on Jan. 31, at which a search committee was organized to fill the vacant ministry position.

• On the last weekend of January, Jerry and Cara Buhler and their family moved to Saskatoon from their long-time home in Pincher Creek. After many years as pastor at Springridge Mennonite Church, Jerry will begin work as conference pastor for Mennonite Church Saskatchewan.

Harold Schilk has been hired as a six-month interim pastor for the Pincher Creek congregation. Schilk lives in Lethbridge with his wife, Ruth, who is the pastor of Lethbridge Mennonite Church.

Mennonite Church Saskatchewan

Delegate sessions to implement new vision

Osler Mennonite Church is hosting the annual MC Saskatchewan delegate sessions from Feb. 24 to 25.

On the agenda will be a vote on the vision prepared by the Envisioning Team that was presented to the delegate body last year. Known as “Vision 2010,” the plan covers in broad strokes the shift in thinking needed to move the conference body successfully into the future.

Time will also be devoted to discussing changes to the Person to Person program, specifically relating to including other denominations.

Herbert Nursing Home completes shift

The Herbert Nursing Home is entering the final stages of its release from conference ownership, with a service at the Herbert High School to celebrate the 50-plus years of operation of the home and to mark the transfer of responsibility to the Cypress Regional Health Authority, scheduled for Feb. 7.

The transfer officially happened on Dec. 29, and the conference doesn’t have any more involvement in the home. The process is being termed an amalgamation of two organizations, which means that “the region takes on legal liability,” explained board chair Pete Peters.

During a special delegate meeting at Nutana Park Mennonite in November, to decide the future of the nursing home, the board spoke of the spiritual care that was still needed at the home following the change of ownership. A spiritual care position will not be funded by the region and, like all other regional affiliated nursing homes, the need will be filled by pastors in the area.

Foray into aboriginal community explored

MC Saskatchewan Ministries Commission has agreed to support a Metis church worker for a six-month, three-day-per-week contract period.

The agreement with Ray Dumais, who resides in Prince Albert and drives to Saskatoon several days each week, where he is hoping to begin a house church, is an attempt by the conference to establish some connections with aboriginal people there. To that end, Dumais will be speaking at the upcoming delegate sessions in Osler about his work.

Mennonite Church Manitoba

Retreats at Camps with Meaning

A dozen retreats are planned at Camps with Meaning facilities in 2006. These retreats are aimed at youth, seniors and persons in between.

Winter retreats for junior high students, senior high students and young adults take place January through March. These retreats are held at camps Koinonia and Moose Lake, and offer both stimulating topics and outdoor recreation. Well-known speaker and pastor Kathy Giesbrecht is the speaker at four junior high retreats.

A retreat for families, friends and persons with a disability will be held at Camp Assiniboia from March 3 to 5. The focus will be on pursuing supports for these families.

In May and June retreats are offered for seniors, with Plus 55 Retreats on tap at Moose Lake in late May, and at Koinonia in early June. Henry and Elna Neufeld will speak at the Moose Lake Plus 55 Retreat on the theme, “Approaching another culture.” Pam Driedger will speak at the Koinonia retreat on the theme, “Rooted in the centre, living on the edge.”

The fifth annual birding retreat will be held at Koinonia from May 26 to 28. Quilting retreats are scheduled for November at both Koinonia and Moose Lake.

These retreats are part of Camps with Meaning’s ministry of “inviting persons to life” by providing spiritual nurture in settings surrounded by God’s creation.

Camps with Meaning operates Camp Assiniboia at Headingley, Camp Koinonia at Boissevain, and Camp Moose Lake at Sprague.

Further information about the retreats is available from the Camps with Meaning office at 895-CAMP. Camps with Meaning is a ministry of Mennonite Church Manitoba.

Mennonite Church Eastern Canada

Retooling for a new season of ministry

A task group has just completed an inventory of the work currently done by MC Eastern Canada commissions, as well as new ministries that are envisioned, to help the newly formed councils develop an agenda for ministry. The Gift Discernment Committee welcomes volunteers or suggested names as it recruits persons for the five councils.

Staff job descriptions have been refined and modified to support the new ministry agenda. The staff are adjusting to significant shifts in their roles, in the “retooling” of MC Eastern Canada for this new season of ministry. Also new is the deployment of regional ministers in specific geographic areas; hiring of these persons will begin shortly.

Ministering to busy families

“How shall we minister to families in a culture of busyness?” asked Sara Wenger Shenk in her address to the Pastors, Chaplains and Congregational Leaders Workshop, held Jan. 14 at Rouge Valley Mennonite Church.

According to her, God invites people to a different rhythm of living. The goal is not to suddenly just be different for difference’s sake, but rather to create a new culture, one that is good, rich and attractive to children and adults both. Rebuild “cellular walls, which are more like a membrane that acts as a filter, allowing in the good and filtering out the bad,” she said.

This can be done by turning off the TV, teaching discipline in the use of technology, and using it critically. Much busyness comes from too many options, Shenk said. “Let’s live more simply. And let’s celebrate, not with huge fanfare, just in a simply, joyful way.”

In the frenzy of busy and often conflicting schedules, people often experience time as the enemy. Since rest and renewal are expansive good gifts of the Mennonite tradition, she encouraged Sabbath-keeping for families, listing many life-giving Sabbath practices: from worship and walks to hospitality and conversation.

From Our Leaders

—Janet Plenert

A lofty vision

The leader at a recent pastoral installation service asked if it is better to set one’s vision high or low. Setting lofty goals risks discouragement when you fail to measure up, while setting your sights low provides encouragement through small successes. Which is a better model?

For me, there is no choice. Dream big! But then anchor your feet on the ground, create a plan, and build a team that shares the vision.

Mennonite Church Canada Witness has a lofty vision: To lead, mobilize and offer resources for the church to participate in holistic witness to Jesus Christ in a broken world.

It is humbling to have been entrusted with the task of leading our team and our churches toward this vision. Along the way, we strive to align the being and the doing of the church with God’s work. This is no small task—but our God is no small God! It is our job to participate in what God is doing. As we embrace the vision and plan for it, we hope that every congregation—and all parts of the church—will become fully engaged in God’s mission, from across the street to around the world.

The first step in a big plan is inviting and inspiring a team that will share the dream. Like Nehemiah, who set out to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem, I have been dedicating significant time to planning since three long-term staff members left their positions to pursue other ministry opportunities. (These individuals helped shape much of the MC Canada transformation process—another big dream.) The ripple effect left several vacancies in Witness, and an opportunity to make some small but strategic adjustments to roles and responsibilities.

I am excited to call forth and prepare a team of skilled and inspired people to once again complete the Witness team:

• Tim Froese, former Witness worker in South Korea, is the new executive director of International Ministries (succeeding me). His discerning questions, understanding of the church, and ability to network with people are already an inspiration.

• Hippolyto Tshimanga is the new Africa and Europe Mission Partnership facilitator (succeeding Peter Rempel). His sparkling personality charms all who meet him. Congolese by birth and not of Mennonite background, he brings astute insights and observations to the team.

• Nikki Marr will be our new Witness executive assistant (succeeding one of Kathy Fast’s two half-time positions). She is young and passionate, and will help us stay relevant and in tune with the 20- and 30-somethings of the church.

I am extremely grateful for the strong and dynamic Witness team we have had in the formative years of MC Canada Witness. Now with several of us beginning new roles, I am confident that we have the right team in place to continue the work. I set high standards. I dream big dreams. And with the staff we have in place, we are well positioned to advance the vision.

Janet Plenert is executive secretary of Mennonite Church Canada’s Christian Witness Council.

Unless otherwise credited, the articles in TheChurches pages were written by Canadian Mennonite’s regional correspondents.


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