Canadian Mennonite
Volume 10, No. 09
May 1, 2006
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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:
• Jeff and Tany Warkentin and family, who began as MC Canada Witness workers in Burkina Faso in February. Pray for learning, understanding and patience as they focus on learning a new language and becoming familiar with a new culture.
• Pray that the appropriate documentation and visa approval will allow a vital teaching ministry to continue to develop in Cuba, where Mennonite Church Canada Witness has been invited to provide theological workshops for pastors from the Evangelical Missionary Church of Cuba every six months. The last two attempts to apply for religious visas for the instructors were rejected.
May Equipping now in churches
The May Equipping packet presents a variety of resources for congregational use:
• A new KidsPak focusing on interviews and stories, games and recipes from “3rd Culture Kids 4 Christ” who live in China with Witness families.
• A bulletin insert, “Mission Action Profile,” featuring Native Ministry programs and involvements.
• Assembly Sunday Worship resources for July 9, based on I Peter 2:9-10.
• Inspirational reflections from MC Canada leaders, which touch on themes such as claiming ministerial office (Sven Eriksson), practising a “living legacy” by living out the promises of our baptism (Dave Bergen), and choosing as churches to “postpone pessimism until times get better... The resurrection of Jesus is a key sign that we can do this” (Jack Suderman).
Mennonite Church British Columbia
Conference service opportunities
Openings still exist on the following committees of Mennonite Church B.C.:
• Church Ministries—two vacancies.
• Finance—two vacancies.
• Evangelism and Church Development—two vacancies.
• Nominations—four vacancies.
• Camp Squeah—three vacancies.
• Columbia Bible College—one vacancy.
Suggestions for persons to fill any of these positions may be forwarded to Peter Sawatzky at 604-850-8040 or phs@telus.net.
Say ‘yes’ to calendar for seniors
What does Jesus’ abundant life look like for seniors? That question will be explored at an aging seminar for seniors in Abbotsford in May, entitled “Say yes to the calendar: Aging and mortality.” The sessions, led by Dr. and Mrs. John Neufeld, will be in two languages.
German sessions are on:
• May 15 at Eben-Ezer Mennonite, 10 a.m.;
• May 16 at Clearbrook Mennonite Church, 10 a.m.; and,
• May 17 at King Road MB Church, 10:00 a.m.
English sessions are on:
• May 14 at Bakerview MB Church, 10 a.m.;
• May 21 at Bakerview MB Church, 10 a.m.
The sessions are sponsored by MC B.C. and the hosting churches. For more information, e-mail eemc@telus.net or phone 604-850-8422.
Mennonite Church Alberta
Two churches awaiting interns
First Mennonite Church in Edmonton and Trinity Mennonite Church in Calgary are looking forward to the arrival of student pastoral interns from Canadian Mennonite University.
Katherine Krehbiel of Goessel, Kan., will be interning at First Mennonite from May to July. She is considering seminary studies at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary for the fall.
Ryan Klassen of Sanford, Man., will be at Trinity from May to August, and is looking at the possibility of remaining in Calgary to work once his internship is finished.
Duties of summer interns are coordinated by the hosting congregation and may include preaching, worship leading, visitation, meeting attendance, chaplaincy work at Camp Valaqua, or any other pastoral ministry task the student wishes to explore. The internships benefit students by receiving opportunities and supervision while they explore the possibility of pastoral ministry. Hosting congregations benefit from the new perspectives, ideas and energy that a recent Bible student brings into the fellowship.
Calgary First Mennonite Church has benefited from the internship of Kristen Harms during the 2006 school year. Harms, a member of the congregation and a music major at Rocky Mountain College, works 10 hours per week to provide direction and focus for the church’s music ministry. The congregation saw Harms’ internship as a way they could encourage her in leadership and help her to explore gifts in ministry while also strengthening the church.
Mennonite Church Saskatchewan
Retiring RJC principal to be acknowledged
After 33 years of involvement at Rosthern Junior College, the last 18 as principal, Erwin Tiessen will be honoured over seven days in May and June before he retires from the school.
Officially dubbed Erwin Tiessen Week, May 29 to June 2 will include several events, including the first ever 33-kilometre triathlon, which is being run to celebrate each year of Tiessen’s work at the school. After securing pledges, students will team up to cover the total number of kilometres with a combination of five different sports—swimming, running, rollerblading, skateboarding or biking.
“This team-based friendly competition is a way to recognize Erwin, have fun and raise money for a bursary fund being established in Erwin and Ruth Tiessen’s name,” states the RJC college newsletter.
Prior to that, a banquet to honour the Tiessens and their family will be held on May 27 at the college.
For Alberta supporters, a chance for the wider Mennonite community to recognize Tiessen’s contribution will come in the form of a coffee and dessert evening at Foothills Mennonite Church in Calgary on May 18.
Mennonite Church Manitoba
Pastoral updates
Crystal City Mennonite Church and Trinity Mennonite Church of Mather have called Erin Morash to be their pastor beginning this September.
“This idea of working together is a new concept in Manitoba,” says John Klassen, director of Leadership Ministries for Mennonite Church Manitoba. “It is an answer for some of our churches in this position who cannot afford a full-time pastor.”
Steinbach Mennonite Church has called Sonya Friesen to serve as three-quarter-time associate/family ministries pastor beginning August 2006.
Prayers are requested for the additional 11 openings for pastors in MC Manitoba churches.
Camps with Meaning ups number of beds
Due to high demand, Camps with Meaning has increased the number of beds at each of the three camps, expanding the maximum capacity for campers on selected popular weeks.
Education Ministries and Evangelism and Service Ministries, together with Springfield Heights Mennonite Church in Winnipeg, will be providing a week of summer camp to the communities of Matheson Island and Pine Dock. The bulk of the staff for this program will come from the Springfield Heights Mennonite Church youth group under the leadership of youth pastor Kyle Penner. This camp will take place July 10 to 14 with about 25 to 30 children in attendance.
IMPaCT update
MC Manitoba pastors participating in the inaugural IMPaCT (International Mennonite Pastors Coming Together) sessions are John Braun from Charleswood Mennonite Church, Albert Durksen from North Kildonan Mennonite Church, Norm Dyck from Graysville Mennonite Church, Marla Langelotz from Sargent Avenue Mennonite Church, Rick Neufeld from Altona Bergthaler Mennonite Church, and Karen Schellenberg from Portage Mennonite Church. They will be working with visiting pastors from Chile, Cuba, Paraguay, Brazil and Spain, in the first rotation of this program that will take place the first two weeks of June.
From Our Leaders
Lashed to the mast
In many ways I was shaped by the ’60s. Like many in my demographic, I like folk music and Volkswagen vans. Those of us who were shaped by this turbulent era also tend to respond with significant levels of cynicism to the practice of ordination to a ministerial office and pastoral authority in the church.
The ’60s and ’70s also saw a widespread revitalization of lay ministry. This awakening of “the laity” wonderfully empowered us but it also led many of us to devalue the idea of pastoral office and to question its authority.
It was not until I was well into my 40s that I was ready to embrace ordination to the pastoral office. Then the good people of Peace Mennonite Church in Richmond, B.C., “lashed me to the mast,” as Eugene Peterson described ordination, so that the wind and waves of congregational life would not sweep me overboard.
The reluctant ambivalence around ordination and ministerial office that many of us have had—or still have—spills over into how we relate to current ministerial leadership. Pastors are to work exclusively from the consensus that the congregation presents.
Some use the concept of “the priesthood of all believers” to deconstruct the authority of ministerial office, especially when our pastors initiate new ideas. Adding to this reluctance to embrace authority is the fallout from the too-wide experience of ecclesial power abuse. As a result, many practise “a ministerial-office-weakened polity” that is as flat as the proverbial prairies, and transforming leadership is stifled and the church is disempowered.
I propose we rethink some foundational values about ministerial office:
• Jesus commissioned the disciples with authority to lead and minister: “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples…” (Matthew 28:18).
• Our polity should affirm the conferring of ministerial authority. “The authority for ministry in the New Testament is rooted in Jesus Christ, who received it from God and who conferred it upon those in ministry by the Holy Spirit in the church” (A Mennonite Polity for Ministerial Leadership, page 22).
• “Office” is a representational role the pastor fulfills on behalf of the church. Authority is accorded the position, not the person. By implication, the office is always larger than the person.
• Congregational members are to faithfully support the pastors they have ordained, honour their leadership and work closely with them in discerning God’s leading for their congregations.
Pastors, claim your ministerial office. Embrace it. Not because you are ever fully qualified for the office and the overwhelming expectations that come with it, but because you have the high privilege of being called by God and God’s people to offer pastoral leadership, and because the Holy Spirit will continue to equip you for the tasks of the ministerial office.
Unless otherwise credited, the articles in TheChurches pages were written by Canadian Mennonite’s regional correspondents.