Mennonite Church Canada

Prayer and praise requests

During the season of autumn harvests, remember to pray and celebrate with:

• The Global Mission Fellowship of Anabaptist-related Churches (GMF), a fellowship for Anabaptist-related churches and mission groups which meets for encouragement, vision-sharing, networking and cooperating in mission every three years. From Sept. 17 to 20, more than 100 Anabaptist mission leaders from around the world, including MC Canada staff members Janet Plenert, Jack Suderman and Rebecca Yoder Neufeld, are gathering in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Pray that God’s Spirit would enable global collaboration and that the church’s missionary identity would be strengthened.

• Kira Friesen, Witness intern and Canadian Mennonite University student, who will be leaving Winnipeg this month for a six-month internship in Botswana. She will be working in youth ministry in Gaborone under the supervision of Witness workers Glyn and Susan Allison-Jones. Pray for the success of her ministry in Botswana.

• Dann and Joji Pantoja, Witness workers in the Philippines, who give thanks for the privilege of being principal witnesses in a traditional Maguindanao Islamic wedding. This honour is a public declaration that the Pantojas have now been accepted as extended family of this particular Filipino family. Pray that the Pantojas might use this opportunity to relate more deeply and widely in the culture. They also hope to be bridge-builders between the Maguindanao community and the Filipino military. Pray that their interactions with the military will be Spirit-led and will be a true witness to Anabaptist theology.

—Hinke Loewen-Rudgers

Mennonite Church British Columbia

Youths served and bonded this summer

B.C. youth groups have been busy this past summer ministering to others while bonding and experiencing travel adventures together.

Seven youths and three leaders from Vancouver’s First United Mennonite and First United Spanish Mennonite Church spent July 1 to 15 in Ahousaht, a small First Nations community on Flores Island. They spent the first week participating in the annual community sports weekend and helped set up a camp on Vargas Island. During the second week they helped run a Christian camp for aboriginal youths. Activities included serving as camp counsellors and participating in traditional native activities such as a sweat lodge and picking cedar bark.

Ten youths from Yarrow United Mennonite Church, along with four sponsors and two children, went on a service project to the gospel Mountain Music Festival in the northern B.C. community of Hazelton from Aug. 17 to 21. The group was responsible for the running of a children’s program during the course of the festival, which included crafts, games, skits and singing, all based on the Lord’s Prayer. Approximately 20 children took part in the program.

Women’s retreat to focus on prayer

“Set fire to your prayer life” is the theme for the annual B.C. Women in Mission fall retreat at Camp Squeah, Hope, from Oct. 20 to 22.

Catherine Dagneau, a musician and speaker who loves to minister to “addicts” of all kinds—not only drug and alcohol addicts on the streets, but also to hidden addicts who fill North American churches (those addicted to shopping, work, and other behaviours)—is the keynote speaker.

Friday night will be a time of worship and fellowship, followed by three sessions with Dagneau on Saturday. By popular demand, a silent auction will be held to replenish the bursary fund to help all interested women attend the retreat.

For more information or to register, call Jackie Rempel at 604-857-5381 or e-mail her at j.rempel@mennohome.org.

Mennonite Church Saskatchewan

Scholarship winners announced

The winners of the MC Saskatchewan education scholarships have been chosen for the coming school year. In total, five students received a scholarship, one from Mennonite Trust and four from the Saskatchewan conference.

Brittani Bergen from Waldheim received $250 from Mennonite Trust, while Craig Friesen of Osler and Wendy Luitjens of Rosthern both benefited from scholarships to attend Rosthern Junior College, and Casey McDaniel from Saskatoon and Marco Funk from Rosthern received funds for their year at Canadian Mennonite University.

The Christian Education Commission is responsible for dispensing the funds for these scholarships and this year it had a more challenging task than other years because of the abundance of applicants.

“It was a very difficult process choosing our recipients,” noted Joanne Epp, chair of the commission.

Hispanic ministry begins at Mount Royal

In the past three years, Mount Royal Mennonite Church in Saskatoon has noticed an outreach opportunity growing practically on its doorstep. Hispanic refugees, mostly government-sponsored, have been settling in and around the west end church’s neighbourhood and a few have begun attending the church.

Eric Olfert, a member of the church and of the newly formed Hispanic Ministries Commission, says the church is taking steps to help the newcomers feel more at home. The church is translating its bulletin into Spanish, setting one bulletin board up to carry only information for Spanish-speaking congregants, and working hard to help the children feel more at ease in Sunday school.

In addition, Mount Royal is working with MC Canada and Mennonite Central Committee to bring a Colombian pastor to Saskatoon to help for three to six months.

Although only about 15 Spanish-speaking Christians attend the church’s Sunday morning service, there is a possibility of impacting about 100 from the community. MC Saskatchewan has also pledged financial support to the outreach initiative.

Mennonite Church Manitoba

Mennonites share Graham’s goals

Following up on the Franklin Graham Festival story, representatives of Mennonite Church Manitoba and Mennonite Brethren Church of Manitoba met with festival director Dan Klug and vice-president of crusades Herb McCarthy on June 19.

“The goal was to reiterate our concerns and see if there is any openness to further discussion on the issues,” wrote Norm Voth, director of Evangelism and Service Ministries in a letter to MC Manitoba congregations. “Both Klug and McCarthy assured us they heard and understood our concerns, and asked for our continued support and participation based on the stated goal of the festival.”

Festival goals are “to mobilize the Christian community to assemble as many people as possible to hear the message that Jesus Christ is ‘the way, the truth and the life’; to give opportunity for personal commitment; to refer inquirers to a local church for follow-up and Christian nurture; and to strengthen the local church.”

“We agreed that we share those goals and desire to see people come to faith in Jesus Christ,” reported Voth. “The diversity of responses to our participation in this event highlights the need for us to continue working on the issue. We need to find helpful and creative ways to address issues of evangelism and peace.”

Mennonite Church Eastern Canada

A busy fall for leaders and congregations

Mennonite Church Eastern Canada is interested in “extending the peace of Jesus Christ in making disciples, growing congregations and forming leaders.” A busy fall, full of events seeking to do just that is planned:

• Oct. 28: Principles and Practices for Planning and Leading Worship Workshop at Conrad Grebel University College. Pre-register by calling Conrad Grebel at 519-558-0220 ext. 226. Plenary session and break-out groups include: reading Scripture, leading prayer, children in worship, and music. The goal is to assist worship planners and leaders to develop a clearer understanding of their role and to hone skills in leading the various elements of worship.

For the following events, registration is through Joan Schooley at the MC Eastern Canada office:

• Sept. 27: Pastors Fiction Reading Group in Conrad Grebel boardroom. Read and discuss novels which feature a pastor as the main character and/or dynamics of a faith community as a central theme. Leader: Sue Steiner.

• Oct. 10: Welcome and orientation for new or returning pastors to MC Eastern Canada, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., at the MC Eastern Canada office. Meet conference staff and discover the resources they are able to provide. Share hopes and dreams for ministry with colleagues.

• Oct. 13-15: Young adult retreat at Crieff Hills Retreat Centre.

• Oct. 24: Coaching for Effective Ministry with Marianne Mellinger and Sue Steiner. Six monthly sessions beginning Oct. 24. The goal of this seminar is to assist pastors to become more effective spiritual leaders in their ministry setting.

• Nov. 12: Junior Youth Breakaway for Grades 6, 7 and 8 and their Sunday school teachers, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., at Rockway Mennonite Collegiate, Kitchener.

• Nov. 25: The Woolwich-Grey Preaching Day at Floradale Mennonite Church.

From Our Leaders

—Jon Olfert

A place at the table

It’s quiet here, unusually quiet, at Camp Valaqua. The place has been full of energy, life and noise for the past two months and now it’s just…quiet. As the commotion of our hectic summer subsides, as the last tearful goodbyes of lingering staff are said, the reflection begins. It has been a good summer full of challenges, laughter and growth, and I am continually amazed by the energy and commitment displayed by the young people who call this place home. I am happy and proud of what has happened here and that is really all a person can ask for.

During our last week of camp, though, I sat in a chapel session troubled, barely listening. Some of our campers this summer were “hard” kids and our counsellors were pushed to their limits. This meant that some of the “good” kids were overlooked as our staff struggled to care for the more difficult campers. This downgraded and sometimes ruined the experience for the other campers and I was thinking about this, and wondering about balance and worth as I sat.

Our chaplain was speaking on Luke 14 and something in his words reached through my contemplative fog and pulled me in. In this chapter Luke tells the story of Jesus at a banquet. Jesus addresses the host, saying, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbours; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind and you will be blessed.”

As we plan the banquet we often take the easy approach, inviting those we care about, knowing that our generosity will be repaid somewhere down the line. But the teachings of Jesus never allow his followers to settle for the easy approach. In Luke, Jesus calls us to invite those who would not otherwise have an opportunity to feast. We are challenged to invite the hard kids, the troubled kids, kids that make us work and grumble and work some more, that we might share with them a place at the table and show them a glimpse of God’s love.

And so we plan for camp next year, knowing it will be hard, knowing we will struggle, and knowing that we will need God’s help to get through.

Jon Olfert is director of Mennonite Church Alberta’s Camp Valaqua.

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