Canadian Mennonite
Volume 10, No. 20
October 16, 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:
• Janet Plenert and Jack Suderman of Mennonite Church Canada, who represented North America and MC Canada, respectively, at the Global Mission Fellowship that took place in September. Nearly 200 missionaries, including 100 Mennonites from 36 countries, and 200 Central Asian pastors from the region, attended this event. Plenert says, “It gives me hope that God’s people from around the world can indeed come together in one body. It gives me hope that language, race and economic situation will not always define and separate people.” Pray for the young church in Central Asia, particularly for those areas experiencing persecution.
• Witness associate Bonnie Friesen, who works with Greater European Mission at Zaporozhye Bible College and Seminary in Ukraine. This year, there was a particularly high turn-out of students taking the English placement test. This means that there will have to be four classes instead of the expected three. Friesen asks for prayer that the right person will be found for this teaching position. She also asks for prayer for Nastia, a student studying English who has begun to read an English Bible through her translation work with Friesen’s Bible study class.
Mennonite Church British Columbia
Cell church set to expand
Wellspring Christian Fellowship, a Mennonite congregation built on the cell church model in Abbotsford, is taking the first steps to add another church fellowship to its family.
Dan Loewen was installed as Wellspring’s new associate pastor of worship and multiplication on Sept. 16. Loewen, who recently returned from two-and-a-half years of ministry in Montreal, will be the prime leader for the planned new congregation, as yet unnamed.
Jeff Wall will continue as the prime leader of the existing congregation. Loewen and Wall will make up part of the pastoral team over both Wellspring and the new congregation.
Although the new group is very much in the beginning stages at this point, and will likely not be officially launched for a couple of years, the Wellspring congregation is excited about the possibilities of expanding its ministry to more effectively reach Abbotsford for Christ. It is hoped that in his role of pastor of multiplication, Loewen will carry out the vision of the existing congregation, serving alongside members who have a vision and passion for church growth.
“This [new congregation] won’t look like a typical church, meeting on Sunday morning somewhere,” says Wall. “It will be for the disenfranchised, those interested in spirituality, but not comfortable in the regular type of church…. We know who we want to reach. It is just finding the right setting for that to happen in.”
Wellspring is currently investigating the venue of a coffee house with organized discussion evenings to engage those who are searching for spiritual answers. Once relationships are developed through these conversations, new people will be invited into the cells of the new congregation and eventually into the worship services as their relationship with Christ grows.
Mennonite Church Alberta
New director likes what he saw
It’s a good sign when a director is enthused about programs and people once the staff is gone and summer statistics start rolling in.
After his first summer at Camp Valaqua, Jon Olfert sounds energetic and ready to plan for next season. In considering this summer’s staff, Olfert enthuses, “They were fabulous, all of them! I was really impressed with their commitment and dedication.”
More than 450 campers went through Valaqua’s summer camping program in 2006. Olfert notes that the number is “slightly down, but still within the sphere of normal.” More than 50 percent of the campers were from non-Mennonite backgrounds.
There were no major changes to the 2006 program, as Olfert thought it important to get to know how things have been done in the past before implementing new ideas. New activity ideas are on Olfert’s mind for 2007, however. “I am planning to spend a fair bit of time and energy on activity development this year, including the development of a ‘high perceived risk or high thrill activity.’”
Mennonite Church Saskatchewan
Working together in harmony
The congregation of Emmaus Mennonite Church, located close to Wymark, recently held an event in conjunction with the community.
“We wanted to start our year by inviting people to a service and a brunch,” said Ray Friesen, pastor of the 50-member church.
But when the church’s plans to host the community on Sept. 10 collided with the neighbourhood’s hopes of a hayride and barbeque on the same day, the community board, which included some members of Emmaus, wanted to check signals.
The two groups decided to collaborate and fit both events on the same day. So, instead of having brunch at the church, it was held at the rink. The rest of the day then flowed into the other community plans.
A VBS wind-up with the community was also hosted by the church this past summer.
“It has created a sense that the congregation is part of the community,” explained Friesen.
He added that the next step is to take an unobtrusive survey of people in the town to get an idea of what the community expects from a Christian group in their midst.
Wymark is located 26 kilometres south of Swift Current.
Mennonite Church Manitoba
Many changes at Camp Assiniboia
The year-round camp ministry experienced several changes in personnel and program this fall.
The new “Nurture Next to Nature” program for guest groups—primarily at Camp Assiniboia—will offer experiences in outdoor living skills, curriculum-related topics and Mennonite values. These activities will replace the “horse program” during the fall, winter and spring. Camp Assiniboia’s horses have been boarded out and will return in time for the summer program.
Personnel changes at Camp Assiniboia accompany the program changes. Tanya Suderman will lead the guest group programs, starting in January. Elisa Barkman will lead the guest group programs through December. Sheila Giesbrecht will write curriculum for the new program. Paul Barkman will serve as maintenance assistant for the fall months.
Staff leaving Camp Assiniboia include former horsemanship coordinator Shannon Dodd and assistant Chrissy Friesen. Food service assistant Max Sawazki has returned to Germany and will be replaced by Dolores Friesen. Elisa Barkman, interim director of summer camp and youth ministries, completed her term at the end of August.
Mennonite Church Eastern Canada
Dry agenda stirs excitement
Mennonite Church Eastern Canada held an orientation workshop for its new councils on Sept. 23, welcoming members to the work of the conference.
Participants were apprised of the MC Eastern Canada vision and mission; introduced to staff; given a governance overview; reviewed council priorities and annual work plans; did communications training and reviewed a communications proposal; reviewed the sending plan; were introduced to “Partners in Ministry”; and heard a Listening Tour report.
Lisa Williams, director of communications, writes, “This sounds dry, but it really wasn’t. Time was spent discussing the MC Eastern Canada communications plan and excitement was generated that such a plan is coming into place; it will be a great asset as we share the stories of who we are and what we are about as we work together to ‘extend the peace of Jesus Christ.’ We spoke of the exciting philosophical shift in the new structure as we move to [assist] congregations for ministry at a local level and empower congregations for ministry as gifts are released among us.”
One of the most inspiring portions of the day was when moderator Leroy Shantz shared on the theme of governance and how governance can be empowering to people.
Ester Neufeldt highlighted the spending plan and clearly showed how the conference is working at the new vision through the undergirding of a strong financial framework.
From Our Leaders
Working towards church covenant
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I believe that Mennonite Church British Columbia has a bright and hopeful future.
An MC B.C. Steering Committee first met in January 2005. We have spent almost two years searching for the dreams, visions and hopes of the people in our congregations across this province. We have presented our findings to delegate gatherings, bounced our interpretations of what the people have said back to them, and continued to discern what God is saying to us and to what he is calling us as an area conference of Mennonite congregations in B.C.
In June, we felt we had enough of an understanding to present statements of our identity and purpose, beliefs and commitments, and vision. With a little tweaking, this whole package was approved by an overwhelming majority of 96 percent!
Our identity is that “Mennonite Church British Columbia is a faith community of Christian churches with a passionate allegiance to Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord.”
Our purpose is “to enable congregations to individually and collectively engage most fully in the mission of Christ.”
For our vision we affirmed the Mennonite Church statement of “Vision: Healing and Hope,” and for our statement of beliefs we affirmed the Confession of Faith in a Mennonite Perspective.
Then, based on the above, we made five statements of commitment.
At this same meeting, based on the commitments just made, a step was taken towards implementing these statements into a plan for our mission. A draft of our missional priorities, based on responses already discerned from the congregations, was presented by the Steering Committee. Much discussion took place at the tables, and the delegates gave a new package of their missional priorities to the Steering Committee for further work.
From this, the committee has developed a proposed organizational chart as to what the missional structure and leadership might look like for the future. This will be presented at a delegate session on Nov. 4 for discernment leading to a decision.
There is one more exciting thing that has been percolating up through this past year. In order for any of this to be meaningful, we need to covenant together as congregations of MC B.C.
The Steering Committee and the MC B.C. Executive Committee have been working closely together each step of the way, and, along with the new organizational structure, we are presenting a draft of a covenant agreement. This will be presented for discussion on Nov. 4, and then at our next annual delegate sessions in February we expect to have a second draft ready for tweaking and a decision.
From February until May our congregations will be called to discern whether they are prepared to covenant together, and on May 27 we will gather from across the province for worship and the signing of our covenant. In the end, we believe it is the covenant that will hold us together in unity and the hope for our future. Please pray with us on this journey.
Unless otherwise credited, the articles in TheChurches pages were written by Canadian Mennonite’s regional correspondents.