Canadian Mennonite
Volume 11, No. 16
August 20, 2007
Garry Janzen named new B.C. executive minister
Abbotsford, B.C.
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After much discernment and prayer, Garry Janzen, senior pastor of Sherbrooke Mennonite Church in Vancouver, has accepted the call to be the new executive minister for Mennonite Church British Columbia.
Janzen will continue as Sherbrooke pastor until the end of 2007, going to half-time as of Oct. 1, when he will begin his duties with MC B.C., and then move to full-time with MC B.C. at the beginning of the new year.
The executive and search committee both affirmed Janzen as their first choice, says conference moderator Gerd Bartel. “Garry has vital urban multi-ministry, multicultural experience, and an excellent grasp of the challenges and opportunities that are ahead for us as MC B.C.,” he says. “Garry has skillfully chaired our Steering Committee that led us through our successful restructuring and covenanting process. We stand amazed at God’s leading in the unanimous affirmation that has been expressed for Garry’s appointment at all levels of our discerning process.”
The position of executive minister is a new one, replacing the conference minister position previously filled by Henry Kliewer. Janzen envisions his role as that of a conference leader, paying attention to the overall vision and ministry of MC B.C., helping to develop healthy and growing congregations, discerning shared ministry, ensuring care and support for pastors, and maintaining connections with the larger Mennonite Church.
Janzen has three goals he hopes to accomplish. “Together with the Executive Committee, I will help those congregations who have been members of MC B.C., but have not signed the covenant, to come to the place where they are clear as to what direction they will go with their denominational membership,” he says.
A second goal “is to ensure that the leadership positions in the new MC B.C. structure are understood and filled” he says.
For his third goal, Janzen wants to visit each MC B.C. congregation for worship, fellowship and meetings with their leadership in his first year.
In accepting the call, Janzen is thankful to the Sherbrooke Church Council and congregation, that are releasing him to God’s call to serve the larger church community.
“I have been overwhelmed by the experience of God’s call in this whole journey,” Janzen says. “The most powerful moment was when the Sherbrooke Church Council gave their overwhelming support immediately upon hearing of this invitation. I truly feel that this whole process has been a beautiful picture of the church at its best—the church working the way it should, in selfless abandon to the call of God.”
Janzen has pastored at Sherbrooke since 1998. Formerly, he was pastor of the Zoar Mennonite Church in Langham, Sask.
100 Mile Curriculum grows out of diet challenge
Winnipeg
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More than 100 people have pledged to participate in the 100 Mile Diet that will be launched Sept. 1 at St. Norbert Farmers Market. The diet involves eating only food that is grown or produced within a 100-mile (161-kilometre) radius for 100 days. (See “Locally grown food initiative spawned in Manitoba,” Feb. 5, page 19.)
Now, three teachers who are participating in the diet have introduced a companion challenge, the 100 Mile Curriculum.
Sheila Giesbrecht, a professor at the University of Winnipeg, explains: “The 100 Mile Curriculum encourages teachers and students to think about teaching and learning within a place-based framework. The goal of the project is to have 100 learners commit to looking at an issue through a local lens and share these projects at a 100 Mile Curriculum Fair. Our hope is to embed this in the Manitoba curriculum and to bring the curriculum closer to home.”
Giesbrecht is reluctant to offer too many suggestions for fear of inhibiting other ideas, but suggests that there is room in the math curriculum to graph and chart distances and costs of transporting food, and in science and nature studies to look at the growing season and food groups covered during Manitoba’s growing season.
The challenge is not limited to food. Other environmental issues and problems that have a local focus can also be investigated.
“We’re hoping for all kinds of projects,” says Giesbrecht.
The challenge is open to students at any level, including post-high school.
The project will culminate in November with an opportunity to showcase projects at the University of Winnipeg.
The website (100milecurriculum.ca) states that “the challenge is to celebrate the abundance, diversity and complexity of Manitoba’s communities, to raise awareness surrounding issues affecting Manitoba’s communities, to support habitation, care and concern for our communities, and to develop more complex ways of thinking, analyzing and problem-solving.”