From my two lame photos of the building where the Assembly took place, you may be able to tell that I am a person who often forgets to get out the camera because I am busy connecting with friends and taking in the conference sessions.
Anyway, I would say it was a very good conference. I began by taking in a meeting of Conference Ministers and then taking in the Ministers' Conference. Actually, in Mennonite Church Canada language, conference ministers are now called Area Church Ministers. We met Wednesday afternoon (June 3rd) in the "Africa Room" at the MCC Saskatchewan offices. We spend more time catching up with each other and the stuff going on in our area churches across Canada (that is: BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Eastern Canada), than we spend on business. Our MC Canada denominational minister, Karen Martens-Zimmerly, leads us - as does a great job. We also have Anna Rehan, Mennonite Church Canada Youth Minister, joining us as her place of connecting. The price Anna had to pay for joining was to serve all of us dinner at her, and her husband Ed's, beautiful home on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River.
On Thursday was the Minsters' Conference - this is a special time for pastors and spouses to focus on a learning theme. Dan Epp-Tiessen spoke on "Nurturing a Vision for Engaged Congregations," based on 1 Corinthians 12. I particularly learned that it would be good to preach less about all the things we should be doing, and preach more of the good news of Jesus' love! I also had the privilege of discovering that our closing worship was to be led by Valerie Wiebe, a good friend from the congregation in Langham, SK where I used to serve.
The big event was the main assembly, and I would say that the highlight for me was the discernment that we had around tables on three topics: biblical interpretation, proclaiming peace in the public square, and being a healthy church. You can check out the details of these discussions and the assembly in general by checking out the Bridge City Bulletin and the photos at: www.mennonitechurch.ca/events/saskatoon2009/. Actually, I think I can snag a couple of photos from that website to give you some of my highlights. Check my next blog entry for this.
Also, check out a bit about my ride to the conference in another blog.
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