MCBC Annual Meeting - February 21, 2009

OLD COAT-NEW CLOTH: FASHIONING THE FUTURE FOR MCBC

(I have to give credit to Amy Dueckman, our MCBC writer for the Canadian Mennonite, for much of this article.  She gave me permission to use excerpts from her article in the MCBC News 'n Notes.  In fact, you could just go to the Jan./Feb./March 2009 News 'n Notes on the MCBC website for the full version of her article - and photos.)

I would say that we had one of our best Mennonite Church BC annual meetings in a while.  I would also say that a key reason for this is the new level of commitment and trust that our re-covenanting has given us.  While we are a diverse body of congregations, and we wouldn't all want to live completely in each other's skin, we are in a place where we prepared to be the church together and get on with the mission to which God is calling us.  

A feeling of unity and moving forward pervaded the MCBC annual meeting at Cedar Valley Mennonite Church on Feb. 21st.  Delegates witnessed Level Ground Mennonite Church signing the MCBC covenant.  This is the new congregation formed as a result of the coming together of the West Abbotsford Mennonite Church and Wellspring Christian Fellowship.  

Delegates also witnesed the appointment of Rob Tiessen as Executive Director of Camp Squeah, after having served as Interim Executive Director for the past two years.  Camp Squeah reported on the building project of two new buildings scheduled for completion later this spring. It was reported that $1.3 million has been raised with $600,000 left to be raised.  Delegates were challenged to engage their congregations with energy to raise what is left.

The delegates came through with an amazing affirmation of what it means to be in a covenant relationship with each other.  First Mennonite Church Burns Lake has gone through two rounds of difficulties that has caused the congregation significant loss of membership over the past years. They are now a small congregation, yet with a unity in purpose unseen for some time.  The delegates committed to assist the congregation with up to $27,000 annually for 3 years (as needed) in order for them to have a fulltime pastor who will lead them back to good health.

Young Adults in Focus

The MCBC LEAD Conference focused on learning about our young adults and their hopes for the future of the church.  In the photo, Rob Brown and Chris Dirkson are leading the worship singing (pastors at Eden Mennonite Church in Chilliwack).  The words of the song on the screen, "Jesus, all for Jesus" are rather fitting.  Sometimes our young adults have been frustrated by the church, but they do love Jesus. We had a movie made with interviews of a number of young adults who are, or have been, a part of our churches. The primary things I heard from these young people about what they would like to see in the future of the church are: openness to new ideas and to people who are different than ourselves, love, respect and relationships.  The LEAD Conference theme was "Old Coat, New Cloth," based on the Scripture, Matthew 9:16.  These are days when the usable cloth of the old coats that have made up the church is becoming the new cloth that is being used to shape the church.  The Word of God remains steady and unchanging.  It has been said that this generation of young adults are the most culturally engaged ever.  I think they also have amazing opportunities to shine the light of the gospel into the lives of their many pre-Christian friends.  Many in my generation don't have a lot of close non-Christian friends, so I commend our young adults for the connections they have.   Angelika Dawson told us about Columbia Bible College students working at the MCC warehouse in Abbotsford, redesigning old garments into new products that reflect their interests.  Gareth Brandt taught using jazz as the image to represent this generation of Christians.  The jazz image being one of improvization and one of a band working together to form new music as they go along.  The form of the faith of these young adult Christians has this kind of improvization, yet is also deeply authentic and real.  

More on the State of the Union

Here's a picture of the First Mennonite Church Burns Lake Covenant signing.

More Than Gold is is a unique opportunity for churches of Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley to work together in service and ministry.  MCBC has signed up as a supporting denomination, but we have been unable to find a volunteer to coordinate our response.  We are now asking the BC Mennonite Brethren Conference if we can partner with them under their leadership.  Once we are organised, we will give opportunity for local congregations to register your support of Serving, Praying and Giving by saying YES to being involved.  There are so many opportunities and you can customize the ministries you want to be involved in to suit your gifts and capacity.  Stay tuned for more information as we receive it.

One more exciting thing.  We are proceding with a potential church plant in the Cloverdale area.  We are planning in partnership with Living Hope Christian Fellowship in Surrey.

State of the Union Address

We are looking forward to a wonderful time of celebrating the work of God's kingdom among us as we gather on the afternoon of May 24th to worship, fellowship and eat together.  I encourage your congregation to consider closing your regular worship service and making this the one to focus on.  We are also asking each congregation to either share a few words, send a video, or photos, showing some missional activity that you are involved with.  Let's  make it a blessed time.

This is a sneak preview of the state of the union address that I will give at the Mennonite Church BC annual meeting on Saturday, February 21st.  It's kind of like when someone's speech gets leaked to the media and snippits from it end up in the newspaper before it is given.  I thought I would pre-empt all the reporters that are lurking at my office door and pre-disclose it myself.

Our theme for our leadership conference (LEAD) and for the annual sessions is "Old Coat New Cloth: Fashioning the Future for MCBC" from Matthew 9:16.  May we be the new cloth that God wants to work with, especially new cloth that is fashioned from an old coat.

First Mennonite  Church Burns Lake has signed the Covenant.  Now they are seeking to know what covenant-living is really like.  Because of some tough years in the last decade, this congregation has lost many members, but they are now a unified, smaller congregation seeking the partnership that a covenanted people should provide.  May we come alongside  of them in faithfulness.

Abbotsford Mennonite Fellowship has also signed the covenant.  Let us find meaningful partnership with them too.

We are now 31 covenanted congregations.  May it be a healthy union of congregations that are definitely not all alike, but hold together in a covenant relationship.

Karen Martens is the new Denominational Minister and Director of Leadership Development for Mennonite Church Canada.  You will get to meet her this weekend at both the LEAD Conference and the annual meetings.  She and her husband Terry co-pastored the Grace Mennonite Church in Regina, Saskatchewan for around 15 years.  She began in this position in the fall of 2008.

 

We are going to be our Identity, Purpose and Vision statements as the statement of who we are. But out of who we are comes our commitments as to what we are going to do.  Just go back to the MCBC Home Page and and click on Our Vision Statement to see all this (or come to the annual meeting on Saturday, February 21st!)

 

We are going to celebrate the beginning of Level Ground Mennonite Church, yet at the same time to give recognition to the good ministry of its predecesors - West Abbotsford Mennonite Church and Wellspring Christian Fellowship.  I think we should commission someone to write a new history of Mennonite Church BC, especially since we are newly covenanted together.  The update would be from 1990 until now.

 

Columbia Bible College is seeking the wisdom of the Mennonite Church BC and BC Mennonite Brethren churches (the two bodies that own the school) by drawing me and my MB counterpart into a Leadership Development Task Force with the president and academic dean.  This is to help the school develop students whose competencies that align what the churches are looking for.  I think we are in a great place of strengthening the role of CBC as our school for our students, whether we are training up lay people in our church ministries or people for staff positions.  

An interesting conversation that we are having with CBC is regarding bursaries.  There is a sense among the MB leaders that the subsidy given by the conference should be developed into bursaries for students rather than general giving to the school's budget.  As MCBC leaders, we are okay with continuing to give to the general budget, but think it might be a good idea for the congregations to develop their own bursaries to give to their students.  Now, one radical step further would be for MCBC congregations with a bursary who don't have students in a certain year, to make their bursary available for students from other congregations that may not have sufficient bursary funds.  I think this would be a great expression of covenanting together.

Please pray for Mennonite Japanese Christian Fellowship in Surrey and their pastor, Gerald Neufeld.  Any time I have worshiped there, I have truly experienced blessed worship, but they struggle to keep up their support for their pastor.   Pray for God's wisdom and creativity.

A Sip of Scripture

Here's a little ad for any of you who are still wondering what you might do for your devotions this year. If you got this far into the MCBC website, then you will have passed by a tab on the homepage called Links. If you click on Links there's lots of good stuff, but go right to the bottom and you will find A Sip of Scripture. This is a daily Scripture reading. This year the Sip of Scripture is going through the book pictured above. If you are not familiar with this book, it is a collection of the primary Scripture texts that the early Anabaptists leaned on most heavily. You can buy the book from Pandora Press. But, you can also be challenged and blessed by going to the MCBC website every day and making this your daily Scripture reading. If you go to the source of this webpage, you will be at Thirdway Cafe. At Thirdway there is lots of good stuff about Anabaptists, but at Thirdway you can also get this daily devotional sent to your email address and have it pop up for you every morning! You can even go back to January 1st and get the full-meal-deal from the beginning of the book.  

And, a bonus - this is not just a Scripture reading, but a devotional. When you scroll down you will find a daily blog called A Simple Desire. Every day one of a number of people will write a reflection on the Scripture passage.  

One surprise - the early Anabaptists included the Apocrypha in their Scriptures, so you will find the occasional text that is not from the Old and New Testaments of the Bible that we carry. Blessings.

New Year's Day

The U2 song New Year's Day has been one of my favourites.  It probably has been a real frustration for those who want to start afresh and make all kinds of resolutions to live a better life.  Here are the words of the first verse and the chorus, 

"All is quiet on New Year's Day.  

A world in white gets underway.  

I want to be with you, be with you night and day.  

Nothing changes on New Year's Day.  

On New Year's Day. 

and then the chorus 

I... will be with you again."

This song has always struck me as encouraging.  Bono often intertwines the story of his relation with his wife, with God and the world.  It is heartening to know that we will spend another year together - through the good and the bad, the celebrations and the frustrations.  To celebrate that the first day of the new year is not miraculously different that the last day of the year before is encouraging.  God is with us and we will find him when we seek him.  

May 2009 be filled with the hope of the God who was, and is, and is to come.

Life in the Fast Lane

There have been a few people who have suggested that breaking my leg just before Christmas might be just what I needed to cause me to stop working and be with my family at Christmas. Some have suggested that it may have even been God's intervention.  I do not disagree.  I did cancel one speaking engagement due to my injury.  I also missed the celebration at Camp Squeah of Dan Friesen's 20 years of service there. Certainly, being unable to drive a car kept me at home much more.  I did slow down.  While it has caused me to reorganise my schedule to travel less and work more from my home, it has also been very frustrating.  But, it has caused much reflection on what life is like for those who do not have full mobility and for those who must rely on the assistance of others for some very basic activities. Trying to bring down the swelling in the lower leg and ankle has resulted in the possibility photos like the one above.  

I have deeply appreciated the assistance offered by my family and so many others.  I have also appreciated the privilege of being able to laugh at myself as others laugh at me.  I am thankful that my travel schedule took a break at this time.  I am thankful for every time that God speaks to me about having too much on my plate.  This has probably been the most obvious one.  But there have been others, such as physical signs of stress.  The one I like the most is when someone cancels an assignment to which I have said yes, and I have known all along that I should not have taken it on.  If I have ever felt freed up, it has been when one of these happens.  

I would welcome any of your stories about what God has done in your lives to help you to slow down or to show you a better pathway.

Blessings.