100 years ago
It has been “a time of transition” and “an era of great leaders.”
The year 2010 marks not only 150 years of Mennonite Brethren in the world, but also 100 years of MBs as a formally organized denomination in Canada. We observed that history during the Gathering 2010 Thursday evening banquet at North Langley Community Church.
Follow this link to the Canadian conference media centre to listen to CBC president emeritus Walter Unger‘s reflection on where we have been.
100 years today
“Ebenezer…thus far the Lord has helped us”—1 Samuel 7:12
The year 2010 marks not only 150 years of Mennonite Brethren in the world, but also 100 years of MBs as a formally organized denomination in Canada. We observed that history during the Gathering 2010 Thursday evening banquet at North Langley Community Church.
Follow this link to the Canadian conference media centre to watch CCMBC executive director David Wiebe‘s address on the MB church today.
100 years and beyond
The year 2010 marks not only 150 years of Mennonite Brethren in the world, but also 100 years of MBs as a formally organized denomination in Canada. We observed that history during the Gathering 2010 Thursday evening banquet at North Langley Community Church. Follow this link to the Canadian conference media centre to watch testimonies from pastors, church planters, and missionaries who are bringing the good news to new people today and into the future.
- The Holy Spirit never ceases to have surprises for MBMSI church planter Louise Sinclair-Peters. The indigenous church leaders she and her husband minister with model evangelistic and apostolic leadership despite their physical poverty and insecurity.
- An Irishman, Phillip Vallelly (pictured above) is an unexpected candidate for senior pastor of the oldest MB church in Canada, located “in the buckle of the Bible belt,” but with his energy and leadership, the church is excited to reach a different kind of mission field in Winkler, Man.
- Bruce Enns describes how an intentional partnership with Colombian missionaries to Panama, Einer and Girlese Zuluaga, has taught the people of Forest Grove Community Church, Saskatoon, about what it means to be a church family on a mission for Christ.
- Working in the greater Vancouver area, Leo Chia patiently and creatively introduces Mandarin-speaking “financial ambassadors” immigrating from China to the abundant life found in Christ.
150 years in 16 minutes
Visit the Canadian conference website’s (mbconf.ca) media centre to view a video of the reader’s theatre presented at the Celebration 2010 Wednesday evening binational service at Chandos Pattison Auditorium, Surrey, B.C.
Ministry vignettes
Visit the Canadian conference media centre to listen to ministry stories shared by pastors and church planters at Celebration 2010.
Click here to listen to the stories below.
- When Paul Bartel, part of a church planting team in Kansas City, Mo., realized coffee shops were a major cultural hot spot, he chose a favourite location and set up regular “office hours” there. Here, he relates some interesting and challenging conversations with a spiritual seeker that have come out of the relationship that developed in that casual setting.
- Hailed Tamirat from Ethiopian Christian Fellowship in Sacramento (Cal.) is driven by seeing lives touched by the love of Christ. He shares about an older Ethiopian couple who found healing for the bodies and new life in Christ.
- Ralph Gliege, provincial conference minister in Saskatchewan, tells about the providential unfolding events which led to Prairie Winds Fellowship (Moose Jaw, Sask.) developing a prayer centre and satellite congregation in the sleep farming town Riverhurst on the shores of Lake Diefenbaker.
- Terry Hunt of The Life Centre in Lenoir, N.C. related the story of Josh, a young man who wondered if the parable of the prodigal son could come true.
- When Église Chrétienne Évangélique de Sainte-Thérèse, Montreal, asked where most people spent their Sunday mornings (only 1% attend church regularly, including Catholics), they discovered them in restaurants. Robert Dagenais, pastor of the oldest MB church in Quebec, tells how the congregation went from the brink of closure to hosting a bustling breakfast buffet with music and a testimony once a month.
- Paul Robie is a church planter in Draper, Utah. He talks about the unique people who walk through the doors at multisite South Mountain Community Church in the highly Mormon state.
- South Park MB Church in Altona, Man., is about a 20-minute drive from Roseau River Anishnabe First Nation reserve. Pastor Hugh Froese tells how families at South Park have “adopted” children from the reserve for Sunday school, church, and lunch on Sundays.
Celebrating life transformations
Posted by KB in Uncategorized on August 19, 2010
USMB delegates hear stories of changed lives
Ask the contingent of 173 Americans who attended the U.S. conference biennial convention if it was worth their time and money to travel outside the United States for this event and they will likely answer yes.
Yes, because it was held in conjunction with the North American celebration of the 150th anniversary of the founding of the MB church and attending a historic event is always noteworthy.
Yes, because gathering with Mennonite Brethren has all the makings of a spiritual family reunion.
Yes, because hearing stories of transformed lives invigorates one’s faith.
Conection 2010, the new moniker for USC conventions, was held Thursday evening and Friday during the day. U.S. delegates gathered at Gracepoint Community Church in Surrey, B.C., hosted by pastor Bill Hogg and his congregation.
Ed Boschman, USMB executive director, introduced the theme for the evening, “Life Transformation,” by noting the visual display behind him. The vertical sheets of black paper stretched across the stage covered a colourful banner. As speakers shared stories of transformation during the evening, they would rip off a sheet, revealing the colourful backdrop, illustrating changed lives.
When the service was over, there would still be black sheets left, Boschman said, for “God’s work is not finished in the world and we are part of helping to transform lives,” said Boschman. “There is still work to be done, changing darkness to light.”
Eight individuals, representing church plants and established congregations, shared stories of life change in people in their church’s sphere of influence. Most of the stories were about men and women who found salvation. Two stories concerned Christians whose faith was deepened as the Holy Spirit worked in their lives and the lives of others.
Paul Robie, pastor of South Mountain Community Church in Draper, Utah, concluded the series with a presentation outlining ministry in Utah, a unique “under-churched” location where 80 percent of the population belongs to the Church of Latter Day Saints (more commonly called Mormon).
The evening finished much as it started – with prayer and singing. This time, delegates and guests circled the storytellers and the four district ministers.
“Surround these folks,” USMB moderator Steve Schroeder encouraged the audience. “Pray for them. Thank God for what he’s doing.”—Connie Faber
Transformation stories are told in greater detail online (www.usmb.org/christian-leader)
Fun and friendships at kids’ and teens’ “birthday parties”
Posted by KB in Uncategorized on August 17, 2010
While adults marked the 150th anniversary of the Mennonite Brethren at Celebration 2010 July 14–16, children were celebrating in their own, age-appropriate ways.
During Thursday’s binational morning and afternoon reporting sessions, 19 children aged 18 months to 12 years met at Chandos Pattison Auditorium to make “fruit of the Spirit” kebobs, then headed to the Greater Vancouver Zoo for a walking education tour and train ride. They ended the day with a birthday party for the MB church, complete with cake, party hats and blowers.
The group included children from the U.S., Canada, and Thailand. “I reminded them that the next time they worshipped, they would know that they have friends in other places of the world that are worshipping too,” says organizer Cindy Olsen.
During the Canadian and U.S. national gatherings Thursday evening and Friday, Vacation Bible School-like activities were planned at both North Langley Community Church and Gracepoint Community Church. The two groups – four children from the U.S. and 15 Canadians – joined Friday for an outing to The Great Escape, an indoor amusement park in Langley, B.C.
The children had so much fun they didn’t want to leave The Great Escape, says Gracepoint children’s worker Carrie Craddock. “What brought me joy was seeing that they were just as pumped up to hear stories from God’s Word,” she says.
Meanwhile, 10 teens came to the opening Celebration service Wednesday packed for two days of fun and networking at Columbia Bible College. At the end of the opening session, the teens were transported to the campus in Abbotsford, B.C.
The group, aged 14–18, spent T
hursday in informational sessions on post-secondary options for education and mission with representatives from MBMSI, FPU, Ministry Quest, CMU, and CBC. The day closed with a pizza-and-ice-cream celebration of the 150th anniversary. Friday’s highlight was a trip to the Vancouver Aquarium.
Organizer Candice Green says the teens arrived “looking a little uncertain about what they were walking into,” but warmed up to each other quickly and formed close relationships. She says, “It was such a blessing to see how God brought them together and knocked down any relational barriers that may have been there on that first day.”—Myra Holmes
Our cousins from the south reflect
Celebration 2010 held in B.C.’s Lower Mainland in July marked the first time since the dissolution of the general conference in 2002 that MBs from Canada and the U.S. worshipped and worked together at a convention. Read some American responses on the Christian Leader site.
- “God was glorified”—Kimberlee Jost, Hillsboro, Kan.
- “Family reunion”—Amy Sterk, Goessel, Kan.
- “Tim Hortons and family”—Myra Holmes, Denver, Colo., Christian Leader assistant editor
- “Tears”—Ed Boschman, Bakersfield, Cal., USMB executive director
- “Transformed!”—Harold Ens, Fresno, Cal.
- “Finding My Identity”—Michelle Ferguson, Fresno, Cal.
More in the media centre
Visit the CCMBC media centre to listen to plenary addresses by John Sankara Rao and Nzuzi Mukawa on identity and mission.
Celebration 2010 — John Sankara Rao
Renewing identity
Paraguayan MB theologian and leader Alfred Neufeld’s presentation at RIM was a highlight for many. His “Global perspective on MB identity” took listeners on a whirlwind tour through historical commentary on the MB church and challenged us to reclaim our prophetic calling in the present and future.
Now, you can listen to his full presentation on the Canadian conference website, here.
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