Unity amid diversity

From her seat at the front, Mennonite Church Alberta secretary Joani Neufeldt could see all of the gathered Mennonite Church Alberta delegates as the story of the newly forming Edmonton South Sudanese Mennonite Church was shared by Rueben Tut and Rueben Joach.

“If you want to get at what assembly is all about, it was the two Ruebens standing in front of us, singing ‘Rock of Ages’ in Nuer and the conference humming along,” Neufeldt recounted. “It was powerful. There were a lot of watery eyes.”

The annual delegate session, held at Menno Simons Christian School in Calgary from March 22-23, was remarkable for the diversity of cultures present to worship and work together. English, Vietnamese, Chinese and Spanish congregations formally received the Calgary Chin Christian Church into membership the first night.

Tim Froese, MC Canada executive minister for Witness, remarked, “Six of the 16 congregations in Alberta [are non-English]. This is the richest group of congregations in Canada, percentage-wise, in terms of diversity!”

Business items

A surplus of $9,700 was realized in 2012 as donations came in higher than budgeted. This provided the executive with an opportunity to recommend $9,400 be put towards one-time projects, including $3,000 to a church-planting congress, $1,000 to support MC Canada’s Future Directions Task Force, $3,000 for the Camp Valaqua planning committee, and $2,400 for rental assistance for Edmonton South Sudanese Mennonite Church. The motion passed easily. Although the surplus is positive, it is more an indicator of modest budgeting than of an increased giving trend.

During a finance workshop, area church treasurer Tany Warkentin said, “This is not income going up, but compared to the budget we have surpluses.”

For 2013, a break-even budget was proposed. Budgets are set each year after consultation with churches regarding what they plan to give to MC Alberta.

Outgoing finance committee chair Lois Epp said, “For three years in a row we’ve had more income than we’ve budgeted for, but we can’t project into the future.”

Camp Valaqua reported a welcome 10 percent increase in camper numbers, strong support for ongoing cabin replacement, and a good response to fundraising initiatives.

One noticeable difficulty, however, was found in camp director Jon Olfert’s written report: “It is a growing challenge to find adults to help during the summer camp program. . . . Finding people to work for a week seems to grow increasingly more difficult and our kitchen structure, as it stands today, cannot operate without those volunteers.”

A planning committee led by Darrel Heidebrecht was given the task of discerning a vision for the camp in the years ahead. The committee heard input from pastors as well as delegates at the assembly, and is looking forward to gathering input from congregations in the months ahead.

A General Council resolution to hire a part-time area youth minister when funds are available received the most on-floor discussion. For the past five years, discussion at assembly and in the Congregational Leadership Commission has struggled with the question of what kind of youth ministry leadership is possible in MC Alberta. While an almost unanimous vote affirmed the recommendation, the problematic fact remains that there are no funds available, making the resolution basically a “motherhood” statement at this point. The Leadership Commission and General Council will assume responsibility for exploring options.

Area church chair Ernie Engebrecht commented on the importance of making sure the discussion about where the money comes from actually happens. “[We] need fire in the belly; this is the first step,” he said.

Garry Janzen, executive minister of MC B.C., addressed a pastors meeting and the assembly regarding Forge Canada, an organization providing connections and training to help congregations engage their neighbourhoods. B.C. signed on with Forge in 2012, and Janzen is hopeful it will be a strong resource and encouragement as congregations build a “missional DNA” in B.C. The Forge discussion was taken as information only until congregations have more time to understand what the organization can offer.

‘God’s gift of unity’

Cheryl Pauls, president of Canadian Mennonite University, Winnipeg, challenged the assembly with meditations on the theme, “Brothers and sisters in Christ: God’s gift of unity,” in two keynote addresses. Pauls noted that it is particularly difficult to accept unity when there are key differences on theological matters, when trust has been broken and where people are different. Yet these are the places where needed gifts and insights for the church are often found. “How can we honour both the one and the all, the unity and diversity into which we are called?” she challenged the delegates.