Why don’t we talk about evangelism?
He discretely looked to the left, then to the right and said quietly, “Why don’t we talk about evangelism in this denomination?” I grinned and replied, “Ever seen the movie A Thief in the Night?” “No”, he said. I briefly described the 1970s era Christian film depicting a rapture, tribulation and the second coming of…
Evangelism that cares
The 1973 motto for the annual Conference of the United Mennonite Churches of B.C. was “Evangelism that cares.” Sessions were hosted by two churches in Vancouver: First United Mennonite and Mountainview Mennonite. The opening speaker asked, “Are we evangelists who care about people in the city? Often we see the city as a place to…
Bruxy Cavey to teach Church as Mission course next spring
WATERLOO, ONT.—Bruxy Cavey will be joining the master of theological studies (MTS) program at Conrad Grebel University College and the University of Waterloo as visiting lecturer for the Spring 2021 term. Cavey is the teaching pastor at The Meeting House, a Be In Christ congregation. He is the author of the bestselling books, The End…
Watch: A pro skier’s advice for his son
Professional skier Dave Treadway was just 34 years old when he died in a tragic skiing accident near Pemberton, B.C. on April 15, 2019. Treadway is remembered not only as a fearless skier but as a beloved husband, father, brother and son who possessed a deep faith in God. Treadway’s faith led him to launch…
Good news of Jesus in a traumatized world
The way of the missional God is that the Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighbourhood, Elaine Heath told church leaders on June 28 at Gathering 2019’s Leadership Day. Heath is a former dean of Duke University Divinity School in Durham, N.C., and an ordained elder in the United Methodist Church. Much…
Motivated by fear
Two hours into a conversation that I deeply regretted starting, the man seated next to me said, “Most people on this airplane are probably not Christian. If this flight starts to crash, I will stand up, tell everyone to repent [of their sins], accept Jesus as Lord and be saved. Otherwise, they will spend eternity…
The message and the messengers of salvation
It is truly remarkable that through hell and high water, the good news of Jesus has arrived to me, today, in 2018, in Canada. This is a miracle of God. Through persecution, the gospel has persisted. Despite the frequent destructive misuse of the message for coercion and power, the good news has carried on. Not…
What’s up with Mennos and mission?
About eight years ago, Daniel Pantoja shared the approach he and his wife Joji employed as Mennonite Church Canada Witness Workers in the Philippines: “Toss aside western church culture and rhetoric.” By shaping their approach from a Muslim context, they bridged the gap between perception and Jesus. “Don’t call it church-planting,” Pantoja cautioned then, since…
Video: Christ at the coffee shop
In the spring of 2015, Pastor Kassa Lemma of Rehoboth Evangelical Church in Toronto invited Mennonite Church Canada Executive Director Willard Metzger to speak at an Ethiopian evangelistic conference. Metzger admits that his first response was hesitant. “We don’t do that anymore as Mennonites.” But he says the more he thought about it, the more…
