Volume 15, Number 6
Doing worship and mission after Christendom
As Christendom weakens in Europe and North America, worship and mission are poised to reunite after centuries of separation. But this requires the church to rethink both “mission” and “worship.” In post-Christendom mission, God is the main actor and God calls all Christians to participate.
In gratitude of J.S. Bach
Now no longer hosting classical radio shows or conducting the Grand Philharmonic Choir, Howard Dyck enjoys his leisure time at his Waterloo Region home.
The response to my request for an interview last September said it all: “Maggie and I are in Tuscany. . . . We’ve rented a small villa very near Cortona [Italy] and will be here until the end of October. I’m afraid the interview will have to wait until early November. Ciao.”
‘Can we trust the government?’
Rob Yost of Hillcrest Mennonite Church stands at the base of the congregation’s one-kWh photovoltaic solar-energy system.
Nearly a year after receiving an award from the Waterloo Region’s Greening Sacred Spaces organization, Hillcrest Mennonite Church in New Hamburg was the site for a Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Ontario solar open house on Feb. 26.
Peace Church identity explored at LEAD conference
Linda Enns, left, of Peace Mennonite Church and a member of the MC B.C. Church Health Committee, greets LEAD conference speaker Lois Barret
With the theme of “Being a Peace Church,” 88 church leaders and others interested in the topic met at Living Hope Christian Fellowship, Surrey, for the annual Mennonite Church B.C. Leaders, Elders and Deacons (LEAD) conference on Feb. 25.
Expanding ministries in MC B.C.
At the annual delegate sessions of Mennonite Church B.C., Camp Squeah staff members Tim Larson, Geoff Gould and Rob Tiessen present a skit about camp ministries.
Reports on a new church plant model and passion for native ministries highlighted the annual delegate sessions of Mennonite Church B.C., held at Living Hope Christian Fellowship, Surrey, on Feb. 26. Delegates followed “Being a Peace Church” as a theme, carried out through both business and workshop sessions.
‘Before the watching world’
Henry Kliewer, standing, the director of Mennonite Church Manitoba Leadership Ministries, offers a prayer of blessing during the commissioning serv-ice for Ken Warkentin, the new executive director for MC Manitoba. “I am looking forward to the significant challenges that lie ahead,” said Warkentin, who has been involved in church work for 29 years.
The annual Mennonite Church Manitoba gathering did not bring forth momentous decisions, but it did cause the 147 delegates—representing 37 of the area church’s 50 congregations—to occasionally squirm uncomfortably, express exasperation at times, and grapple with several challenges.
‘And yet . . .’
I can best write about my hopes and dreams for the future of the church by reflecting on the past. During the last 29 years of pastoral ministry I have experienced growth, turmoil, grace, struggle, surprise, conflict and peace in the church. To each one of those words I can attach stories of God breaking into my life, and into the corporate life of the body of Christ.
Solomon’s splendour revisited
When I think back to my early experience of Bible stories, I recall that King Solomon was “good,” he enjoyed God’s favour. Sure, Solomon had riches and power, but he had immense wisdom, which put him in the good books . . . or so I thought.
Looking back to my church roots, it makes sense that I would inherit such a view of so-called benevolent dictators.
Deliverance from somewhere else
The story of Esther is stunning in its providential beauty and hope. Despite God never being named, the book bearing a Jewish Persian Queen’s Gentile name—a wonderful twist of biblical irony—is received as Scripture, as God’s very speech. Esther is God doing sign language. God writes himself out of the story, but not out of history. The I AM receives no cameo.
Readers Write
Story, photo stir up personal memories
Death as life with the saints
At age 65, he was too young to die. For Stan Benner, my brother whom we just remembered this past weekend, it was especially incongruous. Living life at full throttle, he had big plans for the last leg of his journey.
