A strong foundation for a changing church
The 1996 Ontario M.B. Conference Convention

A strong foundation

The convention was held February 23-24 in Grantham MB Church in St. Catharines. The theme, "A Strong Foundation for a Changing Church", was presented in two parts--but in reverse order. Leamington pastor Henry Regier presented the first part in a message at the Saturday morning breakfast. In an age of change, Regier said that the strong foundation which does not change is Jesus Christ. He said further that a church which has Jesus as its foundation must be: a place where the love of Jesus Christ is practised, a place where forgiveness flows freely, and a reconciling community.

That foundation came into play in regard to Bethesda, the Ontario MB Conference ministry to adults with developmental disabilities. As reported in the Jan. 26, 1996 MB Herald, developments at Bethesda led to a sharp disagreement between the Bethesda Board and the Board of Reference and Counsel and resulted in the resignation of Conference moderator John Eckert. On Friday night, Archie Heide, chair of the Bethesda Board, and Peter Durksen, who replaced Eckert as moderator, read a joint statement of reconciliation. The statement described some of the misunderstandings that had led to the disagreement. It then reported that "BORAC and the Bethesda Board have entered into a Christian group conciliation process" which has "assisted us greatly in understanding one another". The statement also reported that the Bethesda Board accepted "BORAC's right to question any issue other than clients' confidential files". The statement acknowledged that this was only the beginning of the reconciliation process and that, while the Boards had reconciled, individuals have not yet been included in the reconciliation process. Rudy Bartel then led the convention in a prayer of repentance and reconciliation from Psalm 139:23-24.

The reality of continuing individual hurts was underlined by changes in the leadership of both Boards in the dispute. Peter Durksen, who moved up from assistant moderator to moderator when Eckert resigned, was re-elected moderator at this convention. However, the other two members of the provincial executive are new: Peter Neufeld of Grantham was elected assistant moderator, and Terry Shuh was elected secretary, replacing Arnold Goertzen, whose term had expired.

On the other side, only two members of the former 10-person Bethesda Board remain: John Koop, whose term expires in 1998, and Mary Reimer, the only member of the Board to seek re-election. Five other members of the Board resigned before the end of their terms. Former executive director Don Boese is also gone, of course, now being replaced by Brian Davies (see sidebar).

The disagreement was not debated on the floor or even directly addressed in the two Bethesda workshops. However, at the urging of a delegate, the Bethesda Board presented a motion thanking Don Boese for his "18 years of tireless service". Perhaps because of the format (delegates were asked to vote by standing), it passed without opposition.

Realizing the need to take greater ownership of its agencies, the Conference approved adding Bethesda and Tabor Manor (a ministry to seniors) to the Conference budget; Bethesda would get $15,000 to support its chaplain, and Tabor $10,000 to support its chaplain. These additions, however, created tensions in the second half of the convention agenda.

A Changing Church

Peter Durksen addressed the second half of the convention theme in his moderator's address on Friday evening. He discussed four issues on which the conference, like Abraham in Hebrews 11, does not seem to know where it is going.

First, the MB conference is unsure whether to change the name "Mennonite Brethren", but this does not matter as long as the conference follows God as Abraham did.

Second, in terms of organization, Durksen suggested that the essence of a strong conference is healthy congregations, not aggressive boards; in future, he would like to see provincial conventions focus on the work of the congregations as much as on the work of the Conference boards.

Third, Durksen noted that the 3600 members of the Conference had donated $393,000 to the Conference in 1984, but that 4050 members had contributed only $242,000 to the Conference in 1994. He suggested there is something wrong when secular charitable organizations, parachurch organizations outside the MB conference, parachurch organizations inside the MB conference (such as Concord College, Tabor Manor and Mennonite Central Committee), and special congregational fund drives get most of the money, leaving only a little left over for the regular congregational and conference budgets.

Finally, in addressing the need for leadership, Durksen suggested the term is overused; what is really needed is not leaders as we usually understand the term but people like Abraham who "obeyed and went", people who move the work forward rather than hold it back.

The last two points in particular proved to be very relevant to the convention business.

A Matter of Money

The Ontario Conference has a somewhat different approach to Conference finances. Most conferences set a budget and then ask the congregations to pay a per-member "norm" to pay for the programs. For the last several years, the Ontario Conference has asked congregations to pledge what they will give to the Conference and then asked the Conference boards how much money they need; it hopes that what the congregations pledge will equal what the Boards need. In practice in recent years, this has meant that the Boards end up cutting their budgets down to the level of the congregational pledges.

This year, the congregations pledged $240,000 and the Boards requested $308,000; the accumulated surplus of $24,000 would not cover the difference. However, this year the Board of Reference and Counsel (the lead board in the Conference, which includes the chairs of the other boards) decided not to cut the budget again. Instead, it presented a recommendation to the convention that the congregations increase their pledges to match the Board requests.

This recommendation ran into significant opposition on the convention floor. Delegates objected that their congregations had already approved their annual budgets and that they had no authority to promise that their congregations would give more. Others objected that to pass the recommendation and the proposed budget would mean that the Conference was really accepting a deficit budget.

It was also noted that Conference agencies are asking for other money in special fund drives. Tabor Manor has raised only $5000 of a five-year $250,000 goal to pay for its last expansion. The Board of Church Extension has raised only $40,000 of its goal of $100,000 to fund Toronto church plants. Camp Crossroads has raised $103,000 towards the $300,000 needed for planned expansion. This is what lay behind Durksen's complaint that special fund drives get money first while the regular Conference budget gets what is left over.

In the end, the recommendation passed, with some opposition, after Board of Management chair Werner Dick accepted a "friendly amendment" that the Conference challenge the congregations to "consider increasing" their pledges. Dick assured delegates that there would not be a deficit budget: BORAC and the Board of Management would cut the budget if pledges did not increase sufficiently. However, that left some uneasiness that BORAC rather than the convention would approve the final budget.

An answer to prayer

On Friday night, Peter Klassen of the Board of Spiritual and Social Concerns introduced "an answer to prayer". In recent years, the Ontario churches have been struggling with an unusually large number of pastoral vacancies. Eleven new pastoral couples were welcomed with prayer.

The Ontario Conference has also been searching for a conference minister for some time. This need was answered with the appointment of Rudy Bartel as part-time interim conference minister for a maximum term of two years. Bartel is a former principal at Eden High School and a former pastor. Recognizing the need to develop the connections between the congregations, the agencies and the Conference, he pledged to visit every congregation and every Conference agency by September.

Business, as usual

The convention format introduced last year continues to work well. The business has three parts: The Boards present 10-minute "good news" capsules on Friday night; discussion takes place in workshops on Saturday morning, with each of the eight boards presenting workshops in two of the three timeslots; recommendations are debated and voted on Saturday afternoon.

The "good news" vignettes were well done and well received. Videos of Eden, Bethesda and Tabor probably gave a clearer picture of what life in these institutions is really like than written or oral reports could do. A testimony by Tiffany Hamm regarding her summer with Youth Mission International represented the Board of Church Ministries. A variety of speakers described changed lives at Camp Crossroads.

The most unusual report was the Board of Church Extension's presentation of a humorous bedtime story called "A Tale of Three Churches", which highlighted the three MB churches in Toronto. Its mention of church extension director Henry Wiebe's fondness for doughnut shop evangelism gave added weight to Wiebe's later comment that the Conference's budget problem could be solved if each member donated the price of "11 cups of coffee".

A variety of recommendations received relatively quick assent on Saturday afternoon:

• The Board of Spiritual and Social Concerns changed its name to Board of Faith and Life.
  
• A constitutional amendment clarified how the Board of Church Extension and the Board of Spiritual and Social Concerns should cooperate in recognizing and helping emerging churches.
  
• The Conference salary grids were increased by 2%, the second increase in four years.
  
• Camp Crossroads received approval to continue capital fundraising and to proceed with its Kitchen Plus expansion project, provided $165,000 of the required $225,000 is in by September. (The Camp has already raised $103,000 in cash and $37,000 in pledges.)
  
• Church extension director Henry Wiebe was reduced from half-time to one-third time effective January 1, 1996 and to one-quarter time effective July 1, 1996. With the Erin Mills church plant under way and no funding available for new church plants, Wiebe's workload has decreased somewhat. In the meantime, Wiebe has become part-time interim pastor of Vineland MB Church.
  
• The Bethesda problem began as a result of sexual abuse by former Bethesda psychiatrist Clyde Lansdell. Recommendations by two other boards showed that sexual abuse is still a matter of concern in the churches. The convention approved four documents for distribution to the churches: "Guidelines on Abuse and Safety" and an accompanying "Handbook" produced by the Board of Church Ministries, and "A Painful Fairytale" (a parable demonstrating the need to deal with abuse) and "Understanding Sexual Misconduct in Pastoral and Caregiving Relationships: A Working Document to be Used by Churches of the Ontario Mennonite Brethren Conference" produced by the Board of Spiritual and Social Concerns. The first documents discuss how to prevent abuse from happening in churches, and the second discuss how to deal with it if it has happened.
  
• With its St. Catharines site now fully developed, Tabor Manor received permission to study developing a similar full-care seniors' facility in Kitchener-Waterloo. It will report its findings to the 1997 convention.

The convention also included a number of other reports and activities:

• Worship included Friday evening singing led by the Grantham worship team, a Friday evening communion service and a few minutes of prayer around the tables at the Saturday morning breakfast.
  
• Board members Roger Epp and Loretta Snider and president James Pankratz gave an extensive upbeat report on Concord College Friday evening. However, delegates seemed to respond most warmly to testimonials given by the father/son combination of Paul Rogalsky (a former student) and Steve Rogalsky (a current student). Pankratz devoted most of his report to the proposal to create a Mennonite university consortium involving Concord, Menno Simons College and Canadian Mennonite Bible College. Primarily because of the late hour (Concord reported after 10:00 p.m. on Friday evening), no response came from the floor. However, delegates completed a written questionnaire. The matter will be further discussed at a mini-Concord convention in July and at the regular Concord convention in the fall.
  
• Eden High School has moved into its new facilities in St. Catharines, and enrollment is already pushing the allowable limit of 450. Eden has not completed renovations at the new school (building a new gym and converting the old gym into a cafeteria and chapel), because it has not yet been able to sell its old facility. Although it is asking for no more from the Conference ($73,000), Eden is doubling its spending on spiritual life (from $55,000 to $108,000), primarily by hiring Ed Heinrichs as a spiritual life director to work alongside current spiritual life director Laurie-Anne Kavanagh. (Heinrichs is also serving half-time as associate pastor at Cornerstone Community Church.)
  To balance its budget, Eden expects to save about $30,000 to $40,000 which it formerly spent on upkeep of its old building. (Eden owned its old building, while the new building is owned by the Lincoln County Board of Education. Eden operates as a fully-funded alternative school under the public school board.)
  
• There are three Mennonite Brethren churches in the Toronto area again. The Evangelical Asian Church (an Indo-Canadian ministry) is now well-established. The new Erin Mills congregation is off to a good start. It was reported that Yorkdale Community Church (an older, smaller congregation) has decided to merge with the new multicultural New Covenant Christian Fellowship. The Board of Church Extension workshop revealed that BOCE is considering a proposal to plant a Chinese church in Toronto in 1997, in cooperation with MB Missions/Services, the Canadian MB Conference Board of Evangelism and the Chinese MB churches in B.C.; that church plant has the full support of the Toronto Chinese Evangelical Ministerial Fellowship, but BOCE is uncertain if it has the funding or Ontario Conference support to proceed. The challenge in Toronto is great; the statistic was noted several times that only one out of every 25 new church plants in Toronto succeeds.
  
• BOCE is also in dialogue with two fledgling churches that are interested in joining the Ontario MB Conference, one in Bracebridge and one in Parry Sound. The Conference grew by 28 members in 1995 to 4021 members.
  
• Former pastor Herman Kroeker has written a devotional book called Lift for Living, with some of the proceeds of sales going to Camp Crossroads.

JC