A new wind

ALBERTA MB CONFERENCE CONVENTION, LETHBRIDGE, ALTA.
March 27-29, 1998

Door prizes for the first person to register, and to the person having attending the most Alberta conventions began the proceedings. College Drive pastor Craig Ginn with a band led singing and worship.

When people were invited to tell stories from their churches and ministries, Paul Isaac, director of Camp Evergreen, told about the kids coming to the camp from inner-city Edmonton. Sword drills were an important part of their activities, and by the end of the week one of the kids said to another, "What do you think about this Jesus stuff? Are you going to go for it?" Then Isaac mentioned that his grandmother had passed away that day. He recalled that she had earlier asked what he was doing with the kids at the camp. He had replied, "We play with them, but we also tell them that Jesus loves them." Her reply: "Na yo." (Okay.)

Ray Wiens, pastor of River West Christian Church in Edmonton, reported that when someone receives Christ in his church, a white carnation is placed at the front of the sanctuary. One Sunday last fall there were 12 carnations.

Ralph Klassen, pastor of Linden MB Church, reported that not only were boys and girls clubs at his church reaching children, but parents of some previously unchurched children were now coming to the services.

Willy Reimer, pastor of the newest church in Alberta, SunWest Community Church, shared that a year ago his congregation had covenanted to increase its budget by 100%. Last Sunday, the congregation had met the budget. At the church's next "town hall" meeting, the church leaders want to ask for 80% more. Reimer also said someone had walked in with a blank cheque and asked how much to make it out for; Reimer had told him to go and pray about it and God would tell him how much to write in.

Dalhousie MB Community Church pastor Ron Toews had asked for the gift of evangelism for Christmas. He led someone to Christ after Christmas and this created "a fire in his belly", a dream that Dalhousie will bring its area to Christ. When kids in the neighbourhood wanted to skate in the church gym, they were given the go-ahead, and now up to 40 kids skate there.

Basing his sermon on Ephesians 4, Vern Heidebrecht, pastor of Northview Community Church in Abbotsford, B.C., continued the wind metaphor in the Friday evening message. He said, "Christians need to be continuously filled with the Spirit, our souls set up like a sail to catch the wind of the Spirit." Christians will never change the world or their own hearts by saying, "I will", or by their style of worship. But when the wind of the Holy Spirit hits the hearts of believers, and the focus turns to God's values, then heartchange takes place; anger and bitterness fade away and are replaced with the fruit of the Spirit. God is always prepared to use a prepared heart.

A prayer time of commitment renewal at the altar concluded the service.

Heidebrecht's second message, on Saturday evening, focussed on the forgiveness of God. Basing his message on the Lord's Prayer, Heidebrecht stressed four aspects of God's forgiveness: 1) When God forgives, He forgives instantly. The moment sins are confessed, the slate is wiped clean. 2) God forgives completely. God does not hold a grudge (Jeremiah 31:3). 3) God forgives repeatedly. God does not get bored with Christians confessing the same sin over and over. Each time a sin is confessed, it's as if it were the first time the sin was committed. Sins are sometimes stored up in a person's life until an odour emanates from them; when those sins are forgiven, the sweet fragrance of Christ is again evident. 4) God forgives freely. No pleas, bargains or bribes are necessary. "Just believe the grace of God is that He forgives instantly, repeatedly, completely and freely."

However, Heidebrecht continued, sins have to be admitted as sins, not as "mistakes", or as "having blown it". "We have to believe that God wants to forgive us; He is more anxious to forgive than we are to ask." As a result of having experienced God's forgiveness, Heidebrecht said. Christians also need to forgive others. Harbouring resentment does not help. "It's not what we eat, but what eats us." Each person experiences the need for forgiveness at some time, and therefore also needs to deal with hurts immediately, rather than nursing them. The forgiveness received from God can then be passed on to others.

All business was conducted Saturday morning. The morning began with moderator Mark Jantzen sharing his call. He told how he had first heard the call to ministry at the Canadian MB Conference Disciplemaking '85 conference, and how nine years ago the breeze blew him and his wife Sylvia from Richmond, B.C. to Medicine Hat, Alta.. They now sense God is sending a new breeze. They sense a spiritual hunger in the culture, and when the Board of Evangelism indicated it was looking for cooperative ventures with the provinces, Jantzen felt the Lord saying they needed to be a part of it. Jantzen has resigned as pastor of Crestwood MB Church, Medicine Hat, and the family is moving to Calgary to give support to the church planting venture in that city.

Jantzen indicated there are three principles that govern the work of the Conference: a) the Conference provides the theological centre for the churches; b) structures are important but must be streamlined; relationships are more important than structures; and c) the Conference must be mission-driven. Jantzen also told the delegation that 86% or $68 of the $79 norm of the Alberta Conference goes to outreach ministry and camp work.

Rudy Kornelsen was recognized for his six-year contribution as treasurer. However, it was not mentioned how many six-year terms he has completed. He presented the financial report, indicating that the average giving to the Conference per member was $48, and that SunWest had the highest per member giving to the Conference. He also presented the preliminary budget for 1998-99, proposing spending $180,000, up from the $171,000 budgetted and the $132,000 actually spent in 1997-98. The biggest changes are projected in the Church Extension budget, where the subsidy for SunWest Community Church is being reduced from $34,000 to $17,000, but $25,000 is being allocated to Mission Calgary, and $10,000 for a church planting director.

Jack To, pastor of Mountainview Grace Church was introduced by Church Extension Commission chair Ray Wiens. To, from Orange County, Calif., recounted how he and the church had experienced God's presence during a specific crisis. The church pulled together and the crisis turned into a growing experience. Although the church had been in a holding pattern during the time it was without a pastor, it is now returning to its original church planting purpose. During the past year, the church celebrated three baptisms, with eight people joining the church. This year, already three people have received Christ. The church is also moving to a new location in order to be more accessible and relevant to both the English-speaking and the Chinese-speaking Chinese community. Mountainview is now the only Mennonite Brethren Chinese church in Alberta, but the members want to see more Chinese churches planted.

Willy Reimer, pastor of SunWest Community Church, told the stories of a number of new converts. A major outreach time for the church is Easter, when many people feel they need to go to church but don't know where to go. SunWest distributes 17,500 invitations to an Easter brunch. Many come for the occasion, and some stay to become part of the church.

At the 1997 convention, it was reported that there was a possibility of a Spanish church plant. Carlos Vera, a church planter, led a group called "Love in Action" that wished to become part of the Alberta MB Conference. At that time, it was decided to go ahead with working together. However, as the year progressed, it was evident that "Love in Action" was not going in the direction desired by the Conference, and it was decided to part company.

Resourcing has been key for many pastors this past year. Ron Claassen, from Illinois, met with pastors of small churches in rural areas. Blake Wagner, pastor of Foothills Community Church, Pincher Creek, shared that small town ministry thrives on involvement in the community and relationships. He gave the example that in a small community, when someone dials a wrong number, they still visit for a while. He added that a small church will be inferior if it tries to be a scaled-down model of a large church. Urban church pastors met with Vern Heidebrecht every 6-8 weeks. Benefits from this were learning from Heidebrecht, but also meeting with pastors who face similar problems. This mentoring is scheduled to continue in the coming year.

All this was only the introduction to the heart of the Church Extension Commission agenda—Mission Calgary. This is part of the Key Cities Initiative developed by the Canadian MB Conference Board of Evangelism (see MBH, March 6). The Alberta Church Extension Commission is inviting the Canadian Board of Evangelism to launch this Initiative, by planting ten new churches in and around Calgary in the next five years.

Calgary was chosen because the population of Calgary is expected to grow by about 74,000 in the years 1997-2001. In order to reach an area effectively, it is estimated that there should be one church for every 2000 people. In Calgary this would mean 37 new churches.

The Canadian MB Conference Board of Evangelism will be involved by mobilizing the resources of churches across Canada, developing a national prayer strategy and helping to recruit qualified church planters. SWAT (strategic, willing, able, temporary) teams will be recruited to support the work in each city.

A Task Force will be set up with responsibilities for demographics, finding church planters, and coaching the leaders. Ewald Unruh, executive director for the Canadian Board of Evangelism, would be part of the Task Force, together with Willy Reimer, Mark Jantzen, Ray Wiens and Jake Balzer. Balzer, former director for MB church extension in British Columbia, is volunteering his services for one year to get the Initiative off the ground.

The cost of the venture is estimated to be around $1 million, of which $200,000 would come from the Canadian MB Conference, and $300,000 from the Alberta MB Conference over the next five years. The remaining $500,000 would come from fundraising.

When the recommendation "That we invite the Canadian Board of Evangelism to participate with us on the Key City Initiative and that we work together on the goal of establishing ten churches in the next five years starting in August, 1998" was brought forward, discussion was animated and generally positive. Concern was expressed about the financial aspects of the project and fear about not being able to achieve the desired results—other church planting ventures have been tried in the past, with as much enthusiasm as this one, and they have fizzled. However, Willy Reimer, church planter at SunWest in Calgary, stated, "Yes, it's frightening; fear and faith drive you to your knees. Funding is not the issue. Are we praying? Are we finding church planters? The money is there; it will come. We need to move in the right direction, be faithful and see what God wants us to do. Church planting is a risky adventure, but it is an adventure."

Other delegates urged the Task Force to visit every church in order to help people feel ownership of the project; to call youth to get involved ("Give us a chance to get our hands really mucky in helping.") to respond to the police and social services plea for help with the overload of teenagers in the area; to not forget the rural churches who also would like to be involved; and to not take away from the work already being done in other areas, such as camp ministry.

When the vote was taken, the recommendation passed with little opposition.

Elsie Klassen, a member of the Camping Ministries Commission, stated that in church extension one needs to go to the people; in camp work the people come to them. Projects completed this past year included staff housing for two families. Projects slated for the coming year are a washroom upgrade (which will be begun when 50% of the funds are in place) and expanding the lodge to accommodate new programs such as school bands.

Also being worked on is a partnership with Bethany Bible Institute. Paul Isaac, camp director, stated that in the plans was a discipleship program in a camp setting. Students would be learning the basics in Bible school and then get to practise them in a camp setting. Another area of cooperation with Bethany was a CD of camp songs. Already in use has been camp material written by Bethany students and faculty.

Isaac also indicated that Calgary teachers' work to rule this past winter meant that many school camping excursions were cancelled, and this caused a deficit in the camp budget.

Elected to the Alberta Conference executive were Harry Heidebrecht, moderator, Herman Plett, assistant moderator, Jenny Benke, secretary, and Vanessa Penner, treasurer.

Faith and Life chair Harry Heidebrecht announced there would be a pastors' prayer retreat May 31-June 3, a conflict resolution seminar May 8-9 and a pastors and spouses retreat Oct. 19-31. He also stated that the conference minister team of Abe Konrad for northern Alberta and Abe Quiring for central Alberta will remain in place for a third year, after which it will be evaluated.

Hilda Dueck, chair of the Christian Education Commission, presented the Safe Place Policy, which is to be implemented by every church in the Conference. The policy outlines the responsibilities of the church to people within its care, both the people who attend and the workers who care for them. Each church will need to adapt the policy for its own use, but in order to have insurance coverage, a policy will have to be in place. A kit explaining the need for the policy is available for churches.

Workshops intended for equipping people for ministry were held in the afternoon. The convention concluded with worship led by Craig Ginn and his band, and the concluding message by Vern Heidebrecht. SB

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