At their September 7, 2022 meeting, the EMMC General Board agreed unanimously to accept Open Arms Bible Fellowship, Nipawin Saskatchewan as a new member congregation of the Evangelical Mennonite Mission Conference.
The church has been in the community since 2009 and has experienced changes and challenges over the years. From the first Grand Opening service held in the summer of 2010 many families have come through the doors of the church to check it out. The missionaries who established the church connected with the community and invited people to the Sunday services and adult Bible studies. Eventually a core of people became regulars and many have drawn encouragement from their faithfulness. Roughly 25 people make up that core group. There are others who come and go but are not yet at the place of claiming Open Arms Bible Fellowship as their home church.
Marsden and Mandy Giesbrecht, missionaries with Northern Canada Evangelical Mission are the pastor couple for this fellowship. They are looking forward to continuing to help the congregation become familiar with EMMC, and welcome the prayers and encouragement from the broader family of churches.
A formal welcome will be held in the near future in Nipawin, as well as a celebration at Gathering 2023.
We pray that God will continue to bless this congregation, and give them courage and strength as they reach out to the communities around them, and share the love of Jesus with all needing His love and peace.
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This article was originally published in The Recorder Volume 59 No 5
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