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On June 14 and 15 the EMMC General Board and Council met the Niverville Community Fellowship (NCF) in Niverville, MB for our bi-annual meeting. The Board met on Friday afternoon and the Council met most of the day on Saturday.
Friday’s highlight was an evening of worship and prayer. We worshipped God through song, listened to scripture and prayed for each other, our regions and churches, our staff and mission workers around the world. It’s interesting how most of the time people don’t look forward to a prayer meeting and yet, rarely say afterwards that they regretted going! The same was true for us. As we drew near to God, we drew near to each other. There is no better way to begin a meeting than to meet at the foot of the cross. It both humbles you and lifts you up.
Here are a few highlights from our meetings on Saturday.
Faith story by Dan Buhler, Morrow Gospel Church, Region 2, Winnipeg, MB. Each Council meeting, we ask one of our Council members to share their story of coming to faith. It is always encouraging, and hearing Dan share of his journey did not disappoint us. Once again, we were amazed at God’s grace and mercy.
Financial reports. Can finances ever be a highlight? Absolutely! Every dollar spent was donated by someone who cares about the mission of a local church and/or the mission that God has given our conference. While we ended our 2023/24 budget year slightly in the red, we are grateful that once again we were able to meet all of our obligations and carry out the ministry God led us towards.
Staff reports. Terry Hiebert, interim Executive Director, Kelly Lesser, Pastor of Care and Mission, Darrell Kehler, Director of Discipleship and Joyce Harnett, admin/bookkeeper each shared about their respective duties and ministries. (Lil Goertzen, Communications Coordinator was absent due to injury.)
Kelly continues to lead our mission efforts in Bolivia through his participation in the MEM* governing board. He also continues to connect with our Associate Missionaries on an ongoing basis. In terms of the Conference pastor aspect of his duties, he is in the midst of leading the process of setting up our new Ministerial Executive.
Darrell continues to lead our efforts to help our churches in leadership development in Canada, Belize and Bolivia.
Joyce recently took on the bookkeeping duties for our conference for which there has been a steep learning curve. She is beginning to get and good understanding of the various aspects of finances, and it should be easier going forward.
Since taking over in February from Lyn Dyck, former Executive Director, Terry has been spending a lot of time observing and asking questions. He gave us a 10-point observation report that will help both Henry Redekopp and the General Council and Board hit the ground running when Henry picks up the Executive Director duties in September.
A major topic of discussion was the future of our Next Generation ministries, both in our churches and through Treasured Foundation. We invited Tim Goertzen Youth Pastor at Winkler EMMC and the past chair of the TF committee to report to us and take part in an in-depth dreaming session. The discussion results will help the General Board to plan for future ministry geared toward the next generations.
Changes to Board and Council
There are always changes to the makeup of our Board and Council.
Henry Redekopp will become our next Executive Director, consequently these were his last Board and Council meetings as a Board member
Quentin Unger (Region 4, Deer Run Church, Leamington Ontario) has stepped down as a Council member (he is now a pastor at Taber EMC in Alberta)
Michael Krahn (Region 4, Aylmer EMMC Ontario) has finished his second term on the General Board (we have a 2-term limit).
Thank you to all three for their service over the past years.
The following have completed one term on General Council and have accepted a second term:
Garrett Fehr (Region 2, Bagot Community Chapel, Manitoba),
Ernie Buhler (Region 3, Bergfeld Mennonite Church, Manitoba), and
John Krahn (Region 6, Blue Creek EMMC Belize)
The following have completed one term on General Board and have accepted a second term
Neil Schmidt (Region 3, Winkler EMMC Manitoba)
Blaine Dueck (Region 6, Spanish Lookout EMMC, Belize)
The following Council members have been voted to the General Board by General Council:
Dawson Reimer (Region 2, Nassau Street Church, Winnipeg Manitoba) as Vice-Moderator
Dan Buhler (Region 2, Morrow Gospel Church, Winnipeg Manitoba)
Abe Wiebe (Region 4, Aylmer EMMC, Ontario). This is also Abe’s first term on the Council.
Thank you for your continued support of our Conference
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MEM Bolivia
MEM, (Misión Evangélica Menonita), is an outreach ministry of the Evangelical Bergthaler Mennonite Conference (EBMC) out of La Crete, Alberta, and the Evangelical Mennonite Mission Conference (EMMC) with offices in Winnipeg and participation from the Evangelical Mennonite Conference (EMC), Steinbach Manitoba.
Ministry efforts are taking place in Villa Nueva, near Pailón, and in Hacienda Verde, near San José de Chiquitos. The help offered comes in various forms. Pastoral leadership is vital to establishing healthy churches. Bible studies and singing evenings provide spiritual encouragement. Personal counseling and mentoring help with specific needs.
Amancer, near Tres Cruces and the Belice Colony, is the newest work of MEM, and land has been purchased to build a small school and housing for missionaries.
Education plays a big part in helping an academically impoverished group. MEM’s work with the national Ministry of Education has resulted in schools it administers being recognized by the government. Currently, the Unidad Educativa school in Villa Nueva has around 260 students and the Unidad Educativa Brillante school in Hacienda Verde has around 80 students. In total over 340 children and young people, mostly from Low German Mennonite backgrounds, are enrolled in government-recognized schools. An adult learning program has resulted in several parents of students graduating with their high school equivalency. Already education is paying off as a number of former students of the Villa Nueva school are on the teaching staff at these schools.
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