Growing in God

Glencross Mennonite Church, Manitoba

It’s exciting watching God at work in the congregation at Glencross. Growth is taking place in more than one way.

On April 14th we celebrated the addition of 3 new members to our church family – Jake & Dorothy Martens and Alysia Thiessen. They each shared during the morning service about God’s faithfulness in their lives and were welcomed into our church family with open arms. Pastor Peter Redekopp spoke on being “Members of God’s Household,” based on Ephesians 2:11-22 and emphasized through 4 key words that God has chosen each of us. We belong because of God’s idea to accept us in Christ. We’re all on a journey to becoming and belief is where the process starts. After this, we become invested by being what we want the church to become. He closed with the idea of doing life together.

Our church is also investing in the lives of our children and youth. As each preschool-aged child enters Sunday School they are given an adult prayer partner who will pray for them throughout their school years. The adult is also encouraged to build a relationship through connecting on Sunday mornings and acknowledging special times like birthdays and Christmas. Each year in fall there is also a prayer buddy party where everyone goes to various stations with their student and does fun, yet meaningful activities together. Prayer requests are listed on paper chains, blessings are shared verbally as building blocks are put together, names of people who need healing are written on band-aids, and making paper airplanes is always fun - where fears are written on the plane before being flown to God. One highlight was filling out paper puzzle pieces where everyone wrote something that they praised God for. These were fitted together and left up in the fellowship hall to be read and enjoyed over the next several Sundays. It’s a beautiful visual of how each of us belongs. Buddy pictures were also taken and posted in the church foyer before the fun ended with a snack to share during a short devotional.

Community is such a powerful idea that God desires for his children and it’s wonderful to see the ways in which it’s taking place at Glencross.