The following is an update from Mennonite Women Canada. We
do not have our 'CONNECTIONS' newsletter ready for printing yet, but decided
to go ahead and post this article written by Shirley Redekop, our President, and Elsie
Rempel, our Secretary-Treasurer. It will also be part of our next
'CONNECTIONS' which we hope to publish in late November/early
December.
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Waiting in the Toronto
airport to fly to the Special Assembly in Winnipeg, I (Shirley) saw a poster on the wall
saying, “when the ground beneath your feet is shifting, do you stand still or
leap forward?” Since I was thinking about opening devotions for our
Executive meeting, I felt a nudge from God saying this should be my focus.
Following the Assembly,
Mennonite Women Canada Executive, plus several other women leaders met together
to discuss what changes may happen for us. We chose Leaping Ahead from Shaky Ground as the theme for our next newsletter.
We were relieved the motion
we presented resulted in a commitment from MC Canada to continue to keep us
under their administrative umbrella and welcome our women’s meetings at future
nationwide gatherings. Tany Warkentin has been our administrative financial support
staff at MC Canada. Her position will end at the end of November and we will so
miss her caring and helpful spirit over and above her financial help. We wait
to hear how we will be supported in the new structure. Thanks Tany! God’s
blessings!
Coreena Stewart (CAO for MC
Canada) was a valuable support to MW Canada helping with Assembly planning for our
meetings throughout the years. We took time to reminisce, share thanks, laughs,
tears, and send her with a blessing for her new ventures. We happily accepted
her willingness to volunteer for us in the future.
Waltrude Gortzen, a
long-term executive rep for MCBC Women's Ministry, announced she will step down from
her leadership role in the spring. What a significant gift she has been in so
many ways! We will miss her in this role. Thankfully she agreed to continue on
the Communications Committee, along with our past president, Liz Koop.
We were pleased to welcome
June Miller from MC Alberta, who also agreed to be a part of the Communications
Committee. Kate Janzen is the executive rep for MC Alberta.
Mel Harms continues as the
rep for MC Sask. Kathy Giesbrecht, staff at MC Manitoba represented MW Manitoba,
since they don’t have a president as yet. Since WMCEC is also looking for
a lead coordinator, Carmen Brubacher (program chair) joined us.
We are supporting two women
through our Spiritual Growth Assistance Fund (SGAF). Hyunhee Kim, a North
Korean Christian who escaped to South Korea and is now studying Peace Studies
at CMU, shared some of her story with us and thanked us for the support. Marlene Wiebe is in
Chaplaincy Studies at CMU and sent her thanks. Watch for their stories in video
on our blog.
International Ministry Projects continue even through this
time of flux at MC Canada, with changes expected regarding funding. Information sheets and/or videos about these workers will soon be available.
Because of resettlement expenses we will continue our support of Christina and Darnell
Barkman until FYE 2019. We will also continue supporting Tom and Christine
Poovong during this transition.
We chose to add SouYoun
Park/Bo Ki Kim in South Korea as our preferred possibility to support through our Pennies and Prayer Legacy Fund (PPLF) until FYE 2019.
We plan to continue
producing the Women's Bible Study Guides although we need to adjust to new
realities. Menno Media can no longer ship individual copies from Harrisonburg
to our congregations, so we deliberated how best to do this in the future. CommonWord Bookstore in Winnipeg is willing to order, distribute, and provide a discount for us. Please
direct your group and individual orders to Arlyn Friesen Epp, director of
CommonWord at afriesenepp@commonword.ca This will be more reliable as structures and staffing at the
denominational and regional level change. Carol Penner from Vineland, Ontario is the
writer for the 2018 BSG: Every Day Worship.
Nationwide and the Regional
Churches are working on a joint website. That site will have a page that
brings us back to the Mennonite Women Canada Blog. Any information from our current page on the Mennonite Church Canada website
will be transferred to our blog. Anyone is welcome to write for our blog. Or if you've got
other ideas, or have a story about your group, please share them on our Mennonite Women Canada FaceBook and blog pages.
Our income this year is
down to about 80% of what we received in the first nine months of last
year. Mennonite Women Canada's work will continue with relatively minor changes
as our denomination restructures. As a matter of fact, we can be proactive in
keeping International Witness workers serving joyfully by committing to support
them through MW Canada and by lobbying our congregations to come on board as
congregational partners. We continue to need your donations!
MW Canada is exploring new
ways for women to connect and belong. One of these ways is a Women to
Women: Sharing Together Tour to Tanzania in August 2018. The participants
will join with Tanzanian Mennonite Women leaders, learn more about Sister Care
Seminars, building bridges between us. Shirley Redekop will be a tour leader. More
information on the tour is on the Tourmagination website.
The next nationwide
gathering of Mennonite Church Canada is planned for July of 2019; MW
Canada is leaping forward to another wider gathering of Mennonite Women Canada
there.
Please continue to pray for the
painful changes at MC Canada and the staff that are affected; also for new
beginnings for nationwide and regional churches and women’s groups as we trust
in God to be beside us as we leap.
May you find connection and belonging
through MW Canada!
~ Shirley Redekop
~ Elsie Rempel
(For more information about the work of MW Canada please follow the coloured, highlighted links.)
