2017 SGAF Recipient - Hyunhee Kim

Hyunhee Kim, this year's new Spiritual Growth Assistance Fund (SGAF) recipient was a guest at the MW Canada executive meeting on October 15.  She shared her story of escape and eventual return to a North Korean prison camp for 4 months as a teenager. After escaping a second time with her mother and brother, she met Mennonites through the Christian TV show host who was interviewing her. This TV host was a Mennonite, Hun Lee, who also led a group home for refugee youth from North Korea. He asked her to help him in running the group home. She noticed South Korea's churches were plagued by political issues and tensions and wondered, “Why are we blaming each other and fighting?” 

Hun Lee introduced her to the Mennonite story and focus on peace and reconciliation which she took into her heart. When she came to Canada she didn't have enough money to study, but couldn't get a work permit, so Hun Lee funded her studies. She began attending Charleswood Mennonite Church, where Hun Lee had served as Korean pastor in the 90s, before returning to Korea. She began a Peace Studies degree at University of Winnipeg's Menno Simons College and is continuing her studies at the Master's level at Canadian Mennonite University. 

HyunHee is studying with the hope of bringing the gospel of peace back to Korea, especially to North Korea, where children are indoctrinated as to who their enemies are from a very early age. She is most very grateful for our support and looks forward to connecting with us in the future.

We were deeply touched by HyunHee's story and wanted to share this with women in our areas so Kathy Giesbrecht will ask Darryl Neustaedter Barg of Mennonite Church Manitoba to create short videos featuring HyunHee and Marlene Wiebe, our other SGAF recipient, in the near future.

When Hyunhee received news of the grant, she wrote:

Hi Elsie,

Thank you so much for the great news! Oh my goodness! I do not know how to appreciate for such great support. Yes, I am willing to meet your executive whenever you arrange the date. I am so grateful for that. 

So many thanks for SGAF grant.

Hyunhee. 

Note:  A more detailed version of Hyunhee's experience, written by Deborah Froese, called Piecing together her peace, is posted on the Mennonite Church Canada website at http://news.mennonitechurch.ca/piecing-together-her-peace.

Leaping Ahead from Shaky Ground

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.)

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Letter to the Women in our Churches

The following letter was prepared by Shirley Redekop, President of Mennonite Women Canada  and Elsie Rempel, Secretary/Treasurer.

To the women in our churches who gather for fellowship, service and mission,

Blessings for the fall season with its energy and new beginnings, even while our gardens yield their harvest and settle into a season of rest. We hope you have received and are enjoying this year's Bible Study Guide, Live Your Call, Embracing God's Mission. My husband, Peter, a seasoned church leader, is enjoying it for his devotional reading and recently asked me, "Are the other BSGs this good too?" If you haven't received the copy we sent to your church, please check with the BSG contact person or the person who distributes the mail. In my church, I added it to the library after introducing it in sharing time. We hope it brings blessing however it is used. 

The executive of Mennonite Women Canada is looking forward to an additional executive meeting right after the concluding worship of the Special Delegate Assembly of Mennonite Church Canada this October 15. Please pray for us! We will be bringing a resolution to remain under the organizational umbrella of Mennonite Church Canada at the Assembly and will then meet afterwards to see how our planning needs to adjust to changes the nation wide church has decided on. Therefore, you will not be receiving the customary fall issue of our Connections newsletter before then, but will receive a report from us after that.

In the meantime, it has come to my attention that some of the women's groups in our congregations may not have received our 2016 Annual Report Book, Continuing the Call with its Opportunities for Giving Form on page 20. That was certainly not our intent! While there are many structural changes occurring in our nation wide church, ministry needs and many opportunities continue, and the donations of your women's group remain most desired and appreciated. 

As always, we look forward to hearing about what is happening in your area. Mennonite Women Manitoba's Spring Retreat report and the BC Women's Ministry Inspirational Day report are now posted on our blog mennowomencanada.blogspot.com. We hope you will soon see more reports there from across the country.

Elsie Rempel

MWCanada Secretary/Treasurer

Shirley Redekop

MWCanada President

Note:  MW Canada's 2016 Annual Report Book is available on line.  Click here.

BARKMAN UPDATE

Darnell and Christina Barkman, along with their children Cody, Makai and Teyah, are Mennonite Church Canada Witness workers in the Philippines. They are current recipients of our PENNIES AND PRAYER LEGACY FUND. Their most recent newsletters from January 2017 and April 2017 are now posted on our web site under NEWSLETTERS. 

Christina writes: Check out our latest blog post at darnellandchristina.com, where we share some exciting news :)

Nathan and Taryn Dirks - Update

A while back, Waltrude Gortzen, our BC Women's Ministry Rep, sent a video link which featured the work that Nathan Dirks, Mennonite Church Canada Witness Worker in Gabarone, Botswana is involved in. Nathan and Taryn are recipients of our Pennies and Prayer Legacy Fund. The video titled 'Youth Innovators' is about 25 minutes long and interviews the various persons involved in the Pula Sports Development Association who are responsible for the development of the Bontleng Futsal Park in Bontleng, Gabarone. Nathan is the Project Manager and explains how the project involves the community and strives to be sustainable by using water collection, sewage techniques, bio-toilets, and solar power.  

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO

   

Nathan and Taryn Dirks - Update

Nathan and Taryn Dirks are recipients of our Pennies and Prayers Legacy Fund (PPLF). The following news release was recently published by Mennonite Church Canada.

For Nathan and Taryn Dirks, ministry in Gaborone, Botswana, is all about relationships. But ministry by relationship is hard to measure, so they’ve creatively translated some of their good news into numbers.

For almost five years, the Dirks have served youth and young adults from local African Initiated Churches (AICs) through their role as Mennonite Church Canada Witness Workers, in partnership with Mennonite Mission Network and local churches. Following community needs and initiatives, they focus on development and Bible teaching. They organize local volunteers for prison ministry and a school for special needs children, and they coordinate development projects, most notably Bontleng Park. This green, sustainable initiative supports urban agriculture and sports, and has revitalized an abandoned area in a disadvantaged area of Gaborone.

As they complete their last 6 months of service, the Dirks reflect on some of the successes achieved through local partnerships, by number. Nathan and Taryn complete their ministry term in June, 2017.

Here are a few of the numbers they've shared: 

46 prison inmates at First Offenders Prison, Gaborone, completed a certificate program offered by Mennonite Ministries in Botswana.
18 students graduated from the Inter-Church Ministries Botswana 3-year Bible study program.
42 students have already signed up for the 2017 program.
7 prison inmates will begin a Masters-level theology program by distance this year.

To read more, please CLICK HERE.

On being Martha - by Coreena Stewart

Coreena Stewart has written an article which appeared in the November 21, 2016 issue of the Canadian Mennonite. Coreena is Mennonite Church Canada's CAO (chief administrative officer) and director of church engagement-administration.  

The executive of Mennonite Women Canada has worked with Coreena over the past number of years as we have dealt with the many details involved in planning our annual meetings at Assembly. We really appreciate her cheerfulness and willingness to help us. Often it's the really small things that make a big difference! Her article begins "Hospitality makes my heart sing."

I enjoyed reading this article and her thoughts on the story of sisters Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38-42. To read the article which is on the Canadian Mennonite website CLICK HERE.

Thank-you, Coreena!

Tom and Christine Poovong - International Ministry Project

The following in an excerpt from the Poovong's April 2016 Prayer Letter.  

We greet you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. It has been a very busy year for us in Thailand and also back in Calgary where we call home. We thank God for His grace and mercy to give us strength to continue this ministry. We would like to thank our partner congregations for your prayers and support, including First Mennonite Church of Saskatoon, Carman Mennonite Church of Manitoba, Mennonite Women Canada, and our home congregation Trinity Mennonite Church of Calgary, our brothers and sisters at the Lao Mennonite Conference churches, as well as our friends and family.

Last year, in partnership with two local families, we started Menno Nursery, an income generation ministry in a different neighbourhood. We have now closed that first nursery location and moved most of the supplies and materials to the church where we continue to provide a nursery service in our church neighbourhood. Now other families have joined us and we plan to start Menno Nursery again here at the church.  

To read more about their work click on April 2016 Prayer Letter.

 

Scootering to School in Manila

For Christina Bartel Barkman and her son Cody, switching from a car to scooters has pumped new energy and insights into their morning commute to school. Deborah Froese of Mennonite Church Canada writes about the impression this is making in Manila. Read the article here. 

Christina Bartel Barkman and her husband Darnell Barkman are giving pastoral leadership to Peace Church Philippines, a new Anabaptist church in Metro Manila. They have also been invited by the Integrated Mennonite Churches (IMC) of the Philippines to serve as mentors and provide regular resources for the youth programs of Mennonite churches in Luzon.

Christine and Darnell are recipients of Mennonite Women Canada's PENNIES AND PRAYER LEGACY FUND.

Barkman's latest newsletter

Darnell and Christina Barkman, along with their children Cody, Makai and Teyah, are Mennonite Church Canada Witness workers in the Philippines. They are current recipients of our PENNIES AND PRAYER LEGACY FUND. Their most recent newsletters from September 2016 was recently posted on our web site under NEWSLETTERS. 

In an email to friends and family, Christina and Darnell wrote to friends and family as follows......... "I wrote about the thousands of extra-judicial killings endorsed by President Duterte, and today, as I'm about to send this update, we hear that the one person in Senate who has been speaking up against these unjust killings was voted out of her position. See this link for more about it. We are appalled and fear the loss of democracy here, as everyone seems to be giving 100% support to a president who is telling his people to kill all the drug users. 

Thanks for the prayers, and hope you are all well."

They also have a BLOG where you can read more about their 

life as a family, their joys and their challenges.

Barkman's latest newsletter

Darnell and Christina Barkman, along with their children Cody, Makai and Teyah, are Mennonite Church Canada Witness workers in the Philippines. They are current recipients of our PENNIES AND PRAYER LEGACY FUND. 
Their newsletters from April 2016 and July 2016 were recently posted on our web site under NEWSLETTERS.  They also have a BLOG where you can read more about their life as a family, their joys and their challenges.

MW Canada Coffee Meeting ~ July 7, 2016

About 40 women of all ages from across Canada met at TCU Place in Saskatoon for a short business meeting, some singing and an inspirational talk from our guest speaker, Dori Zerbe Cornelsen.

Special thanks to Waltrude Gortzen, our MC BC Women's Ministry Rep, for taking photos during our meeting!

Mel Harms (right), our SK Rep and hostess for the morning, and Kate Janzen (left) our AB Rep, greeted women as they arrived and collected their tickets so they could win one of the 5 door prizes! The talented Val Wiebe led us in singing 'Great is thy Faithfulness' and 'Will you let me be your Servant' during the program. 

A huge challenge for us during the past few years has been the transition of leadership roles at both the national level and the provincial level. We are happy to announce that our key leadership roles of President and Secretary-Treasurer have been filled and that we have a Rep from every area church currently on our executive. The theme for our 64th Annual Report Book 2015 is "Embracing Transitions" and our guest speaker, Dori Zerbe Cornelsen of Winnipeg, MB, a consultant with Mennonite Foundation of Canada, gave us an inspiring message entitled "Saying YES to Transition".

Special guests in attendance were some of our Past Presidents.  In the photo above are:  Marguerite Jack, CWM Task Force Chair 2008-2010, Dodie Lepp CWM 2002-2005, Ruby Harder CWM 1993-1999, Erna Neufeldt CWM 2005-2011, Liz Koop MW Canada 2011-2016, Shirley Redekop MW Canada 2016-? 

Installation of Shirley Redekop of Elmira, ON as President

"Receive this candle as a symbol of the love of Christ, the power of the 

Holy Spirit and a token of our support and encouragement." 

 Installation of Elsie Rempel of Winnipeg, MB as Secretary-Treasurer 

"Receive this candle as a symbol of the love of Christ, the power of the 

Holy Spirit and a token of our support and encouragement." 

2016 -2017 Executive: Mel Harms (SK Rep), Elsie Wiebe (MB Rep), Kate Janzen (AB Rep), Shirley Redekop (President) Elsie Rempel (Secretary-Treasurer), Dorothy Hamm (sitting in for Phyllis Ramer WMCEC Rep), Waltrude Gortzen (MC BC Women's Ministry Rep)

Before the Assembly was over Shirley and I spent some time at the Mennonite Women Canada display area going over some of the computer files that need to be transferred.  We are hoping for a smooth transition in both of the leadership positions. In the past couple of years our liaison with Mennonite Church Canada has been Tany Warkentin who serves on Witness Council as Short Term Ministries Coordinator.  Tany has been a wonderful support to both Lois and me in our positions and she will continue to support Shirley and Elsie in their roles.   Thank-you, Tany!