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Previous | Next Ontario MB Conference Convention
Ontario decides to “Love Toronto”
Vineland, Ontario • February 18-19, 2000
The Ontario MB Conference lurched into the future Feb. 18-19, deciding to embrace a vision to plant churches in Toronto. The step was taken with considerable enthusiasm, but also with some glances back to the past and some nervous checking of the Conference wallet.
The official decision was that Toronto become the second city designated under the Key Cities Initiative of the Canadian MB Conference Board of Evangelism. Under this plan, the Canadian Board of Evangelism and the provincial Board of Church Extension cooperate to plant churches in a given city. The first city designated was Calgary in 1998. With the Ontario Conference now having agreed to target Toronto, the Canadian Conference convention will consider the same recommendation at its convention in July.
Miracles of the past
The convention messages were planned with the first message to look at the past and the second to focus on the future.
Board of Church Extension chair Ed Willms (above): Planting churches in Toronto is going to be a big challenge
Henry Wiebe (below left): We took risks in the past
Gerry Hildebrand (below right): We need to take risks in the future |
On Friday evening, Henry Wiebe, pastor of the host Vineland MB Church (the fourth oldest MB church in Ontario) and “the closest thing Ontario has to a patriarch”, looked at the past. He recounted the technological, social, economic and political changes that Mennonite Brethren had faced and overcome. He also recounted the “miracles of the 20th century”, including the founding of the Ontario Conference and its many ministries. He then encouraged the current generation to face its challenges (declining church attendance, urbanization, multiculturalism) head-on, adding, “Our Conference is at a crossroads. We can either retreat or take risks as our forefathers did.”
Wiebe then asked the “younger” generation (baby boomers and busters) to stand, and Erwin Penner, an associate pastor of the Vineland Church, prayed for them and their ministry.
Friday evening closed with a communion service.
Seek the welfare of the city
The convention resumed Saturday morning with breakfast and reports from various boards.
Gerry Hildebrand, pastor of National Capital Community Church in Ottawa, concluded the Saturday morning session with a message focused on the future. He expounded the convention theme “Seek the welfare of the city” from Jeremiah 29:4-7. He noted that “seeking” is intentional, arguing that Mennonite Brethren need to move to the city to evangelize it as intentionally as they sent missionaries overseas. He noted that “welfare” requires social ministry as well as evangelism, not just the establishment of churches but the establishment of God’s Kingdom rule. In looking at “the city”, he noted that the focus is not on the church’s benefit but on the city’s. The city Jeremiah was talking about was Babylon, an evil city that was the enemy of God’s people. Hildebrand observed that Christians hate and fear the city, that people in the rest of Ontario and the rest of Canada often dislike Toronto, but that God loves Toronto. Pointing out that Abraham prayed for Sodom, Jonah for Nineveh and Daniel and Jesus for Jerusalem and that people were saved as a result, he urged Mennonite Brethren to get involved in the city, pray for it and see God work.
Assistant moderator Vic Ratzlaff observed that God had spoken through Hildebrand’s passionate words and “we have to respond”. He called all city pastors forward, asked those in the congregation who wanted God to change them to stand and asked city pastor Vidya Narimalla to pray. It was a moving moment, almost everyone present stood, and no one seemed to care that the session had gone 20 minutes into the lunch break.
Moving to the city
The Leadership Council presented a recommendation (passed later in the convention) that large congregations urge their members to move to church plants to help them. Two couples gave testimonies about their experience in doing so.
Anne and Doug Hoogsteen (left), Darrell and Christine Goddard (right): Commit to helping small churches |
On Friday evening, Doug Hoogsteen told how he had graduated from MB Biblical Seminary and had returned to Canada expecting to find work as a pastor, but ended up taking a job in computer software development. On the recommendation of Ontario Conference minister Rudy Bartel, he attended Meadows Community (formerly Erin Mills Bible) Church in the suburbs of Toronto. Doug’s wife Anne admitted her reluctance to attend a church plant, and observed, “It was not my idea of what church should be, but it is home”, adding that God provides. Doug observed that he is now having to practise what he preached (that it is the people, not the pastor, who are to be salt and light in the community); that membership in a church plant requires a high level of commitment and work; and that cherished ways of doing church have to be sacrificed in order to reach the lost.
On Saturday morning, Darrell and Christine Goddard reported similar feelings when they moved from Orillia, Ont. to London, Ont. and became involved in the small Komoka Community Church. Here they found closer relationships with people and more opportunity to serve.
Board reports
Statistics. The Conference has continued the slow, steady growth of recent years, with membership rising 2.9% from 4240 to 4361. Significantly, the churches with the largest growth were Toronto churches: New Covenant Christian Fellowship grew 35%, from 37 to 50 members. Evangelical Asian Church grew 18%, from 136 to 161 members.
Financial Report. The Conference had income of $263,201 ($223,105 from the churches and $40,096 in interest), and expenses of $245,054. The resulting $18,147 surplus increased the Conference’s accumulated operating surplus to $157,787.
Looking Back, Looking Ahead. The Historical Committee presented a Millennium Booklet in which each Conference Board and each local church presented its recent history and outlined its vision for the future.
Camp Crossroads. The Camp has already registered 1001 people for next summer, raising the possibility that attendance could surpass last year’s record 1167. The Camp is planning a “homecoming celebration” for June 3 to mark the 20th anniversary of its move to its current location. The Camp’s expansion and renovation of its facilities, supported by fundraising, is continuing.
Management. Board of Management chair Ernie Friesen asked that his Board’s mandate be re-examined. Since the Conference treasurer now reports to the new Leadership Council (composed of one representative from each church), there is not much for this Board to do.
Bethesda. The Conference’s ministry to developmentally handicapped adults has been given a new program by the Ontario government: providing respite care for clients whose families need short breaks from caring for them. Bethesda’s chaplain Mike Gilmore shared an inspiring account of his ministry of worship services, Bible studies and grief counselling. However, the most moving part of this Board’s report was the story of “Margaret”, a Bethesda client, read by Margaret’s sister Bev Jamieson, a Board member appointed from the community. Like much else at this convention, it stirred strong applause in the congregation.
Clinton Bell |
Board of Church Extension. Part-time volunteer church extension director Clinton Bell preached an enthusiastic report on the progress among church plants. The Evangelical Asian Church has baptized 71 former Sikhs and Muslims since its founding. New Covenant Christian Fellowship aims at 25% growth in the next year and is hoping to move to larger quarters. South Point Community Church, a daughter of Leamington MB Church, began meeting in November.
BOCE chair Ed Willms and Canadian MB Conference Board of Evangelism chair Peter Nikkel then presented the vision to make Toronto Key City #2 for the Canadian MB Conference Board of Evangelism. The project, called “Love Toronto”, aims to plant five churches among Toronto’s 4.6 million people over five years, at a cost of $1 million. The Canadian Conference Board of Evangelism would contribute $100,000 in each of 2000 and 2001. The Ontario Conference BOCE would contribute $40,000 in 2000, $60,000 in each of 2001 and 2002, and $70,000 in each of 2003 and 2004. Together, the Board of Evangelism and BOCE would raise an additional $100,000 in each of the five years.
Board of Church Ministries. Board secretary Ruth Reimer reported that this Board is unsure of how to assist Christian education ministries in the churches. After the Board structure was revamped at this convention and elections held, this Board still has six of it nine seats vacant, including the chair.
Board of Faith and Life. BFL, at the request of last year’s convention, held a leadership prayer retreat Jan. 21-22, with more than 20 leaders from 14 churches attending. Full-time, unpaid Conference minister Rudy Bartel announced that he has asked several other volunteers to assist him, including Gus Quadrizius, Herman Kroeker, Arnie Baerg, Helmut Koop, Peter Loewen and John Eckert.
Eden High School. Eden is a former MB high school which has become an alternative school with the District School Board of Niagara. DSBN funds the teaching program entirely, but Eden receives a grant from the Ontario MB Conference and raises funds to run a chaplaincy program. Chaplain Ed Heinrichs described the methods used to “ruin kids for status quo Christianity”: The Community (daily chapels for the whole school), The 120 (retreats for each grade), The 70 (a summer ministry under Youth Mission International’s SOAR program), The 12 (discipleship training for graduating students) and The Three (an internship program, this year involving Matt Unruh and Angela Srigley).
Tabor Home. The Tabor Board administers Tabor Home and Tabor Manor in St. Catharines and also the Pleasant Manor complex in Virgil (which it took over a few years ago). It is now planning to build a third complex in the Kitchener-Waterloo area.
Rudy Siemens |
Board chair Peter Warkentin thanked Rudy Siemens, who has been serving as administrator for both Tabor and Pleasant Manor. Siemens is retiring in October. He will be replaced by his son Tim at Pleasant Manor and by Ben Wohlgemuth of Hepburn, Sask. at Tabor Manor. Rudy spoke of his passion to serve seniors, citing the command to do good to all people, especially those of the household of faith (Galatians 6:10) and the collective Commandment to “honour your father and mother”. He received very warm applause in thanks for his service.
Decisions
After lunch, the convention continued with board reports for an hour, broke for an hour-long session of workshops and then, grabbing coffee on the way, reassembled for a final session to hear the remaining reports and vote on a couple of dozen recommendations. This marathon session lasted without a break until 6:30.
Elections. Henry Wiebe was acclaimed as the new moderator, and Peter Klassen returns as secretary (assistant moderator Vic Ratzlaff’s term continues until next year). While there were extra nominees for some boards, necessitating elections, some boards have vacancies (two on Board of Church Extension, six on Board of Church Ministries, one on the Board of Faith and Life, one on the Board of Management and one on the Nominating Committee).
Leadership Council. Leadership Council received approval for its recommendation that each church with 150 or more members pray out one or more members to transfer to a smaller or developing church.
Leadership Council also received permission to establish a task force to study church needs and conference programs. This would include examining the role of the Boards of Management and Church Ministries.
Building Eden. Then came a recommendation concerning Eden High School. When Eden moved from its own building (owned by the Ontario MB Conference) to the former Scottlea Elementary School (owned by the public school board) in 1995, the Ontario Conference decided to sell the Eden property and give the proceeds to the public board to build a chapel at Scottlea. However, the Eden property did not sell quickly, and, in the meantime, the District School Board of Niagara decided to move Eden again, to Lakeport High School, where it will share facilities but not program with Lakeport Secondary School. At Lakeport, the cafeteria will have to be expanded to accommodate a chapel.
A recommendation was presented at this convention to rescind the decision to use the proceeds from the sale of the Eden property to build a chapel at Scottlea. This recommendation stirred considerable debate. Eden supporters feared that, in rescinding the decision to spend money for a chapel at Scottlea, there was no guarantee the Conference would then use the money to build a chapel at Lakeport. After considerable debate, delegates decided to trust their own good intentions, and the recommendation passed.
Capital Funds. Then followed a series of complex and connected recommendations regarding capital funding.
The first changed the “Church Building Assistance Fund” (funds loaned to local churches for building projects) into a “Capital Fund”. The change recognizes that funds are loaned to Conference agencies for building projects as well as to local churches.
The second recommendation was to place the proceeds of the sale of the Eden property ($886,000) into the Capital Fund.
The third recommendation was that in future all loans and grants made from the Capital Fund must be approved by Conference convention.
In the fourth recommendation, the delegates repaid the trust they had placed in themselves. This recommendation gave a grant from the Capital Fund to the District School Board of Niagara to expand the chapel at Lakeport. The grant would not exceed $704,000 (the estimated cost of the renovation).
All of these recommendations passed easily.
Building Tabor. The 1999 convention had given Tabor Manor permission to borrow up to $1.25 million from the Conference to purchase land for the building of a new home in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. This year, the convention was informed that a piece of property had been found in St. Jacobs near Kitchener-Waterloo for a price of $750,000. After a long procedural discussion, it was decided to pass a new recommendation authorizing the loan of $750,000 for this purpose.
Another recommendation, that the Leadership Council appoint a task force to help raise funds for the Tabor building in St. Jacobs and the Love Toronto project, was defeated after discussion made it clear that this would be difficult to administer.
Cash Flow. The preceding recommendations had been agreed to as a package by the Conference leadership. There was considerable concern that they could create cash flow problems for the Conference. Conference treasurer Bob Thiessen presented a detailed “cash flow projection” for 2000 and subsequent years. The Conference currently has $960,000 on hand, including $470,000 in the Church Building Assistance (now Capital) Fund and a $166,000 down payment from the sale of Eden’s building. When the Conference receives the remaining $700,000 from the sale of Eden, grants Eden $704,000 for a chapel at Lakeport, lends $750,000 to Tabor and other, smaller transactions are taken into account, the Conference could be short $15,000 by the end of the year. Therefore, the Conference expects to borrow $100,000 from the Canadian Conference in 2000 and another $100,000 from the Canadian Conference in 2001 to cover the temporary cash shortages. In the short run, the loan may be even bigger as Eden will receive its grant in June, Tabor needs its loan by September and the remaining proceeds from the Eden sale will not come in until December.
Concord College. The Leadership Council presented a recommendation that the Conference cease to be an officially supporting conference for Concord College, on the grounds that the Conference does not give money to support Concord anyway. Concord supporters argued against the recommendation, and it was defeated. The Conference will still not give money to Concord, but will continue to appoint members to the Concord board.
Constitution. Several amendments to the Conference’s constitution were passed in a single recommendation. The shortage of nominees for Conference positions was addressed in two ways. The Nominating Committee was expanded by two appointed members, and nomination forms are to be sent to the churches several months before the convention. The quorum for the Leadership Council was reduced to 60% of the church representatives.
The Constitution Committee also gave notice of motion for two changes to be voted on next year. One would require each congregation to have a board of at least three members; if a church does not, the Leadership Council (or the Board of Church Extension in the case of a church plant) would have the right to appoint such a board. The other proposed constitutional change would enable the Board of Faith and Life to intervene in local church problems, not only when the church leadership or pastor requests it, but when BFL “deems it necessary to offer assistance”.
Salaries. The Personnel Compensation Commission won approval for three recommendations. The first increased salaries for Conference employees by 1.5%. The second expanded some of the salary grids by one step. The third established sabbatical leave (one month, at 75% pay, for every two years of service. This passed after an amendment clarified that the first sabbatical would be granted only after six years, with additional one-month sabbaticals possible every two years after that.
Conference Minister. Among a flurry of housekeeping recommendations, volunteer Conference minister Rudy Bartel was reappointed for another term. The Board of Faith and Life stated that it wants to hire a full-time paid Conference minister in future.
Love Toronto. After all the discussion previously, the recommendations accepting the Love Toronto project passed without discussion and with little opposition.
Budget. The budget for 2000 was approved. The churches have pledged to give the Conference $213,700 ($10,000 less than in 1999), and interest income is expected to be $24,000. However, spending is scheduled to be $249,000, so a deficit of $11,300 is expected. The deficit could be higher due to interest costs if the Conference has to borrow a lot of money temporarily for the Eden and Tabor building projects. Almost half the budget ($110,000, up $10,000 from 1999) goes to the Board of Church Extension. Eden High School gets $55,000 (down $5000 from the 1999 budget). Bethesda gets $10,000 to assist its chaplaincy program (most of its almost $10 million budget comes from the Ontario government). Tabor and Pleasant Manors have a combined budget of over $6 million (mostly funded by the Ontario government) and receive no money from the Conference. Camp Crossroads receives $10,000 from the Conference; most of its $466,000 budget comes from camper fees.
Ed Willms of Scott St. MB Church expressed a widespread frustration at the way the Conference prepares its budgets. It first asks the churches what they will give and then cuts the Board budget requests (this year $318,000) down to whatever money is available; there is no opportunity to challenge the churches to support the Conference vision before they decide what to give. On the other hand, Willms expressed satisfaction that the Conference is spending its surplus funds, saying, “Now we can get back to faith.”
Outgoing moderator Peter Durksen handed a flower to each Ontario board, committee and church. |
Farewell
In an emotional moment, Peter Durksen offered a parting blessing to the Conference, his term having expired after five years as moderator. He gave flowers to each of the boards, committees and churches, with the bundle left over given to the Board of Church Extension for “future churches”.
Meadows Community Church pastor Jim Evans observed, “We have heard from the Lord this weekend. What will we do in obedience?” He then led the convention, holding hands, in the Lord’s Prayer, affirming, “Thy will be done in Toronto.” – JC
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Last modified May 4, 2000.
© 2000 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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