Previous | Next 

Burnaby, B.C.
Church with a mission joins hands with short-term MB mission program


Developing young leaders and training them for missionary service is a challenge for many churches in North America. One church in British Columbia has found a way to meet that challenge, by working with the Mennonite Brethren short-term mission agency Youth Mission International.

In May 1994, Carlin Weinhauer, pastor of Willingdon Church in Burnaby, B.C., was traveling with his wife when he got a new vision for how his church could involve young adults in mission.

“We were in Seoul, Korea on the underground rapid transit. Of course, all of the signs were in Korean, and we became confused as to which stop was ours,” Weinhauer recalls. “I turned around and right behind me a young man in a long-sleeved white shirt and tie was handing out pamphlets. I knew immediately that he was a Mormon missionary. It struck me that we should have our kids out here doing the same thing,” Weinhauer and his wife again encountered young Mormon missionaries a year later in a restaurant in Lincoln, Neb.

“I thought, why don’t we challenge our leadership to make it possible for our young people to commit to a year-long mission,” Weinhauer says.

Weinhauer took his vision to the leadership team at Willingdon. The leadership at Willingdon contacted Steve Klassen, director of Youth Missions International’s TREK program for help.

“We didn’t want to create another program, so TREK is the perfect fit for us. Our goal is to send out 25 kids in five years,” Weinhauer said.

TREK is a 10-month missionary training ground under the umbrella of YMI. TREK members start their service with two months of intense discipleship training in Abbotsford, B.C.

“Our goal in discipleship is to teach participants to learn and to serve. It is the best emphasis we can have in a short-term program. A servant is someone who is not disappointed when not invited to preach, but is always ready to lead someone to Christ, willingly serves, and learns from the people in that environment,” explains Klassen. “TREK is really a journey of obedience to God.”

After discipleship training, members start a seven-month assignment. Most international assignments begin with a language immersion program of three months and then a four-month ministry assignment. At the end of the ministry participants return to Abbotsford for a weeklong debriefing session.

Weinhauer and youth pastor Norm Funk worked through details of the TREK program. Funk had little trepidation introducing the groundbreaking new partnership to the elders of Willingdon.

“The elders didn’t have any reservations about this partnership,” Funk says. “In fact, they get very excited about sending people into missions.

“As a youth pastor, I don’t want to just ‘do’ missions, I want to make missionaries,” Funk continues. “Instead of doing two weeks of missions and slapping ourselves on the back, and say we’ve done our missions work for the year, we want to give these kids an opportunity to take the next step.”

Willingdon has committed $325 a month per member for 10 months to help cover TREK tuition costs. The church also pays for the member’s flight to the mission destination. A proposed TREK applicant must first receive the youth pastor’s recommendation. Upon the recommendation, Willingdon’s Mission Committee interviews the applicant. A positive recommendation is given to the Board of Elders, who then decides whether to convey the recommendation to TREK.

Brad Bates was the first Willingdon member to complete the process and finish a 10-month mission to Ethiopia.

“I decided that I wanted to give my first year out of high school to God. I felt that God was calling me to missions work. My church introduced me to TREK and encouraged me to sign up,” explained Bates.

“I learned many different things on my missions trip to Ethiopia,” explains Bates. “But I think that I learned the most from the TREK training before the trip. The leaders taught me so much about the Bible and how to use my spiritual gifts to the fullest during everyday life. One of the things that I think God wants me to tell people is that missions work doesn’t end when you come back from missions, but that the whole earth is God’s mission field no matter where you are.”

Sharon Walraven is Missions/Deacon Committee chairperson at Willingdon. She explained that the church’s desire to involve young people is part of the larger vision. “We want to excite kids about missions. They need to catch the [mission] vision early. Whatever we can do to help the kids and encourage them, then that’s what we want to do.”

YMI is the short term mission and discipleship ministry of MBMS International, the global mission agency of Mennonite Brethren churches in Canada and the US.

 – Lisa Alvey, MBMS International

Previous | Next 

Last modified December 7, 2001.

© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
Masthead and usage information.