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Canadian MB Conference Council of Boards
Winnipeg, Man. · January 23-26
“A movement-shaping week”


The Canadian Mennonite Brethren Conference boards held their semi-annual meetings in Winnipeg Jan. 23-26. When the meetings were over, the boards had cut the Conference budget by $300,000 and undertaken a major restructuring of Conference ministries.

A movement-shaping week

Former MB Conference moderators commit new initiatives to God in prayer

The Executive Board met first Jan. 23-24 to set the overall direction for the meetings. The other Canadian Conference boards met separately Jan. 25 to work out the details, and then all of the board members gathered together as the “Council of Boards” on Saturday morning, Jan. 26 to share information and make decisions.

Canadian Conference executive director David Wiebe opened the Council of Boards session by describing the week of meetings as “a movement-shaping week”. He began by reading Acts 2:47-48, describing the early church as “a people unified and in touch with God to the point that other people were coming to God”. He then pointed out that the Mennonite Brethren Church was founded 140 years ago as a similar renewal movement, and suggested that “God is moving among us today” and that the MB Church may currently be experiencing a similar broad movement of renewal.

Wiebe then gave a brief overview of how well the Canadian MB Conference is doing in regard to its three “foci”, the three main areas on which it has decided to focus its ministry:

Growing/Reaching Out: The number of Mennonite Brethren churches in Canada is growing at a rate of 5.4% annually, which makes Mennonite Brethren the third fastest growing denomination in the country. Healthy Churches: The situation here is not so good. Some churches are doing very well and are multiplying. In other cases, some churches are closing, some churches are being decimated by conflict, and some people, including some leaders, are being lost to the faith. Leadership Development: The Conference is finding some new leaders, but more are needed.

In conclusion, Wiebe suggested that the key question is: “What is God’s vision for the MB Conference and how can we align with that?”

Commitment to fiscal responsibility

Jascha Boge then explained that when he was elected moderator of the Canadian Conference in summer 2000, he established a goal to reduce by 25% the amount of money the Conference was asking the churches to contribute to the Conference because “fiscal responsibility above all else provides a base from which we can grow”. This goal, he said, has forced the boards to review their programs and to concentrate on those aspects which fit most closely with the three ministry areas that the Conference has decided to focus on. The boards accepted the challenge. “We have a vision,” Boge enthused, “and I am excited about what is beginning to happen.

Assistant moderator Ralph Gliege affirmed, “God provided Jascha for a time such as this”, suggesting that Boge’s abilities as an engineer and businessman were well suited to a time of transition and that Boge has been able to achieve things that a “pastoral type” moderator could not have achieved.

The Canadian Conference boards then reported on their ministries to the Council of Boards.

MBMS International

Responsibility for MBMS International, the Mennonite Brethren mission agency, was shifted from the General (North American) MB Conference to the Canadian and US MB Conferences in summer 2000. This meeting marked the first time that MBMSI had reported to a Canadian Conference Council of Boards session.

Board member Merv Boschman reported that, following an extensive review of how it operates, the agency is working hard at reconnecting with the MB constituency. MBMSI receives no funding from the Canadian Conference but raises its own funding directly from churches and individuals. To the end of November, MBMSI’s total income was $2,624,968; considerably below the budgeted amount of $4,235,635 to that point in the year; its income is running $119,000 behind last year’s.

Boschman also reported that Greg Reed had resigned as administrator for Youth Mission International, an MB discipleship training ministry which has now come fully under MBMSI; Reed’s departure will result in some restructuring of how YMI is administered.

Boschman also noted that Church Partnership Evangelism and Discipleship, an independent MB agency which sends North American Christians on short-term mission trips to share their faith door-to-door in partnership with churches overseas, is working toward coming fully under MBMSI sponsorship as YMI has done.

Board of Faith and Life

The Board of Faith and Life deals with theological questions for the Conference. Chair Herb Neufeld reported on a number of initiatives of the Board.

The seniors’ retreat held in October 2001 at Canmore, Alta. was a success, with 160 participants (see report in the Dec. 21, 2001 MB Herald). Therefore, the Board has decided to offer further retreats in locations that accommodate even more participants. The next retreat is scheduled for fall 2003. The Board is still developing a statement on spiritual warfare, drawing on what was learned at the study conference on this topic in Calgary last Oct. 25-27 (see the report in the Jan. 25, 2002 MB Herald). The statement will hopefully be ready in time for the next Canadian MB Conference convention in July 2002 and is intended to give guidance to churches. The Board has prepared a draft policy statement that has a “faint hope” clause allowing divorced people to be licensed as pastors, but only in very carefully defined cases. This statement will be sent to the provincial MB conferences for feedback before it is presented to the Canadian Conference convention in July. The next orientation session for pastors new to the MB Conference will be held March 7-9 in Winnipeg. Previously, these orientations were sponsored by the Canadian and US MB Conferences together. This will be the first orientation that is only for Canadian MB pastors. The Board’s pamphlet series on contemporary issues is being well used by MB churches (they are being translated into languages such as Chinese and French), and they are being requested by other denominations as diverse as Anglican and Roman Catholic, in North America and Europe. A new pamphlet, “Christian Witness in a World of Many Faiths” by Gordon Nickel, will be available shortly. The Board has commissioned pamphlets on euthanasia and on the planning of a Christian funeral and is considering commissioning one on reproductive technology. The Board is preparing a “pastoral covenant” to be signed by pastors. This would be an expansion of the pastoral covenant in the Following the Call church manual. The new version would add material on a pastor’s commitment to the Mennonite Brethren Conference, as well as on healthy ways to leave a church. The Board of Christian Education Ministries, in co-operation with the Board of Faith and Life, is preparing a paper that will provide guidelines for instructing children about baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The Board appointed three people to represent the Canadian MB Conference on the board of Mennonite Central Committee Canada: Ed Woelk of Alberta, Walter Unger of British Columbia and Louise Giesbrecht of Manitoba. They join Éric Wingender of Quebec, Harold Jantz of Manitoba and Elmer Neufeld of Ontario. Mennonite Central Committee is an international relief and development agency jointly operated by several Mennonite denominations. The denominations appoint representatives to the Canadian (and US) MCC board(s). These national MCC boards then elect certain of their number to be the board of the overall MCC agency. The Mennonite Brethren understanding of covenant community means that Mennonite Brethren have tied baptism and church membership together – people are expected to become members of the local church at the same time as they are baptized. However, some congregations are now baptizing people without making them members. Therefore the Board of Faith and Life has decided to hold a study conference May 22-24, 2003 in Manitoba to discuss the issue. (As a result of the good experience of the study conference on spiritual warfare last fall, the Board has been encouraged to hold more such conferences.) The Board of Faith and Life is jointly sponsoring with the US MB Conference’s Mennonite Foundation a leadership conference on July 25, 2002 in Central Heights MB Church, Abbotsford, B.C., just before the start of the Canadian, US and General MB Conference conventions. Tom and Christine Sine will speak on “Living on Purpose”. For a couple of years, the provincial MB conference ministers have been attending Canadian Conference Board of Faith and Life meetings as non-voting members. They provide important input to the Board because they are in close connection to local churches and because they are often the ones who must implement Board of Faith and Life decisions. They have been coming to these meetings at the invitation of the Board of Faith and Life. The Board of Faith and Life now asked that they be made formal members of the Board. (This has been suggested before, but has never been done, partly because it had not been decided whether the Canadian Conference or the provincial conferences should pay the conference ministers’ travel costs to Board of Faith and Life meetings.)

Board of Management

Board member Herb Suderman reported that the Canadian Conference had a $200,000 deficit in the 2000-2001 year (ending May 31, 2001), which was covered by accumulated surpluses from other years, and is expecting a similar deficit in 2001-2002, which will not be covered by accumulated surpluses because the surpluses were used up last year.

Ross Hardy, John Wiebe and Herb Suderman pray together

The Board’s Stewardship Department is now managing $52 million deposited with the Conference, a figure that is up 20% over last year. These funds are placed with the Conference as deposit funds (similar to a bank savings account), RRSPs, etc. and then loaned out as mortgages for church buildings and pastors’ houses or otherwise invested. The Conference makes a profit on this activity which it uses to completely fund its Stewardship Ministries (a free-of-charge will service and other stewardship teaching) and sometimes some other Conference programs.

The Conference is also managing $30 million in pension funds for pastors and Conference employees. The plan lost 2% in value last year, which Suderman called “not bad” considering the significant decline in stock markets last year.

The Board of Management announced it is now creating an investment committee to help the Conference treasurer make decisions on how to invest both the $52 million on deposit and the $30 million in pension funds.

Suderman also noted that Christian Press, a print shop which is managed by the Board of Management and which prints most of the Conference periodicals and other materials, is “a success story”. The print shop, in a separate building two blocks from the Conference offices, is somewhat cramped in its current space.

John Wiebe was appointed Canadian Conference treasurer last year. At this meeting of the Council of Boards (the first official Conference meeting since then), Wiebe’s appointment was formally ratified on an interim basis. Final ratification of the appointment will be made at the next Canadian Conference convention in July. Wiebe was then blessed in his appointment by prayer.

Board of Evangelism

The Board of Evangelism met in October in conjunction with the Canadian Church Planting Congress in Montreal (see report in the Jan. 25, 2002 MB Herald), so did not meet at the same time as the other boards in January.

Vice-chair Geoff Neufeld reported that the Shining Through seminars administered by associate director for Evangelism Bruce Elwood have been revamped. These conferences, held in various places across Canada, are designed to teach Christians how to witness. (The next one is March 15-16 at McIvor Ave. MB Church in Winnipeg.)

Neufeld also summarized the successes of the Board’s Key Cities Initiatives. Several churches have been successfully planted in Calgary, the first key city, and more are coming; this work has now been largely handed over to the supervision of the Alberta MB Conference. In Toronto, the second key city, three churches have been started and a fourth is in preparation. Montreal will be presented to the Canadian MB Conference convention in July as the third key city. Patrice Nagant has been appointed as the first director of evangelism and church planting for the Quebec MB Conference, and the first church plant is expected to be launched in fall 2002. Prayer was offered for KCI Montreal.

Christian Education Ministries

Board chair John Neufeld reported enthusiastically on the recent NYC youth event in Calgary (see the report in the Feb. 8 issue of the MB Herald), noting that the Board is hearing wonderful stories about youth whose lives were dramatically changed by NYC. This “amazing answer to prayer and work of God” drew spontaneous applause from the Council of Boards.

On the downside, NYC’s attempts to do fundraising to cover some of the costs of the event were “disappointing”, and the 2002 event had an $85,000 deficit.

Neufeld also reported that CEM executive director Sharon Johnson had been evaluated at the end of her first two-year term and has been strongly affirmed for continued ministry. This will be ratified by the Canadian Conference convention in July. Associate director for youth Sherryl Koop will have her two-year evaluation this spring.

Communications

Chair Doug Heidebrecht reported that the Board of Communications has completed a major re-evaluation of the Mennonite Brethren Herald, resulting in the development of a new “masthead” or mission statement for the Herald. The purpose of the Herald is to share the life and story of the church; to teach and equip for ministry; and to enable communication.

On the evening of January 25, the Board of Communications and the editors of the MB Herald hosted a public interest meeting at North Kildonan MB Church in Winnipeg to allow leaders and members of Mennonite Brethren churches to provide feedback on the ministry of the Herald. This is the second such meeting. A similar meeting was held in August in conjunction with a Board of Communications meeting in Abbotsford, B.C. Photo by Joseph Kwan

The Conference Web site is also being redesigned. The French-language periodical Le Lien and the German-language periodical Mennonitische Rundschau have joined the MB Herald in being posted online (in the case of the Rundschau, only part of each issue is online). The MB Chinese Herald will be put on later. In the past year, the main Canadian Conference Web site had 230,000 visitors; the separate MB Herald site had 80,000 visitors and the site for Encounter, the twice-a-year evangelistic issue of the MB Herald, had 43,000 visitors.

The Centre for Mennonite Brethren Studies (the Canadian Conference archives in Winnipeg) is in transition, as Centre director Abe Dueck is planning to retire in fall 2002.

The Board of Communications is continuing to track subscription levels for the Mennonitische Rundschau, whose subscription base is declining as the German-speaking core of the Mennonite Brethren Church is aging.

A radical proposal

Faced with the dramatic budget cuts suggested by the moderator, John Neufeld, chair of the Christian Education Ministries Board, and Doug Heidebrecht, chair of the Board of Communications, got together and developed a radical new proposal. The proposal, since accepted and developed by the Executive Board, would merge several Conference ministries:

the Board of Christian Education Ministries; the Board of Communications; the Board of Resource Ministries/Kindred Productions (the General MB Conference book publishing agency, which is being passed down from the General Conference to the Canadian Conference as part of the “divestiture” process which will see the General Conference close down). the work of Bruce Elwood, associate director for the Board of Evangelism, who works mainly with resourcing existing churches.

These ministries would be merged into a new Board of Discipleship, whose responsibilities would be to minister to children, youth, adults and seniors in three ways: by providing training for the leaders of these ministries in the local church; by providing resources, such as curriculum; and by directly teaching members of the churches (through the periodicals, for instance). This Board would thus be able to provide a comprehensive ministry to all members of MB churches; ministry is being provided in almost all of these areas, and the new structure would improve cooperation between ministries.

The new structure would also realign the Conference board structure in accordance with the three ministry areas on which the Conference has decided to focus: The Board of Evangelism, as before, will continue to take the lead in Growing/Reaching Out. The new Board of Discipleship would take the lead in building Healthy Churches. The Board of Faith and Life, as well as the funding for MB Biblical Seminary (a responsibility which the Canadian Conference is taking over from the General MB Conference) would take the lead in Leadership Development. (In fact, it was suggested that this latter area might be redeveloped as a Board of Leadership Development later on.) The Board of Management would continue to be an enabling board for the other boards. MBMS International was not mentioned in descriptions of the new structure, but presumably it would share with the Board of Evangelism responsibility for the Growing/Reaching Out area.

A design committee from the boards will work out the details of the new Board of Discipleship at a meeting in March.

A motion to accept this new organizational proposal in principle was readily passed by the Council of Boards. The new Board of Discipleship was then committed to God through prayers by former Canadian Conference moderators Herb Neufeld, Abe Konrad and Ike Bergen and by Canadian Conference executive director Dave Wiebe.

Mennonite World Conference

Moderator Boge then invited Larry Miller, executive secretary of Mennonite World Conference, to make a half-hour presentation to the Council of Boards.

Larry Miller, Merv Boschman, and moderator Jasche Boge

Mennonite World Conference is an umbrella organization for all Mennonites worldwide, representing 1.2 million baptized members, a community of 2 million people speaking 75 languages in 8000 local congregations organized into 48 denominational groupings in over 60 countries. Organized in 1925, MWC has mostly existed to organize a general assembly where Mennonites from all over the world gather together about every six years. More recently, MWC has been evolving toward its original goal of connecting Mennonites more continuously and meaningfully, through the ongoing sharing of resources, for instance.

The MWC core budget is currently $400,000. MWC asks each member denomination to contribute to this fund in accordance with a “Fair Share” formula which multiplies each denomination’s number of members by its country’s Gross National Product. MWC also raises other money for various projects.

Moderator Boge announced that the Executive Board would introduce a recommendation in July to make the Canadian Conference executive director, moderator and past moderator the Canadian MB Conference representatives on the MWC governing council. Whoever holds those positions at the time of a MWC meeting would automatically become the representative.

The Council of Boards also approved a recommendation that a Canadian MB Conference leader co-sign letters that MWC will send out to Canadian MB Conference churches to raise money for MWC projects.

Divestiture

Divestiture is the process begun in 1999 to transfer the ministries of the General (North American) MB Conference to the Canadian and US MB Conferences and then to disband the General MB Conference. Responsibility for the Board of Faith and Life and MBMS International were passed on to the Canadian and US MB Conferences in 2000. Three ministries remain to be passed on in the summer of 2002: Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary, Board of Resource Ministries/Kindred Productions and the Historical Commission.

Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary, with a main campus in Fresno, Calif. and branch campuses at Associated Canadian Theological Seminaries in Langley, B.C. and at Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, is currently jointly supported by the Canadian and US MB Conferences. Moderator Boge outlined the Canadian Conference proposal or “negotiating position” for what should happen to the Seminary in future. A board of eight members (four from each country) would be elected to oversee the Seminary (similar to what happens now). Under this board would be a “development centre” composed of senior staff, to determine where to establish “regional” Seminary campuses. These upper levels would be charged with maintaining Mennonite Brethren theology, ratifying the appointment of faculty, obtaining accreditation and granting degrees. The regional campuses would be governed and funded by the local “region” (which for now would be the Canadian and US Conferences but which could also be, for instance, the British Columbia MB Conference in the case of the regional seminary in Langley, B.C.).

Currently, the Canadian Conference contributes $464,000 a year to the Seminary. In addition, MBBS fundraisers raise another $425,000 annually in Canada for the Seminary. The Executive Board is recommending that in future the Canadian and US Conferences jointly fund only the top levels of the Seminary (the board and the development centre). This amounts to about $225,000 annually, of which Canada’s share would be about $125,000. The national Conferences would then fund the regional Seminary campuses in their own countries. It currently costs less than $300,000 to operate the Langley campus and $68,000 to operate the Manitoba campus, but much of those costs are covered by tuition. This would mean that the Canadian Conference would be paying less than half of what it is currently contributing, and the Seminary fundraisers in Canada could be phased out in a year or two, especially because the Canadian Conference wants to consolidate all of the fundraising currently done by Conference agencies into a single fundraising effort on behalf of the Conference. The Executive Board is proposing that the new funding arrangement would come into effect at the beginning of the next fiscal year (June 1, 2002), although the Canadian Conference would most likely also contribute some additional “transitional” funding.

In addition, the Canadian Conference is developing a scholarship/leadership development fund to support students at the Seminary. This might be in the form of a forgivable loan or it might be in the form of a matching grant in which the local church and the student would each contribute a quarter of the grant and the Canadian Conference would contribute half.

This proposal spawned the first significant floor discussion of the day but was readily approved by the council of Boards. This approval did not make the proposal official Conference policy, but only established the “negotiating position” which Canadian Conference representatives would take into a negotiating session with US Conference representatives later in the weekend (January 26-27).

Moderator Boge also presented information on divestiture of the Board of Resource Ministries/Kindred Productions. The Canadian and US Conferences had agreed that the Canadian Conference would take sole responsibility for this ministry, although the US Conference would give a transitional grant of $7500 a year for five years and some US district conferences have expressed interest in using and promoting Kindred materials. The Canadian Conference would get all assets, but any operating debt would have to be paid off by the General Conference before it closes down (at this point, Kindred has a small deficit for the current year). The Canadian Conference would also reserve the right to restructure or even shut down Kindred at any time.

Boge noted that the Executive Board had asked Canadian Conference treasurer John Wiebe to do a study of Kindred’s finances. Wiebe concluded that if Kindred was shut down, other boards would have to spend $40,000-$50,000 a year to produce necessary items that Kindred now produces, which is about the level of funding that Kindred would require to keep functioning.

The bottom line

Boge then introduced the broad outline of an annual budget for the restructured Conference:

The Board of Faith and Life would get $15,000 in Conference funding, up $3000 to pay the cost for provincial conference ministers to attend the board meetings. The Board of Management would get $35,000, down from $46,000. The Executive Board would get $275,000, down from $343,000; included in the cuts here is that the Canadian Conference would reduce the subsidy it gives to École de théologie évangélique de Montréal, the Quebec MB Conference school. The Board of Evangelism would get $275,000, down from $343,000, but almost all of this cut represents associate director Bruce Elwood’s ministry, which is simply being transferred to the Board of Discipleship; the Board of Evangelism’s Key Cities Initiative church planting efforts would continue to go ahead. The Board of Discipleship would get $865,000, which is a very large budget but which still represents a large cut to the many ministries now amalgamated under this new board. The former General Conference ministries (primarily MB Biblical Seminary but also the General Conference Historical Commission) would get $160,000. There would also be $125,000 for a “contingency” fund, which is already earmarked for a number of projects: Canadian Conference giving to the Mennonite World Conference core budget could rise from $8000 to $53,000, which MWC calculates as the Canadian Conference’s “Fair Share”; a similar increase could be applied to Canadian Conference contributions to the International Committee of Mennonite Brethren (ICOMB, the worldwide Mennonite Brethren umbrella organization); the Seminary scholarship fund would also come out of the “contingency” fund.

This results in an annual budget of $1.7 million, down from $2,036,000. The Conference would significantly reduce the per-member norm (currently $92) it asks local churches to contribute to the Canadian Conference. However, the reduction is not as great as it would seem. Most churches do not pay the full norm; they are currently only contributing about $1.8 million, leaving the Conference with the current $200,000 deficit.

Mention was made of the need for prayer for the staff who have the task of carrying out their ministries in a time of change and with reduced budgets.

The Council of Boards meeting was closed in prayer by assistant moderator Ralph Gliege.

 – jc

The Executive Board consists of the Canadian Conference moderator, assistant moderator and secretary; the chairs of the other Canadian Conference boards; the provincial MB conference moderators; and senior executive staff (the staff are non-voting members). The Council of Boards consists of all of the members of all of the Canadian Conference boards. It has the power to act as “the Conference-in-interim”, that is, to make major decisions that would normally be made by the Canadian Conference biennial convention but which cannot wait until the next convention; these decisions can be implemented immediately, although they can be ratified or overturned by the next convention.

 

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Last modified March 14, 2002.

© 2002 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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