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Abbotsford, B.C.
B.C. church planting continues


The B.C. MB Conference Board of Church Extension entered the 21st century with a slogan taken from the apostle Paul: “Making the most of every opportunity”. BOCE follows four church planting models.

The Pioneer Model, in which BOCE takes the initiative and provides the resources. The Partnership Model, in which BOCE works together with an existing church or churches to plant a church. The Parenting Model, in which an existing church takes the initiative to parent a daughter church, providing the core group and the start-up funding. The Adoption Model, in which an already existing independent church group is accepted into the Conference.

Appointments

Since the B.C. MB Conference convention in May, two church planter appointments have been made:

The Forest Grove Church near 100 Mile House, which joined the Conference by adoption in May, has appointed Harvey and Gloria Guenther as their pastor couple on a two-thirds-time basis. The Guenthers live in Clinton, B.C., and have been participating in MB churches in B.C.’s Lower Mainland for many years. The Orchard Valley Church in Winfield, B.C. is a partnership church plant involving the Garden Valley and Willow Park churches in Kelowna. BOCE has now appointed Joe and Linda Harrison as the church planting pastor couple there. The Harrisons are from Westbank, B.C. and have recently joined the MB Conference.

Unusual circumstances

Two of the emerging church planting ministries during the past year have an unusual circumstance:

In Surrey, Bob and Edith Granholm are working with Kosovar refugees whom the Canadian government brought into Canada on humanitarian grounds. This ministry involves counselling, social ministry and faith sharing. In Prince George, an outreach has begun to the Chinese boat people who arrived on the shores of Vancouver Island last summer on rusty boats. Many of these people are being held in a former correctional facility in Prince George. They have been ministered to by Chinese MB pastors from the Vancouver area, who take turns flying there for weekend jail ministries. Fifty of these migrant Chinese have accepted the Lord.

New initiatives

Plans are being made to plant more Mandarin-speaking churches in conjunction with the Chinese MB churches in the Vancouver area, which mostly use the Cantonese dialect. Presently there is one Mandarin-speaking MB church in Coquitlam, but several other Chinese MB churches also minister to Mandarin people. Leo and Helen Chia are the Mandarin church planters in Coquitlam. A Mandarin church planting committee was recently established, composed of representatives from BOCE and the Chinese MB pastors. With the support of other MB churches in the area, church planters are being sought for the Promontory area in Chilliwack. A partnership church plant with Eagle Ridge Bible Fellowship in Coquitlam is in the planning stage. This would see a new church planted in the Heritage Mountain area of Coquitlam. A pioneer church plant in the Seymour area of North Vancouver is being considered for January 2001. BOCE is in dialogue with a Sudanese language group about joining with BOCE in a church plant. Plans are in the preliminary stages. In January 2000, a partnership Indonesian church plant was launched in cooperation with Willingdon Church in Burnaby. This church plant is supervised by Sonny and Inna Mandagie, leaders of the Indonesian sub-congregation at Willingdon. Agus Budiwan is serving as a church planting intern.

The harvest

BOCE works together with five other denominations, including the Conference of Mennonites in B.C., in sponsoring church planter assessment centres and boot camp training. BOCE is constantly interviewing potential church planters. BOCE is very much aware that church planting involves serious spiritual warfare. Satan seeks to disrupt the work of church planters as they push ahead into the multicultural unchurched world. BOCE regrets that the (Hispanic) Vancouver Harvest Church of Vancouver, after a quick start in the fall of 1999, was closed in May due to internal difficulties and some social indiscretion on the part of the pastor, Luis Rivera. BOCE’s goal for the first decade of the 21st century is to double the number of churches in B.C., as was done during the 1990s. BOCE has also set a goal to maintain the current level of one in five attenders at church plants making salvation commitments. BOCE is grateful to the Lord for the continued spiritual harvest. For the summer and fall of 2000, BOCE has appointed Ed and Helen Ann Goerzen to give church planting leadership while church extension director James and Elfrieda Nikkel are on holidays and a three-month sabbatical. The Nikkels plan to spend six weeks in Europe this summer, including attending Amsterdam 2000, a nine-day Billy Graham Conference for evangelists, and participating in a one-week pastors’ seminar in Lithuania in conjunction with MBMS International. James will be returning to his duties Nov. 15, 2000.

 – BOCE news release

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Last modified August 12, 2000.

© 2000 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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