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Abbotsford, B.C.
Missions Conference participants ask What If?


“This is my first time in this church,” said a young woman. “Is this normal?” She was referring to the 22 missions display booths in the foyer of Central Heights Mennonite Brethren Church in Abbotsford, B.C., set up for its Missions Conference March 4-6, 2001.

Gospel Missionary Union booth

Hundreds of people milled about shortly before the second morning worship service. Even children dashed from booth to booth, paper and pencil in hand, looking for the answers to 19 questions such as “At what booth do they show how a Bible can be translated?” “Which booth has the symbol of the dove, cross and world?” and “Which booth has a model airplane?”

Concurrent with each plenary session of the four-day Conference, grade one to six children had special missions-related activities, where prizes like pens and flashlights were awarded for participating. Youth also were encouraged to attend. At each session, they had their passports stamped. If they attended four sessions, their names went into a draw for one of two CD players. At the concluding session, 15 contestants were present. Those who didn’t win a CD player received a chocolate bar.

The Missions Conference opened Saturday with a men’s breakfast at which Jack and Ellen Hooge, serving with NAIM Ministries in Calgary, and Paul and Carol Bergen, serving with Mission Aviation Fellowship of Redlands, Calif., shared about their work. Both couples also spoke at the ladies’ luncheon on Saturday and during the two Sunday morning worship services. They were available at their respective booths to answer questions.

At the Sunday morning worship services, Loren Warkentin, elder on the Missions Council, read a list of 94 names of former and current missionaries serving short- and long-term assignments. He preceded each name with “What if” – asking, “What if Fern Blair had not served in Ethiopia for 36 years?” and “What if Jake Dycks had not been in Nepal for 22 years?”

The number of missionaries sent out by Central Heights MB Church in its 51-year history is impressive; the total number of years of service is staggering. Many former missionaries were present, especially all day Sunday, sharing in the services, appearing in native dress and handing out information. Also impressive was the fact that many retired missionaries keep going back to “the field” to help out again and again.

Speaker

Howard Brant

Howard Brant, guest speaker at Conference, has served in Ethiopia and Ghana and has worked in administration at SIM for 15 years. At both Sunday morning services, he talked about his first evangelistic meeting in Ghana and wondered “What if” he had not obeyed God’s call there.

Sunday evening, Brant spoke about the decreasing number of missionaries from the Western world. “What if we don’t go? Who will tell them (the unsaved)?” Korea and other non-Western countries are now sending missionaries to Pakistan, Mongolia and other countries.

On Monday, Brant focused on God’s plan for missions through the ages. Starting with God’s command to the nation of Israel, Brant showed that, with few exceptions, Israel did not fulfill the mandate to proclaim God’s glory to the nations. With the coming of the Holy Spirit to the believers in the early church, the mandate was renewed, and the early church too was slow in going beyond the Jewish nation. The challenge to us is to obey the Spirit’s call to carry the gospel to the world.

Tuesday night Brant said that God is the one who opens and closes doors. We live in a time of many open doors of opportunity. He closed with a reminder to do what we are called to do for missions because he feels the end is near. “If there are two hands on the clock, then Israel is one and spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth is the other,” he said. Fulfillment of prophecies concerning both hands seems very near completion.

Other highlights

At each session, two missionary couples or two singles shared about their recent assignments. Each report was done in a creative, informative way. A humorous skit portraying our inability to hear God’s call or answering the theme question “What If” was also part of each program, as was suitable music.

More music and sharing the gospel happened Sunday night at a concert with Bob Hanson and Break the Chains. Several people accepted Christ as a result.

During the Conference, over 30 people committed their lives to mission work or made first-time decisions for Christ. Planners for the Missions Conference included Paul Dyck, pastor of missions, and the Missions Council. Their work, however, does not end with this Conference. Follow-up on new recruits and commitments will take much time and personnel.

To help church members keep missionaries in mind year round, the Missions Council published a prayer guide with more than 30 missionary biographies and other information. Names and brief items are also published in the “Central Focus”, the Church’s monthly newsletter. To give long-term missionaries ongoing support and encouragement the Church is looking for a “Champion” for each. Some missionaries already have a Champion, but many more are needed. Each month, the mothers of missionaries meet to share concerns and to pray for their children.

Dyck said, “The response to the Conference has been overwhelmingly positive . . . in every area – children, youth and adults.”

 – Selma Hooge, for Central Heights MB Church

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Last modified June 4, 2001.

© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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