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Key City #1 Calgary

Ewald Unruh

The goal of Mission Calgary is to plant 10 churches in five years. Considerable progress has been made.

Churches Planted

Workneh and Masho Mogesse and family

Ethiopian Evangelical Church. Workneh and Masho Mogesse lead this congregation. There are 60 active members and 20 children; another 20 adults attend periodically. Immigration laws are being relaxed, and a good number of Ethiopians are expected to immigrate to Calgary in the new year.

Ridgeview Community Fellowship worship band

Baptism at Ridgeview Community Fellowship

Phil Wideman

Ridgeview Community Fellowship. Pastor Phil and Deb Wideman began planting this church in July 1999. There are now 19 small groups in the church, and attendance is averaging about 200. The church recently completed a five-year vision projection.

Curt and Sharon Snell and family

The River. Curt and Sharon Snell began this church plant in the Douglasdale area of Calgary in August 1999. After a two-year wait, a separate school in the middle of the target area has given permission to use its gym and three classrooms. Numerous people have been baptized.

Friendly faces at Summerside Community Church

Ray and Kaythryn Wiens

Summerside Community Church. This church plant in Edmonton was begun by Ray and Kathryn Wiens in July 2000. Presently, 150 people are attending the worship services, and 11 people have been baptized. Due to the large number of new people who attend the church, making meaningful connections is a priority.

Grant and Carol Galpin

Saddle Ridge Community Church. Grant and Carol Galpin began planting this church in northeast Calgary in August 2000. Weekly services have begun, and an official opening was held on October 14, 2001. Weekly attendance is about 50. Six people have come to Christ, and others are on the journey.

Langdon Community Church. This emerging church in a bedroom community just east of Calgary is led by Vic and Mary Peters. Vic is leading the work on a part-time basis and also working in the construction industry. Community contacts are being made, and Bible studies began this fall.

Mission Calgary Projections

Church Plant #7. Phil Reimer has begun serving as a church planter apprentice at Ridgeview Community Fellowship. It is hoped that he will be ready to start a church in the fall of 2002.

Further Church Plants: With the Lord’s enablement, Mission Calgary hopes to also begin new churches in South Calgary, in Airdrie just north of Calgary, and in the far southwest of Edmonton.

Two church planting apprentices to work in Calgary

Phil and Jackie Reimer Phil and Jackie Reimer of Calgary have been appointed as a church planting apprentice couple under Mission Calgary, beginning September 1, 2001. “The apprenticeship is for a year, after which time the Reimers’ ministry gifts will be evaluated,” says Ewald Unruh, executive director for the Canadian MB Conference Board of Evangelism. The Reimers are working in conjunction with Ridgeview Community Church in Calgary, a church plant that was begun more than two years ago by Phil and Deb Wideman. The Reimers previously served as associate pastor couple at Highland MB Church in Calgary for six years and Scott Street MB Church in St. Catharines, Ont. for five years. Phil has a B.Th. from MB Bible (now Concord) College in Winnipeg and a B.A. in psychology from the University of Winnipeg. The Reimers have three children, Ashley, 15, Curtis, 13, and Kyle, 10. Robert Kroeker Robert Kroeker of Waldheim, Sask., has been appointed to a two-year church planting apprenticeship at Saddleridge Community Church in Calgary, beginning October 1, 2001. MBMS International is sponsoring the apprenticeship. Grant Galpin, pastor and church planter of Saddleridge Community Church, will be mentoring Kroeker. Kroeker’s task will be to develop a cross-cultural youth sub-congregation using a cell multiplication model. Previously, Kroeker was involved in a Youth Mission International TREK program in which he worked for six months with youth from the Siksika First Nation near Calgary. While studying in Fresno, Calif., he worked with youth of the Hmong people through World Impact. Kroeker has studied at Bethany Bible Institute in Hepburn, Sask. and has a TESOL (teaching English to speakers of other languages) diploma from Providence College in Otterburne, Man., a Bachelor of Ministry degree from Prairie Bible College in Three Hills, Alta. and a diploma in church planting from MB Biblical Seminary in Fresno.  – pjw, from Canadian MB Conference Board of Evangelism releases

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Last modified November 13, 2001.

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