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Abbotsford, B.C.
B.C. church planting challenges


In British Columbia, Mennonite Brethren church planting happens intentionally, with clear assumptions. First, each church plant is affiliated with the Mennonite Brethren Conference from the start. Second, each church plant is on a schedule to become self-supporting and eventually reproducing (that is, it is expected that the church plant will in turn plant another church).

These assumptions involve several challenges. The first task is to give the church planter an orientation in Mennonite Brethren history, theology and practice if he comes from outside the Conference. The second challenge is to implant Mennonite Brethren values and expectations within the emerging congregation.

Achieving the goal that all new churches are to be self-supporting, self-governing and reproducing begins with up to three years of intentional coaching and networking. The self-supporting goal is more easily achieved than the church reproduction goal. It is encouraging to see an increasing number of established churches picking up the challenge of reproduction and in so doing becoming a model for new churches.

There have been a number of new developments in the past eight months. Three new churches are emerging, and a number of other areas are being researched.

Saron and Asfaw Bekele

Grace Ethiopian Evangelical Church in Burnaby has been adopted as an emerging church by the Board of Church Extension (BOCE) upon its request. This church with an attendance of 90 people is actively involved in church extension work in Ethiopia and is pursuing an Ethiopian church plant in Victoria, B.C. Pastor Asfaw Bekele, who came from Toronto with his wife Saron to pastor this church last summer, is providing excellent leadership with a group of elders. This church is modelling the reproducing, self-governing and self-supporting church plant goals.

Alderbrook Community Church in west Abbotsford was launched in September 2001 with Paul Loewen as the pastor. This emerging congregation was self-supporting and self-governing from its beginning. It had a core group from Northview Community Church as its launch team and has quickly grown to an attendance of more than 150 people.

Marilyn and Jeff Zak

Nelson. The latest church plant initiative for BOCE is the appointment of Jeff and Marilyn Zak to plant a church in Nelson, a city of about 10,000 people in the Kootenays (southeast British Columbia). The goal is to eventually have a cluster of churches in this mountainous region. The Zaks already live in Nelson and have many unchurched contacts. This work went into the preparation stage in March 2002.

Jeff grew up in Nelson. He became a Christian while earning a bachelor’s degree in recreation from Eastern Washington University. After marrying Marilyn, he worked at the Vancouver pretrial centre for several years and then pastored South Lonsdale Baptist Church for three years. After the family returned to Nelson in 1993, he was youth pastor at First Baptist Church in Nelson for two years, was pastor of Emmanuel Baptist Church in nearby Trail for a year and worked at Volare Programming (a company giving care to special needs people) for five years. He and Marilyn have six children.

Two older church plants have seen major changes. The Indo-Canadian Community Church has been invited by Kennedy Heights MB Church to merge with that congregation since the Indo-Canadian church had already been meeting in the Kennedy Heights building for a number of years. Pastor David McLauren, who was leading the Indo-Canadian church plant, has accepted an assignment with Mennonite Central Committee in Abbotsford, B.C.

The Russian Christian Church plant in Vancouver, under the leadership of Sergei and Vera Atchkassov, was discontinued at the end of November 2001 for lack of sufficient response from the Vancouver Russian community. Sergei and his family have returned to Moscow, where they had come from three years ago. The partnership with Vancouver MB Church, which had provided the use of its building for the Russian ministry, was much appreciated.

For the present decade, the B.C. MB Conference is hoping to see a continued aggressive emphasis on church planting. In the 1990s the B.C. Conference reached the goal of 100 churches, which meant that the number of MB churches in the province had doubled. The vision of reaching 200 churches by 2010 is being proposed by BOCE for the present decade. An attempt will be made to more regularly connect cross-cultural church plants with existing English-speaking churches as a church plant within a church. BOCE also expects an increase in the number of churches initiating daughter church plants in the coming years. Murray Moerman of Outreach Canada says, “Each church needs to consider planting two churches in its lifetime, one to replace itself since churches grow old, and one to extend the Kingdom.”

 – James Nikkel, Director of Church Extension, B.C. MB Conference

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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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