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British Columbia MB Conference convention • March 3–4, 2002
Langley, B.C.
Passing the baton


The B.C. MB Conference convention May 3–4 in North Langley Community Church lived up to its billing as being all about “Passing the baton” to a new generation of leaders.

New leaders

The “passing” began with prayers of confirmation Saturday morning for new associate Conference minister Bon Friesen and his wife Joy and new Conference administrator Marilyn Hiebert and her husband Rudy. Both appointments had been ratified at Council of Church Leaders meetings during the previous year, but this was the first convention for both in their new positions. Friesen’s is a new position. Hiebert replaced John Wiebe, who is now Canadian MB Conference treasurer.

James Nikkel, who is retiring later this year as director of church extension, and his wife Elfrieda were thanked extensively for their service. At the closing banquet Saturday evening, three Board of Church Extension members offered personal tributes; there was a slide show showing the main epochs of the Nikkels’ ministry; the Nikkels were presented with flowers and a gift certificate; and the delegation gave them a standing ovation.

Earlier in the day, BOCE had presented Geoff Neufeld, church planting pastor of Garden Valley Community Church in Kelowna, as the new director of church extension. This appointment was readily approved by the delegation. At the banquet, Neufeld and his wife Brenda were commissioned for their new assignment with prayer.

The elections also showed a passing of the baton. Moderator Arnie Peters stepped down as Conference moderator, but was elected as an at-large member of the Executive Council. Former at-large member Chris Douglas, senior pastor of Central Heights MB Church in Abbotsford, was elected moderator.

The passing of the baton from retiring church extension director James Nikkel (right) to new church extension director Geoff Neufeld (left).

New speakers

Phil Zylla Mike Penninga Isaac Quan Chris Douglas

The three convention speakers also represented a new generation of leaders.

The speaker Friday evening was Phil Zylla, president of the ACTS seminary consortium in Langley, B.C., in which Mennonite Brethren are one of five partner denominations. Zylla is newly appointed in his position, and represents the new leaders who will be trained. From 2 Kings 2:1-11 (the story of Elijah and Elisha), Zylla talked about mentoring relationships: We choose, under God’s guidance, someone whom we will commit to mentoring; we journey with that person, passing on the stories of our beginnings, our victories, our struggles and our transitions; and we bless that person, providing a good example to imitate.

The speaker Saturday morning was Mike Penninga, associate pastor for young adults at Willow Park Church in Kelowna. Drawing on his own experience of becoming a pastor, he spoke from 2 Timothy 1:3-7 about how to encourage young leaders: pray for them; encourage them; give them opportunities to develop their gifts, succeed or fail; and encourage them to be bold.

Saturday afternoon, Isaac Quan, associate pastor for English ministries at Pacific Grace MB Church in Vancouver, spoke on Paul’s parting advice to Timothy from 2 Timothy 4: preach the Word, endure hardship and discharge all the duties of your ministry.

Delegates also heard testimonies from Sharon Kemp-Allan, a newly baptized member of Bakerview MB Church in Abbotsford; Randy Kleine, a newly baptized member of Northview Community Church in Abbotsford; and Dick and Robin Knox, new pastor couple at Cornerstone MB Church in Prince Rupert, who represented all of the new pastors licensed by the Board of Pastoral Ministries in the past year.

Seminary

The Executive Council presented two major recommendations. The first was that the B.C. Conference “enter into negotiations with the Executive Board of the Canadian Conference of MB Churches for the purpose of accepting the invitation to take responsibility for the MBBS–ACTS teaching centre”. Responsibility for MB Biblical Seminary is expected to be passed down from the General (North American) MB Conference to the Canadian and US MB Conferences at their joint conventions in July. The US and Canadian Conferences would jointly fund the central administration for the Seminary, and each national Conference would be responsible for the regional campuses in its country. (There are currently three: the main campus in Fresno, Calif.; a secondary campus at Associated Canadian Theological Schools in Langley, B.C.; and a fledgling campus in Winnipeg.) The Canadian Conference is proposing that “regional councils” be set up to run each regional campus and has asked the B.C. MB Conference to set up a regional council to run the Langley campus.

The Langley campus is expected to require $230,000 in net funding in 2002–2003 and $194,500 in net funding in 2003–2004. This would probably come from the $15 per-member Seminary norm that the Canadian Conference will ask Canadian churches to contribute (in addition to the reduced Canadian Conference norm of $79) and perhaps from the $400,000 that the Seminary currently raises in Canada each year.

Although this recommendation was discussed at length in the Executive Council workshop, it unexpectedly generated no discussion on the floor and passed readily. If the proposal to pass responsibility for the Seminary to the national Conferences is approved at their conventions in July, the B.C. Conference would hold a special convention at the end of the Canadian Conference convention to approve the details of setting up a regional council.

Grace Ethopian Church Choir

Registration

The second major recommendation, that each local MB congregation register with the provincial government as a “society”, was presented by the Board of Management, legal advisor Ed Fast and insurance broker Reg Esau. Currently, the congregations have no legal status but are considered branches of the B.C. Conference, and all assets are owned by the Conference. Under the proposal, each congregation would register using a standard constitution and by-laws drafted by the Conference; land and buildings would continue to be owned by the Conference; and the congregations would lease their buildings from the Conference but own their other assets (chairs, computers, etc.).

Fast outlined three reasons for the proposed change: 1. It would limit legal liability; if someone sued a local congregation (over a case of sexual abuse, for instance), the assets of the congregation could be used to pay a judgment but it would be less likely that the assets of the whole Conference could be taken for this purpose. 2. It would give local congregations legal authority to sign contracts, make purchases and borrow limited amounts of money. 3. It would reduce the legal liability of the leaders of a congregation; the personal assets of local church leaders could not be seized to pay church debts.

Esau noted that the Conference buys group insurance on behalf of the congregations but the best insurance is prevention; that is, congregations should use the Safe Place Handbook and do criminal checks on all of their workers in order to prevent any abuse from taking place for which they could be sued.

The recommendation was discussed at length in the Board of Management workshop. In the end, the Board decided to table the recommendation for one year, to give congregations more time to think about it.

Alderbrook Community Church

Going further

In other business:

There were more people nominated for some Conference boards than there were positions, requiring some elections. However, three vacancies remain: one on each of the children’s commission of the Board of Church Ministries, the Nominating Committee and the Board of Camp Ministries. A recommendation was passed increasing the size of the adult and family commissions of the Board of Church Ministries from three to four members each. The Executive Council has noted that as the Conference grows, it is increasingly difficult for delegates to know nominees and vote wisely. Therefore, it raised for discussion the idea that the nomination and election process be replaced by one in which congregations “suggest” nominees, a discernment committee evaluate the suggestions and only one candidate for each vacant position be presented to the annual convention for affirmation. However, no time was found at this convention to discuss this proposal. The Board of Camp Ministries announced that it is now overseeing a fourth camp (in addition to Stillwood, Gardom Lake and the Pines). The new work, called “Campfire Ministries”, was started by the Black Creek congregation but is expanding to serve all of the congregations on Vancouver Island. It is seeking a long-term lease on property where it can run its programs. The Executive Council presented a Board of Church Extension recommendation that the Conference set a goal of reaching a total of 200 churches by 2010. The Conference doubled from about 50 churches in 1990 to about 100 churches in 2000; the recommendation would require a further doubling in the next decade. When James Toews of Neighbourhood Church in Nanaimo suggested that the goal of starting so many new churches was not necessarily well conceived since 39% of B.C. MB churches were already under 50 members, Chris Douglas moved an amendment that the goal be to double the number of congregations and/or the number of members in the Conference. After considerable discussion, both the amendment and the recommendation passed. Delegates passed a recommendation giving Columbia Bible College permission to construct a new student centre once it has raised enough money to complete construction. The B.C. Conference budget runs from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31. The Conference finished the 2001 year with a net surplus of $44,838 after spending $1,087,237, considerably below the $1,256,000 originally budgeted. The 2002 budget was originally $1,300,000, but that has been reduced to $1,250,000. However, there has been a change in how the budget is calculated. Previously, money raised by boards, primarily the Board of Church Extension, has not been included in the budget total. That money is now included, bringing the 2002 budget to $1,326,000. The budget for 2003 (calling for a small increase to $1,334,000) was approved at this convention. The convention was well run, with delegates sitting around tables in the sanctuary of North Langley Community Church. There was one block of Board workshops Saturday morning, and a block of teaching seminars Saturday afternoon. At the closing banquet Saturday evening, two congregations were welcomed into Conference membership: Grace Ethiopian Church in Burnaby and Alderbrook Community Church in Abbotsford. An offering was taken for the Board of Church Extension’s latest project, a church plant in Nelson, B.C. under the leadership of church planters Jeff and Marilyn Hak.

 – jc

After the B.C. Conference convention, B.C. pastors and Conference workers and their spouses, 230 in all, gathered at The Firs retreat centre in Bellingham, Wash. for their annual retreat. Guest speaker was Aubrey Maphurs, president of Vision Ministries International and a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary. In four sessions, he expounded the definition that “Christian leaders are servants who use their credibility and capabilities to influence people in a particular context to pursue their God-given direction.”

 

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Last modified July 10, 2002.

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