New churches being planted across the country

The Board of Evangelism, in cooperation with provincial conferences, is pleased to announce further church plants. Church planters have been found to head up these ventures.

Mission Calgary plants Number 7

Calgary, Alta.

Kelly and Donna Steffen

The goal of Mission Calgary to plant 10 churches in five years has come closer to fulfillment. Kelly and Donna Steffen began planting a church in Airdrie, Alta., a bedroom community north of Calgary, on November 15. This is church plant number seven for Mission Calgary, the joint church planting Key Cities Initiative of the Canadian Mennonite Brethren Conference Board of Evangelism and the Alberta MB Conference.

The Airdrie church plant is being encouraged by Saddle Ridge Community Church. Pastor couple Grant and Carol Galpin and the leadership team at Saddle Ridge are coaching the Steffens in their efforts.

Previously, Kelly was associate pastor at Crossfield Baptist Church in Crossfield, Alta., and prior to that served as youth pastor/pastor of small groups at Fellowship Baptist Church in Edmonton. He also served on the Church Planting Commission for the Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches in Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Territories, part of the time as the chair. He has a Master of Religious Education degree from Canadian Theological Seminary in Regina and a BA from Augustana University College in Camrose, Alta.

The Steffens have three children: Alexandria, 5, Hannah, 3, and Nathan, 1.

New church planters for Love Toronto appointed

Toronto, Ont.

Vladimir and Anna Bortsov

The Ontario MB Conference in association with the Board of Evangelism for the Canadian Mennonite Brethren Conference is working to plant five reproducing churches in five years. This second Key Cities Initiative has been dubbed Love Toronto.

A new church planting couple has been appointed to this mission. Vladimir and Anna Bortsov began heading up a church plant focused on reaching Russian-speaking residents of Toronto. It is estimated that about 250,000 Russian-speaking people live in the Greater Toronto Area.

Before coming to Christ, Vladimir trained as a navigator-engineer at the Civil Aviation Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was a pilot-navigator with AeroFlot for 19 years. Anna, who was born in St. Petersburg, dreamt of competing in the Olympics. Today, she is a court-approved translator and an ESL teacher. Vladimir has a strong gift of personal evangelism, having led more than 150 people to Christ in the last three years while living in Toronto.

In 1991, Vladimir and Anna were living in Kazakhstan when the Iron Curtain fell. That summer, 300 mission workers with the Southern Baptists visited Kazakhstan, witnessing to three people per day. Anna, who worked as an interpreter for the group, accepted Christ during a presentation of the gospel that she was helping to translate. Later she was able to lead Vladimir to the Lord.

Feeling a call by God, Vladimir attended the Kasakh Evangelical Christian Seminary in Almati, Kazakhstan, a branch of the Dallas Theological Seminary in Russia. Previously, he was director of the Bible League in Kazakhstan and a church planter/pastor of the Light to the World Bible Church. He began a charitable organization for elderly widows in Kazakhstan. Anna taught English Language to students in grades 1–11 for 11 years and served as an interpreter with CALTC for four years. She has a BA from St. Petersburg University and attended Aktubinsk University.

They moved to Canada in 1999 and served under World Team in the Greater Toronto Area for a year. World Team has seconded the Bortsovs to the Mennonite Brethren for church planting in Toronto.

The Bortsovs have two daughters: Vasilisa, 23, who is studying at McMaster University in Hamilton, and Dasha, 16, who is in grade 11.

Rendez-vous Montréal is underway!

Montreal, Que.

Jean-Calvin and Élysée Kitata

The first church plant of Rendez-vous Montréal has begun. Rendez-vous Montréal is the third Key Cities Initiative, a mission of the Canadian Mennonite Brethren Board of Evangelism in conjunction with the Quebec MB Conference, to plant new churches in Montreal in the next five years.

Jean-Calvin and Élysée Kitata began working with Rendez-vous Montréal on September 1, 2002. They are planting the first church under Rendez-vous Montréal – Communauté Chrétienne Internationale de Montréal. Most recently, Jean-Calvin pastored the Eglise Chrétienne de St-Jérome (Mennonite Brethren) in St-Jérome, Quebec.

Jean-Calvin and Élysée are the fruit of Mennonite Brethren missions in the Congo. While working in pastoral ministry in the Congo for nine years, Jean-Calvin also worked as a newspaper reporter and was senior editor of two Christian magazines for the Church of Christ in Congo. He also was producer and host of a weekly Christian national radio and TV program called, “The Road of Life”.

Jean-Calvin studied at the Institut Supérior of Théologie in Kinshasa and Protestant University of Congo, earning a BA in theology and a diploma in education. He also studied journalism at the University of Kinshasa and the University of Montréal. He received professional training in media production from the Geoffrey Conway School of Broadcasting and Communications (100 Huntley Street) in Burlington, Ont. Élysée has a BA in Science of Mission from the Missiology University of Kinshasa.

The Kitatas have three children: Joël Kibanda, 9, Daniel M’kwatshung, 8, and Émilie Lina, 1.

Communauté Chrétienne Internationale de Montréal is made up of members from the Congo and other African countries as well as from other nations. It is truly an international congregation with a Mennonite Brethren perspective.

—Board of Evangelism, Canadian MB Conference news release