Looking back, looking forward

The end of a year always brings with it the urge to evaluate, reflect and regroup. This happens in our personal lives as well as in the life of our churches. So also with the Herald. We evaluate whether we have met the goals of the previous year. We plan for the coming year, trusting God to give us insight and wisdom.

We want to take this opportunity to thank our readers.

We thank you:

• for your letters;
• for the reports of births and weddings celebrating new life and new beginnings;
• for the obituaries celebrating lives lived to God’s glory;
• for the reports of baptisms and other events in at least 115 of our churches.

We also want to set goals for the coming year.

We want to be intentional about:

• continuing to tell stories of our churches. Our masthead reads:
  1. Share the life and story of the church, and engage in dialogue and reflection;
  2. Teach and equip for ministry;
  3. Enable communication about our Conference and the wider world.
• continuing to emphasize the three foci of our Canadian MB Mission Statement;
• encouraging all our churches to send in stories of what is happening in their churches;
• presenting fairly the issues facing our churches and our conferences;
• developing a network of writers, artists and photographers to help us in our task.

And lastly, we ask your pardon for the times we have made inadvertent errors. We will continue to try to make each issue as error-free as possible.

In this issue we are focusing on what it means to be a growing disciple of Jesus. Sharon Johnson, Canadian MB Conference adult ministries director, writes the introductory article and Marcus Tso, formerly pastor in South Vancouver Pacific Grace, writes about the journey to reach our goal. Dave Pankratz recounts how his spiritual journey is being tested in unique ways while working for MCC in Baghdad.

Where are you in your journey? What are your goals for the coming year?