Boards meet, prepare for Gathering 2006

The leading boards of the Canadian MB Conference met in Abbotsford at the end of January. One board worked to finalize a major recommendation on women in ministry leadership for Gathering 2006 in Calgary this summer, the other continued its work on vision and the operating bylaws of the conference.

Board of Faith and Life

The Board of Faith and Life (BFL) met January 25–26. The board’s major task this meeting was to finalize the recommendation on women in ministry leadership, first developed and released in June 2005. The process included recapping letters and submissions to the board about the recommendation and hearing responses from the provincial conference ministers, who sit on the BFL. The board also considered the values (such as unity, love, truth, mission, politics, justice) expressed in conversation around this or other issues and agreed that love should be the primary guiding value. (See final resolution and chair Walter Unger’s introduction to it following.)

The board approved “A more excellent way: Christian marriage in the world,” written by Andrew Dyck, pastor of King Road MB Church, Abbotsford as the latest in its pamphlet series. The BFL currently has a pamphlet on Christian weddings, but this one responds to the recent re-definition of marriage in Canadian law and considers how we should approach marriage in light of these legal changes.

The BFL finalized a new nationally standardized credentialling questionnaire for MB pastors and reviewed the BFL-sponsored DVD study by Doug Heidebrecht, “Interpreting the Bible Together.” It also received with regret the resignation of Hans Boge as Manitoba’s representative on the BFL.

Executive Board

The executive board met January 27–28. It heard the BFL’s report and affirmed its work and the resolution on women in ministry leadership that will be presented in Calgary.

The executive board has been casting the vision of the Canadian conference and approved the following statement: “The vision of the Canadian conference is: to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ through the development of godly character in every member and the mindset of multiplication in every congregation.”

It approved the constitution committee’s final draft of the conference’s new “operating bylaws” (formerly called constitution) which will be presented to Gathering for approval, and continued work on several questions related to governance. The board meets again in April.

—Dora Dueck, from reports