BFL reconvenes after Gathering 2006

The Board of Faith and Life started its first meeting since Gathering 2006 on a celebratory note. Convening in Abbotsford, B.C., Feb. 2–3, the board held a dinner with former chair Walter Unger and his wife Laura in appreciation for Walter’s contribution in leadership. Because of heart surgery and convalescence, he had not been able to attend Gathering in Calgary to complete his term and participate in the BFL breakouts or the vote on women in leadership ministry.

In subsequent business sessions, the board:

• reviewed plans for its Oct. 11–13 study conference, “Culture, Gospel, and Church.” (See sidebar, “God’s gift or Satan’s tool?”) The Saturday morning of that event will be dedicated to the Canadian MB Conference’s annual general meeting (AGM), required because of the new governance structure initiated in 2004 and finalized in 2006. Congregations are permitted one delegate per 50 members for the AGM, but are encouraged to send as many people as possible to the study conference.
• clarified its role and its relationship with other ministries and agencies connected with the national conference (the executive board, the executive director’s office, MBBS, MBMSI, ICOMB), with a view to providing more effective leadership in the area of biblical and ethical integrity.
• received reports from Sharon Johnson, ministry resources consultant, and affirmed several projects. The pastoral and congregational resource manual, Following the Call, will be revised and updated. The MB conference will also partner with the Mennonite Church to publish a series of pastoral care pamphlets called Close to Home dealing with mental health (eating disorders, depression, bi-polar disease, anxiety disorders, ADD/ADHD), addictions (pornography, internet, alcohol, drugs, gambling), and relationships (marital, family, parenting, dating).
• processed a request from the Saskatchewan Board of Faith and Life seeking counsel about one of that province’s MB pastors entering chaplaincy work with the Canadian Armed Forces at their base in Moose Jaw. After considerable debate, yet longing for more time to process the matter, the board defeated a motion to affirm BFL Saskatchewan in their support of this partnership. It said that its decision was not binding on provincial discernment, however.
• approved, as a self-guiding gesture, the creation of a “Reader” – a list of authors to centre and sharpen the board’s capacity to think through issues theologically from an evangelical and Anabaptist perspective. This will assist the board as it processes the pending BFL pamphlet on biblical ecology, as well as the one after that on abortion.

—from report by Ken Peters, BFL chair