Study conference begins conversation

Try starting a conversation with one of these phrases: “Don’t go to church, be the church!” or “All theology comes from one question: what is the gospel?”

These statements and others provided the foundation for the Board of Faith and Life’s “Culture, Gospel, and Church” study conference, October 11–13 at Bakerview MB Church, Abbotsford, B.C. The statements indeed started conversations, but mostly about the gospel and church in contemporary settings.

Dave Warkentin and Ryan Dueck

Many of the 209 attendees, including a sizable contingent of Bible college students, said they would go home and continue the dialogue within their own circles. Some delegates felt many questions were left unasked.

David Eagle

Theme speakers were theologian George Hunsberger of Western Theological Seminary in Michigan and MB scholar and historian Bruce Guenther of ACTS seminary in Langley, B.C. A variety of workshop sessions also covered topics such as Church and State, Being Good Neighbours, Teaching Cultural Responsibility, Media and Gospel, and Intentionally Cultural Churches.

Guenther included a look back at when Mennonite Brethren attempted to demonstrate being “set aside” from secular life by discouraging laughter and dancing, and spurning many other cultural practices, while defining ourselves by the language and practice of a Dutch/German/Russian (DGR) heritage.

Leonard Klassen

Today, the way we define ourselves and relate to culture is changing. Guenther, to the “amens” of many, argued that regardless of our origins, “we’re all ethnic Mennonites.”

Guenther expressed concern that Canadian Mennonite Brethren often make newcomers or visitors feel like outsiders when they don’t have DGR ethnicity. He said MBs must seize the opportunity to explore denominational multiculturalism. He reminded attendees that their primary concern must be to give expression to the gospel from within Canadian culture.

Hunsberger agreed. “Culture is not something outside of us. We’ve been called to receive – to enter into and to tell about – the reign of God.” We do that by how we live, by what people see in us.

As part of the final large group session, delegates were asked what they had hoped to discuss during the event. Answers included topics such as the pace of modern life, coming to grips with materialism, conflict, burnout, and a need for practical measures to integrate new believers, bridge differences, and apply Scripture to contemporary cultural realities.

As David Wiebe, Canadian conference executive director said, we need to be like the descendants of Issachar – people who “knew their times and what to do.”

—Barrie McMaster