A Better Take on “Remember Me”

It was my privilege to share a devotional at the Banff Ministers and Spouses Conference this year. Many of you were not there, so I’ll share an emphasis I have thought about since.

Nehemiah’s time in Jerusalem did not seem to end well. In Chapter 13 of his book, we see him beating people up and literally pulling out people’s hair. All of this ends with the prayer:

“Remember me with favor, my God” (NIV), which could well be a statement like “I tried my best” (and you do not have to agree with that assessment). It is the last words from the Old Testament, chronologically speaking, until after the 400 silent years end. The people were settled back in Jerusalem, but there was no evidence of glory for the newly-rebuilt temple, and there was lots of intermarriage which gave a complicated social setting for rebuilding ministry in Jerusalem. At Banff, I shared my opinion that a spirit of anti-climax may well have settled over the people of Judah for those 400 years.

Then there are the events of the coming of John the Baptist and of Jesus Himself, which brings us into the coming season of Advent. It seems to me that one could say that the church age ends at the Last Supper with the institution of what we call the Lord’s Supper; a new ceremony for the Church which seems to begin with a different turn on the phrase, ‘Remember me’.

I am not getting into much eschatology here, but this turns my mind toward what will be the end of the church age. Revealing my cards here, I think Jesus could return at any moment, in any fashion He chooses. I am imagining—and this may not be how it happens—but I perceive the possibility of the trumpet blast, then Jesus descending as He said, then Him saying, “Hey, remember Me?”

Without question, I have certainly taken liberties here, but it is a progressing thought traveling through my brain at the moment. To top this off, one might watch the Casting Crowns music video on Youtube of ‘Only Jesus’. The legacy for our work is to have people remember Jesus. Let’s take our rightful place and honour Him to that end.

Your co-worker, Dennis

Ministry Opportunities within the CBWC

Please refer to our Careers section on our website for more detailed information for these positions:

· Youth & Young Adults Pastor – Trinity Baptist Church, Sherwood Park
· Pastor – Emmanuel Baptist Church, Victoria, BC
· Pastor – Longview Bible Fellowship, Longview, AB
· Solo Pastor – Sonrise Community Baptist Church, Calgary, AB
· Solo Pastor – Faith Community Baptist Church, Souris, MB
· Minister of Music – First Baptist Church, Regina, SK
· Senior Pastor – Thompson First Baptist Church, Thompson, MB
· Associate Pastor – Clive Baptist Church, Clive, AB
· Children’s Ministry Coordinator – Olivet Baptist Church, New Westminster, BC
· Associate Pastor for Youth & Young Adults – First Baptist Church, Peace River, AB
· Lead Pastor – Willowlake Baptist Church, Winnipeg, MB
· Youth & Young Adults Associate Pastor – Westhill Park Baptist Church, Regina, SK
· Solo Pastor – Webster Community Church, Sexsmith, AB
· Pastoral Staff (Cantonese speaking) – Westside Baptist Church, Vancouver, BC
· Pastoral Staff (English speaking) – Westside Baptist Church, Vancouver, BC
· Young Life Associate & Church Youth Worker – Young Life/West Vancouver Baptist, Vancouver, BC

Recently…

CBWC Exec Staff Retreat

Edmonton Cluster Fall 2021

Jeremy Bell crashes Exec Staff meeting

Two captions give visual metaphors for the season of ministry we find ourselves in as we struggle through Covid restrictions and the changing environment of ministry at this time:

– A dark tunnel wondering what is at the end.
– Driving into the fog bank.

This regional newsletter is published quarterly within the CBWC’s monthly newsletter, Making Connections. Have a story idea? Want to tell us how great we’re doing? Or how terribly? Email our senior writer, Jenna Hanger: jhanger@cbwc.ca

A Journey to Healing & Understanding

By Michelle Casavant

I raise my hands in honour of Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc, Cowessess First Nation, and the many more Nations that will continue to uncover the remains of innocent children in unmarked and mass graves.

The determination to find the children that Canada left lost and unaccounted for. The strength to share this tragic news with our country, and the world.

The grace to witness an international response of surprise and shock to the realities that Indigenous communities have been recounting and living with the devastation of for too many years.

In 2016, Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report acknowledged the tragic experiences suffered by children who were forced to attend our country’s Indian Residential Schools between 1831 and 1996, speaking to the likelihood of mass, unmarked graves at the sites. On May 27, 2021, the small bodies of 215 of those missing children were found, buried at Kamloops Indian Residential School. Every week, more have been found, and with the astonishing numbers, like at Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan. More will be found… with determination, strength, and grace.

These horrific discoveries, in their indisputable physicality, have finally triggered long overdue action to commence the work it will take to address the myriad of intangible forces that have suffocated so many Indigenous people. In a morbid, yet necessary, offering of reconciliation, some engineering firms across Canada are providing their ground-penetrating technology, pro bono, to help First Nations locate and recover the ones who are still missing.

It has reignited outrage and cries for justice.

We knew these little ones were missing.

They were never forgotten.

For me, right now, the intersectionalities of the identities that I was born into—and have walked into—are breaking. My heart, soul, mind and body ache in ways I haven’t known before.

I am a Cree Métis woman. I was raised in rural Saskatchewan; however, my Métis grandmother completely denied our Indigeneity. Withdrawing from ceremonies to evade racism, my ancestors may have feared their children would also be taken. They felt it necessary to deny their history in an attempt to protect their future—and succumbed to the colonizer. When discoveries are made near my home, it hurts even more deeply.

I am a mother. It shatters me to imagine what it was like for the mothers, grandmothers, and communities to witness Indian Agents and RCMP destroy families. Children stolen. It overwhelms me to think of small, rural towns without children laughing and playing. It devastates me to consider the mothers of the missing and murdered being lied to, dismissively informed that their children had simply ran away from school. As if that could be enough for any mother. Subsequently, countless families have been searching for these lost souls for decades. The heartache I have for these generations that were lost…for the knowledge keepers, mothers, fathers, siblings, that were callously denied their life’s purpose.

I am a lawyer with the Government of Canada. For six years, on behalf of Canada, I witnessed the confidential, individual hearings with the Survivors of Canada’s Indian Residential School system. The Survivors bravely attended, forced to describe frightening experiences in exchange for a financial ‘compensation’, calculated via an objective spreadsheet that will never make anything equal. The trajectories of so many lives diverted and devastated and perpetuated through generational trauma. Almost ten years later, the memories of those hearings continue to occupy my thoughts.

I am a Christian. I cannot reconcile the actions that were committed in the name of Jesus. I want to scream from the rooftops that this is not Christianity. Jesus is calling those little ones to Him now, “Come to Me. You belong in the kingdom of heaven, all ye who are hurting, and I will give you rest.” Christ is the one that is bringing me peace during this time of deep sorrow and grief. Yet some of those who suffered these great injustices do not know His peace because they were violated by those who held positions of power in the church.

I am a Christian Indigenous person. I know Creator is the one true God. My current struggle is that despite requests, precedents and reasoning, the leaders of my home church will not incorporate an acknowledgement of the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory that the church is located on into our practices. Simultaneously, there are Indigenous communities in Canada that don’t have access to clean drinking water, and yet, our churches are sending enormous amounts of money to remote countries. I’m hurt and confused by the perceived hypocrisy of my church’s resistance to engagement with acts of reconciliation.

I am human. I am heartbroken by the reality of adults, in a faith-based position of trust, systematically harming vulnerable children. I am confused by the reality that virtually no one has been held accountable for these crimes. Trusting children—instruments of pure love—led into physical, sexual, emotional, spiritual, and cultural abuse. These are crimes against humanity that have gone unpunished. If these found remains were of Caucasian descent, the culprits would have been held to account.

These days, my sorrow changes as it unfolds. I am working to be present to the feelings, so that I can heal. I do not want to be resilient anymore; I am fatigued, I am weary and I am weak. Yet, I know that I need to heal so my children can have a better life. As communities, we need to heal so our offspring will have better lives. As each of these discoveries is unearthed, the open, gaping wound in my soul is covered with salt again.

I know that Jesus can and will restore all things…with determination, strength, and grace.

All my relations.

-Michelle Casavant

If you would like to contact Michelle, she would be happy to hear from you at metismichelle@gmail.com 

Honouring Our Responsibilities

By Jodi Spargur

Memorials have popped up all over the country. Flags fly at half mast, our attention captured we don an orange t-shirt or an Every Child Matters frame on our profile photo, we try to find the words to pray for the 215 children now 751 now… What now? 

Let your heart feel this hurt in the hopes that we might find the strength for change. “Listen hard to the stories you are told (by Indigenous Peoples) so that your heart can begin to be changed. Without a changed heart you have no capacity for changed action.” Dr. Ray Aldred

Dr. Cheryl Bear and Brian Doerksen have written a new song called 215.
215 Indigenous children
who can’t come home.
215, how many more missing?
Indigenous children
who can’t come home.

Why did it take so long?
Revealing this ancient wrong
When mothers cried
through countless nights alone.

The church and the government
Complicit in violence
How could such savagery
Stay unconfessed?

How do we allow those questions to move us to action rather than indifference and silence?

Let the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples help us recover the image of God in our neighbour.

Article 7
ii. Indigenous peoples have the collective right to live in freedom,
peace and security as distinct peoples and shall not be subjected to
any act of genocide or any other act of violence, including forcibly
removing children of the group to another group.

In May 2017, the CBWC voted to adopt the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as a framework for reconciliation. What does that mean for us? A number of things:

1. That when the atrocities of genocide as articulated in Article 7 above are revealed, as people of faith committed to these principles we cannot turn away and say, “That wasn’t us.” That, in essence, is an “Am I my brother’s keeper?” question, and the answer is, Yes.
2. Like Zacchaeus—who, when convicted that he had been benefitting from harm done to others, set about to repay his debts and more—we too must commit to setting wrongs right. This is a long process and not one we fix overnight, but we must commit ourselves to this path.
3. We need now, more than ever, to commit ourselves to prayer. We need all kinds of prayer, repentance, lament, prayers for healing, prayers for conviction and for courage to act. But I would encourage us to pray with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at this time to help us see what perhaps we have been unable or unwilling to see before now.

Let justice be our part in setting the stage for healing and conciliation.
Aubrey Bosak, in speaking about reconciliation as a black South African says, “If one expects forgiveness from the victim, why can we not expect justice from the perpetrators and beneficiaries? If the name of Jesus is invoked regarding forgiveness, His name must also be invoked to call for justice.” (Radical Reconciliation: Beyond Political Pietism and Christian Quietism). For Settler Christians, our place in the journey of healing and reconciliation is one of seeking justice as those who have benefitted from the perpetuation of injustice whether it happened by our hand or not. This is a spiritual call and spiritual work that can only be sustained by faith as we walk with our neighbours in self-giving love.

Three next steps:

1. Pray with this resource https://cbwc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Praying-the-United-Nations-Declaration-on-the-Rights-of-Indigenous-Peoples.pdf
2. Learn. There are many places to start. Check out this resource for a next step that is appropriate to where you and your community are.
3. Act. Contact Jodi Spargur to explore how your church community might begin engaging locally in your context.

Newest Board Members 2021-2023

The CBWC wants to extend a warm welcome and thanks to the newest Board Members for 2021-2023, with a special acknowledgement of our new President, Loralyn Lind. For a complete list of Board Members, click here.

Loralyn Lind pastors in Dauphin, MB. She is married to Cordell, and together they own a Bed & Breakfast and train Cordell’s hunting dog, George. Loralyn and Cordell have served in all three regions of the CBWC and attended the Banff Conference with determined consistency for 30 years. Loralyn loves to read and discover new insights into how God is bringing us all closer to Himself as we daily experience His presence.

Tim Kerber pastors at Leduc Community Baptist Church in Leduc, AB and has done so for the past 26 years. He is married to Rachelle, and they have two teenage children. Tim loves God, his family, his work and his community. He loves to preach and plan and create and dream. It is his desire that people find freedom and hope in Christ which invades their daily lives and changes the world. Tim enjoys being active and challenged. He enjoys road biking, triathlon and adventure races. He loves to garden, work with wood, and read. He also loves burgers, pigeons, hockey and hot tubs.

Richard Currie lives in Duncan British Columbia, is a member of New Life Church, and does some volunteer work in his community.

Before retiring in 2018, Richard was Vice President of Finance and Operations at Concordia University of Edmonton for nine years. Most of his career has been with operation management of non-profit organizations, having held senior administrative positions in health care administration as well as with advanced education institutions. In addition, he has worked cross-culturally for three years as administrator of a busy rural mission hospital in far-west Nepal, and later as administrator at the office of TEAM of Canada. He also has done volunteer work assisting with settlement of Bhutanese and Syrian refugees in Canada. He currently volunteers as vice-chair of Cowichan Valley Basket Society (Food Bank), treasurer of the Greater Victoria Performing Arts Festival Association, and treasurer of Stonewood Village Strata Association. He holds a CPA (Alberta) designation and a Master of Health Services Administration degree from University of Alberta.

Grant Hill, with his wife Becky and their two daughters, has been a part of the Elk Lake Baptist Church community in Victoria, BC since 2016. Born in Kelowna, Grant completed his Bachelor of Music at UVic in 2003 and his Master of Divinity at Regent College in 2007. He served as an Associate Pastor at Mississauga Chinese Baptist and Olivet Baptist (New Westminster) before his call to serve at ELB. He enjoys people, good conversation, playing guitar and being outdoors.

Gladys Tsang came to Canada and studied in Ontario when she was a youth. Gladys returned to Hong Kong upon graduation from U of Toronto but returned again to Canada to study at Regent College in the 80’s. Gladys was called by our denomination to plant an ethnic church in Vancouver in the 90’s which resulted in founding the church called Westside Baptist Church in Richmond, BC. She has been serving as the senior pastor at Westside since its beginnings. Gladys is married to Anders Tsang who is also an ordained minister with CBWC.

Laurel Auch “I’m a farmer’s wife, a mother of three, and a gramma of 2. My husband and I became Christians in 2002 and were baptized together at Faith Community Baptist Church in Claresholm. I was a Chartered Accountant until I decided to stay home with my children (one of whom has autism), and help with the management of the farm. I’ve used my training to serve as the church bookkeeper for many years and have also taught Sunday school and helped in other ministry areas. I don’t consider myself to be a leader, but I enjoy working collaboratively with other people to enact a common goal or vision, so I’m very much looking forward to being part of the CBWC Board.”

David Vandergucht lives in Regina with his wife Katherine and four young children. He and Katherine are members at Argyle Road Baptist Church, and David has previously served on the church board there. He works as a lake ecologist for the provincial government.

Flexible Existentialists 

By Kevin Vincent, Director of the Centre for New Congregations Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada

Perhaps you can relate. As it relates to your church, you would say, “I know we can’t go back now! But I don’t know where to go now!” Let’s be “flexible existentialists” for the next few minutes. Let me prompt your thinking by heading down what would be a 180-degree shift for most churches moving forward, and let’s begin with a radical question. Here it is. 

Is it time for your church to cancel your Sunday morning worship service? Is it time to say that the current model of how most of us “do church” has run its course? Is it time to embrace the reality that the culture has shifted, people have little interest in weekly, larger, group gatherings and post-COVID, it’s not coming back? Is it time to abandon a tired old model of church? 

If I’ve already said enough to tick you off, stick with me because I’m much more hopeful than I’m sounding. 

A recent survey in the United States by the UNSTUCK group reported that churches that have re-opened have seen about 36% of people return. 

Now, I know those are American statistics. Hold your fire! But, at least anecdotally, even if we don’t have Canadian survey results that are as clear, a lot of pastors are experiencing the same and are wondering, “Who’s coming back?  When will they come back?  Who’s not coming back?”  

Let’s just imagine that we’re twice as good as the Americans (Canadians like to think that!).  Let’s imagine that we get 70% of people back! Are we OK with that? Is 70% good enough? Perhaps we should just conclude that those that don’t return are simply the hard soil, the rocky and thorny ground, of Jesus’ parable. They’re a good excuse to clean up our membership list. 

Even more shocking is that the American survey discovered that only 40% of those under the age of 36 prefer larger in-person gatherings. That means that 6 in 10 church-goers under the age of 36 aren’t sure that they care about your Sunday morning worship service anymore and aren’t looking to return. So, should you cancel Sunday? 

I believe the answer is No!  But let me suggest an “existentially flexible” new way forward that was true pre-pandemic and has been dramatically accelerated as we move toward becoming a post-pandemic Church. Here it is. 

The future of the church in Canada will not be grounded in a single-site expression but in a multiplicity of congregational gatherings, meeting at different times, in different places, with different people. 

Single site. Single gathering. Single location. Single time. “See you Sunday at 10:30” is not the future. 

What could that look like for your church, if you adopted that type of a posture? Is there still a place for a Sunday morning worship gathering? Of course! There are many who love that expression of church. In fact, 70% of the church-going Boomers surveyed want to go back to that traditional Sunday gathering. It’s still meaningful. It’s what they know and love. We can’t steal that. Moving forward, it needs to be a piece of the reimagined church. 

But the great majority of younger generations don’t share that conviction. They’re finding connection in the digital church. They’re enjoying a house church that has emerged with 4 other families. They’re creating dinner church experiences with a dozen friends on a Thursday night. They’re a Sunday morning “huddle church.” Some are creating their own “worship gathering and liturgy.” Others are joining together for a “watch party” of their church’s online service. 

What would it look like for your church to consider a multiplied model? What would it look like to embrace a true hybrid expression of church that still celebrates the traditional Sunday gathering but also cheerleads and celebrates multiple, smaller congregations meeting during the week, in various locations, at various times, with many groups of people?  

I think I can already hear some push-back. “Yeah but we’re a little church! We’re only small! We can’t multiply anything! That’s a big church model!”  

No, it’s not!! Don’t take your “existentially flexible” hat off yet!  What if there were 31 people meeting on Sunday at 10:30am in your church facility? Perhaps there’s another group of 14 on Thursday night, over dinner? And another group of 23 on Tuesday night over coffee in a café? And what if fellowship happened? What if care happened? What if teaching happened? What if you started serving together? Could that, in fact, be a true congregation by New Testament standards? Could that simply be another expression of your church, another congregation, at a different time, in a different place, reaching different people, tethered together as multiple congregations and still ONE church? 

Could THAT be a new way forward? Could that be the answer that your church needs to consider? As Simon Sinek asks, “Do you have the capacity to make that 180-degree shift to advance your cause?” We must! It’s a new day for the Church!  Jesus is still building His Church, and His cause is too great not to try! 

Kevin Vincent is the Director for the Centre of Congregational Development with CBAC. He is part of Canadian Baptist National Cohort along with Cid Latty from CBOQ and Shannon Youell from CBWC. Together we dream and vision and work towards sharing resources and imagination for our churches as they join God in extending the Good News into multiple communities in which the folk in our churches live, work, play and pray. And we laugh a lot. 

Banff Registration is Open!

Those in pastoral leadership know that restful rhythms do not just happen – space must be created for rest and renewal. It has been a privilege to provide such space to our pastors and spouses for the past 44 years in one of the most picturesque locales in the world! November 2021 will be our 45th year to gather together in Banff for restoration of mind, body, soul and spirit. We hope you can join us this year at the Banff Pastors and Spouses Conference!

Registration for Banff 2021 opens on July 1, 2021.
Early bird registration: August 30, 2021.
Regular registration deadline: September 30, 2021.
Dates: November 1 – 4, 2021

Click Here to Register!

Reflections on Reconciliation

By Mark Doerksen

In February, most of Canada celebrated Family Day, but in Manitoba, this holiday is called Louis Riel Day. We experienced the Polar Vortex on the prairies this past week and a half, which is another phrase for “unbearably cold”—combined with the restrictions of COVID-19 , it meant that our family did very little to celebrate Louis Riel Day. Keeping warm was the main objective of the holiday this year.

Louis Riel can be a polarizing figure for some, and his history is—at the very least—important and interesting. Our house is located not too far from his birthplace, and if you drive the streets of Winnipeg, you’ll see names of some of the folks that were important for the founding of Manitoba and who had interactions with Riel. This is the birthplace of the Metis nation, and Winnipeg is located on Treaty 1 land.

Part of my work includes participation and leadership on the Justice and Mercy Network of the CBWC. This committee gets together to talk about ways to animate churches on justice topics, should churches so desire. One of the topics that we’ve spoken about, and that we continue to pay attention to, is that of Indigenous issues. To that end, I have enrolled in a free, online course through our sister denomination, the Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada. The course is called Walking in a Good Way with Our Indigenous Neighbours, and you can access it here. The course takes about 20 hours to complete. You can do so at your leisure, as it is always accessible, and it is free of charge. I travel less due to COVID-19, and I have happily been able to insert courses like this into my calendar.

I have not completed the course, but it is quite clear that much harm has been done to Indigenous people in our country, and some of this harm has come by way of the church. It’s easy to say that Canadian Baptists were not as involved as other denominations in residential schooling for instance, but relationships between Canadian Baptists and Indigenous people have not always been what they ought to be. For example, according to an article by David R. Elliot, William Henry Prince worked alongside Alexander Grant, stationed at First Baptist Winnipeg, for some time in the 1890s. Unfortunately, this work amongst Indigenous people in Manitoba all but ceased by the time of the First World War. Prince was the first missionary to the Indigenous people of the region. Jodi Spargur has also written a paper on this called Baptists and First People’s of Canada 1846-1976: A History. If you would like to hear the latest update on this, you can contact Jodi at spargurj@gmail.com. I am also sure that if you want to fund her doctorate so she can write a book on this topic, she would be happy to connect.

I understand that this history can be difficult to hear, and difficult to know what to do with. Yet I also understand that I have a lot to learn when it comes to understanding the history of Indigenous people in Canada, and how I can be a part of reconciliation moving forward. I wish to do so within a biblical and theological framework, and this course helps me with that. So, if you’ve got a bit more time on your hands and you wish to know more about this topic, please consider enrolling.

Blessings,
Mark

A Journey to Life in Ministry

By Pastor Mandi Hecht

My name is Mandi Hecht, and I am currently serving as the Pastor of First Baptist Church in Saskatoon, SK. I have lived nearly all of my life in Saskatchewan; and most of that was spent in the city of Prince Albert, where I grew up. It was there, while I was about 14 years old, that I felt the call to vocational ministry. Still, life is full of surprises, and it was not a straight line for me from call to ministry.

Following high school, I went to Baptist Leadership Training School. In fact, I was a member of the last class to attend that denominational institution! It is also there that I met my husband, Ian. After a year in Calgary at BLTS, I moved to Regina and studied Social Work at the University of Regina. Ian and I were married in 2000. When Ian finished his degree in education, we moved to Prince Albert as he took up his first teaching post.

Shortly after the birth of our first child, Caleb, I began to study with Carey Theological College in hopes of further pursing the pull I felt towards ministry. In 2004, I began with Carey a program called “Diploma of Ministry.” A few years later, I switched to a new program that they were offering, the “Master of Pastoral Ministry.” I took classes by distance where possible, and in person where I could get to them. In this way I studied while at home with Caleb, as well as his sister, Grace, who came into the world in 2005. As I studied and volunteered at our church in Prince Albert, the CBWC became interested in offering support for churches to enhance ministry to children and families. I came on staff with the denomination during this time as the Coordinator for Children and Family Ministry in the Heartland area.

I had nearly completed the Master of Pastoral Ministry when Carey was approved to offer a “Master of Divinity” degree, and so I joined that program. Only 4 classes shy of earning the MDiv, I discovered I was pregnant with our third child! So, I completed the last 2 classes of that degree with an infant in tow. The birth of Noelle also meant that I gave up my position with the denomination to care for my growing family.

I graduated with my MDiv (finally!) in 2011. That June, I started as a part-time pastor of Faith Community Church in Wakaw. With a pastoral role and an MDiv in hand, I spent a couple of years balancing work and looking after my young family. I was ordained by the CBWC in 2013. However, in 2014 an opportunity presented itself that was too good to pass up! I was accepted into a Doctor of Ministry program at Northern Seminary, which enabled me to study with New Testament scholar and author Scot McKnight. I began classes there in 2014 and graduated in 2018. A highlight of this program was a trip to Israel with my classmates, professors, and any family and friends who wanted to come along.

A new chapter in our lives kicked off when I received and accepted the call to the role of Pastor of First Baptist Church Saskatoon in the summer of 2020. The transition to a new city has been

stretched out over time for us. I am working in Saskatoon, my husband continues to teach in Prince Albert until the end of the school year 2021, and our kids are at three different schools in two different cities. While we had planned on a bit of chaos in this season of change, we have had some unplanned difficulty as well. Our son, Caleb, began to feel sick this fall, and this led to a two-week hospital stay around Christmas. Fortunately, he is no longer in the hospital, but unfortunately, he continues to have the same symptoms, and a diagnosis (up until this point) has proven elusive. One of the beautiful things about bride of Jesus Christ, however, is how we care for one another. I am very thankful for my church family at First Baptist Saskatoon, who have both accepted the care that I have offered them, and who have stepped up to “pastor” their pastor as my family goes through this season of challenge and transition.

Although the road to and through ministry (and through life) has not ever been the straight line that I expected it might be, I am grateful every day to the Lord for walking with me through the highs and lows of this journey, and for allowing me to walk alongside God’s people as an under-shepherd of the Great Shepherd!

This regional newsletter is published quarterly within the CBWC’s monthly newsletter, Making Connections. Have a story idea? Want to tell us how great we’re doing? Or how terribly? Email our senior writer, Jenna Hanger: jhanger@cbwc.ca

Kurios Recruitment and Campaign Celebration

Jesus Christ is Lord!

I am overwhelmed by the response to our Pulling Together: Raising Tomorrow’s Leaders Now fundraising campaign. Throughout February we’ve been telling stories, building our communications, and asking for financial support (see www.Kurios.ca/give for details). The outflowing of generous support is humbling, and exciting!  We raised $96,407! We are so amazed that we came that close to our goal of $100,000, and while the campaign has ended of course we will gladly continue to accept donations. Those funds will help us continue to offer this experience, bridge us to our next group of students, and provide safe and reliable transportation!

I am so encouraged by the response, and feel so blessed to part of this community! Thank you, deeply and sincerely, to all of you who support Kurios financially, in prayer, and by pointing young adults towards Kurios.

Kurios: A CBWC Gap Year Experience is designed to walk alongside young adults in their pursuit of Jesus as Kurios (Lord). We are actively looking for the next group of young adults to join our experience this coming September, for 28 weeks of seeking Jesus together and pursuing Him as Lord of all.

Can you help pass the word along? A great opportunity to find out more is at our Virtual Open House, coming soon, including live guests from Guatemala!

Untying the Bonds of Oppression: An Interview with David, Arturo, and Yola Nacho

By: Jodi Spargur- Submitted on Behalf of the Justice and Mercy Network (JMN)

In a recent conversation about Jubilee and some modern examples of living into this biblical principle, I encountered the experience of Arturo and Yola Nacho and their own story of liberation through land reform in Bolivia. I wanted to learn more.

A few historical details will help you follow the conversation. Until 1953, most Indigenous peoples in Bolivia were subjected to a life of indentured servitude. Also, it was against the law to teach Indigenous Bolivians to read or write. In the 1920s, an ecumenical group came into ownership of a large farm in the village of Huatajata (on Lake Titicaca) which was home to 48 households and 275 serfs. In the 1930s, this project was turned over to Canadian Baptist Mission. The following is my conversation with Arturo and Yola Nacho and their son, David, about this project and its impacts.

Arturo: My name is Arturo Nacho Laura. I was born on the shores of Lake Titicaca. I attended a mission school because there was no government education until after the revolution in 1952. I worked for around 37 years as a pastor and in literacy and education.

Jodi: Arturo, what is your first language?

Arturo: The Amara language.

Yola: My name is Yola Vargas. I was born in La Paz, Bolivia, and my background is Indigenous. I grew up not being very happy to have Indigenous roots. When I grew up going to school, there was a lot of discrimination. I think many people like me don’t show their background. I was one of them. But Arturo was different. He was proud of who he was and helped me be proud, too.

Jodi: I want to talk about the farm at Huatajata. Were you born on the farm, Arturo?

Arturo: No. My community is called Llamacachi, a free community, nearby. Huatajata was not a free community.

Jodi: Were both of your grandparents from a free community?

Arturo: No, my Dad was a serf from the hacienda. My mother was from a free community, though.

Jodi: How did land reform and education bring the gospel in a meaningful way to your community?

Yola: It really was a very significant start for indigenous people. Even though in the past, 100 years ago, some Indigenous peoples fought and gave their lives for the rights of Indigenous peoples, still they could not gain this (these rights). There was a CBM missionary (Merrick) who argued that slavery was a conspiracy against the gospel and must end.

Jodi: So, originally, missionaries ran the hacienda in Huatajata like all the other haciendas around were run, with slaves. But they decided that this needed to be changed for the sake of the gospel. The action taken then was the liberation of the Amara and the title for the land being turned over to them?

Yola: Yes, and this was the model for the revolution of 1952. With that revolution, the other communities around—all the land of Bolivia—benefitted (from the) land reform.

David: When there is empowerment, or recognition of the value of another’s culture, and their right to live freely, there are good things—missiologically— that happen. The farm is one example of that.

Yola: Also, I think that any community needs its own leaders. What these missionaries did well was to develop, support and raise up and prepare the leadership in the rural area. As well as in Bolivia, in general.

Jodi: I am struck by the fact that the actions on this farm become the model for nation-wide agrarian reform. Are there ways that the church in Canada is being called to bold action around the return of land?

Yola: I think that people in Huatajata were empowered by this return of the land. For people like us who live in the city, maybe not as important. But for them, yes, it was very important. But it is not possible to return land everywhere. We know around the world that there are those who have lost their land and other people occupy it. And it cannot be returned.

Jodi: Let me push back on that. In Canada, 89% of the land is owned by the Crown, very little is occupied. Is there not room here to return some land, even just the land agreed to in the treaties?

Yola: Then, if this is the case, we must fight to get this land back. We must support people to get that right! Also, as a church, I think we must be committed to the empowerment of Indigenous People, and we can push a bit, politically.

David: I think there is a link here. By giving the people the deed/title for the land, you acknowledge them as responsible for it. Not in a paternalistic way, but in a way that calls all the others to restore the respect that was not there.

Maybe there is a lack of awareness in urban centers about how important this issue of land is for those who live on it, steward and take care of the land. The blindness of urban dwellers to the importance and significance of the land makes it harder to understand.

Arturo: I want to say what the Bolivian government is doing right now in Bolivia. They are working with internships because Indigenous peoples need to be included in every level of leadership. They do not just need to be hugged and told they are loved; they need to be included in government and leadership at every level. The Canadian government needs to do this, too.

Yola: I am very hopeful. It is very good for my spirit to see young people trying to live in a good way. There is something about the work they are doing in Bolivia. We need Indigenous youth as much as they need us. This is a dream, maybe, that we can share.

Betty (Milne) Anderson – A Life in Ministry

Submitted for March’s Church Planting blog-Originally published as a Humans of CBWC story on Facebook

My thoughts turned more towards nursing in the North, so I investigated nursing in the NWT. There was a position available in Frobisher Bay! But there was also an exciting VON nursing position in Nova Scotia. I was torn in my decision until one night, God very clearly called me to N.S. I wondered why until I became involved in a church which really stretched my faith and where I matured spiritually. I also had the privilege of going to Bolivia for a six-week Mission trip. I was sure that God would call me back to Bolivia, but He never did.

I was back home in Saskatchewan working with the VON in Regina when God did two wonderful things. First, He brought Joyce Oxnard into my life. At first, she was my boss, but then she became my best friend, mentor, supporter, prayer warrior and colleague. Second, He provided opportunities to learn an Evangelical approach to Christian witnessing. While there, a nursing position became available in Yellowknife to establish a Home Care Program. Joyce and I accepted and moved there together. It was during this time that God prepared both Joyce and myself to eventually move further north. The CBWC shared in great detail with us a desire to begin a new church plant in Inuvik. I waited on the Lord to call me further north. And finally, He did! It took twenty years to prepare me for that calling, but now I was finally ready.

It was very uncommon for two women to head up a church planting mission back then. Women in ministry and church planting were in their infancy almost 50 years ago.

Our Executive and Area Ministers took us to the Edmonton Airport, gave us a filmstrip projector and told us to go and “do our thing.” What a lot there was to learn!

During the next four years, we tried not to do “our thing”, but “God’s thing”. That was the only way we could survive. Our congregation started with a few people of Baptist-like backgrounds and gradually increased. The adult ministry was mainly to the white population, but the children and teens were Inuit and Dene. We were blessed with gifts and prayers from across the country. The Alberta area provided a lovely van sent up on the barge. There were no roads into Inuvik in those days. There was wonderful support from the Yellowknife church and especially from the Pastor, Alan MacPhedran. As Inuvik was the Triennial Project of 1976-79, money was raised to erect a building, which was built by volunteers from the south and our own people. It took three months and three days, much to the astonishment of the town! This and so much more was the excitement of that beginning work. But there was also the day to day work, the demands, disappointments, tears and doubts and wondering why everything didn’t happen as we hoped and planned. But there was also the constant reminder that God had called us. He was there with us. He would provide. And He did!

Those four years were the beginning of a variety of ministries: Interim in Fort McMurray serving a hurting new church plant suffering from an early split in the congregation. A wonderful five years in Grand Centre, leaving a strong congregation but no church building! Encouraging a discouraged, despondent church and Pastor in Medicine Hat. Surveying and attempting a church plant in Edmonton without a Mother Church. Re-establishing a closed church in Swift Current. Interim ministry at Argyle Road Baptist Church whose pastor had to resign because of ill health. Pastoring in Yorkton, called “as a last resort” when it seemed no one wanted to follow a 24-year pastorate! Return to Inuvik to a very small congregation who had been without leadership for some time. No one suitable became available, so the church was closed and the building sold. We would have stayed longer, but Joyce’s asthma was a severe health problem. So, we were there at the beginning and at the end of that ministry. Joyce retired at that time, but I spent five more years as half-time Associate at FBC in Saskatoon.

What we learned during almost 30 years of ministry is that what you experience in one place, what you read in books or are told by someone else or what you think might work, is not always the answer. What is essential is a strong sense that you are exactly where God wants you to be. That His timing and His ways are perfect and are not always your ways and timing. It is His work and He will accomplish His purposes, sometimes despite you. What a blessing to know the Lord is the one in charge.

After retirement, there were significant changes for us. Joyce gradually lost her sight until she was legally blind, although she still served as best she could in our local church. Alzheimers was diagnosed in 2016 and she spent the last two years of her life in Long Term Care. The Lord called her home on October 19, 2020 with rejoicing in Heaven but great loss here on earth.

Within a year of retirement, I married a wonderful man, a friend and colleague, Blake Anderson. He was also retired but serving part-time at Wakaw and is still involved in ministry, so we are serving together in various ways. Becoming a wife, a stepmother and grandmother all at once is exciting and I love every minute of it. Along with eight grandchildren, we now have five great-grandchildren with two more expected this year and 5 foster great/grandchildren. Never a dull moment! We regret not being able to see more of them these last months.

What a wonderful God we have! How thankful I am for His salvation and constant presence and provision!

Easter Preaching Series 2021

CBWC Staff have created a video-based Easter preaching series entitled “Durable Hope” to help lead your congregation through Holy Week – from Palm Sunday through to Celebration Sunday. You are welcome to use one or all of the pieces provided in the series:

Palm Sunday: Sermon by Peter Anderson
Maundy Thursday: Written reflection by Faye Reynolds
Good Friday: Sermon by Rob Ogilvie | “Lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power” – Mark 15: 16-39, 1 Corinthians 1:10-17
Easter Sunday: Sermon by Shannon Youell 

Watch for it HERE and on all CBWC social media platforms in early March!

Kurios – Month Long Fundraising Campaign

The CBWC is committed to cultivating leadership. 

Our 8-month experience includes teaching that grounds us in living out Scripture, community to foster healthy relationships, service to explore our place in God’s Kingdom, spiritual rhythms of morning and evening prayer, and 6 weeks in Guatemala in partnership with Canadian Baptist Ministries.

We are excitedly planning for our full Kurios experience in September 2021!  And we need your support. 

We need your prayers.
We need help inviting students.
We need financial support.

Kurios is excited to launch a month-long fundraising campaign, “Pulling together to raise today’s leaders now”. We will be sending regular email updates, including testimonies and stories, throughout February as we progress towards our goal of $100,000. Great news – we already have $45,000 in matching funds committed! Please join our Kurios email list so we can continue to share what God is doing.

Join the Kurios community!

Common Expression: An Updated Pastoral Resource

Over the past several years, staff from across our four Canadian Baptist families have met periodically, according to their ministry assignments, for the purpose of collaborating on common practices. The group that oversees clergy services such as ordination, settlement, ministerial credentials and clergy well-being felt that it might be time to update the Ministerial Manual that is shared across Canada. This resource has been used by Canadian Baptists for decades to assist in the planning of worship services, weddings and funerals, child dedications and other key events in the life of the local church. Much of its material continues to be invaluable for pastors today, but the last update was in 1998 and though the basic content continues to be solid clergy practice, there were a few sections of more dated practices that could be removed. The primary driver however, was the need for an electronic version, as more and more pastors move to tablets for officiating services. 

The team divided the manual into sections to review and offer suggestions for changes and edit. We then recruited the help of Paul Matheson, from Saskatoon, to be our primary editor to finalize the product. Once the team was happy with the content, CBM, the owners of the Ministerial Manual contracted out the formatting of our final electronic version: Common Expressions: A Canadian Baptist Manual for Worship and Service. We trust that this updated version and format will continue be an indispensable tool for Baptist clergy from sea to sea.

What are some of the new changes?

1. Most Scripture references are now quoted in the New Living Translation, unless specifically noted. This translation continues to grow in usage as it more easily communicates the message to listeners of all ages.
2. Updated language for some of the liturgies and worship guides
3. Some additional new material for sample prayers, calls to worship and removal of less useful material
4. Easy “cut and paste” format that allows you to extract pieces you want to put into your own documents, phones or tablets
5. New low price of $10.00!

*Click here to purchase your copy. 

*Please note: You will be taken to the CBWC’s event registration portal to make this purchase. The event is listed as Common Expressions. Please fill out all necessary fields to proceed to payment section. Once payment is received, a confirmation email will be sent to you with the downloadable link.

God is Always at His Work

By: Shannon Youell, Director of Church Planting

Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at His work to this very day, and I too am working.”- John 5:17

No one has been unaffected by the events of the past eleven months. No one. Individuals, families, businesses, governments, weddings, funerals and places of worship. All have experienced the affects that a pandemic can have in our world.

Our churches have shifted and responded from no-gathered meetings, to partially-gathered meetings and back to no-gathered meetings. Through all of this, we have been prayerfully asking God to reveal Himself at work around us so that we are encouraged to continue being missionally and faithfully present in our neighbourhoods and in encouraging and discipling our churches.

We are all hearing stories of churches both adapting to the challenges and struggling with the challenges and changes. And some of those stories are surprises–we can’t always assume which churches will be struggling and which will find new ways to thrive and flourish. Some of those stories are within our current new churches/plants. Here are some of their stories.

Greenhills Christian Fellowship-Winnipeg-East

If you have the pleasure of hanging out with Filipino people, you will know how they evangelize–they eat together, have parties, BBQ’s in the park. With the Code Red restrictions in Winnipeg, it became very challenging to build neighbourhood relationships and do evangelism.

Yet, this past summer they celebrated baptism of new believers and as Pastor Arnold Mercado notes, in terms of people studying the Bible and learning the deeper truths of God, they’ve had more opportunities and people are growing in their faith. He reports that the best way to describe their planting community right now is in how God is building them, noting that ten months ago they hardly knew one another and now are growing together deeper in their relationships with Christ and with one another. They feel better prepared to saturate their neighbourhood with the Gospel, once restrictions are eased.

This past fall, they had their official launch from their sending church. Where God is at work and His people join Him, even a pandemic cannot stop the work of the Spirit among the people!

Hope Church of Calgary

Everything they do is around food and tea and visiting. Take those out of the equation and our brothers and sisters at Hope are discouraged and not adapting well to the online meeting applications. But even in the midst of these challenges, God is still at work.

Pastor Mouner faithfully delivers to each congregant’s home the elements of bread and cup for shared, online Communion. An important element of Communion for them is the actual shared loaf of bread. It gives him an opportunity to have a safely-distanced, non-virtual conversation with his congregants.

A new preacher among the congregation is being raised up—a blessing for the Pastor and congregation. Mouner has also begun an online connection with other Syrian ministers around the world and the testimonies from other places are exciting and encouraging. There are many testimonies of an amazing revival among Iranians and Kurdish peoples.

Even in the challenges and struggles, Mouner and Hope Church see God at work amid the chaos of COVID-19.

Makarios Evangelical Church

Pastor Jessica of MEC is an innovator. Like the rest of us, she has had to pivot and adapt multiple times in the past eleven months. This new plant, launched in 2018 has been very intentional in both the spiritual formation of the community of believers who gather at MEC and in their mission field of international students who are housed and schooled right across the street from their church building location.

Using social media, apps, zoom and other creative vehicles they are staying connected on a daily basis with one another and the students. This is vital for the students, already isolated from home, culture and family, and now isolated from activities and relationships they were beginning to build in this foreign land. Meeting with the students online can be challenging, as they are already online for all their classes, yet Makarios has found places that resonate with the students. One of the practices the church has been doing all along is to cook dinner together with the students and then eat, fellowship and talk about life, school, family and faith. Most of these students would be eating alone, and this has been a very popular event for them.

Now restricted to their dorms, they eat alone, so the church is now ‘eating’ with them via zoom. Now that’s looking at your context, at the needs of your neighbourhood and finding a way to engage in spite of Covid!

Pray for and Celebrate Together

These are incredible testimonies and a reminder that God is certainly at work amongst His churches despite any restrictions placed upon public gatherings. We can choose to riff on all the barriers to ministry we are trying to navigate through, or we can allow our thinking and creativity to forge us into finding new rhythms and ways of being the people of God, called to be both salt to one another and light to those struggling in dark places. Yes, there are challenges and some of us are really struggling to find our way. Let our stories of God-at-work among us shed some light into our own darkness and grant us encouragement to persevere through our trials.

Pray for each other. Pray for these new churches and for the churches in your area. Pray for light to break through in the least expected of places. God has promised to never leave us nor forsake us, and though it may seem like it some days, He has not done either but rather is stirring us up to join Him in HHs work of bringing his kingdom come here on earth, as it is (already) in heaven.

Joyce & Dave Insley: A CBWC Love Story

They had a foundation of friendship already as they shared many of the same social circles. Dave said one of the things that drew him to Joyce was how smart she was. (She was in school to become a teacher at the time). One Saturday when they were both working, Dave asked Joyce to accompany him to the movies. It became a bit of a habit after that, and soon they were a couple.

They got along well with each other’s families, despite some major differences. Dave had six brothers and sisters, Joyce was an only child. She greatly enjoyed joining in with a larger family though. Dave appreciated her family as well, her parents often had them over for Sunday supper and encouraged the two of them when it was time to get married.

They wed in 1955 and rented a house for the first five years or so until they paid-off their $2,500 building lot. They then applied for a special federal mortgage-build loan for $12,800 and with family labour help, they built a modest, three-bedroom home. While married, they started attending the local United Church, but later joined Olivet Baptist Church in New Westminster.

Exactly one mile away from their house was the school where Joyce worked as a teacher. She took a ten-year break to raise her young kids, then went back to teaching from 1970 to 1995. Dave held various roles in sales and product support for a multi-national equipment firm for 33 years. He then held various other jobs over the next 12 years, including being a realtor and helping run a DQ franchise for two years. He also had a very busy volunteer life.

After living in the same place for 50 years, they decided to sell their home and move to Kelowna, B.C. to be closer to family. They now live there and have been members of the Kelowna First Baptist Church for the past nine years.

When asked what advice they would give to young, married couples today, they both agreed that being patient with each other was vital for a healthy marriage. Life is long with many difficulties. In order to have a partnership last you must have grace and patience for one another. Their marriage allowed each to maintain some sense of independence and growth, while staying committed to each other and the family.

SERVE+ | July 8-11, 2021

SERVE+ (SERVE “Plus”) is a brand-new experience coming to your local community from July 8-11, 2021.  SERVE+ will feature the core of the familiar SERVE experience while adding in a few new elements, allowing the event to proceed safely as the pandemic recovery continues.  Each day (Thursday-Saturday) during SERVE+, youth from across Western Canada will bless their hometowns through active service in the name of Jesus.  Each night, hundreds of youth from BC, YT, AB, NWT, SK, and MB will gather online for an interactive livestream worship celebration.  Then on Sunday, each youth group will have the opportunity to bring their SERVE+ experience back to their local church family.  Register on the SERVE page.