Dear Friends,
There are such a variety of things to talk about in our life and ministry together that it is a very challenging discipline indeed to limit ourselves to only one topic. Leadership Forums and their old incarnation of the local association, in fact is a topic that embraces a wide number of concerns. But its main purpose is to learn to support each other in the ministerial of the local church.
You will recall my comments over the last few months that when we lost strong associations as a form of ministry, evangelism, and “governance” in the 1960’s, we lost a vital aspect of local work together. The leadership forums do not do justice to the nature of the events, for they seem to emphasize leaders, rather than a broad representation of the body of Christ. In many of our leadership forums, there is in fact a wonderful breadth and depth of local church involvement, not limited to those who are in official positions. While you may well know that these gatherings involve good food, good relationships, prayer, and the presentation of at least one, sometimes two, topics, what you may not know is that we hope and trust these events become times we look forward to, so that we might share in God’s work in the communities in which we live.
The history of the Vancouver leadership forum has quite dramatically evolved since last September. Mid September (the busiest time for many) last year still saw almost 90 people come out to a discussion and presentation on evangelism. In November, over 120 people came to hear Darrell Johnson speak on how we do the work of evangelism in our city. Then, just last month, we had to restrict registration at 150 to come and hear Tim Colborne’s story of faith and mental health. Each time, over 20 churches have been part of the event.
The next event in Vancouver will be on 9 April at Trinity Baptist Church in Vancouver. The speakers will be Myrna Sears (Carey), Dan Galpin (Keats Camp) and Brent Weick (CBWC Youth) around young adults, the church and engagement (or lack thereof). Please contact Dawn Johannesson in the BCY Regional office if you wish to attend: bcyarea@cbwc.ca
The next event in Alberta will be at Westview Baptist in Calgary, AB, asking the question “How do we have respectful dialogue on hot button issues?” Please contact Rod Olson in the Calgary office if you wish to attend: rolson@cbwc.ca
But what is profoundly remarkable is the most recent Winnipeg Leadership Forum; it was deeply moving for those who were part of it. It is a topic that is of deep concern to many Canadians and particularly emotional for those in Winnipeg; missing and murdered Aboriginal women.
Here, in part, is how Gord King describes the event.
My personal report is that Mark (Doerksen) organized the most moving and best attended Leadership Forum to date. The presenters were Diane Redsky and Bernadette Smith. The former is a member of the Shoal Lake band and led a national task force for three years exploring sexual exploitation in Canada. The latter gave the painful story of her sister who was lured into the sex trade, became an addict and eventually disappeared.
The evening was unsettling for most of us. We learned that most human trafficking takes place without crossing borders. Traffickers identify girls who are vulnerable at ages 12 and 13. Diane Redsky commented that it is dangerous to be a 12 year old girl, particularly if she is a person of color. We learned about how traffickers/pimps operate, the use of drugs & violence, the pressure on girls to earn $1000 – $2000 a day, the average annual profit of $180,000 per girl and other evils that we wished we did not know. We also learned the importance of educating our sons, grandsons and males in our churches about respect and commitments to equity.
Undoubtedly there will be many conversations in Winnipeg about how we might move forward on this journey. We will benefit from the experience and advice of others.
In the last eight months, parts of this family have spoken and gathered together around evangelism, preaching, mental health and faith, missing women, youth, and the challenges of difficult conversations in a society that doesn’t always walk in faith.
We are growing into resources that reflect the challenges, pathos, joys, and engagements of everyday life as we seek to be faithful to a living God who meets us and those we serve in challenging places.
Warmly,
In Christ,
Jeremy Bell