Summer 2013

Page 1

The Free Methodist Church in Canada | Summer 2013 | Volume 10, Issue 2

CONTENT

Reflecting the diversity of ministry expression within the Free Methodist family

COVER

WE HAVE EVERYTHING WE NEED?!

We have everything we need?! by Bishop Keith Elford

BISHOP KEITH ELFORD

PAGE 2 Editor’s Desk More ... both here and there! by Jared Siebert PAGE 3 Regional Gathering and Leadership Development by Kim Henderson PAGE 4-7 Regional Gathering What have we learned? Stories by Ryan Young, Dale Harris, Keith Obgobu and Nancy Luross PAGES 8 Marc McAlister appointed to National Leaership Team Portfolio: Church Health by Marc McAlister PAGES 9 Preparing for General Conference by Chris Lewis All Aboard the food truck ... or not! by Alison McKinnon PAGE 10 Passages Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow by Sandy Crozier PAGE 11 OUR HISTORY: J W Haley’s Missiology: The Mission Temporary, the Church Permanent by Dan Sheffield ICCM: The importance of sponsorship by Paula Moriarity PAGE 12 What is the Holy Spirit saying to us about International Ministry? by Dan Sheffield

DID YOU KNOW? The MOSAIC is produced using environmentally responsible processes. The paper is acid-free, contains 10% post-consumer waste material, and is treated with a non-chlorine whitening process. Vegetable-based inks were used throughout the publication and it is 100% recyclable.

MOSAIC

is a publication of The Free Methodist Church in Canada

4315 Village Centre Court Mississauga, Ontario L4Z 1S2 T. 905.848.2600 F. 905.848.2603 E. lisa.howden@fmcic.ca www.fmcic.ca For submissions:

lisa.howden@fmcic.ca Dan Sheffield, Editor-in-Chief Lisa Howden, Managing Editor and Production Mailed under publication agreement #40008369 Return postage guaranteed

F

or the last 30 years, “Family Feud” in one format or another, has been a popular television game show. The way that it works is that two families line up on the stage facing each other. After it is determined which team will go first, one by one each family member of that team guesses what the top six answers are in a survey to a questions like: “A place you would go on your first date”. After an answer is given, the game show host shouts “Survey says!” If the answer is one of the top six answers, that answer flips down on the screen in its place among the top answers. If it wasn’t, a big X appears to the annoying sound of a buzzer. As in baseball, if a team gets three strikes, it is “out” and their opponents are up. Do you remember the show? Today’s question is “Reasons for having a General Conference …” And the Board of Administration (BOA) will give the answer. Here goes: “Reasons for having a General Conference …” » Answer: to do the business of the church! » BOA says: Yes. (# 6 priority) » Answer: to build relationships among leaders! » BOA says: Yes. (# 4 priority) » Answer: a good way to spend the 2014 Victoria Day weekend. » BOA says: X. (Though that is the date.) » Answer: to celebrate our accomplishments/diversity. » BOA says: Yes. (# 5 priority) » Answer: to inspire involvement/build momentum! » BOA says: Yes. (# 2 priority) » Answer: to teach leaders/influencers! » BOA says: Yes. (# 3 priority) » Answer: to worship and pray together! » BOA says: Yes. (# 1 priority) There you have them, the reasons why we continue to have General Conferences every three years. And I love what we have set as our first priority! Now about the title of this article – which is also the theme of the General Conference. At first glance it looks like we have a typo in the punctuation. Which is it? A question? Or a strong affirmation! And the answer is Both!! Here’s what we want to do with our time together. Many of our church leaders – local and national, live with inadequate resources. We dream about what we could do if we only had this or lots of that. So our response to the question “We have everything we need?” is “No we don’t!” But when we turn in our Bibles to 2 Peter 1:3, it says: “His divine power has given us everything that we need for life and godliness….” So which is it? And which perspective will guide our thinking these days as a movement? Does what Peter

2014 General Conference theme | May 16-19, 2014

wrote in his New Testament epistles to early church Christians have anything to say to the circumstances in which we are working to form communities of devoted Christfollowers in 2014? Compared to what those believers were up against in his day, “Do we have everything we need?” We’re asking the Lord Jesus to help us get a fresh perspective and a new grip on what it will take to live out His Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) in the spirit of His Great Commandment (Matthew 22: 37-40). If we don’t have everything we need in a building project or in a military campaign, Jesus suggests (Luke 14: 28-33) that it may be because someone did not really count the cost of what was needed to be successful in the project. A building requires resources and a military campaign calls for committed troops. Both scenarios require a clear understanding of what the architect and commanding officer have in mind. It could be that General Conference will be a time of seeking God in humility and repentance and putting ourselves and everything we hold dear (our dreams, our schemes, our preferences, our possessions, our preoccupations, etc) on the altar for the sake of His mission in the world.

He (God) may have new levels of personal and corporate consecration to which He is calling us and disturbingly different ways to which He desires to re-direct us. When there are clear undivided hearts and absolute surrender to the Lordship of Jesus, we have everything that we need. The best technique and technology that Jesus has for ministry in this rapidly changing world is fully devoted joyful witnesses who are confident in the reality of His living presence with them.

Let’s think about one of our stories. Led by the Holy Spirit and following some clear principles, Canadian pioneering missionary John Wesley Haley founded what is now a thriving Free Methodist Church in Burundi, the Congo and Rwanda with far less than what we have and far more of what we need. “Yes,” you may say, “but that was a different time and vastly different circumstances!” Exactly! And we are finding ourselves in a vastly different Canada and our circumstances are rapidly changing. So, do we have everything we need from God’s perspective? I don’t believe that He has changed his mind about whether He wants a presence in Canada that bears the name of His Son the Lord Jesus. But He may have new levels of personal and corporate consecration to which He is calling us and disturbingly different ways to which He desires to re-direct us. So, General Conference is going to be an engaging and challenging event. The conference will open with keynote addresses on Friday night and Saturday morning and night by Dr. Will Willimon. This man of God comes with rich life experience as a pastor, teacher, university chaplain and most recently bishop. And we can count on him to challenge us with prophetic messages. Twenty five years ago, he co-authored a book with Stanley Hauerwas entitled Resident Aliens: A Provocative Christian Assessment of Culture and Ministry for People Who Know that Something is Wrong. During the day that General Conference begins, we are partnering with Epiphaneia Network to bring these two respected authors to our site for a one day conference. Willimon and Hauerwas will revisit what they foresaw in their book and lead conversations about where we are now. It’s going to be good and we are trusting that what they have to say will spill over into the informal coffee break conversations and formal conference discussions that will happen during the weekend and beyond! CONTINUES ON PAGE 3 - EVERYTHING WE NEED


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