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On May 1 & 2 leaders from our MB churches from around the province gathered online for our annual convention.  While few, if any, of you will work your way through all of the convention booklet or video reports posted on the bcmb.org website, I wanted to give you a few highlights that I hope will spur you on to at least explore a few items of interest in more detail.  

1) Global Mission through MULTIPLY - Now more than ever we need the perspectives and experiences of our global church, many of whom have lived through and/or are still living through challenges far greater than the one we are currently facing.  Like the church in Malawi that was birthed in a refugee camp, as Multiply Director Randy Friesen shared with us in this video clip.

2) CAMPING MINISTRIES - BCMB Bible Camp Society oversees the operations of our FIVE CAMPS

  • Personal Observation - Our camping ministries are deeply impacted by COVID. For years our camps have been a hub for evangelism, discipleship and leadership development so please pray for the camp directors as they seek creative options for summer ministry and staffing.
  • Memorable Quote - "When we were short-staffed, God provided.  When we were drained of energy, God refreshed.  When we were weary and had no more to give, God filled us." (Tim Metz - Pines Bible Camp Director)

3) DEVELOPING LEADERS - in addition to providing ongoing training for pastoral leaders through Equipping Days and workshops, our two primary institutions for training and developing leaders are Columbia Bible College and MB Biblical Seminary. The Pastoral Ministries Committee (PMC) is the team that oversees the credentialing of our pastors and leaders in our BCMB Conference.

  • Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford - CBC has been around in one form or another for 84 years.  I was struck how, as president Bryan Born noted, "CBC was birthed during the great depression.  It continued to offer Bible classes throughout World War II, and has faced a number of challenges in the years since...Young adults have been inspired, equipped and empowered for God's ministry.  Throughout these times God has always been faithful." 
  • MB Biblical Seminary in Langley offers in-class courses in Langley, Saskatoon, Winnipeg and Waterloo as well as off campus classes online through ACTS World Campus or courses that stream live.  MB Seminary graduates serve in 14 different denominations in 7 different countries.

4) CHURCH PLANTING - Church planting has long been a vital expression of our heart to share the love of Christ with the people of this wonderful province.  The past year has been deeply challenging with the release of our former church planting ministry C2C.  A church planting taskforce was formed to: (a) ensure that our existing church planters received coaching and funding as needed (23% of our BCMB budget), and (b) develop a clear church planting strategy for our conference.

5) RESOURCING CHURCHES - Our conference minister Rob Thiessen and our Director of Resource Ministries Denis Federau work hard to support the 100+ churches throughout our province which represent nearly half of the Canadian MB constituency.  Part of Rob & Denis' work is coming alongside churches in transition and crisis.  This past year two of our churches lost their pastors in very difficult circumstances.  You may recall that our sister church in Port Moody (PMPG) lost their Pastor Tom Cheung when he was killed in a tragic car accident last May.  In October, Real Life Community Church pastor Mike Roth passed away after a long battle with cancer.  I was reminded to continue to pray for the families and churches that grief these losses.

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