At EMC gatherings, celebration mingles with concern

You may find some aspects of this issue of The Messenger ironic. It’s a joyful, even playful celebration of our two signature events—Abundant Springs and Festival (formerly Convention)—and the more recently added Young Adult Retreat. There are a lot of pictures in this issue of great worship, laughter, hilarious games, meaningful conversations, prayer times and messages and presentations.

But when you read some of the material that was presented at the events—look under the hood so to speak—you will see that while we celebrate so much that is great—so much that God has done and is doing—we’re also concerned.

Driedger writes about how deconstruction can be understood and gives pointers for a healthy way to evaluate beliefs without giving up Christ.

We’re concerned about people who have left the church and those who seem to have walked away from their faith completely, and we’re worried about the people who might leave in the future.

Leading off our series of articles is a written version of a presentation made by James Driedger at the Young Adult retreat. You may have heard the word deconstruction tossed around before and figured out that, while the name is new, the concept really isn’t. Yet it’s not something to take lightly as Driedger explains. He writes about how deconstruction can be understood and gives pointers for a healthy way to evaluate beliefs without giving up Christ.

Though the original presentation was prepared for young adults, this is a relevant topic well beyond that age group. There are people in every life stage asking faith questions. It’s also valuable information for those among us who are settled and confident in faith because it helps us know how to pray. It can also help us maintain peace while others need space to work things out. And if the Holy Spirit nudges, maybe we’ll have the opportunity to share some well-timed words of wisdom.

From the Ministerial Meeting (always part of the Festival weekend) are two more presentations that address similar concerns in the church. Darryl Klassen, pastor of Rosenort Fellowship Chapel, writes about loss—specifically the loss of people who stopped attending our churches during COVID and haven’t been back. And the third piece is from Conference Pastor Andy Woodworth who presented his research on the state of the church in Canada to the Ministerial. It’s not an encouraging report. But, he says, there are four “white pills,” and he provides recommendations for where we should focus our efforts.

There’s so much we wanted to share with you that we added a photo insert highlighting Abundant Springs and Festival. Even that wasn’t enough space, so if you’ve never looked at our website now is the time! You will find Abundant Springs and Festival highlight videos right on the main page at www.emconference.ca. And the two messages Conference Pastor Andy Woodworth presented during Festival sessions are here and here. He uses a kid’s storybook and a light touch appropriate to the weekend theme to say important things about what it means to be a church together.

You’ll also find the video version of some of the pieces we’ve presented on these pages and some more that didn’t make it in. Happy reading!