Ministerial: strengthening churches

“We do this because we want to better understand who we are so that we can make the necessary adjustments to better serve in our appointed roles within the kingdom of God and advance his work.”

Andy Woodworth addresses ministerial gathered on June 28, 2024. (Mo Friesen)

THIS IS THE REASON Conference Pastor Andy Woodworth gave for the State of the Church address he presented. It also served as a fitting theme for the entire Ministerial Day held at La Crete Christian Fellowship Church (LCCFC) on June 28, 2024.

Peter Fehr, associate pastor at LCCFC, opened the meeting with a devotional, reminding participants of our separation from God and the reconciliation we have in Jesus.

The business of the day was next as Board of Leadership and Outreach (BLO) chair Cameron McKenzie reported back to the ministerial, two changes that had been made in the Pastoral Ethics Commitment in response to ministerial feedback. Essentially, the covenant which holds pastors accountable was expanded to hold the congregation accountable as well. The two new sections ask the congregation to covenant to uphold the pastor, abide by the same standards they expect of the pastor, and to treat the pastor and each other in ways that honour God and each other. No decision was called for at this meeting.

EMC Executive Director Emery Plett then explained proposals being made by the General Board—a set of guidelines to help determine whether or not an organization is a good fit to affiliate with EMC. The first guideline is the scope of the organization—we would no longer be responsible to or for those that serve only a local region but would consider provincial or national groups. The second set of criteria is whether an organization is theologically and missionally aligned with EMC.

Conference Pastor Andy Woodworth described the updated ministerial credentialing process. The revised version would have five stages instead of only one and allow pastors who have relevant education and experience to skip over one or more of the stages.

He then went on to talk about the state of the EMC. He asked what it means to be EMC and what our priorities are. The ministerial spent most of this time in small groups discussing questions he proposed—about our distinctives, our culture, our experiences outside the “EMC camp” and “some areas of biblical understanding or practice that our ministerial should be intentional about exploring or discussing.”

Waldie Neufeld opened the afternoon by talking about disciple-making, first pointing out ways we often misunderstand the term to mean something “out there,” and then urging participants to think about what “go and make disciples” means.

Gerald Reimer, Director of Global Outreach, spoke about how missions can change to meet the challenge of immigration, with tips for how to do that well and an explanation of how the Board of Missions is being guided by their updated vision statement and strategic objectives.

Emery Plett followed with information on how the Church Planting Task Force, which has been without a director since Jan 1, 2024, is moving forward. They are considering a combination of church planting support and congregational vitality as part of the new director job description.

Jared Schroeder (BLO member and pastor of the Westpointe Community Church in Grande Prairie) pointed ministerial to Psalm 27 and looking to the Lord as those gathered moved into a time of sharing and prayer before closing the meeting for the day.