By Ken Zacharias and Brad Brandt
Paraguay is not a strong tourist destination. It is often overshadowed by surrounding, bigger, and more noteworthy countries when describing beauty, progress and peoples. It is a landlocked country with just over seven million people and where 90 percent of the population speak Guarani as well as Spanish. Continue reading Paraguay: Old News? Not When Christ is at Work in New Ways!
By James Driedger
The apostle Paul figured he could be “all things to all people” (1 Cor. 9:22). So, who is Paul for the EM Conference today and in its mission to advance Christ’s kingdom culture? Continue reading ‘Accept One Another’
By a Missionary
Dear EMC family,
These unusual times, combined with an online course on missionary care I’ve been taking during lock-down in Eastern Europe, have meant a lot of introspection. This introspection has included thinking about what EMC has done well in the course of our 20-plus years as overseas workers. Thus, this letter: I wanted to take a moment to thank you for these things, with a few other suggestions sprinkled in. Continue reading To My EMC Family: Thank You and a Few Suggestions
By Sarah Barkman
I am a turtle. Not literally, of course, but when it comes to tough stuff my default response is to hide inside my shell. The world is a very tough place, full of hurt, grief, evil, discomfort and conflict. So, I have made a nice home for myself inside my shell. It is comfortable and safe where no one can bother me. Continue reading Let’s Talk
by the Inspiring Partnership in Ministry Task Force
In 2016 the General Board undertook to collect data and opinions from all EMC church leaderships regarding their views and practices pertaining to “women in leadership” in their local churches. Following this process there was an open discussion at the 2017 Conference Council meeting where the details of this survey were presented, and small discussion groups helped to formulate a plan for a process of healthy discussion regarding this topic. The second priority listed by these discussion groups was to: “Determine what fears people have regarding women in ministry and create forums for these fears to be expressed.” Continue reading Women in Leadership: Hearing Fears and Offering Thoughts
Convention 2019 Four of Four
by Layton Friesen
To be simply Christian is to belong to the Church of Jesus Christ. This is a great mystery. Your congregation is the Church. The EMC is the Church. The Church is the global body of believers. The Church includes both the earthly Church and the heavenly Church worshipping God as one in Christ. Let’s look at the Church from two views: the Church wide and the Church narrow. Continue reading The Church Wide and the Church Narrow
Convention 2019 Three of Four
by Layon Friesen
We often hear that the Bible divides the Church. Christians around the world can’t agree on when to baptize their children, on whether Christians should go to war, on women in ministry, on divine sovereignty, on the place of the pope, on what the Lord’s Supper means, or on how sinful we are actually. We can’t even quite agree on what books should be in the Bible. Continue reading What It Means to Read the Bible like the Apostles
by David Guenther
Since I started my job working for Many Rooms Church Community in October 2019, one of my regular tasks has been to help an elderly woman named Terry access the food bank. Terry is unable to walk long distances and often needs to be close to the bathroom. So, even though the food bank is only a few blocks away, I go for her. Every other Tuesday morning I walk over to her Manitoba Housing apartment building and take the elevator to her sixteenth-floor suite. Continue reading Food Banks and COVID: Generosity in a Time of Fear
The Lord’s Prayer
by Pastor Randy Fehr
This prayer was what Jesus gave his disciples when they asked Him to teach them to pray.
It has to be special; it was from Jesus, of course! It was something that was meant to bring about change in those who made it part of their daily lives. This last section is no exception. Continue reading Bloodstream Truth: The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory
SBC Leadership Conference March 20-21, 2020
by Dr. Darrell Johnson
There are a number of critical texts in which disciples of Jesus in our time would do well to inhabit. Like Matthew 5-7 where we hear Jesus preach His now famous, but not yet fully understood, Sermon on the Mount, developing what entering into and living the Kingdom of God looks like is this world. And like John 13-17, where Jesus prepares His disciples to go on living in the absence of His physical presence, doing so through the person and ministry of His Spirit. And like Romans 5-8 where the apostle of Paul, who clearly has the mind of Christ, opens up for us, and takes us into the heart of Christian living and discipleship, calling us to die to the flesh and live to and in the Spirit. Continue reading The Most Critical Text for Today’s Disciples
