December 3rd

From the Desk of our Executive Minister

Spiritual Life Emphasis

Spiritual Life Emphasis

Every new church year (Advent) and then the calendar/work year in January, there is a threshold space (liminal time/space is the $20 word) in many people's hearts and minds. One of the most powerful spiritual formation tools is using the calendars of life in your discipleship practices as a church community and personally.

I would encourage you and your church to consider a prayer focus for days, weeks, or the month of January—a special spiritual life emphasis with guided prayer times and themes. A suggestion would be to pray into the four draft priorities of Mennonite Church Canada:

Four Key Initiatives that we feel God is calling us to:

1. Centring on Jesus Through Theological Renewal
2. Becoming a Vibrant Intercultural Church
3. Discovering, Calling, and Equipping Leaders
4. Embodying Peace as a Witness and a Bridge

Here is my hot take on some of these (a lot more can and will be said, I'm sure):

One: This to me is clearly a call to renewal as a CHURCH, not simply being a spiritual blessing of the culture writ large as is. Jesus is the scandal we lean into first and foremost—upsetting our apple carts left, right, and centre. For some, this may mean entering a second naivety, to be caught up in the Wonder of Jesus and the King Jesus Gospel (see Scot McKnight (anglican-anabaptist), Matthew Bates, etc.).

Two: Can we de-colonize our theology?  Before you choke or start shouting, hear me out. We are so very influenced by late modern Western HYPER-individualism. Our supposed progressive-conservative divides are usually fights using the same coin, different sides of this hyper-individualism. We miss much of the power of the written Word of God, the Bible, because we read it through this lens (There are lots of great high-view of the Bible resources on fixing this problem). The good news is Jesus is sending the global church to Canada to help re-evangelize us :-). Embrace it. Let go of privilege in how we frame the Bible, Jesus, and justice.

Three: The Holy Spirit is still calling leaders. Are we making space for them and equipping them? We need to revisit how we form leaders for the church. Ephesians 4 tells us that God raises up folks and wants us to learn to lead local churches in collaborative ways. The priesthood of all believers is often used as an excuse to ignore gifts and offices the New Testament tells us are vital for the health and growth of all. It means no mediators, not "no one is called and no one is responsible" (which is the reality when we confuse the priesthood of all with meaning everyone has the same function. Priesthood of all is PERHAPS the most abused phrase in our tradition. See 1 Cor. 12 on not using it to dis-member, and deform the body). 

Four: Peacemaking IS a form of evangelization. In fact in the word of the Apostle Paul, we have this ministry of reconciliation (with God, others, creation, self) We share Jesus by entering into the mess. Let's start with our own. Maybe even doing basic, on-the-ground training as part of our local church discipleship processes. Peace with God, Self, Others, Creation. Do you offer regular courses on this? Not simply abstract seminars, but actual "here's what this looks like, let's lean forward together" training? We are a PEACE church. Yet, we are often at war in our churches, in our hearts, and with others. Don’t talk to me about conflict over there somewhere when one is ripping and tearing down your neighbour right here and constantly shooting at your local church. Our peace-breaking or faking, needs to be replaced by active peace-making on-the-ground here. Justice and mercy start at home. I had more local church peace training in the Christian and Missionary Alliance than I ever observed in my Mennonite Church USA experiences. We talk a big game, but Jesus help us—let's start it in our own backyard.

Don't miss the Spiritual Life Emphasis opportunity of January 2025! And every January.

Cycles of outward focus and inward development are vital to growing in health and even welcoming new believers into the church.

Servant of the Lord, and yours,

Shelby Boese, Rev. Dr., Ältester

November 18th

From the Desk of our Executive Minister

Christ the King/Reign of Christ

This Sunday marks the end of the church year in the Western Christian calendar. In 1925, the Roman church officially named this Sunday "Christ the King" in response to rising nationalism. Many churches that follow the liturgical calendar followed suit. 

More than ever—and certainly in line with Anabaptist impulses on the centrality of Jesus—this seems like something worth teaching and celebrating. In Jesus, the rule and reign of God entered creation fully, as foreshadowed by the Jewish prophets. And if we believe the Holy Spirit is present and working everywhere, we can see glimpses of truth even in the pursuits of our neighboring faiths.

If your church does not celebrate the last Sunday of the church year, this might be a good time to talk about the rise of division driven by algorithms and various political interests. It's worth naming that in our reaction to U.S. Christian nationalism, our response as followers of Jesus can't simply be "more Canada" (or allegiance to any other totalizing party or statist system). The local church is called to be an alternative politics through its weekly and daily rhythms of worship, prayer, learning, and service.

We are the City of God in the midst of this world—building a people who give allegiance and service to and in the name of Jesus Christ. This is our first task; otherwise, we simply serve the impulses and powers around us. Out of this one Gospel—Christ is King—flows power and peace for the repair of the world, and we are changed personally in it.

"That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow..." (Philippians 2:10-11)

Collect* from the Book of Common Prayer: 

Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. 

*a prayer meant to gather the intentions of the people and the focus of worship into a succinct prayer.

Servant of Jesus Christ and His people,

Rev. Shelby Boese, D.Min. 

Executive and Church Leadership Minister for BC

Read on the Connect: MCBC Connect - Nov 19th

November 5th

From the Desk of Our Executive Minister

Culture of Life People

05NOV2025 Culture of Life People

I have been astounded at the inconsistencies sometimes in my own life. It's good when a close friend or colleague can gently encourage me towards better integrity, narrowing the gap between my inner and outer selves. This is very countercultural in the world and often, unfortunately, the church. When we do not work at this, we end up in soul-deadening cycles of performing (our outward self) and hiding (our inner self).

In our larger Mennonite-land, we have similar gaps.

Some heated examples that come to mind: People who were loud about making abortion rare (illegal or safe and rare) may do little to help encourage and support the single mother post-birth. People who were loud about Gaza are silent on the ancient scourge of antisemitism (or worse, parrot the talking points of those committed to  Jewish erasure) and are silent about serious conflicts with equal or worse death-dealing. Conflicts that include the Islamist violence against Christians in Nigeria, Sudan, Muslim Uyghurs being enslaved and experiencing slow genocide (literal and cultural) in East Turkestan (Mainland China colonizer name "Xinjiang Autonomous Region"—which is anything but autonomous), the Kurds, and so on. 

We also have the situation where MAiD is undercutting the dignity of some, such that the UN (not a bastion of even-handed moralising by any measure) is calling on Canada to rein it in. It's pushing a dangerous line of devaluing life in the name of a narrowly defined understanding of dignity for differently abled folks and for those with painful mental illness. (https://www.inclusioncanada.ca/post/do-better-inclusion-canada-welcomes-un-committee-s-concluding-observations-on-canada-s-disabilit )

I would like to encourage those of us in this West Coast Anabaptist-Mennonite Network AKA MCBC to cast ourselves on the grace of Christ. Let us consider our outward peacemaking and our culture-of-life—because Jesus names and displays on the Cross that everyone has inestimable worth—in a more honest and robust way.

I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. -Galatians 2:20

When we detach the Peace with God and Self from peace with Others and Creation, we are easily drawn into political-power-over ways of being that enslave us to the controlling, death-dealing stories of those powers. We lose something distinct, being shaped and empowered by Jesus and the Holy Spirit in doing the works of the Kingdom/Kindom of God.

If we lose Jesus in our actions, we lose what it means to be a church and cut ourselves off from the power of God making all things new.

Your servant, and servant of God,

 Shelby