April 2ndMCBC Pastoral Highlight ~ Ed Willms ~ Emmanuel Church
MCBC Pastoral Highlight ~ Ed Willms ~ Emmanuel Church.
Karin (my wife) and I have been welcomed with open arms into Emmanuel church. Although we only knew a few people prior to saying 'yes' to this call, we have discovered an amazing group of individuals who are seeking after Jesus.
There have been numerous highlights in our first five months. Starting just before Christmas gave us a chance to visit most of the small groups and thereby enjoy their great hospitality. It was a wonderful way to connect with this community.
As we launched into the new year we focused on the 500th anniversary of Anabaptism and have been blessed with insightful lectures by Gareth Brandt. On January 21st, we had many guests join us desiring to know more about this significant birthdate.
Following that, we began a series entitled "The Making of a Movement", an exploration of the book of Acts. Over the course of 2025 we hope to explore and reflect on the many stories contained in this book.
On March 16th we hosted the African Children's Choir and were blessed with their passion and joy. March 29th, our leadership teams met together for a half day retreat to rethink our church vision and to plan some strategic steps forward.
At the same time, while all of these engaging activities have been transpiring, we have had 5 funerals. Mostly they were long standing members of our church, but in one case it was a young mom. Life is filled with both joy and sorrow. So we are grateful for each day and this opportunity to journey with this great group of people.
As we move towards summer we look forward to getting to know the MC world a bit more through the lense of Gathering 2025 in Kitchener. Buen Camino (wishing you all a good journey).