April 1stMCBC Pastoral Highlight
Lois Klassen - Eden Mennonite Church
5 Fun Facts About Lois:
1. In university I took Calculus as an elective in my Religious Studies degree.
2. I learned a lot about doing church through four years of training in Kyokushin Karate. Ask me!
3. Our family of five travelled around North America in an RV for ten months and attended Jimmy Carter’s Sunday School class in Plains, GA.
4. At one point we had four boats sitting in our driveway: our daysailer on a trailer, my nephew’s handmade sailboat, and two canoes.
5. I was a bike commuter from 2015 to 2022, when I started working in Vancouver and couldn’t ride from my home in Abbotsford!
Ministry of Eden Mennonite Church
Eden Mennonite Church loves Camp Squeah and loves to eat together. We had a fabulous time at Squeah in October for our annual church retreat, a perfect opportunity for me to connect with people just five weeks after beginning my role. On March 28 a group of men from Eden did Spring maintenance at the camp. In the months between, there have been multiple Squeah connections involving our youth and other Eden folks.
In my first seven months with Eden, I’ve experienced how shared meals and coffee times embody Eden’s values of community, fellowship, and hospitality. Sometimes I suspect the most fun happens in the kitchen before and after the event. We’ve eaten together to celebrate new members, Christmas, packing MCC relief buckets, and to honour members who have died. Our youth pastor, Kyle Dyck, has singlehandedly cooked lunch for the youth group and their parents. In recent years, the congregation’s desire to share good food has overflowed into volunteering with Bowls of Hope in Chilliwack. I sense the congregation’s deep engagement in
receiving the bread and cup around Christ’s table, the meal that nourishes every aspect of our life together.