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From two nations, a crossroads meeting
By Celeste Kennel-Shank Mennonite Weekly ReviewWINNIPEG, Man. — Fast cars. Glossy magazines full of expensive clothes. Piles and piles of money.
Two girls from Mennonite Church Canada congregations sing during morning worship July 9 at the People’s Summit for Faithful Living. — Photo by Celeste Kennel-Shank/Mennonite Weekly Review
During opening worship at the People’s Summit for Faithful Living July 8 at Canadian Mennonite University, a video by Chad and Donovan Kroeker flipped among images of consumer culture, ending with an image of a crossroads. Nearly 600 people — more than 500 from Mennonite Church Canada and about 60 from Mennonite Church USA — gathered July 8-10 to worship, learn from each other and examine questions around what Christ’s call to discipleship means for the church today.
“When a church is faithful to its calling, it will always be at a crossroads,” said Robert J. Suderman, general secretary of MC Canada.
Tom and Christine Sine of Seattle, authors and speakers, catalogued during July 8 worship the evidence of chaos around that crossroads: economic upheaval, global income inequality and declining church membership. Christians are called to respond to global crises by creating new expressions of the kingdom, Tom Sine said.
“We need to create communities with a difference,” he said.
He also stressed the need to listen to ideas from young adults about the future of the church.
“If you want to keep them around then you need to invite them to own the program,” he said.
Christine Sine added that faith must be part of daily activities.
“All that really matters depends on the life, death and resurrection of Christ,” she said. “That’s meant to be the center point of how we live our lives.”
April Yamasaki, pastor of Emmanuel Mennonite Church in Abbotsford, B.C., spoke of Mennonites’ central identity uniting them across theological and cultural divides that can separate.
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