Hiring Opportunity: MCEC Operations Director

MCEC is seeking a strategic, analytical and collaborative senior leader with a passion for the Church to serve as Operations Director.

The Operations Director serves as a member of MCEC’s Executive Staff Team, leading the development and implementation of operational systems and processes to strengthen MCEC’s ministry supporting pastors and congregations to thrive. The Operations Director ensures that the physical, technological, communications, financial and human resources needed to operate MCEC are effectively and efficiently readily available, well managed and maintained, and put to excellent use.

*This is a full time interim position from approx. Sep 30, 2021 – Aug 31, 2023, with possibility of applying for the permanent role. Applications will be accepted until August 26, 2021 or until this position is filled.

Book Study: Braiding Sweetgrass

You are invited to join a 5-week book study led by MCC BC's Indigenous Neighbours program. 

Camp Squeah Update - July 7, 2021

It’s great to hear the sounds of laughter and seeing families and children re-connecting with one another in this special place of refuge. We’re wrapping up our first Family Camp of the summer after having endured the heat dome that accompanied our staff training week. We’re thankful for the health and safety we experienced in this heat wave. We’d also like to express our gratitude to Doug and Jenny Pankratz who’ve served as our much appreciated camp speakers this week. On Sunday we’ll be welcoming our first group of children campers. We’re very excited! Please pray for our staff and campers as we navigate new territory and adjust to our new safety protocols. Our aim is to ensure Covid-19 does not become the central theme of our time together and pray that God will use this time to bring healing and relief to those of us starved for community and connection.  

An Encounter, Embrace, and Embodiment of Christ in Community

As the MCA faith family we are halfway through Year 2 of our 3 Year Action Plan, “Encountering, Embracing, Embodying Christ…in Community”. The past 16 months of health restrictions have forced us to look for different ways to connect with each other and be the community God calls us to be. I am grateful for the many ways God brings people together even during a pandemic, whether within our faith family or beyond.
 

MC Sask response to discovery of unmarked graves at Marieval Indian Residential School

The congregations of Mennonite Church Saskatchewan sit in a season of grief in the wake of the discovery of a further 751 unmarked graves near a former Indian residential school close by the Cowessess First Nation. We lament in solidarity with the sorrow of Indigenous neighbours and communities throughout southeast Saskatchewan and southwest Manitoba whose children were abducted to the Marieval Indian Residential School. We offer our grief to all those who are impacted by the news of these deaths, and we pray for all those who bear the wounds of the residential school system, as well as for those who have been retraumatized by this discover

As congregations of Mennonite Church Saskatchewan, we renew our efforts to understand the impact Indian Residential Schools continue to have on our Indigenous neighbours and seek to implement the TRC's Calls to Action (esp. calls 48-49, 58-61, and 73-75), pursuing a just (re)conciliation where tending wounds fosters the healing and hope of beloved community.

 Mennonite Central Committee Saskatchewan has developed a list of suggested initial actions you and your congregation might consider in their “Lament & Call to Churches: Response to unmarked graves in Saskatchewan,” published on June 24, 2021. These include,

• If we in our churches do not know and acknowledge the devastating truth of Indian Residential Schools yet, we must do so now.
• If we in our churches do not know and acknowledge the truth of systemic discrimination in Canada’s legal system past and present, we must do so now.
• If we in our churches do not know about and acknowledge the overwhelming challenges, past and present, facing Indigenous families, women, and children, we must do so now.
• If we in our churches do not know about and acknowledge the reality of this nation’s colonial past, including the Doctrine of Discovery and the colonial settlement of the prairies, we must do so now.

May the Creator's tender mercy and promise of justice be with all who grieve.

In the name of the Crucified One,

Ryan Siemens

Executive Minister, Mennonite Church Saskatchewan

Ron Janzen: An integral part of the Camp Valaqua community

Ron Janzen, of Springridge Mennonite, Pincher Creek, has been fundraising for the Camp Valaqua Hike-a-thon for over 20 years, often bringing in the most donations. And yet, fundraising is only one part of his contribution to life at Camp Valaqua.