The following are excerpts from an address by outgoing MC Canada general secretary Dan Nighswander on the second day of the bi-national assembly in Charlotte, N.C.
On June 18, the Globe and Mail started a series of articles on things Canadians do well. The first skill they discussed was separating conjoined twins. Apparently, Canada is the country of preference for people from around the world for this kind of surgery.
Friends, this is no surprise to us. We at Mennonite Church Canada know a lot about separating conjoined twins. That's what we've been doing for the last six years. And I think we've developed considerable skill at it.
Six years ago this month, I was introduced as the person who would succeed Helmut Harder as general secretary of the Canadian Church. This is now the last assembly where I will have the opportunity to address you as general secretary. So today I want to review some of the developments in MC Canada during the last six years. And I want to name some of my hopes and dreams for the future.
Over the years, we have passed resolutions in support of health care agencies and workers, and resolutions in support of agriculture-in fact, we added a day of discussion to the assembly three years ago to talk about issues of food production and land use under the title "Making peace with the land." We passed a resolution of concern about anti-Semitic acts of violence.
But there have been many issues that we have not even begun to discuss, issues that, because we are the church, we cannot avoid discussing and acting upon. There is a proposal before us this week for the mandating of a committee to lead us in the work that we must do in discerning matters of theology, ethics, polity and practice. I have high hopes and enthusiasm for the possibilities that are inherent in the proposed Faith and Life Committee.
We all know that a set of questions around homosexuality and same-sex marriage have engaged us both as citizens of Canada and as citizens of the Kingdom of God. Some of the issues are pastoral; some are theological; some are prior questions about how we discern God's voice, the relationship between Scripture and tradition and experience in giving guidance to issues of faith and life.
In almost all the assemblies since 1995 we have talked about the Canadian Mennonite-first, whether to use it as our national church paper; then how to share the costs; then how well it serves us.
In the past six years, Canadian Mennonite University has evolved faster and further than anyone publicly predicted it would. The governance pattern has changed entirely; the program is expanding; and this week we will consider whether to transfer ownership of the property to the university.
In the transformation of MC, GC and CMC into MC Canada and MC USA, perhaps the most contentious issue was defining membership. A great deal of energy was invested in that, and the task is not yet finished. One of the things we will talk about this week is our understanding of membership, and I think we have a chance to make significant progress together on this.
One of my hopes for us is that we will learn to think with our minds and feel with our hearts the precious gift of belonging to each other, not as a matter of control or obligation or suspicion, but as a wonderful privilege. I look forward to the day when we will embrace each other across Canada and leave room in our embrace for others to join us in our communities of grace, joy and peace, and through which God's healing and hope flow to the world. I look forward to the day when we can express and experience the fullness of the joy of being in communion with each other, of relishing the privilege of belonging to each other under Christ our head.
It has been for me a great disappointment that the Northwest Conference chose not to join MC Canada. One of my hopes and dreams is that one day the NWC would re-join MC Canada. I still believe God might open up a way for that relationship to be healed and full reconciliation to take place.
Back to the conjoined twins, now fully separated: the procedure of the surgery and re-construction is interesting, even fascinating, for some of us. But far more important is the quality of life that the separated twins experience. After six years I can say with confidence that the surgery has been a success. In spite of setbacks, unexpected developments and continuing challenges, the separated twins have not only survived, they are thriving. And what's far more important, they are growing, as Jesus did, "in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and humanity."
I look back on the past six years with considerable satisfaction and with surprised gratitude that I was able to be part of all that has taken place. I recognize my mistakes and shortcomings, and Fm grateful for the wise and skilled persons who have compensated for them. I have been blessed with an excellent staff and a wise board. May God continue to bless them all.
The vision and enthusiasm of youth and young adults, the passion of newer ethnic groups who are part of us, the stable and strong faithfulness of mature people are all signs of the possibilities that lie before us.
I have great hopes for MC Canada. I hold those hopes not because of what I think we can do, but because I believe in what God can do. As Michele Hershberger said in the sermon last evening, I too believe God is healing our brokenness and is making us into the church that God wants us to be. I believe that God is working in and through, and also sometimes in spite of, us. God is faithful; God will bring to completion the work that God has begun. God is faithful. God is.
-Dan Nighswander
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