Equipping No. 80 October 2007a resource packet for equipping Mennonite Church Canada pastors and leaders

	Miriam Tshimanga-Maenhout is responsible for this issue of Equipping.

Greetings to everyone!

As the warm Summer weather changes quickly into Fall weather, we are making new starts on all fronts. Children, youth and teachers have started a new Sunday school year. Many Churches have already started their Worship planning for Advent and Christmas. We hope that you included some of our Special Sunday materials, sent out in the September Equipping edition.

In the Celebration Story from Botswana we hear from Monica Shank, Witness Intern to Botswana about a HIV/AIDS awareness program for youth and communities. We in the western world cannot understand the full impact of this pandemic without understanding first the religious and cultural values in a particular country. I too have worked with HIV/AIDS programs for youth, but in Zambia. Indeed one must let go of many assumptions and ideas one brings from the western world to Africa. Intercultural learning is a mutual process.

If you have questions or comments, please call 1-866-888-6785 (or locally, 888-6781) or email me at . Enjoy!

PS: Please help ensure that these resources reach the right people. Thank you!

Miriam Tshimanga – Equipping Coordinator

Mennonite Church Canada

• Reflecting on Abbotsford 2007 – Jack Suderman (pastors, leaders)
• Lesson from a leaky pipe – Dave Bergen (for administrators, pastors, leaders)
• Prayer, News and Notes – October 2007 (for bulletin announcements, newsletters, worship planners)
  • PDF version for download
  • Web version to view

Christian Witness

• Celebration Story – Botswana – Teaching starts with learning humility (for bulletin boards, leaders, worship planners, and church newsletters)

Support Services

• REMINDER: Please update your Mennonite Church Canada Online Directory by the cut-off date of Sept. 28, 2007. See http://www.mennonitechurch.ca/directory/ (for office administrators, pastors, leaders, church council chairs)

Christian Formation

• Resource Update: October 2007 No. 9 (for worship planners, teachers, pastors, librarian, etc)

Extending our faith . . .

• Mennonite Publishing Network
  • Gather’Round September with new resources (for worship planners, teachers, pastors, education committees, etc.) [720 KB PDF file - Help with PDF files]
  • ROUNDabout Fall 2007 (for worship planners, teachers, pastors, education committees, etc.) [88 KB PDF file - Help with PDF files]

Note about Resources

All new resources are being added to the Resource Centre Catalogue, where you can use keyword searches to find the resource you need.

Note about PDF documents:

Trouble cutting & pasting from Acrobat PDF files? The newest version of Adobe Reader lets you select the exact amount of text you want, even from documents that contain columns (older versions of Reader selected text line by line across all columns – a process that would jumble text and challenge even the most patient user). Download the latest FREE version of Adobe Reader with this link.

• To select text from a PDF document, choose the “I” beam Select Text tool from the Adobe Reader tool bar at the top of the screen, and highlight the text you want to copy from the document. Copy it. Then paste it into your bulletin or other document.
• To select images from a PDF document, choose the "Select Image" tool from the Adobe Reader tool bar at the top of the screen, and highlight the image you want to copy from the document. Copy it. Then paste it into your bulletin or other document.