Equipping No. 81 November - December 2007 a resource packet for equipping Mennonite Church Canada pastors and leaders

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

Greetings to everyone!

Greetings to you all! The days are already getting shorter and darker. As we are looking forward to light-bringing events like Advent and Christmas, we already plan events for next year. Jack Suderman writes in a letter about a People’s Summit: “We invite you – no we URGE you – already now, to make sure that your congregation will be represented at this summit and at the annual assembly.” Let us set priorities for the coming year, not only in our private life but also for the good of our congregations.

I hope that this hard copy Equipping will help you to discern where and how your gifts are needed for the growth of God’s Kingdom on earth.

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

• A People’s Summit? For faithful living? – Jack Suderman (pastors, leaders)
• “If you want to go far, go together” – Janet Plenert (for administrators, pastors, leaders)
• Prayer, News and Notes – Nov 2007 (for bulletin announcements, newsletters, worship planners)
  • PDF version for download
  • Web version to view
• Prayer, News and Notes – Dec 2007 (for bulletin announcements, newsletters, worship planners)
  • PDF version for download
  • Web version to view

Christian Witness

• Celebration Story November - Honduras: Global Gift Sharing Gets Real (for bulletin boards, leaders, worship planners, and church newsletters)
• Celebration Story December - Manitoba, Canada: God Opens Doors (for bulletin boards, leaders, worship planners, and church newsletters)

Support Services

• Letter to Congregations from Nominating Committee (for office administrators, pastors, leaders, church council chairs) [28 KB PDF file - Help with PDF files]
• MC Canada Calendar Memo (for office administrators, pastors, leaders, church council chairs) [45 KB PDF file - Help with PDF files]

Christian Formation

• Four Resource Center memos:
  • Memo to Librarian
  • Memo to Worship Committee Chair
  • Memo to Sunday School Superintendent
  • Memo to Church Council Chair
• Resource Update: November - December 2007 No. 10 (for worship planners, teachers, pastors, education committees, librarian, etc.)
• From Grateful to Generous: Stewardship sermons by John H. Neufeld (for pastors, leaders)
• A new edition of Kids Pak – Drawin’ Together for Peace in Congo (education leaders, teachers, clubs)
• Parish Paper: September 2007 (for worship planners, teachers, pastors, education committees, librarian, etc.) *
• Built to last – Jesus Christ as Ground and Goal – A five session study and prayer guide (for all interested)
• Advent at Home, 2007 – Wake up to God’s Dream (for families)

Extending our faith . . .

• Mennonite Publishing Network *
  • New resources (for worship planners, teachers, pastors, education committees, etc.)
  • Winter 2007-2008 Order form (for worship planners, teachers, pastors, education committees, etc.)
  • Winter 2007-08 Talkabout (for worship planners, teachers, pastors, education committees, etc.)
• Prairie Winds – “Tell the Story, Sing the Story” – Shekinah Retreat Centre in Saskatchewan (for all interested)*
  • Letter about the retreat
  • Poster retreat
  • Flyer retreat
• Associated Mennonite biblical Seminary: (for all interested) *
  • Announcements for November-December 2007
  • Lent Planner (a daylong workshop)
  • Dealing with Dysfunctional Family Systems (Pastoral Care Continuing Education Series)
• Conrad Grebel University College: Graduate Theological Studies Program (for all interested)
  • Introduction letter from Dave Bergen [18 KB PDF file - Help with PDF files]
  • 1 poster *
  • 5 flyers *
• Canadian Mennonite University: Vision – Suffering (for all interested)**

* Hard copy only

**Occasionally a hard copy edition of Equipping pushes the postal limits on small packages into a higher cost category. When this situation occurs, it becomes less expensive to send Equipping in two smaller portions to each church. So it is with this edition. As a result, you will receive “CMU’s Vision – Suffering” in a separate envelope.

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.