Equipping No. 82 January 2008 a resource packet for equipping Mennonite Church Canada pastors and leaders

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

Blessings and Peace to you for the coming year 2008!

It is a privilege in Canada for me to be able to stay at home with our new baby for one year. That is a big difference with the birth of our first child in Holland, where mothers have to go back to work after 3 months. Our baby is expected early in 2008.

But of course Equipping will be sent to you on a regular basis and my successor, Alice Pound, will present herself to you next time.

In this Equipping you will read about Lent. Easter is extremely early this year, March 23, so Lent starts at the beginning of February. Quoting from Elsie Rempel’s material: “This year, our Lent materials invite us to see Lent as a journey from rebellion to obedience, from blindness to sight, from death to life and from power to grace.” This is quite an invitation, not only for Lent, but for our faith-journey in 2008.

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

• Peril and Promise – Jack Suderman (pastors, leaders)
• Prayer, News and Notes – January 2008 (for bulletin announcements, newsletters, worship planners)
  • PDF version for download
  • Web version to view

Christian Witness

• Celebration Story January - (for bulletin boards, leaders, worship planners, and church newsletters)
• Join Hands: If you build it they will come – Marv Bergen (for Men’s/potential Men’s ministries, in your congregation) [53 KB PDF file - Help with PDF files]

Christian Formation

• Resource Update: January 2008 No. 1 (for worship planners, teachers, pastors, education committees, librarian, etc.)
• Worship Resources for Stewardship Sunday, January 20(for worship planners, teachers, pastors)
• Cover letter and Worship Resources for Mennonite World Fellowship Sunday, January 27 (for worship planners, pastors)
• Worship Resources for Church Education Sunday: February 3 (for worship planners, teachers, pastors)
• Lent 2008 at-home resource: Out of the Depths – Elsie Rempel (for families)
• Parish Paper January + February 2008 (for worship planners, teachers, pastors, education committees, librarians etc) *

Support Services

• Two MC Canada Wall Calendars for 2008 (for office administrators, pastors, leaders, church council chairs) *

Extending our faith . . .

• Mennonite Publishing Network
  • New resources 2008 (for worship planners, teachers, pastors, education committees, etc.) [321 KB PDF file - Help with PDF files]
  • Spring 2008 Order form (for worship planners, teachers, pastors, education committees, etc.) *
• Associated Mennonite biblical Seminary: (for all interested) *
  • Summer 2008 (courses)
  • !Explore 2008 & 2009 (a Theological Program for High School Youth)

* Hard copy only

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.