Equipping No. 101 November/December 2009
a resource packet for equipping Mennonite Church Canada pastors and leaders

This eclectic edition of Equipping will usher us into the Christmas season and the New Year with the addition of the 2010 Wall Calendar and Season of Prayer.

	Leanne Plett Equipping Coordinator

Please also note the new Prayer Journeys with Children booklet, a guide to praying with children for grandparents, parents, and caregivers; a hardcopy edition is enclosed. Finally, I want to highlight November 15 as the official launch date of our new website www.liveforpeace.org – part of MC Canada’s Peace in the Public Square ministry.

Leanne Plett – Equipping Coordinator

Please do send us your comments and suggestions (office@mennonitechurch.ca) about this or any other item with regards to Equipping. Thank you for your partnership in the ministry of equipping the church.

Note: This is a particularly large edition of Equipping. The Printer Friendly bundle would be too large to download efficiently if we also included the booklet resources Advent at Home, Prayer Journeys with Children, and Season of Prayer. These items can be found via the links in the table of contents, below.

Printer Friendly Bundle ** [1,700 KB PDF file - Help with PDF files] - Large file, best with High Speed Internet

- the Equipping Team

Mennonite Church Canada

• Further on The Question of Denominations… – Robert J. Suderman (pastors, leaders, bulletin boards, newsletters)
• Prayer, Notes & News – November 2009 (bulletin announcements, newsletters, worship planners)
  • PDF version to print
  • Web version to view
• Prayer, Notes & News – December 2009 (bulletin announcements, newsletters, worship planners)
  • PDF version to print
  • Web version to view
• Wall Calendar*hard copy only – for the most up to date events see the online calendar (bulletin boards, church offices, leaders, planners)
  

Christian Witness

• Celebration Story: Passion for Peace (bulletin boards, leaders, worship planners, and church newsletters)
• Celebration Story: Seeds of Song (bulletin boards, leaders, worship planners, and church newsletters)
  

Christian Formation

• One small act for Peace – Dave Bergen (pastors, leaders, bulletin boards, newsletters)
• Children’s Stories - on-line only, based on lectionary readings (for worship planners, teachers, pastors, education committee, librarian etc.)
• Resource Update No. 10 (for worship planners, teachers, pastors, education committees, librarian, etc.)
• Advent 2009-Epiphany 2010 At-home resource: Bursting In and Breaking Out (for pastors, leaders, worship planners, and teachers)
• Prayer Journeys with Children, by Elsie Rempel (for families with children)
• Season of Prayer: Reclaiming Jesus, by Patty Friesen (for pastors, leaders, worship planners, and teachers)
• Special Sunday Worship Resources
  View and download the entire grouping at the Resource Centre (for worship planners, teachers, pastors, education committees, librarian, etc.)
  • Mission Sunday, November 8 - see July/August Equipping for hard copy
  • Peace Sunday, November 15 (Canada): “Jesus’ Peaceful Revolution: 2009 Peace Packet”
  • Advent Sundays: see Leader magazine for resources
  • Stewardship Sunday, January 17
  • Church Education Sunday, February 7
• The Parish Paper† *(for worship planners, teachers, pastors, education committees, librarian, etc.)
  • Sept. 2009: “Are We Singing the Right Hymns”
  • Oct. 2009: “Are Our Assumptions Correct”
  • Nov. 2009: “Seven Roads to a Multi-cultural Congregation”
  • Dec. 2009: “Are We a Leader-Sending Congregation?”

Extending our faith…

• Prairie Winds Worship and Music Retreat *
  • Poster
  • Registration form
• Explore: A Theological Program for High School Youth brochure *
• AMBS *
  • Continuing Education events brochure
  • Engaging Pastors brochure
• MPN/Faith & Life Resources (worship planners, teachers, pastors, education committees, librarian, etc.)
  • Winter 2009-2010 Online Brochure [4,069KB PDF file]
  • Winter 2009-2010 Order Form [940KB PDF file]
  • November Update [796KB PDF file]
• Mennonite Women Canada (bulletin boards, newsletters, womens' groups)
  • Fall 2009 Update [94KB PDF file]
    

Note about Resources

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

*Hard Copy Only

**Note about Printer Friendly Bundle

We’ve bundled together all the electronic files into one document. If your traditional distribution method is via hard copy, you can now print the entire file in one step, rather than printing a bunch of files individually. Some items, such as brochures, booklets, or other materials not conducive to regular printing or with restricted copyright will continue to be available via hard copy only via our four-times-per-year hard copy editions of Equipping. Other items not in regular 8.5" X 11" form are still available as individual downloads.

†Note: Mennonite Church Canada’s purchase of a subscription to The Parish Paper INCLUDES:

1. Permission to provide copies to our staff and to the congregations within our jurisdiction in any of the following ways: E-mail, Postal, newspaper, newsletter, meetings, training events, and our Web site.
2. Permission for each congregation within our jurisdiction to:
   1. photocopy or electronically distribute for local use as many copies as it needs,
   2. post them on its Web site, and
   3. quote sentences and paragraphs.
3. Congregations within Mennonite Church Canada’s jurisdiction to which we distribute The Parish Paper do NOT have permission:
   1. to delete the copyright notice,
   2. to re-write, paraphrase, or change the wording of sentences and paragraphs, or
   3. to give ANY THIRD PARTY—other than our staff and constituents—permission to photocopy or reprint (in any quantity, no matter how small, whether for free distribution or for sale).

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.