Equipping No. 94 March 2009
a resource packet for equipping Mennonite Church Canada pastors and leaders

	Miriam Tshimanga is responsible for this issue of Equipping.

“Daily life is pretty much driven by the calendar. But which calendar?” With these words of Dave Bergen, our Executive Secretary of Christian Formation, we are invited to look into our own lives and find one or maybe more answers… The Christian Year has many Special Sundays for which you receive resources through regular mailings of Equipping. By celebrating these Sundays our Congregations “keep focused on its shared mission and on the bonds of unity in Christ”. In Dave’s letter, you will find a complete list of Special Sundays for 2009.

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

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

Mennonite Church Canada

• The Amazing Grace… of the Macedonians and the Mennonite Church Canada-ians – Robert J. Suderman (pastors, leaders)
• Prayer, Notes & News – March 2009 (for bulletin announcements, newsletters, worship planners)
  • PDF to download
  • Web page to view
• Financial Update – Fiscal Year Ending 2009 – Randy Wiebe (for pastors, church councils, finance committees, treasurers)

Christian Witness

• Celebration Story March 2009 Ethiopia – Planning ahead through Education (for bulletin boards, leaders, worship planners, and church newsletters)
• Aboriginal Learning Tour – June 7- 9, 2009 Saskatoon and surrounding area (for bulletin announcements, newsletters, mission leaders)

Christian Formation

• Which Calendar? – Dave Bergen (for worship planners, teachers, pastors, education committees, librarian, etc.)
• Resource Update March 2009 (for worship planners, teachers, pastors, education committees, librarian, etc.)
• On line Children’s Stories [based on lectionary readings] (for worship planners, teachers, pastors, education committee, librarian etc.)
• Lent at Home 2009 – Our Lives are in Your Hand. A hard copy was in the January 2009 Equipping (for education leaders and worship planners).
• Company of 1000 provides loans to support the training of pastors of the congregations of Mennonite Church Canada. Applications for the 2009-2010 school year are due on May 15, and are available for download on the Company of 1000 webpage. (For pastors, lay leaders and prospective pastors.)
• Special Sunday Worship Resources (for worship planners, teachers, pastors, education committees, librarian, etc.)
  • Lent and Easter seasonal materials
  • Many Peoples Sunday – Colourful Stones for Christ

Extending our faith . . .

• Mennonite Publishing Network - Faith and Life Resources (for worship planners, teachers, pastors, education committees, etc.)
  • Update March 2009

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.