Connections - Winter 2022

MDS Canada

MDS announcements for Church Contact Persons

Winter 2022

Greetings!

Welcome to Connections, a quarterly set of announcements for you to share with your congregation. You are receiving this because of your role as an MDS Church Contact Person. Thank you for being the connection between MDS and your church! Also, feel free to contact me to learn more about local ways to serve or to see if MDS can help your community respond to a disaster.

Sincerely,

Ross Penner

Director of Canadian Operations

204-261-1274; rpenner@mds.org

Are you no longer a Church Contact Person for your church? Let us know who is.

SERVE

Please inform your congregation of the following service opportunities over the next few months:

Volunteers needed in Princeton, B.C. MDS has been active in Princeton since early December last year. We are planning to continue doing work there until May. Weekly volunteers are needed through to the end of May. This site requires all volunteers to be vaccinated. Contact Kelsey Friesen to sign up (kfriesen@mds.org or 204-261-1274).

Volunteers are also needed in the Fraser Valley. Volunteers are needed for a day, a few days or a week at a time. We need people with construction skills to serve as crew leaders, along with cooks. If you can serve, contact Shelley Dueck at sdueck@mds.org or 778-255-1088.

Summer youth project: Youth groups are invited to apply to serve in New Brunswick at Camp Shiktihawk, a Baptist Bible camp northwest of Fredericton. While there, youth will help repair cabins, blaze and maintain trails, and build a new ropes course. To apply, contact Kelsey Friesen at kfriesen@mds.org or call 204-261-1274.

LEARN

Here are announcements about upcoming MDS events you are invited to attend or other information you can share with your church.

A reminder about communication from MDS

This Connections newsletter is sent to people marked as Church Contact Persons with MDS. It is also sent to the office of Anabaptist congregations without a designated Church Contact Person. Please share the information included here as you see fit for your situation. This could include shoulder tapping, notes in the church newsletter or an announcement during the service.

Other communication from MDS includes the Volunteer Update email newsletter, On the Level email newsletter and Behind the Hammer magazine. We include Church Contact Persons on these distribution lists, but anyone can subscribe to them. Therefore, others in your church may also be receiving these. But please feel free to share any items of interest from these pieces if you think they should be highlighted with your congregation.

PRAY

Your church can remember disaster survivors and recovery efforts in a worship setting. Please feel free to pass along the worship resource below to your worship coordinator(s).

Your Words Calm the Storms

You, O Lord, are the one whom the waves obey. You speak the word, and the storms are calmed. We cry to you for help in our times of need. We turn to you and desire that your words calm the storms in our lives. Extend your saving grace to us so that we may be redeemed from trouble.

O Lord, we give thanks that you care about our lives and listen to us. May we always remember to praise you for your goodness and enduring love. Amen.

Mary Ann Weber (USA), 2015. Creative Commons: Attribution Non-Commercial 4.0 International (CC BY-4.0) Together in orshipwww.togetherinworship.net