November 2015

Greetings from Western District Conference, As the new Conference Minister, I have already been amazed at the many important ways God is working through WDC! I invite you to join our shared ministry with a generous year-end financial

contribution to WDC. Your gift will support WDC’s mission of empowering Anabaptist/Mennonite congregations to:

WWWW itness & invite others to faith in Jesus Christ, DDDD well in just & loving relationships, CCCC onnect to God’s mission in the world.

We do this through three core tasks, illustrated here with several examples: Sustaining transformational pastors: WDC provides support and accountability for pastors through credentialing,

mentoring relationships, pastor-peer groups, and continuing education opportunities. Six pastors began new congregational positions in 2015. Twenty-five pastors and eight other congregational representatives participated in adaptive leadership training through a grant from Kansas Leadership Center in Wichita, KS. Forty-five people attended a Pastors’ Afternoon Apart on October 30, with Tom Yoder Neufeld and Chuck Neufeld teaching on the theme In Chains of Peace: Ephesians and the Unity of the Church.

Casa Betania children praising God through dance at the WDC Assembly

Resourcing healthy, missional churches: We welcome Jennie Wintermote as the new WDC Resource Library Director, a ¼ time position beginning in December. The Resource Commission has awarded twelve Loaves and Fishes grants to congregations impacting their communities through creative peace activities, feeding hungry children, learning conversational Spanish, offering child-care, advocating for good housing conditions, and more. A link to the Loaves and Fishes project reports can be found on the WDC homepage pictures at www.mennowdc.org/

Networking Anabaptist church-planting: Iglesia Camino Nuevo began as a new church plant in Dallas, TX,

supported by WDC along with congregations in Dallas and Topeka, using the model of “churches planting churches” encouraged by WDC’s new Church Planting Commission.

The Commission is encouraging congregations to use the study guide Missional Essentials: A Guide for Experiencing God’s Mission in Your Life by Brad Briscoe and Lance Ford.

Following staff transitions this past year, we are working to fill new positions: A fulltime Associate Conference Minister to direct church planting efforts in WDC and support

pastors in Texas. A ¾ time Associate Conference Minister to resource WDC congregations, and help support

pastors in Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. WDC Annual Assembly took place October 30-31 at Bethel College with the theme Held Together in Christ, from Colossians 1:17. Based on Colossians 1:1-20, my sermon Friday evening called the church to be a contrast community that offers reconciliation and justice in a world of violence; a caring community that models love and trust; and a community centered in Christ, through whom God has reconciled us to God and to one another.

Please support WDC with your financial gifts, as we share that good news in today’s world!

Thank you, Heidi Regier Kreider Conference Minister