♪ In his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul reminded the Ephesians that God “chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4 NET here and throughout). As if his point wasn’t clear enough, Paul in the very next verse adds, “He [God] did this by predestining us to adoption as his legal heirs through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure of his will” (Ephesians 1:5). This is far from the only time Paul mentions predestination. In Romans 8:29 Paul talks about those who are “predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.”

♪ GORDON UTZ WAS one of those guys who, like me, got into a little trouble in high school. Tall, handsome, hilarious and a good hockey player—I’m talking about me, of course (just kidding!). I’m talking about my classmate, Gord. Recently his brother Stan said, “You gotta talk to Gord; you won’t believe his story.” So, I did. As we spoke, it was like we pushed rewind and were back in grade 10.

GILBERT A. REIMER was born in Steinbach on March 31, 1938, to Benjamin L. and Elizabeth Reimer. After visiting his brother Cliff and Diana Reimer, missionaries in Panama under Gospel Missionary Union (now Avant), he applied to GMU to serve in Panama.

Spiritual direction is a safe place to explore questions and concerns about life with God, including the practice of discernment regarding life’s decisions.

Never ha the law fallen so hard on me as in motherhood. Never was I more aware that my best wasn’t good enough. If parenting doesn’t drive you to your knees, you’re doing it wrong.

The bread and cup. The Lord’s Supper. Communion. It’s an invitation to pause and remember. As we hold the bread and cup in our hands, we remember your life, Jesus, coming to earth as a vulnerable baby who learned to feed himself, to walk, to talk, to cooperate with your parents out of obedience to your Heavenly Father.

Genesis 2:15 records work as it was meant to be—getting into the soil, dirt under the fingernails, and tending to the animals, all with satisfaction and joy. God, as part of his good and perfect plan for his creation, tasked Adam to “cultivate and tend” the Garden of Eden. Eve was given as a companion and partner in this calling. How glorious! But then comes Genesis 3—the fall—with its resultant “weeds and thistles” and “hard labour.” Work perfectly designed had become work pretty disfigured. Now it seems that creation itself militates against us in our calling to “tend.” And yet, the calling and blessing of work has not changed.

Conference Council delegates gathered on November 25, 2023, in a hybrid meeting. While 22 participated on Zoom from various locations across Canada, 92 met in person at Blumenort Community Church (BCC) in Blumenort, Man.

Discussion summary about “The Four White Pills” — Kid’s Ministry, Men’s Ministry, Biblical Integration, and Genuine Experience.

“Who’s IN?” was the provocative title of the EMC Ministerial meeting held on November 24, 2023. The 79 ministerial members assembled at Pansy Chapel spent the day discussing four variations of that question.

I grew up in Winnipeg until I was sixteen years old. I begin with two brief stories of this formative period that are illustrative of the themes we will explore at the 2024 Leadership Conference to be held at Steinbach Bible College on March 15–16.

The salvation God provides in Jesus (whose name means Deliverer) is the fulfillment of the Scriptures, but it is not the final chapter of this great story nor is it the first. In Noah’s flood, much earlier in the biblical timeline, we see another powerful account of divine intervention to save.