Delegates gathered on June 11, 2022, both in the Steinbach Bible College chapel and online, in EMC’s first hybrid Conference Council meeting.

It was with curiosity and perhaps some hesitation that we gathered for the EMC Festival Not-So-Late Show on June 10, 2022. What would acknowledging the past and looking to the future in a “classic late show format” be like?

Steinbach Bible College celebrated the graduating class of 2022 with a live in-person ceremony at the Emmanuel Evangelical Free Church in Steinbach, Man., on April 23, 2022. A total of 28 graduates were recognized with five certificates, four AAs, and 19 BA degrees.

The EMC has been led for two centuries by a host of godly, humble pastors whose service was and continues to be above reproach. But we have also had pastors who were not trustworthy and who took advantage of people under their care.

The Board of Missions (BOM) held the annual Missionary Fellowship on June 8, 2022, to recognize the service of Lesley and Marianne Fast, who are soon moving back to the Netherlands.

On May 21, 2022, 13 youth and three leaders from Straffordville EMC and New Life Christian Fellowship joined hosts Travis and Macey Plett and Sarah Barkman at Crieff Hills Retreat Centre for the first-ever Abundant Springs Ontario event.

We thank God for the 62 years of faithful witness of the Northern Fellowship Chapel to the community surrounding Creighton.

After two years of Zoom, it felt amazing to connect face-to-face with other people in Manitoba and beyond who share a passion for kids and ministry.

The EMC General Board is encouraging EMC churches to consider sponsoring Afghan Christian refugee families to come to Canada. EMC and other Mennonite denominations have an agreement with MCC Canada to provide the sponsorship support for this initiative.

Twenty-six attendees spent the evening of March 19, 2022, interacting and listening to learn about the history of our Indigenous communities in Canada and the impact of contact with white settlers/Europeans who came to live in this great land.

In the silence that lived between the deadly warnings of air raid sirens, the sound of a small choir, singing a song of praise, echoed out of a church sanctuary in western Ukraine. Just the night before, Anna*, administrative coordinator for MCC Ukraine, had absent-mindedly hummed a few bars of the song during an evening tea break at the church.

Shame is one of the most universal human experiences. Whether we are young or old, students or teachers, leaders or followers, all of us can identify with the sting of failure. For many pastors and ministry leaders this season of division and loss has brought with it deep feelings of inadequacy and exhaustion. How do we combat the feeling in our souls that we aren’t enough, or that we don’t measure up?