Mennonite Church Canada appoints resource development staff

December 6, 2001

Al Rempel Gerd Bartel

Winnipeg, Man.—Al Rempel (Winnipeg, Man.) and Gerd Bartel (Delta, BC) have been appointed director of resource development and western director of resource development, respectively.

Rempel, currently pastor at Springstein Mennonite Church (Manitoba) will be lead coordinator of the resource development office (Winnipeg), working in collaboration with Bartel (currently a teacher and moderator of Mennonite Church British Columbia) and a yet to be named eastern director of resource development.

The mandate of the resource development office is to establish a long range stewardship plan for Mennonite Church Canada that will open new dialogues with partners for mission and ministry, and develop new ways to encourage, participate and align the church with God's mission in the world. This will mean providing more vehicles for contributing to the work of the church, becoming more responsive to the constituency, and better information management.

Both Rempel and Bartel express excitement about the missional emphasis of Mennonite Church Canada. Rempel said, "We live on the edge of tremendous opportunity...an opportunity to build on our past while seeing new ways of coming together to engage even more fully in God's mission agenda. I am excited about how we can experience the abundance of God's grace as we share and grow in faith through this work together." The missional vision seeks to bring home to Mennonite Church Canada congregations the Vision: Healing & Hope statement adopted in 1995 (Wichita) by the now merged General Conference and Mennonite Churches.

Bartel added, "We are entering a new and exciting time and I want to be part of sharing our vision and mission as Mennonites in Canada. Helping in connecting us as a body of believers, that want to further the kingdom of Christ, is what I look forward in doing, as I start the next phase of my career path."

The search for an Eastern Canada director of resource development continues. Rempel will begin his assignment on February 1, 2002. Bartel will begin work in the summer on 2002.