Good Morning Friends, Family, and Internet Wanderers!
It seems like such a long time since I have done one of these, at least two months have passed since I last updated you all on what has been going on in my life and ministry. The past two months have been good and that is in no small part to your prayers. While I was serving and attending classes in September, there was not a lot that was noteworthy. So I decided to include September and October together. I will continue in this fashion until I finish my current ministry position in June and then will re-evaluate if and how I will continue to make these updates.
Thanksgiving
Every two years the MB denomination holds a study conference to help the various churches and leaders to think deeply on a subject. For the third time in a row I have had the privilege of attending. This past years conference was held in Waterloo ON, and the church flew me and the other pastor out to attend. I am deeply grateful for the continued investment both my church and the larger conference have in me. Along those lines and something that may not be widely known is that I have been working on my credentialing in the MB church. Credentialing is an awkward term, that essentially means that the Canadian conference is looking at endorsing me as a pastor. This does not mean I was not previously, but it does mean that they publicly acknowledge me as a pastor and would get me in the door for future job opportunities, they also register me to perform weddings. To be credentialed I needed to write out a 20 page document about my thoughts and beliefs on pretty much everything, and then be interviewed by some current pastors. This is a longer process and I started it about a year ago, and I finished it in the last week of October. As such I am a fully credentialed pastor in the MB church!
Another thing I am deeply thankful for is the chance to attend the Canadian Youth Workers Conference this year. Generally speaking I try and attend every year and this year between school, the church, and my personal life I felt like I might not have time to do so, yet after some consideration I went again and was very pleased. This year the conference centred around youth and anxiety a difficult and unfortunately all to common occurrence. I found as I often do the teaching to be both engaging and helpful. Also at this conference I bumped into a friend I had not touched base with for some time. He shared with me some of his faith journey and asked me to meet with him at a later time to talk about it. For me this was another affirmation of my own growth as a pastor and leader and I am excited to see where things go.
Then finally but certainly not least this past month I had the chance to baptize another person. I have been walking with and serving a young couple who started attending the church a little over a year ago. They have slowly and surely become more engaged both with our young adult group and the larger church. And it was again another affirmation when this young man approached me and shared how he had not been baptized and then asked me to walk with him through that process. Being a part of a baptism is possibly my favourite part of my job and I am so grateful to help another person on their walk with Christ.
Prayer
As I indicated last time I wrote, this is my last year serving at my current church. This has been an amazing opportunity and while I am excited for the next phase of my journey I will be also sad to leave. Please pray for me as I try and be intentional about preparing those I lead and the leaders I serve with for my leaving. I finish right around the same time that the lead pastor finishes and he has served for much longer than I. I have also heard a few people express their remorse that I will not be pursuing to take over for the lead pastor. Four years ago when I accepted this position I shared that I was not intending to replace the lead pastor, and I share that sentiment still, yet it still weighs heavy on me. Please pray that God will continue to guide this congregation and its leadership to the right leader for this new season, and that the current pastors will equip the church well for this transition.
My second prayer request is another one that started in September, if not actually earlier. I believe it was august actually that I was called randomly and asked to interview for a youth pastor position at a church in Manitoba. In late September and early October I had two different interviews with this church, and they have invited me to candidate as their new youth pastor. So this means that late November I will have a little of half a dozen meetings with various people in the church, I will have to give my testimony a number of times and preach once in the main service and once for the youth. The whole process takes about 4 days and after which the congregation will vote to hire me or not. This is an amazing opportunity and everything I hope for, yet it does not come without its own concerns. The first is that my girlfriend is a little uncomfortable with the idea of moving churches. She has been affirmed as a leader in her own right at her church and while she supports my ministry and wants us to attend together, it would be a loss for her. The second is that I do not want to do anything without the blessing and guidance of the Holy Spirit. So please pray that God's will would be done in this situation, and that everyone involved would discern well that whatever happens
My third and final prayer request has to do with the remaining finances I need to raise. As you know for the past several years I have had to raise 10,000 to cover part of my salary costs. This has been the easiest part of my role as your generosity has allowed me to mostly forget about this obligation. Now as it stands i need to raise about another $4000 and I will complete my funding requirements for the new year. This means I am covered until about January and need to go to part of June. I am so blessed by your support both financial and prayerful and so I ask that you would remember me this season one more time. In the unlikely event that I receive more than I need the remainder would go to the church to continue to support the ministries which I have been working with for the past several years. Please pray that the resources would come in and that the Lord would continue to bless my ministry.
Thank you
God Bless
- Stefan Klassen
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