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Board of Faith and Life report

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Board of Faith and Life report


The Board of Faith and Life met this January for three days of meetings. The majority of our time was devoted to a debrief of the Study Conference, including the writing of responses to the letters of affirmation and concern which were sent to the BFL. We are grateful for the commitment to our Confession of Faith and to community that these letters demonstrate.

As part of the debrief, we identified the need for a significantly new approach to how we do study conferences in light of many changing factors in our denomination. Just three such factors are as follows:

1. Audience: we can no longer assume a common level of biblical literacy, a common hermeneutic, a common level of preparation for the discussion of the topic or a common approach to church governance.

2. The open mic time loses its intended value if the previous assumptions are not in place and if the ground rules of engagements aren’t very clear.

3. Finally, the venue has to allow for exegetical/inductive engagement with Scripture and with community. The planning team for the next Study Conference has already been selected, and we look forward to a fresh format in 2017, when our topic will focus on discipleship and the role of the gospel in the formation of Christ’s followers.

In addition, the BFL is working on the ongoing resourcing of our churches on the topic of human sexuality.

The BFL also produces the BFL pamphlet series, and at this meeting we determined a need to update the pamphlet on Homosexuality and to produce new pamphlets on the Sanctity of Life and End of Life issues.

At this meeting, the BFL also approved a Statement on Ordination that contains a description of our common practice regarding ordination along with some guidelines on ordination for our churches.

The Statement on Ordination will be published in the upcoming issue of the Herald and on the CCMBC website, and will also be communicated directly to our churches. Finally, the BFL would like to thank these members for their service: Terrance Froese, who is leaving the BFL due to a ministry role change, Brian Cooper, who stepped down as chair due to workload demands, and Ingrid Reichard, whose term as vice-chair is ending and who is taking time off from serving on the BFL to complete her DMin.

We welcome Paul Loewen from Alberta as our new interim vice-chair. The new BFL chair was awaiting confirmation at press time.

Please pray for your BFL team as we carry on in our commitment to provide theological watchcare rooted in our commitment to scriptural authority as expressed through our Confession of Faith.

Ingrid Reichard
vice-chair, Board of Faith and Life (2015)

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