The Moravian Church in Newfoundland and Labrador will be holding a Provincial Conference in Nain, March 4-6 2008.
Board members, lay ministers, and delegates from each congregation will attend. Loren Jendro, Labrador’s representative on the Board of World Mission, as well as Bishop Paul Graf will be there.
Some of the agenda items include ratifying the revised Book of Order; drawing up the process to follow for ordination; ministry in Labrador and how to move our present situation forward; Moravian Youth Camp; Moravian Music Workshop; launch of the Inuktitut Bible; reports from each congregation; and more.
Bishop Graf will visit each church while in Labrador:
March 3- Makkovik
March 4 – Nain
March 6- Hopedale
March 7 – Happy Valley
At that time he will help each congregation assess themselves, to gauge how each church is growing in various areas, and to draw up a profile of the minister they want to serve them. This will help MCNL to better match a person to a place should inquiries from ordained ministers come in.
Sr Joan Andersen
Chair, MCNL
Monday, 18 February 2008
Alaska Conference
I went as a youth representative of the Labrador Moravian Church to Bethel, Alaska. The first day we attended the Provincial Women’s Meeting. There were woman from each church to discuss things such as projects their church ran during the past year, projects for the coming year, planning a Singspiration.
As well, the President Mary Gregory gave a special speech which I found inspiring. It was titled Walking the Talk and Faith. An important meeting that I participated in was the between the members of the First Nations Outreach. First Nations Outreach is a joint partnership between the Labrador Church, Alaska Province and the Morongo Church in California. It was developed to build capacity of each entity to be a more powerful force in protecting its youth from social problems, as each Church face similar social situations.
At the Synod myself, Joan, Loren Jendro (member of the Board of World Mission) and Arthur Coolidge (Lay Minister in Alaska) met to discuss how to better communicate with each other. As the distance between each church is extensive with the cost of travel expensive, it was suggested to form an online working group. This working group could include things such as a calendar to post events of each church, a place to post documents, and a discussion page. Each member of the First Nations outreach could have an access code to this online working group and add things to it, see what other members have added. This should be a great way to keep up to date on what is happening with each church with First Nation outreach initiatives.
Overall, this was an interesting trip, I have met some really inspiring people, and I hope to work with the First Nations Outreach in the future.
Tracy Evans
Makkovik
Alaska Synod
I had the privilege of visiting our Moravian brothers and sisters in Bethel, Alaska. We attended the Women’s Conference on February 2 and took part in the Sunday evening service on February 3, which was conducted by participants at the Women’s Conference. On Feb 4 the Synod began. Representatives from 23 congregations were present.
I gave a presentation with the message that Labrador has put out a call for ordained ministers to serve in our congregations. I also extended an invitation for some youth along with a leader to attend the Moravian Music Workshop to be held in Hopedale beginning July 7. (We have also invited a representative to attend our Provincial Conference being held in Nain.)
Our impressions of the whole experience were extremely good. Alaska Moravian Church is self-supportive. They are an independent province. Attendance at Bethel Moravian Church is high. The use of their native language is dominant, but most people we met were entirely bilingual. Their church services have a more evangelistic tone than ours. The singing was beautiful. A lot of four-part harmony, and about three different organists took part in one service.
On the last evening there, I attended a three-hour memorial service for pastors who had passed away during 2007. David Nanalook, who had visited Nain a few years ago, was one.
Overall, it is good that the lines of communication are open between Alaska and Labrador, since we have much that can be learned from each other, and shared.
Sr Joan Andersen
Chair, MCNL
