Introduction
About a year and a half ago, Redeemer Canadian Reformed
Church called a missionary to Niverville, Manitoba. Niverville is in South-Eastern Manitoba,
about a half hour south of Winnipeg. It is
a Mennonite community, although that demographic is quickly changing. The leadership in Redeemer grew interested
in planting a church in this area because of some
contacts it had with individuals and families in the South-East of Manitoba. Originally they planned to send their man to
Steinbach. However, a homegrown Reformed
Baptist church had started there. They
did not want to start competing with that local church. Therefore, they did some more research and
settled on the town of Niverville.
Here, I want to tell the story of how I came to take that
call, what has happened since we have settled in Niverville, and offer some
reflections on the nature of our ministry in Niverville.
The story of
Niverville
The Canadian Pacific Railway company named Niverville after
an 18th-century explorer and
fur trader. Originally, some English and Scottish settlers settled in the area,
but Lord Hespeler ultimately included it into
the land given to the first group of Mennonite settlers to Manitoba. A small United Church in town represents
something of the contribution of the English and Scottish settlers to the life
of the town. The majority of the town is
Mennonite. The other six churches in town represent the Mennonite population,
even though three of the six churches are not Mennonite by name.
The town is still largely a Christian town. When you enter the town, you are welcomed by a sign that says “The churches of
Niverville welcome you.” The mayor of
the town attends one of the churches in town.
This state is quickly changing.
The town has doubled in size over the last number of years and most of the newcomers are not
Mennonite. If they go to church, they
often go to church in Winnipeg. The churches in town do not grow but slowly
shrink. Besides that, liberalism grows
in the hearts of the churches. They
begin to deny the truths of Genesis 1 and the God-given
order of sexuality and gender. The Christianity of Niverville is weakening.
As I have already mentioned, the Christianity of Niverville
is Mennonite. The older Mennonites in town carry a lot of their father’s biases
for free will, pacifism, and otherworldliness, but the younger generation grows
more and more indistinguishable from the member of our local first Baptist,
Peoples, or even Pentecostal church.
They share in the generic evangelical culture of modern Christianity. Occasionally, there is still a vague belief in
some of the older Mennonite distinctives.
Even the older generation drank deeply of
the evangelical milieu of the mid-twentieth century. One example of
this is that many Mennonites rejected all consumption of alcohol, which
is not a historical Mennonite position. Like
the other Mennonite distinctives, that
teetotalling attitude is also disappearing. Unfortunately,
the younger Mennonites have also left behind their parents’ knowledge of Scripture
and church attendance.
The story of Zekvelds
in Niverville
We first came to Niverville in the summer of 2017. I had just finished seminary that
spring. We came at the request of the
Redeemer church and their calling committee.
What we saw was a unique opportunity.
We had an opportunity not only to plant a
church and provide a light to the lost, but we had an opportunity to reach out
to fellow churches and strengthen the church as a whole; to live out the vision
that Paul calls the church to, “Complete my joy by being of the same mind,
having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” We wanted to engage fellow churches in
conversations about Scripture and doctrine and, hopefully,
share some the strengths of the Reformed’s catholic
tradition. It was also an opportunity to grow in reformed catholicity
ourselves. When we received the call, we
joyfully accepted a couple of weeks
later.
After my ordination exam, we came out to Niverville in
October. We quickly settled in the
southeast corner of the town. From there
we began to get to know the town. We
were able to connect with people at various events in town and in the southeast of Manitoba. I was able to connect to the Ministerial in
town. I was able to start a games night
in a local coffee shop. Throughout the
last year, I have been able to connect to
local pastors and other local leaders, both being encouraged by them and
hopefully encouraging them as well.
We have put on a couple of
events for the town. We offer a
conversations evening, where locals can come and freely ask whatever questions
come to mind about Scripture.
Unfortunately, this evening has not borne a lot of fruit yet. We also
invited a member of Creation Ministries International to give a
presentation. One of our most successful
events, which you may have heard of, was a discussion between myself and a
local Reformed Baptist pastor from Steinbach. We spoke on the question, “does God want us to
baptize children of believers as well as their parents?” This is the type of discussion is something I
hope to do more of in the coming years. We’ve also started up a yearly
Christmas concert and yearly caroling as
well.
Providentially, God had already been working in the
southeast through his servants there. Through
a family south of us we were able to meet a young single mother, who was
looking for help and community. This is a friendship that has grown over the
last year. She continues to grow in the
gospel, especially through our bi-weekly Bible study on the Catechism. We were
also able to meet a young Iranian man, who had attended a Bible College, which
is to the south of Niverville. He had befriended a young man from the Canadian
Reformed Churches and through that friendship God connected him with our
ministry. This young Iranian man has
only recently been baptized and has joined Ambassador
Church.
As we began our ministry, we sought further understanding of
both our community and of church planting.
During the winter of 2018, my wife and I both attended the University of
Winnipeg to study a variety of Mennonites around the globe and their relation
to the earth. Our professor was very
knowledgeable about the history of Mennonites around the
world. We were happy to take the
class. We also had the opportunity to learn from URCNA Pastor, Rev.
Spencer Aalsburg from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. We visited him for a week in February. It was a wonderful
experience. Rev. Aalsburg had a
lot of wisdom from his years of experience.
With spring came the work of finalizing who would be part of
our core group and selecting a place and a time to worship. For a month we worshipped at a gym. The Lord, however soon granted us another
place to worship, a church that was empty. By his grace, the Lord also raised the
question of purchasing the church to the Redeemer Congregation and the Redeemer
Consistory this past October. We are
grateful to the Lord that he has now given Ambassador a permanent home in the
Niverville community.
If you come and visit Ambassador, you’ll notice some
differences from many Canadian Reformed Churches, although nothing is outside
of the Canadian Reformed experience. We
have more response in our services; particularly, we respond to God’s law with
a prayer of confession. We do this,
first because we believe it is a deeply scriptural practice, but also to
demonstrate to visitors what confession of sin is. And also as a practical
presentation of the doctrine of justification.
After the morning service, we eat lunch together, living the communion
that God calls his saints to live out.
We also do our afternoons a bit differently. Already before I had come, the consistory of
Redeemer and the Mission Committee had decided that Ambassador’s afternoon
service would look more like a study. I
have to admit that although I saw the logic in their decision, I was personally
hesitant about the afternoon. I am happy to say that I am no longer so. The opportunity to make the study of the
catechism into a study has greatly blessed all of us in Ambassador. We still have the warnings and exhortations
to faith and good works in the morning, and
that is supplemented by digging a bit deeper into the historic doctrines of the
church in the afternoon. I don’t think of all this as merely being missional. Rather, I see our practice as maturity in
existing as a church. As we grow in being
a church, we will be more missional.
Some first-year thoughts on my role in Niverville
Having been here in Niverville for a year now has given me the
opportunity to put some thought into my
particular situation. The Niverville
project is unique. I am church planting
in a town where a lot of people still go to church. This is a churched area. A lot of this Christianity is not very deep. Some vague Christian mysticism seems to be
the predominant expression of Christian piety in the town of Niverville. But it
is recognizable as Christianity. I am
sure that there are still faithful Christians, and faithful churches as well,
in our town. They struggle with whatever
version they have of Jezebel and the Nicolaitans of Revelation 2. They struggle to retain worship infused by
scripture. Their angels must be
encouraged in obedience to the gospel.
My role then is variegated. First of all, I do have a role in reaching
out as the church going population diminishes. But I also have a role in relation to the other churches in town. There are threatening clouds on the horizon
for the churches in North America both within and outside the church. The church needs to be strengthened in her
knowledge of the salvation of God and
needs to be encouraged to stand strong even on those things that don’t seem all
that central to the faith: things like women in office and the interpretation
of Genesis one. We need to encourage our
brothers and sisters in other churches to stand firm in the scriptures. And we need them as well. I only need to look
to 1 Corinthians 12 to prove that.
I should add, that I truly desire that all would hold to the
doctrines we consider so central to the understanding of Scripture,
justification by faith alone, the inclusion of infants in the covenant of
grace, and the sovereignty of God in all of life. These find their clearest expression in Reformed
teaching. These are the truths that give
the Reformed church its backbone, and I
would desire that all churches would participate in this backbone.
This means that I do
not fit into our generic understanding of
a missionary. We tend to think of a
missionary as one who goes to those who have never heard. Our vision of a
missionary is one who comes into a jungle town and announces the gospel to
those who have never heard of the term Jew or Gentile, Israel or David, Jesus
Christ, Yahweh, or Trinity. I do meet
those who have strayed and those who have very little knowledge. In Niverville,
even those who do not confess Christ, generally have some knowledge of the
church. Most of my interactions are with those who confess Christ. All this
means that I work with a somewhat
expanded definition of a missionary.
As I have settled myself into this community, I see my role
as having three functions. For one I am a
missionary because I am seeking to find ways to reach out to those who have
never heard or those who have left the church.
I seek to build a relationship with my neighbors for example, who are lapsed Christians. I hope that through the games night we have
started in our town we might find a way
to find others who are lost and need a savior.
I also function as a pastor.
The consistory of Redeemer in Winnipeg decided that they would support
the church plant in Niverville by encouraging a number of its members to join
the fledgling church. We started with
seven families meant to function as a core group, who would provide a welcoming
atmosphere for those who were interested in joining Ambassador. Among these families,
I function as a pastor. As the man who
is called to bring them the word every week,
I am also called to encourage and exhort them in remaining faithful to our Lord
Jesus Christ. This pastoral work is an
organic working out of my weekly presence in Ambassador.
Finally, I function as
an ecumenicist or you might say an
ecumenical missionary. This last function is probably the most significant part
of my ministry in light of the Lord’s leading right now. I seek to understand the varieties of
traditions and beliefs that are in the town of Niverville and particularly in
the Mennonite and Evangelical Community.
I seek to distinguish to those who still hold to the Articles of the
Christian Faith and who seek to obey their Lord and those who have moved beyond
that to other things. I approach my
brothers and sisters with an open Bible, seeking to both understand how they
understand things and seeking to challenge that framework.
At the same time, I retain an attitude of openness. Perhaps we have missed something. Perhaps they
have reached some understanding that the Spirit working in the community of
Christ has not fully illuminated yet. I
know that I can grow in seeking to clarify and communicate the dogma of historic and catholic
Christianity. Ultimately, I seek to retain an attitude of humility toward the
Word of God, the final conscience-binder in all my interactions with fellow
Christians.
I don’t pretend that I will excel at every one of these
functions. It is even truer that I
cannot divide my energies equally between these three functions. I have to divert my energy in those places
that the Lord leads. “Man makes a plan, but God directs his way.” I trust that God will give me the strength to
do as he sees fit. Neither do I claim to have the
understanding of how to function in our contemporary world. Rather, I seek to use the wisdom that God has
given me to apply what has been handed down in the Reformed Catholic tradition
of the church under the foundational and final authority found in the word of
God.
Some first-year thoughts on the role of a Reformed
church in Niverville
Of course, I am not
the only Reformed witness to the gospel in the Niverville. Ambassador Church also plays a role in bearing
witness to the authority of Scripture and the Reformed Catholic tradition. Ambassador is not just another flavor of
church. Neither is Ambassador a type of
non-denominational church, representing a faint parody of Reformed catholicity. We bind ourselves to the Canadian Reformed
churches to preserve our catholicity; to
preserve ourselves from sectarian doctrine. Rather, Ambassador represents a
challenge to the contemporary believer. Ambassador offers a different way to
move toward unity in Christ. We provide
a way of catholic unity based in the
ecumenical creeds and confessions of the church and grounded in active
submission to the living Word of God. It
is only through digging deep into Scripture and digging deep into the history
of the church, the breadth and the depth of the teaching of the universal church
that we will find a way to abolish the walls of division that we raise between
one another in the modern world.
I believe that the way the Reformed can truly represent
themselves as distinctive is by pursuing the way of Reformed Catholicity. That
means we both affirm an individual’s confession of the evangelical center of Christianity, Christ’s death and resurrection and the Trinity. We also seek to
dig deep into Scripture so that we know the truth and obey every breath that
comes from the mouth of God.
Other traditions fail
in this catholicity. Baptists want to
keep children from membership in the church. Among the Baptists, there are those who reject the formal membership of any
who have been baptized as an infant.
Pentecostals want to form a group of elite members who have the second blessing
of the Spirit. Catholics have their own
have special status as members of the church because they submit to the Pope. If
you don’t like Vatican II you might say there is no salvation outside of
submission to the Pope; at least that is what Unam Sanctum seems to say.
If you like Vatican II, Protestants are separated brethren, saved by association
with the sacramental work of the Catholic priesthood. Unless these denominations
rid themselves of these sectarian doctrines, ecumenical efforts will fail or
dissolve into the vapid expressions of unity we see among churches today.
What stands out about the Reformed church is its catholicity,
that is, its desire to hold to the great tradition of the Christian church, its
absolute humility before the Word of God, and, finally, its affirmation of
justification and therefore the high value of all who truly confess Christ as
Lord. It can
sustain deep discussion of theology and polity and is at the same time able to
affirm the simple faith of all those who hold to the gospel. We accept the mature and the immature as
equal before God. Male, female, Jew and Gentile
are all freely accepted by God through faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
There is no elite group of the faithful whether they identify as the
circumcised or those of the second
blessing. The gift of salvation belongs
to the theologian as much as it belongs to the infant. More often than not God chooses the praise of
the infant to establish strength rather than the high thoughts of the
theologian. This is the catholic way of
the Reformed church. This makes the Reformed church the best place for
any person who desires to learn Christ.
We desire that Ambassador be a living demonstration of such
catholicity. And as such, we hope that we will truly be a witness
in our community as well, both as an encouragement to our brothers and sisters
in other churches and as a light to those who do not yet know Jesus. I am sure
we fail in many ways to live out the vision I have described. Few churches do. Like our Father Jacob, we
walk with a limp. What I do know is that
this is the church that Christ has washed, sanctified and justified. It is the church that he wishes to present as
a spotless bride to his father in heaven.
