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Written by Gwyn Beer Canada West Mission Centre Co-President  The bus tour stopped at 2 of our Community of Christ congregations. Our first congregation was in Plano, Illinois. The Plano Stone Church was constructed in 1862 and served as the church headquarters till 1881 when the headquarters moved with Joseph Smith to Lamoni Iowa. Plano Stone Church was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
It was dark as the bus rolled up to the block that the church and fellowship hall occupied. We were the guests of the Mission and Plano congregations for dinner in the separate Roger’s Hall. We were able to visit with the congregation. They had a meal ready for us (we were late!). Then we went across the pathway lit by phone flashlights to the church. My pictures do not do the building justice. A true piece of our History! What a beautiful building! The pews and pulpit were made from native lumber by church members and are still in use today. We had a wonderful worship service in the Plano Stone church and when we left the building, we again used phone flashlights to light the way to the bus. On Sunday October 8, we travelled in the bus to the Community of Christ church in Johnson City, New York. Denyse, our bus driver, did an amazing job of getting us to the church on the narrow city streets. We were met on the sidewalk by 2 church members. One of the church members was dressed in a suffragette costume (part of which her grandmother wore to a protest march). The Community of Christ church is a wonderful building. It is 2 stories with the chapel above the activity and classroom floor. The chapel has a beautiful high ceiling with amazing wooden beams. The service theme was “Stories to Tell, Stories to Hear”. We were told the story of the building of this church. Done by the hands of the church members including the women. The box on the pulpit was the story I most enjoyed. That box is a PIE box, it holds 4 pies. The women baked and sold pies to finance the building of the church. We were welcomed and had a wonderful worship service with them. After we went downstairs to tables with flowers set for a meal. We shared the meal and visited but soon had to leave as we were on our way to the Hale Home and Farm (owned and maintained by the LSD church). We got back on the bus and had a class on the drive. The class was “Emma’s Years in Harmony (and the Hale Family). Rolling Reunion continues...
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Written by Gwyn Beer Canada West Mission Centre Co-President  Rolling Reunion - this is the name that Dennis Carr gave the group on the bus.
This began back in November 2022. I got a note from Brenda Senga about a tour being offered by the Community of Christ Historical Society. The title intrigued me; “A Story to Tell: Women in Community of Christ History”. A Historic sites bus tour Oct 2-12, 2023. Tour Highlights: Church Historic Sites and Stories, Women’s History in the USA, Glorious Fall Foliage and more! Thanks to Brenda, Linda Phelps and I joined other members of Community of Christ on the rollin’ reunion bus! Our hosts were Barbara Walden and Peter Smith with our Windstar bus driver Denise! We drove approximately 3,249 MILES on that bus! Our rollin’ home had screens for movies, seat belts, AC, an overhead storage bin space, footrests and you could plug in your device and charge it. Yes, there was a toilet too!. We held devotions and classes on the bus and every morning you move three seats ahead/behind so you got a different view and talked with new people. The bus started in Independence, Missouri and we went into Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, New York, Indiana and Massachusetts. We had people from all over North America; British Columbia, Saskatchewan, California, Kansas, Florida, Missouri, Maryland, Iowa, North Carolina, Texas, Oregon, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Washington. When I was in my mid-teens, our family made a trip cross Canada and into the states. My dad’s sister Florence lived in Missouri. On the way to visiting family, we stopped in Kirtland Ohio to visit the temple. This was over 50 years ago. Kirtland Temple is a very special place to me. My dad got to sit where his priesthood call allowed him to. When I stepped into the lower sanctuary, it all came back to me and I felt my dad there with me. Next week the sharing will continue…on the rollin’ reunion bus! Written by Kat Goheen Canada West Mission Centre Co-President  I’m writing this during a peaceful moment on Thanksgiving Day. In this moment I’m feeling grateful for Shannon, Gwyn, and Becky – to be on this great team. I’m feeling grateful for our pastors and financial officers who give us the stability to grow and dream. I’m loving our staff, Sandra and Debra, and our advisory council and prayer partners. I’m so glad to learn about the possibilities for using social media in our organization from Parker. I’m full of thanks that Lisa stepped in to manage our online registrations this past year. I’m so appreciative of Steve and Bob for stepping into our Historian and Recorder roles. I love the energy that our Seventies are bringing to their role. I’m appreciating our leadership from the World Church level through Art, and through our bishop, Dar. It’s people--relationships--that make this church so amazing, along with our message of inclusion and transformation through Jesus Christ.
I heard tell of an informal question arising from Mission Conference asking what the Mission Centre actually does to benefit us. As a congregational leader I have asked this question myself, usually at budget time! As I shared with the saints in Calgary in our Friday night conference gathering, the Mission Centre isn’t a specific space with an office and copier anymore. It reminds me more of Jesus in his time – a merry band of followers who wander (at least on zoom!) and serve. Maybe we’re more like Paul: less wandering and more supporting ourselves by our labours! What do we get from our Mission Centre? Hopefully you are receiving leadership that relieves burdens on local leaders. Communication that connects us to the broader church. Support for congregations in transition. Continual examination of issues that concern our church in Canada overall. The day-to-day administration making sure our important events are marked and priesthood calls processed. Sustained support for the enhancement of our camping program. One thing that I am truly grateful for is that I no longer ask the question of what the Mission Centre is doing for me or my local folks, because I’m busy doing it. The Mission Centre is just people, the way the church is, and you and I are so fortunate to be among them! Please trust that your leadership wants to create meaningful experiences for you and has a mandate of streamlining our budget to the benefit of local groups. Please also trust that you have a voice, and that your hands and feet and hearts are most welcome in the mission of Jesus Christ in western Canada. We are better together. Thanksgiving blessings of grace! Written by Shannon McAdam Canada West Mission Centre Co-President  Thank you to everyone who was able to join us for this year’s mission centre conference either online or from one of our in-person sites! All four of us on the Mission Centre President team were warmly hosted by the congregations we were in: Becky in Edmonton, Kat in Calgary, Gwyn in Chilliwack, and myself, Shannon, in Regina. It was so good to see many of you “in the flesh” and to share meals and conversation. Our business meeting went very smoothly and quickly! Many thanks to all those who attended our pre-legislative sessions on Sunday and Wednesday before conference to ask your great questions. Also thanks to Dar for the financial update and Q&A session provided Saturday morning. We did have some discussion as to whether we should move our mission centre conference to another time of year so we have more financial information for our decision-making. A highlight of the morning was a call-to-action video from Caitlin about our camping programs. Thank you to those who have already raised their hand to say they wish to support this important ministry with their time and talents. In the afternoon we heard from a few folks who had attended Community of Christ World Conference about their experiences, and also heard an update from Art Smith about the Canada Church. The highlights of our business meeting included:
We passed our 2024 budget with no amendments. You can view all the details by downloading the program in our Conference Hub website here.
I highly recommend you take some time to review the full program as you will find not only our business meeting and financial information, but also reports from congregations, from our Mission Centre staff, and about the programs like the Seventies Project that your donations are supporting. And of course we had wonderful experiences of worship and fun. Each morning an Evangelist led us in spiritual practices before starting our day. Kat hosted a rousing virtual campfire with song leaders from all over the mission centre. Chilliwack hosted our Sunday morning communion service where our Apostle Art Smith offered a stirring message. We look forward to doing it all again next year! |
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