I want to thank the creators of the Worship Resources.  I am one of many of our congregation that leads worship.  The team that puts together the information in the Worship Resources make our services meaningful. 
 
Starting with the theme for the date, the suggested scripture, additional scriptures, hymn suggestions and décor suggestions, I have been guided to create a service that our congregation will participate in and enjoy.
 
There are sermon helps for those who are delivering the message.  There are class suggestions and help to lead a group in discussion. 
 
There are Sacred Space: A Resource for Small Group Ministry that can help with small groups to “Share Around the Table.”  There are even “Thoughts for Children.”
 
What an amazing team via World Church that put together written materials, video sermons, communion messages and classes!  I have a deep appreciation for all who have done so much to develop all of this.
 
I am excited about the reunion/family camp and youth camp materials that have just been released.  A theme based on the climate emergency resolution passed in the 2023 world conference.   "Heal the Earth: A Restoration Imperative” will be my reading for the next little while and I will then work on helping to impart this concept at Family Camp.
 
The work of the church is helped by all those who are creating this material to be used by all who choose to use it.  The wonderful material we receive is a gift.  God bless those who helped in any way with these materials.

​Hills of Peace needs your support. Help us reach our fundraising goal of $30,000 which will cover the annual cost of the camp’s insurance premium.
 
Donations can be made by the following methods:

If you would like further information or have any questions, please contact the Hills of Peace Board at [email protected]​

​This is the final part of this series on “The Making of the Presidents of the Church.” To see the previous four parts in this series please consult the column archive here: Historians Corner.

Joseph Smith, Jr. (Prophet-President 1830 to 1844).
 
The story of Joseph Smith, Jr., becoming and serving as the church’s first Prophet-President truly consists of the foundational stories of the church itself. And as with other columns in this series, there is far too much to begin to cover in detail within the constraints of this column.
 
In very brief summary, Mark Scherer lists the “four key events” that shaped the early Restoration era: “the family history of Joseph Smith, Jr., the First Vision and its impact, the Book of Mormon, and the formal organization of the church.”[1] Scherer devotes a chapter to the Smith family history, but this sentence is all we will devote to it here. Similarly, he provides a detailed background and history of the “First Vision” and how it has become central to the church’s history over the years. Joseph Smith, Jr., in his 1842 account of the First Vision[2] says that it occurred on a “beautiful clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty.” He “retired to the woods to pray” in response to the scriptural direction “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God...” (James 1:5). The vision was a highly spiritual experience in which young Joseph (only 15 years old at the time) was given to see two “personages”: God, and Jesus Christ. The question on Joseph’s heart was which church to join. The personages counseled him to join none of them.[3] This experience set Joseph Smith, Jr., on his lifelong quest to seek the mind and will of God and translate that into a church organization of which God and Jesus would approve.

The Book of Mormon also has a long story all its own that we will not cover here. Publication began in March 1830.[4] The formal organization of the church occurred on April 6, 1830.
 
By the time April 6, 1830, rolls around, Joseph Smith, Jr., has been at the centre of the First Vision event, and the bringing forth of the Book of Mormon and its publication. All along the way he has had a group of strong supporters who have recognized his leadership and accepted his spiritual authority. Many “inspired” instructions and directions were provided to this group by Joseph under the prophetic influence of the Holy Spirit. Many (though not necessarily all of them) can be found as sections 1 through 16 of today’s Book of Doctrine and Covenants[5]. Joseph is, without question, viewed as the leader of this “group.” The legal organization of the group into a church finally formalizes his leadership as described in the following scriptures.

In section 17 of the Doctrine and Covenants, v. 1(a) and (b) we read:

1 a. The rise of the church of Christ in these last days, being one thousand eight hundred and thirty years since the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the flesh, it being regularly organized and established agreeably to the laws of our country, by the will and commandments of God in the fourth month, and on the sixth day of the month which is called April;
b. which commandments were given to Joseph Smith, Jr., who was called of God and ordained an apostle of Jesus Christ, to be the first elder of this church; and to Oliver Cowdery, who was also called of God an apostle of Jesus Christ, to be the second elder of this church, and ordained under his hand:
c. and this according to the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to whom be all glory both now and forever. Amen.[6]

Joseph has been “called of God,” “ordained an apostle of Jesus Christ,” and he is “to be the first elder of this church.”[7]

In the introduction to section 19, we read:
The ordinations did take place at the organization meeting, after the other brethren participating had indicated their willingness to accept Joseph and Oliver as their teachers and leaders.[8]

And then in verses 1(a) and (b):
1 a. Behold, there shall be a record kept among you, and in it thou shalt be called a seer, a translator, a prophet, an apostle of Jesus Christ, an elder of the church through the will of God the Father, and the grace of your Lord Jesus Christ;
b. being inspired of the Holy Ghost to lay the foundation thereof, and to build it up unto the most holy faith;...[9]

The titles of leadership become more specific here: seer, translator, prophet, apostle, elder, along with the direction to lay the foundation of the church and to build it up.
 
In future business meetings of the church over the next fourteen years Joseph Smith, Jr., is regularly “sustained” as the leader of the church. He remained in this position until his assassination in 1844 – and all of those fourteen years is an entirely different story!
 
This concludes our series on “The Making of the Presidents of the Church.” I hope you have enjoyed this historical review as we prepare for the formal acceptance of our next Prophet-President (and “Seer and Revelator” – if we use the full, traditional title) in June of 2025. May we prayerfully and faithfully approach that event. And as Stassi Cramm is escorted into the Conference Chamber, presumably following her approval and for her ordination, may we enthusiastically and joyfully sing our thanks and praise: “We thank you, O God, for our prophets who guide us in witness today...”[10]
 
Thank you for reading. Please feel free to contact me with any comments or questions.

Our special guest facilitator, Lana Cullis, presented us with an extraordinary opportunity: the chance to nurture personal creativity, regardless of whether we consider ourselves inherently creative or not. The rewards of cultivating creativity extend far beyond the artistic realm, encompassing improved health, heightened joy and wellbeing, and even financial abundance.

With a pitch as compelling as that, joining Lana for this retreat was an irresistible proposition! The sessions were a delightful blend of fun and diversity, covering topics such as "Myths, Mysteries, and Misunderstandings," "Childhood Creativity," "What Colour is Your Creative Soul," "Creativity and Money," and "Honouring our Personal Lineage of Creativity," among others.

We are looking for someone over the age of 25 to be part of the Northwest SPEC Delegation for 2024! We will have at least 6 youth from Canada West as part of the delegation and are excited to send an adult from Canada West to provide support and guidance for our youth. You can learn more about SPEC here: https://spectacular.camp
 
The mission centre will cover your travel to this exciting youth event. Dates are July 11-20, 2024 let us know as soon as possible if you are interested – deadline is April 5th.
 
Please send your questions and interest to Shannon: [email protected]

What: Climate Webinar – "Live Simply - So Others May Simply Live”
Who: Dr. Ruth Valerio
When: Sunday, May 5 at 2pm PT/ 3pm MT/ 4pm CT/ 5pm ET
Where: ZOOM Online Ministry 

Our age is one of increasing consumption, pursuit of luxury, waste and disregard for injustice.  Dr. Ruth Valerio teaches, preaches, writes and practices a lifestyle of simplicity.  We are honored to have this notable theologian, eco-warrior, and author as our guest presenter, sharing her perspectives on how to walk the earth lightly, live gently, and address the injustices around us. 

Ruth Valerio is the Global Advocacy and Influencing Director at Tearfund. An environmentalist, theologian and social activist. Ruth holds a doctorate from King’s College London, and honorary doctorates from the Universities of Winchester and Chichester. She enjoys living sustainably - practicing what she preaches and inspiring others as she does so - in the South of England with her family. She is the author of L is for Lifestyle: Christian Living That Doesn’t Cost the Earth,   Just Living: Faith and Community in an age of Consumerism, and the children's book Planet Protectors: 52 ways to look after God’s World.  Ruth is the co-founder of the Oikos Network: a global network of peer mentoring groups for Christian environmental leaders from all over the world.

Hills of Peace Family Camp
Saturday, August 3 - Thursday, August 8, 2024

Registration is now open!
 
All things are sacred. Come join us as we explore the theme "Heal the Earth". We will visit, worship, have fun with friends and family, make crafts, play games and enjoy delicious meals, all in a beautiful natural setting. See you there!
 
Guest ministers: Matt and Margo Frizzell

We are excited to announce that in 2024, the Inland West Mission Center will be leading a thought-provoking discussion based on the book "Grounded" by Dianna Butler-Bass.

This book club presents a unique opportunity to build a sense of community across distances and time zones, allowing us to collectively explore and prepare for the meaningful themes of 2024. We warmly invite you to be a part of this enriching journey.

Our discussions will be held on Zoom twice a week at 6:30 PM Pacific Time / 7:30 PM Mountain Time. Click on the buttons below to learn how to join and download flyer. Both sessions will cover the same chapter, providing flexibility for your schedule. See the dates below:

​It’s time to start looking at Reunion registration for this summer. The dates for Reunion this year are July 20-27, 2023.

Last year we started an experiment by combining the CWM Reunion at Samish Island with the Inland West Mission Centre Reunion.  With the combined group, Reunion will be substantially larger than normal, which required extra work in terms of logistics and planning.  The earlier we get information about attendance, the better we can plan the logistics of camp.

Registration information

At this time we do not have an online payment system set up, but hopefully that will be coming soon.  In the meantime, it is important for us to have a way to get people registered, so we know who is coming and what their requirements are. Click the link below to fill out the form online.

Reunion Costs/Payment

At this time we will not be taking payment.  Once a payment system is in place, I will send out emails with invoices to all who are registered about how to pay your Reunion costs to the Canada West Mission Centre.

If you have financial need, and are looking for support, please contact your local congregation first.  There may be some support available through the Mission Centre, or directly through the camp, but your local congregation should be the first stop. When you are contacting people about financial support, please specify what your costs are for Reunion, and what you are able to cover so that it is clear what support you are requesting.

We look forward to seeing you at Samish Island for Reunion 2023!
​
Chris Phelps and Lisa Stecher - Camp Directors

​When our Mission Centre President team heard of the date for our dear Dar Shepherdson's memorial service, we knew that we wanted to attend if possible. So I had the privilege of flying to Toronto last weekend for the memorial service and also was able to attend the Canada East Special Mission Centre Conference.
 
Dar’s memorial service was very touching. The theme was “A Generous Life” which describes Dar so well. There were memories shared by Dar’s son, our Apostle Art Smith, former Bishop of Canada Jim Poirier, Sam Smalldon, and President Designate Stassi Cramm. It was both moving and inspiring to hear stories of Dar’s life and impact not just in Canada but around the world. You can watch a recording of the service here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UprwJKEQNM0
 
Earlier in the day I watched the Canada East Special Mission Centre Conference proceedings. They had two motions of resolutions to send for consideration for World Conference in 2025. You can read them on their conference website: https://www.communityofchrist.ca/cem-conference.html It was great to see how similar our conferences are. Just like our conference, they had both in-person and zoom delegates who were able to speak and vote.
 
The Scarborough congregation were excellent hosts. I enjoyed both seeing familiar faces and meeting many new people. Our President of Seventy, John Glaser, was in attendance as well, always so encouraging of everyone. Many folks from Canada East send greetings to those of you they know here in the West, and we all were reminded of just how connected we are, regardless of geography. We are all finding new ways to be church in our communities and live Christ’s mission. I am looking forward to continuing to strengthen ties across the country so that we can all learn from each other’s innovations and experiences and celebrate mission.

I will dispense with my usual introduction concerning past columns in this series. To see the previous three parts in this series please consult the column archive here: Historians Corner.
 
Joseph Smith III (Prophet-President 1860 to 1914). Joseph Smith III was the second Prophet-President of the church in its full history (succeeding his father, Joseph Smith, Jr., following his assassination in 1844), and the first Prophet-President of the “Reorganized Church.” The basics of this story are:

If that was really all there was to the story I would end the column here – but, of course, there is much more to the process than is contained in those bullet points. In fact, there is far more involved than I am going to be able to appropriately describe in the next few paragraphs.

There once was a tendency in the way we traditionally, and somewhat informally, re-told this story to ourselves (meaning: church members, in good faith, re-telling the story to other church members or to non-church-members) that there was an identifiable group (or maybe two or three groups) who were set “adrift” from the church sometime after 1844 who very intentionally and purposely believed that young Joseph was supposed to eventually lead the church and they just waited for 16 years until he came to an appropriate age to follow that call and come back to them to lead them. Well – not really.

Both Mark Scherer in his Journey of a People (see volume 2, pages 3 to 106) and Richard Howard in his The Church Through the Years (see volume 1, pages 303 to 379) are very clear that the people who eventually coalesced into that group in 1860 experienced different journeys to get there. Some were individuals or families who had little or no contact with the church after 1844 and may or may not have actively practiced their faith. Some were members of small congregations who continued to meet and worship with no affiliation with any splinter group. Others were members who followed one (or more!) of the splinter-group leaders for a period of time then became disenchanted for any number of reasons. This included some who returned from Brigham Young’s group, and many who became disenchanted with leaders of other groups such as Sidney Rigdon (who lead a group to Pennsylvania in 1844, but it fell apart after about 2 years)[1], James J. Strang (who lead a fairly large group to, first, Voree, Wisconsin, and later to Beaver Island, Michigan; Strang’s group began to lose large numbers of members when he crowned himself king of the Kingdom of God, declared a belief in polygamy, and took 4 wives)[2], and, William B. Smith (younger brother of Joseph, Jr.; led his group to Palestine, Illinois, and later to Covington, Kentucky)[3]. This is just a selection of leaders and groups as listed by Richard Howard in The Church Through the Years.

In 1851 and 1852 two men who had been part of the church in Nauvoo independently had spiritual experiences that confirmed for them that Joseph III would eventually come to lead the church. Jason Briggs and Zenos Gurley were leaders in their own congregations in Beloit, Wisconsin, and Yellow Stone, Wisconsin. As they shared their respective experiences there came to be a desire among their congregations and a small number of others to come together to initiate a church organization to which they could invite Joseph Smith III to lead. The congregations met together at the Newark Branch near Beloit, Wisconsin, in June 1852 and, in conference actions, approved motions that set a framework and a set of priorities as a church. This was the beginning of the Reorganized Church. Eventually it was this group that sent a delegation to Joseph Smith III in 1856 to invite him to join them and to lead them. Joseph declined their invitation.[4]

Over the next three years the new organization began to attract members, including others who had been leaders in the church in Nauvoo and earlier. One of these was William Marks, a “venerable leader from Kirtland days,”[5] Marks was well-known to Joseph III and a good friend of the Smith family. It was to Marks that Joseph wrote in March of 1860 to indicate his intention to attend the special conference planned for early April 1860 in Amboy, Illinois.[6]
 
Joseph travelled to the Amboy conference from Nauvoo with his mother, Emma. Together they committed to the Reorganization. The words most frequently quoted from Joseph’s greetings to the conference on April 6, 1860, are:

“I would say to you, brethren, ... I came here not of myself, but by the influence of the Spirit. For some time past I have received manifestations pointing to the position which I am about to assume.
“I wish to say that I have come here not to be dictated by any men or set of men. I have come in obedience to a power not my own, and shall be dictated by the power that sent me.”[7]

With that, Joseph Smith III finally accepted the role of leader of the church he believed to have been founded by his father. Emma’s presence was significant in her support of her son following in her deceased husband’s footsteps. The conference voted unanimously to accept the motion that: “Brother Joseph Smith be chosen prophet, seer, and revelator of the church of Jesus Christ, and the successor of his father.” “He was then ordained ‘President of the High Priesthood of the Church by Brothers Z. (Zenos) H. Gurley and Wm. (William) Marks.’”[8]

Thus began an active, challenging, and “pragmatic” term of leadership of the church that lasted for 54 years until Joseph’s death in 1914.

Next column: How Joseph Smith, Jr., came to be the prophet-president of the church.

​Please feel free to contact me with any comments or questions.

It was my pleasure and privilege to join with and speak at the Edmonton congregation last Sunday. Spent Saturday adventuring with my dear cousins Marian and Steve Thompson and Marg Levitt. I also look forward to being with the Regina congregation via zoom in the next couple of weeks.

It is always delightful to meet together and share in our like mindedness. Keeping connections keeps me grounded and encouraged to continue the ministry before us. Whether our meeting is in person or electronically we are cognizant of the loving support and companionship that is so important not only on our faith journey but in our lives in general.

A number of our members throughout the church in Canada have passed on in the last few weeks and we are very grateful to have had their ministry, presence and support in the past even through our time of grieving.

We look forward to joining with CEM in a celebration of life for our dear brother Dar Shepherdson on Saturday, April 13, at 2:30 pm MDT. Click here to register and attend via Zoom.

He will continue to be remembered with great fondness and joy for the time we had with him, the ministry he provided, and with deep respect and gratitude for the work he did as the bishop for Canada. We loved you Dar!

Join an enriching dialog around "Embracing an Abundance Mindset" as we seek to uncover practical insights for responding to a rapidly changing spiritual landscape amidst the challenges of our modern society. Together, let's delve beyond the confines of tradition and empower ourselves with a renewed sense of possibility and purpose.
 
Feel free to invite members of your Pastoral Team but please refrain from sharing the zoom link on public platforms.

​We have just gone through Easter.  Three days in the tomb and he rose up from the dead.  He took away my sin.   God sent his son to us through Mary who with Joseph, raised the baby Jesus to manhood.  Jesus began preaching and teaching about God’s love for us.  He gathered disciples to help spread his father’s love to all.  
 
Our small church has plain glass windows.  For the Easter season, the church had cellophane-stained windows, a gift from a talented member made over 20 years ago.  Through her talent, she shared her love as a disciple.  
 
There are small things that people do almost automatically that are small offerings of LOVE.
 
During this Easter season, my niece Joy has been in hospital.   There have been so many expressions of love shared to Joy, her wife Haley and the family that may seem small but are so truly large. In this techno world, texts have come from all over.  Cellphones have been placed by her head to hear words of love and encouragement from family in Australia, New Zealand and England.  Food and mineral water has been provided to the family waiting for their chance to be in the ICU holding her hand.  A ride to the hospital, a couch to rest on, a shoulder to lean on.  Someone to check on and look after the family cats.  All acts of LOVE.
 
Today, I took down our cellophane-stained windows and the one of Jesus Christ on the cross was the last one.  I was overwhelmed by the act of LOVE done for me. 
 
I need to be a true disciple, I need to share LOVE for one another.