The Central District Conference gathered for its 114th annual convention Nov. 7-9, 2024, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Sixty-four delegates represented 26 churches. An additional 45 guests brought the total convention attendance to 109.
Sioux Falls, the largest city in the state with a population of 213,891, is home to four U.S. Mennonite Brethren churches. Christ Community Church, located three miles south of Sioux Falls, hosted the convention. Other USMB churches in the city are Lincoln Hills Bible Church, Bethel Fellowship Church (Ethiopian), International Ethiopian Christian Fellowship and New Jerusalem Temple.
The convention schedule included two business sessions, three worship sessions with guest speaker Ron Klassen and a fourth worship session featuring Aaron Box, USMB national director. Friday afternoon workshops and the annual church planting and renewal banquet that evening rounded out the schedule.
CDC budget supports church planting vision
The Friday morning business session included an introduction to the slate of nominees for open committee positions and an overview of the proposed 2024-25 budget. Delegates also heard reports from the treasurer and district committees and staff.
In his report, CDC minister Daniel Rodriguez spoke about the importance of recruiting new leaders and the challenges of ministry in small church settings. He encouraged the conference in its church planting vision.
“Five years ago was the last time we planted a new church,” Rodriguez said. “We hoped to have one this year; we had an interview, but it didn’t work out.”
Rodriguez challenged CDC churches to be congregations that “reach out and make disciples.” His goal for the 2024-25 fiscal year, he said, is for 165 people to be saved because of the ministry of CDC congregations and for the 38 churches to baptize 165 individuals.
Delegates also heard updates from CDC Executive Board chair Lynn Schneider who led the business sessions; Rhonda Swiers, CDC administrative assistant; Dan Strutz, Board of Faith and Life Committee chair; Christian Kohs, Church Planting and Renewal Committee chair; Jon Annin, Youth Committee chair; and Justin Swiers, representing the Nominating Committee.
John Quiring, Trustee Committee chair, and Richard Walter, CDC treasurer, gave the Trustee Committee report on Friday. Committee member Susanna Strutz presented the 2024-25 budget for approval Saturday morning, with board chairs providing details of specific expenses.
Forty percent of the CDC budget is earmarked for Church Planting and Renewal Committee (CPRC) expenses. Six church plants will receive funding in the 2024-25 fiscal year, and that financial support is on a sliding funding schedule, said CPRC chair Christian Kohs. Two churches that were on subsidy in 2023-24, Stony Brook Church in Omaha, Nebraska, and International Ethiopian Christian Fellowship in Sioux Falls, are no longer receiving financial support from the CDC.
The CPRC budget also includes funding for three participants in the new CDC mentorship program. Mentees are paired with a seasoned pastor for one year and receive a part-time salary for that year, said district minister Rodriguez.
At the closing session, Rodriguez introduced two of the 2024-25 mentees: Logan Pikop who will be mentored by Pastor Jon Annin, Stony Brook Church, Omaha, Nebraska, and Natinael Ayalew who will be mentored by Pastor Hunegnaw Bekele of Ethiopian Christian Fellowship, Sioux Falls.
Additional CPRC expenses include funding for developing a new church plant and for committee members to travel to Mexico to see how church planting is done in that culture.
The Board of Faith and Life budget includes funding for two events for pastors: the CDC pastor’s retreat and the National Pastors’ Orientation hosted by USMB. Pastors were encouraged to take advantage of both opportunities.
Strutz noted that the 2024-25 CDC budget also includes a $10,000 emergency church grant. She reported that $5,000 was sent to North Carolina USMB churches in response to Hurricane Helene and that the CDC conference offering taken Saturday morning would be added to the emergency church grant line. That offering totaled $3,141.
Delegates approved the 2024-25 budget of $398,622, a slight increase over the 2023-24 budget of $394,000.
In other business Saturday morning, delegates approved the slate of nominees and approved changes to five articles in the CDC bylaws. Chair Schneider said a major revision of the bylaws was approved three years ago and that the proposed updates were needed to clarify the tenure of committee members and the role of the Youth Committee.
Celebrating church plants
Friday evening the Church Planting and Renewal Banquet highlighted the work of the CPRC, including in Sioux Falls. A worship team from Bethel Fellowship Church, an Ethiopian congregation in Sioux Falls and one of two new churches to receive CPRC financial support, opened the program with songs in Amharic.
Bethel pastor Solomon Garedew reported that five people have been baptized and that 10 more would be baptized the coming Sunday. Unfortunately, Garedew would not be staying for the rest of the program because, while preparing for the baptism, there had been a water leak that he needed to attend to. Garedew spoke of the need for a bigger building because of the number of children in the congregation as well as plans to baptize another 25 people.
The second new church plant to be supported by the CDC is Grace Tabernacle Ministries in Indianapolis, Indiana. Pastor Emmanuel Musinga told of fleeing the Democratic Republic of Congo for Rwanda, where he attended high school. He then went to Kenya for Bible college and came to the United States 14 years ago.
Claude Tambatamba of New Jerusalem Temple, a USMB congregation in Sioux Falls, is a family friend of Musinga’s and introduced Musinga to the Mennonite Brethren.
Musinga, who works two and sometimes three jobs in addition to pastoring, moved to Indianapolis in 2010 to plant a church, and today the congregation has 200 members. “In Congolese culture you spend time at home, at work and at church,” he said. “We have many children (in our congregation) and we need a building.”
Grace Tabernacle has hosted a couples retreat and a youth retreat. They are involved in feeding the homeless in their city, a ministry that enables them to “help payback America for the good life you’ve given us.”
Musinga affirmed USMB for helping refugees. “As refugees, we need mentors,” he said. “We need American churches to mentor and disciple us, to teach us how to establish a church in America.”
He spoke enthusiastically of helping U.S. Mennonite Brethren “preach the gospel in America.” His dream is to one day host the CDC convention in Indianapolis.
Natinael Ayalew, the youth leader at Sioux Fall’s International Ethiopian Christian Fellowship, represented the congregation in a “mortgage burning” ceremony. Ayalew was joined on stage by district minister Rodriguez, trustee chair Quiring and treasurer Walter and they took turns cutting up the loan agreement with the CDC, an indication that the church is no longer on CPRC subsidy.
IECF received it’s building from Silver Lake MB Church, Dolton, South Dakota, when the Dolton church closed. Recently the building had sustained flood and wind damage and was given a loan from the district for repairs. That loan is now paid, prompting the celebration. The ceremony was especially meaningful to Walter as he had been a member of the Silver Lake church.
Delegates also heard from Jeff Turner, pastor of Christ Community Church. Turner told the story of the congregation’s need to find a new meeting place and connecting with New Day Church, a non-denominational church that was willing to share their facility. Turner introduced Blake Christiansen, New Day lead pastor, who recently became New Day’s lead pastor following the retirement of the previous pastor earlier in 2024.
Christiansen spoke of the unity the two congregations experience in sharing the building. The pastors said they talk about “the building” because their congregations are more than the building in which they gather.
Their location, about 3 miles south of Sioux Falls, 5 miles west of Harrisburg and 5 miles east of Tea, has opened new ministry opportunities. Christ Community has formed a relationship with the large elementary school one mile north of the building. The congregation is also organizing a monthly outreach event to create awareness.
The CPRC offering Friday evening of $8,021 was split between Claude Tambatamba’s work with immigrants and support for a Multiply worker attending the convention who serves in a restricted access country.
Afternoon workshops and worship
Friday noon the convention moved to Lincoln Hills Bible Church for lunch, workshops and the afternoon worship session.
Delegates and guests chose one of five workshop options. Pastor Kohs, Redemption Church in Owatonna, Minnesota, talked about an evangelism tool called “three circles evangelism.” Pastor Jon Annin, Stony Brook Church in Omaha, Nebraska, talked about making changes in healthy ways.
Joanna Chapa, a regional mobilizer with Multiply, looked at how “cultural glasses” impact our faith and our relationships. Convention speaker Ron Klassen spoke about the six qualities that characterize a New Testament church that is healthy and vibrant even though it is small and located in a remote small town. Anna Hochstetler led a workshop focused on encouraging others using her own experiences; participants also created a greeting card.
The late afternoon worship session included singing led by musicians from Lincoln Hills and speaker Aaron Box, USMB national director.
Box spoke about the Great Commission and the importance of discipleship. “If we aren’t discipling others, we aren’t obeying Jesus,” he said.
He noted that mentorship and discipleship are not the same. Mentoring involves passing on information while discipleship is “being obedient to Jesus.”
“Discipleship doesn’t need a special program or formal training,” Box said. “We are to be followers of Jesus who talk about Jesus. You don’t need to know the whole Bible to tell people about Jesus. You just talk about the part you do know.”
To define what it means to be a disciple, Box referenced three passages from the Gospel of John.
- Disciples abide in God’s Word (John 8:31).
- Disciples love one another, serving sacrificially in love (John 13:34).
- Disciples bear fruit (John 15:7-8).
He closed by challenging the audience to “be disciples who make disciples.”
Worship sessions focus on renewal
Three additional worship sessions featured guest speaker Ron Klassen, director emeritus of Rural Home Missionary Association. He addressed the convention theme of “Renewal,” focusing his messages on the word “new.”
Thursday evening Klassen talked about the importance of having a new perspective, with Zechariah 4:1-10 as his text. He noted that the Jews in this text were experiencing a population decline, something rural communities in the U.S. also experience. Klassen offered several theological lessons from the text about God’s perspective.
- Lesson one: God does not dole out his Spirit depending on the size of the church. A church’s effectiveness and spirituality do not depend on its size.
- Lesson two: A smaller church is not to be looked down upon. It is not inferior. “Day-in/day-out” ministry is not something given exceptional attention but over time this ordinary ministry has the biggest impact, Klassen said.
Klassen reminded the congregation that “small” does not mean insignificant and that small things should not be despised. Examples of how one scorns small things include not preparing as thoroughly for a small number, jumping to conclusions based on size alone (bigger must be better), assuming limited resources limits God and thinking small sizes translate to small results.
In contrast, the story of Gideon shows that God’s work is accomplished with or without resources and that God delights in doing big things with few resources.
“God stories”
Klassen began his second message, based on Joshua 24 through Judges 2, with several questions: When was the last time you saw God clearly working—no question that it was God working? If it’s been a while, why and has it affected your spiritual vitality?
Klassen noted that the text describes three generations and their relationship to new God stories.
- The first generation experiences God’s mighty deeds first hand (Joshua 24:17-18) and are completely dedicated to God.
- The second generation knew about the deeds God had done in the previous generation (v 31). While this generation didn’t experience new God stories they had heard their parents’ stories. They continued to serve God but with less dedication.
- The third generation did now know about what God had done in previous generations (Judges 2:10-11). Not only were there not new God stories, but previous stories of God’s work had faded from memory. They did not know the Lord and did what was evil.
This sequence can also happen in churches, Klassen said. A church is planted and experiences God at work. “But after a church is established, creeping in is the unintentional illusion that God isn’t quite as needed as he once was,” Klassen said. “They slip into second generation status by failing to initiate new stories of God at work.”
But it doesn’t have to be this way, Klassen said. Churches can be vibrant when they initiate opportunities for new “God stories.” The question church leaders must ask is, “What can we do to initiate fresh opportunities for God to work among us?”
Klassen shared stories of congregations he has worked with who have experienced God at work.
Klassen concluded by encouraging churches to persevere even when it is not obvious that God is working. He reminded the audience that not every new venture will work as planned. “We can’t force God to work,” he said. “Doing nothing almost guarantees there will be no God stories. Doing something gives God the fresh opportunity to work among us.”
Taking risks
In his final message Saturday morning, Klassen spoke from Luke 19:11-27 and invited the audience to take new steps of faith. He noted that in this parable, the 10 servants are each given 10 minas to “put to work.” The minas represent the one life we have to invest for Christ and the servants that take risks are rewarded for being faithful stewards, Klassen said. The focus of the parable is risk-taking.
“While many of us long for God to use us, the parable suggests God is waiting for us to take risks. God rewards those who take new steps of faith for the sake of the kingdom,” said Klassen. “If risk isn’t necessary then faith isn’t necessary.”
An important application of the parable according to Klassen is that we should encourage people who are taking risks. Not all risks are huge or involve “big things.” Regardless of the size of the risk, “God looks favorably on faith that prompts us to take risks,” said Klassen.
“Risks create opportunities for God to work. Risks create new God stories and new God stories leads to renewal.”
Worship sessions included prayer around the tables and reports and updates from various ministries. Delegates heard from Jon Wiebe, MB Foundation; David Janzen, Tabor College; Stephen Humber, Multiply; Connie Faber, Christian Leader; and Mahlet Mama and Becky Teiwes, Mennonite Central Committee.
Saturday morning, Peggy Goertzen, director of the Center for MB Studies at Tabor College, gave a brief history of the Mennonite Brethren coming to the United States as part of the 150th anniversary of Mennonites arriving in the U.S. Her presentation was followed by a break celebrating the anniversary. The sanctuary featured balloon decorations celebrating the anniversary.
The closing session included a prayer by Jeff Blomquist, pastor of Cornerstone Community Church in Harvey, North Dakota, commissioning incoming and continuing CDC committee and board members. A second prayer of blessing was offered by USMB national director Aaron Box for CDC pastors and spouses that gathered on stage. Pastor Turner of Christ Community Church led the closing communion service.
The 2025 CDC convention will be hosted by Bethesda Church in Huron, South Dakota.
Connie Faber joined the magazine staff in 1994 and assumed the duties of editor in 2004. She has won awards from the Evangelical Press Association for her writing and editing. Faber is the co-author of Family Matters: Discovering the Mennonite Brethren. She and her husband, David, have two daughters, one son, one daughter-in-law, one son-in-law and three grandchildren. They are members of Ebenfeld MB Church in Hillsboro, Kansas.
