April 1stThe Courage to Love, Centered on Jesus
On February 28 and March 1, 100 delegates from 31 congregations, along with over 50 guests, came together for Mennonite Church Manitoba’s annual Gathering. It was a full weekend of information, connection, and conversation—and being inspired toward courageous love, centred on Jesus.
Executive Minister Michael Pahl, in his meditation during the Friday evening worship service, reflected on the Gathering theme: “Looking to Jesus,” from Hebrews 12:1-2. He explored who this Jesus is we are called to look to, and what it means to be “Jesus-centred” in our faith and as a church.
“My sisters and brothers and siblings in Christ—this is the faith and life I call us to,” Michael concluded. “A faith and life, a Christianity, a church, that is centred on Jesus, no one and nothing else. A faith and life, a Christianity, a church, that is centred on Jesus of Nazareth, the one who lived and healed and taught and suffered and died and rose again, our Teacher, our Saviour, our Messiah, our Lord.”
John D. Roth (click to enlarge image) followed up on Michael’s meditation with Saturday morning’s keynote address. John is a scholar of historic and global Anabaptism, and for the past few years he has been serving as director for MennoMedia’s Anabaptism at 500 project.
“How do we encounter the living presence of Jesus in this call to ‘look to Jesus’?” John asked. In answering this question, he pointed to the well-known phrase of Ulrich Zwingli, the Reformer whose teachings initially sparked early Anabaptism: “For God’s sake, do something courageous.”
John described two challenging realities of our time in particular. One is the emergence of artificial intelligence, which “risks making the human capacity for empathy and creativity obsolete.” The other is the fracturing of our social contract, which is “deeply frayed” and “feels like it’s on the verge of collapsing.” When this happens, John said, “the vacuum will be filled by the raw reality of power.”
In this cultural moment we must, “for God’s sake, do something courageous,” and the particular courage we need to muster is the courage to love. “Love in the way of Jesus requires courage,” John said, “the courage to confront the powers, to push back on evil, to take risks especially on behalf of those who are vulnerable.”
“In invite you, for God’s sake,” John concluded, “as individuals and groups, do something courageous. Have the courage to love, actively, imaginatively, vulnerably, following in the footsteps of Jesus.”
We are thankful to God for our 2025 Gathering—thank you to all who came! Both John’s and Michael’s presentations, along with other videos and materials from the Gathering, are available for viewing on the Gathering 2025 web page here. To financially support our ongoing work together as MCM, see www.mennochurch.mb.ca/giving.