Look around and I am sure you can see opportunities to play, work, pray, serve, and rest. That is what your WMS Council saw at Crieff Hills on May 3–6. Once again we were blessed with great weather as we did the work of the Council, and took time to play and learn along the way. This year’s theme, Opportunity Knocks, was a perfect background to the opportunities we saw before us.

Opportunity to Play
We spent our first night getting to know one another with a few games, and then enjoying the music of The Lost Pilgrims. Celtic folk music, bluegrass, and even some tunes from Neil Young, Johnny Cash, and Leonard Cohen had our feet moving to the beat. The last song, People Get Ready, also encouraged us in our work for the week...

All you need is faith
Don’t need no ticket
Just thank the Lord!

June Campbell summed up their performance beautifully in her thank you to the band. She thanked them for “music that honours the stories of God’s people!”

Opportunity to Learn
We had many opportunities to learn over our four days together. First, we spent time together learning about change through two workshops presented by Tori Smit. Tori reminded us of recent messages of change: Obama’s campaign slogan of Stand for Change, and our own moderator’s message that congregations must change.

She helped us to see why we don’t change, including fear of failure, conflict, and a loss of identity, but told us that change is not only inevitable, but is necessary for renewal and revitalization. Tori also had us identify a possible area of change for the WMS. She then had us consider how we would work to implement this change in healthy ways. Change will never be easy, but with the proper prayer and preparations, it just might lead to positive results!

We also spent time learning about refugees, and the 2009–2010 mission study on refugees. Margaret Douglas, from Knox, Woodstock, spoke about her experience, along with the Say family—Burmese refugees sponsored by Knox. Margaret took the initiative on refugee sponsorship after seeing an advertisement on the PCC website. She prepared, and made a presentation to her session and they said yes right away! The process had its challenges, including lots of paperwork, a long period of waiting, and translation challenges, but overall it has been a good experience. Margaret has had the opportunity to work closely with the Say family, and has enjoyed becoming a ‘soccer mom’ to their children, sharing many meals with the family, and learning from them. Knox is currently looking forward to the arrival of others from the extended Say family who will be arriving shortly.

Say family with Karen Plater and Margaret Douglas

Lawrence Pentelow, Managing Director of Crieff, also gave us a presentation on the Capital Campaign they are embarking on. Phase one will include five self-contained suites, one barrier free suite, and a reading room. Phase 2 will see Crieff add additional bedrooms and meeting rooms. It was exciting to hear how Crieff is preparing to serve the needs of the church well into the future!

The Rev. Rick Fee brought highlights from the Life and Mission Agency. The Life and Mission Agency will need to change as financial cuts occur. We have seen some staff changes in the past year, such as the hiring of Colin Carmichael in Communications, and some more in the future due to the retirement of Dorothy Henderson. Rick spoke of these challenges in positive ways as he looks for creative ways to continue important ministries. Rick also spoke very positively about the number of ecumenical partnerships we have, such as our work with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, and Action by Church Together.

On Tuesday afternoon, Gloria Wasacase, told her story as a former staff member at Cecelia Jeffrey Residential School. She began her work there as a young woman in 1959 and it will always be a part of her. She has had past students from the school thank her on the street for her work at the school.

Druse Bryan, and the Rev. Rick Fee also spoke on the future of mission. Both feel that communication is key and that there is good communication between the WMS and the Life and Mission Agency. As well, we will continue to be involved in justice issues, and must continue to focus on certain areas—doing excellent work in a few key areas! We know there will be challenges—budget shortfalls, and changes in demographics—but we need to keep talking, sharing, and trying new things.

Lorette Noble, representative from the Catholic Women’s League; Druse Bryan, WMS President; Mary MacLeod, representative from the Atlantic Mission Society; and Rick Fee, General Secretary of the Life and Mission Agency.

We also received a very informative report on human trafficking from June Campbell which will be included in a future edition of Glad Tidings.

Opportunity to Worship
Our theme, Opportunity Knocks, was presented through an in-depth bible study led by Rev. Dr. Emily Bisset. We began by looking at the verse, “Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come into you and eat with you, and you with me.” (Revelation 3:20) We looked at several paintings of this passage and considered their meaning.

Emily also gave us great exegetical information on Revelation to aid in our understanding of this passage, and the entire book of Revelation. That, along with our own discussion, helped us to learn and grow in our understanding of scripture.

Left: Emily and Eunice Bisset
Right: Rev. Cheol Soon Park, Moderator of the 134th General Assembly

On our final morning, we enjoyed a moving worship service from the Rev. Cheol Soon Park, Moderator of the 134th General Assembly. He began by giving us a review of his last 11 months. As moderator he has had a busy year, but he has enjoyed learning new things about this country, and about the church (PCC), and also travelling overseas to Eastern Europe, and Korea. He has seen that the energy and strength in our church comes from diversity, and he challenges us to pray for congregations that are struggling. He has met many good people working for the kingdom of God.

He reminded us that the PCC wouldn’t be what it is today without the WMS. Finally, he challenged us to do all that we do for the next generation! We closed our time together with the celebration of Communion.

Opportunity to Work
The work of the WMS includes hearing reports from the past year. The Book Room had a challenging year with the closing of Canada’s largest Christian bookstore, Mitchell’s Family Bookstore (that had recently taken over Blessings). As the largest distributor of Christian books in Canada, this left The Book Room scrambling to fill orders. Aside from this, The Book Room is thriving as they continue to excel in the area of customer service!

The Personnel Committee continues to keep busy with our own WMS ‘baby boom.’ Alexis McKeown has recently returned from maternity leave, and Tricia Browne will return later this year. Grace Kim was a wonderful asset this year as Tricia’s replacement. This summer, Colleen Wood will be beginning maternity leave, and we welcome Rev. Heather Jones to replace her during her leave.

In addition, after many years, Mary Taylor retired as Financial Officer. Her position has been filled by Elza Furzer. The staff continues to work well as a team under the leadership of the Rev. Sarah Kim.

The Program Committee reported on their many activities from the previous year, including the resources from Mission Awareness Sunday, written by the Rev Donald MacKay and the Rev. Marion Barclay-MacKay. They also let us know that a Resources Book is being produced by the Rev. Lynda Reid and the Rev. Anne Yee-Hibbs. The Program Committee reminds us all to return our resource evaluation forms. This past year, they only received 40 completed forms out of a possible 300!

Finally, the Editorial Committee reported on a positive year. The circulation of Glad Tidings was down again, but financial numbers are solid. The committee reminds everyone that Glad Tidings is not just for WMS members. There are articles of interest to anyone interested in mission.

The work of your Council also includes decision making, and after much discussion a variety of motions was passed. Likely the most profound are some constitutional changes. Noting that we have men who attend WMS meetings, and even have men as members, we have made the language of our constitution more inclusive. As well, we made some changes that allow for the new structure recently approved within the Saskatchewan Synodical. Since these are changes to our constitution, they must be sent to the General Assembly this June for final discussion and approval.

We also made some decisions regarding WMS Mission trips—our 2010 mission trip will be to the Cariboo Mission. Council decided that we will focus on one mission trip every year, alternating between a Canadian and International destination.

Finally, we decided to change the name of our WMS newsletter. WMS Ways will now become WMS Matters!

And indeed, the WMS does matter. I encourage everyone to consider the WMS and the opportunities before us. It may require change, but as Tori Smit says, change is inevitable and necessary for renewal and revitalization. May each of us consider small ways in which we can renew and revive our own WMS groups in 2009!