Greetings CBC! Due to the uncertain forecast of cold and potential snow for Friday evening, and especially the need for our speaker and those preparing the meal to be able to prep in advance, we have determined it would be best to postpone our Heritage Night event, and instead host it on the evening of Friday, February 6th. It seemed we would have the best chance at fuller participation and enjoyment of the evening if we took our chances on a later date.

I do hope you'll join us now on Friday, February 6th, for our first ever Heritage Night. This is a first-time event, with the hope that we can enjoy some time together and learn a little more about who we are and where we came from. As I mentioned on Sunday, one of the reasons for this event is to establish in our hearts and minds that we have a history and roots worth knowing and celebrating. There seems to have been a movement of younger people toward the Catholic and Orthodox church that is fueled by a perception that these strands of Christianity have a more meaningful tradition and history. I think that's a misconception. As evangelical Protestants, and as a Mennonite Brethren church, we have a faith that can be traced back to and rooted in Jesus Christ and His apostles.  

As for what to expect on February 6th, we will hear about the history of our church and our denomination. Those who have been faithfully serving CBC for many years have a number of stories to tell, that we thought would be worth hearing — especially for those of us who are younger or who have not been around as long. So, we will get to hear from them. Additionally, we will have Ryan Loewen from Tabor College join us. I am very excited that he is making the trip up to explore some of the history of the USMB. I think that will be fascinating for all of us. Of course, on top of all of that, we will have a meal of Mennonite/German food. I'm excited to share in some of the traditional food that others have enjoyed and talked about.

We have ideas for what we could do with this kind of evening in the future (potentially making it an annual event) — like highlighting our partnerships with other MB churches or fellowship with Ethiopian churches. But we wanted to keep things focused for this evening. We hope the response from the church warrants doing this again! So, once again, I hope you'll join us in a couple weeks. Even if it's a little cold outside, there will be warmth in our Fellowship Hall.