Canadian Mennonite Bible College - Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

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FACULTY STAFF

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FACULTY HENRY POETTCKER, President A.B., B.D., (TH. D. CAND.) Instructor of New Testament and Missions. The Task Before Us As a Bible College, connected closely with the church, we affirm that the church’s mission is our mission. Briefly stated, the church’s mission is the evangelization of the world—fulfillment of the Great Commission. In view of this we are dedicated to the task of offering a program that will serve to prepare those who come to us for their part in God’s Kingdom. We pledge ourselves to a renewed and deepened scholarship, one bespeaking the nature of college studies. It shall be characterized by honesty, sin¬ cerity and a deep desire to learn. It shall know a standard that can measure up to and compare favorably with that of any secular institution. It shall be a scholarship marked by humility and fully cognizant of God’s place at the center of every undertaking. We pledge ourselves to a constant quest for truth. With many other institutions like ours, we are interested both in a structure of truth as well as in a system of training. The account of God’s revelation to us, the Bible, is taken seriously, for in its deepest essence it is the story of redemp¬ tion in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. No part of the Bible can be understood adequately apart from Jesus Christ, and therefore in our quest for truth, our spelling out of the truth contained in the Scriptures, our study is Christocentric. In Him we gain our understanding of God, and from Him we derive our mission to our fellow men. We pledge ourselves, therefore, to a practical religion. Our academic pursuits make for numer¬ ous intellectual advances. But this in turn needs to be translated into terms of everyday life. Just as the story of the Good Samaritan teaches us that religion can never be adequate until it becomes practical, so the Apostle James maintains that true religion touches the neighbor in a very practical wa y. We can never presume that an intellectual grasp will guarantee appropriate action, and we are therefore concerned, that we translate Biblical precepts into daily practices. We pledge ourselves to be one of the growing edges of the church. This is not in any way to minimize our heritage, but rather, to live in our time, as our forefathers lived in theirs, by recap¬ turing once again the same spirit and motivation which enables transformation in individual lives and in society. This will mean change and adaptation, and the necessity to discern correctly where we need to grow. We pledge ourselves to help in meeting the needs of the churches for whose purpose we are here. To the best of our ability we want to train workers both to see the need and to give them¬ selves to a life of service in the Lord’s vineyard. Finally we pledge ourselves to be a Christian community—to live as those whose sovereign is the Lord Jesus: to walk as those whose companion is the Shepherd of men; to pray as those whose intercessor is the Spirit of God; to love as those who have first been loved by the merciful Father; and to study as those approved unto God, work¬ men that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. This is our task! H.P. WESTHEIMER MENNONITE CHURCH ROSEMARY, ALBERTA Leading Minister: J. D. Nickel. Students: Hilda Boschmann, Leonard Harder, Richard Penner.