November 3rd

Companion Congregations Relationship Brings Rich Harvest

In 2025, Mennonite Church Manitoba launched Companion Congregations, a program that pairs congregations together for mutual encouragement and meaningful relationship. Springstein Mennonite Church and Charleswood Mennonite Church joined the program and were paired up last fall. They are already reaping the harvest of this relationship.

“When Charleswood first hosted Springstein for worship and a potluck after, I stood in the foyer and watched people mix and mingle and connect in rich and hearty ways,” says Lisa Enns, pastor at Charleswood. “The buzz of pre-worship fellowship was electric, the service itself was meaningful, and of course, sharing an abundance of food together around a table of further conversation and friendship-building was beautiful to participate in.”

That event, an Advent Carol Sing, was the first of several joint experiences. The two churches did a worship service exchange in February, and Charleswood joined Springstein for an outdoor worship service in August.

“The August farm worship day included checking out the farm equipment, which sparked interest in Charleswood folks going back out to Springstein to be part of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank harvest day in October,” Lisa says. “A handful of people came out to watch as eight combines harvested a whole field in an hour, and then donated the money from it to CFB.”

The Companion Congregations program has two possible paths: an international pairing between an MCM congregation and a congregation from Mennonite Church USA’s Central District Conference, and a regional pairing between a Winnipeg congregation and a non-Winnipeg one.

“We are loving the rural-urban connections being made,” says Randy Hildebrand, Springstein’s pastor. “We are quickly realizing we have a lot more in common than not.”

“Many comments have been made about the meaningfulness of this urban-rural connection,” adds Lisa, “both for those who have had little or no connections rurally, or who may have grown up on a farm and now are enjoying these moments with this rural congregation.”

“Our congregants are already asking when is the next event that we will be doing together,” says Randy.

Lisa hears the same thing at Charleswood. “People continue to ask when our next event together will be, and it is a joy to be able to tell them there is more on the horizon! It is a relationship-building experience from which I believe any congregation would benefit.”

The two congregations are planning another worship exchange this winter, and in May they will come together for a picnic at Camp Assiniboia.

If your congregation has not already joined the Companion Congregations program, consider doing so! Contact Executive Minister Michael Pahl for more information. If you’d like to support this kind of congregational relationship-building financially, see www.mennochurch.mb.ca/giving.