by Jennie Wintermote, Conference Resource Library Director
 
This last weekend I attended a wedding (it’s that season, isn’t it?)  Over our chips and salsa at the reception, we caught up on work, kids, and other things that fill our days.  As I think back on it now, when I said that I work for Western District Conference as the director of the Resource Library, I wonder what they thought.
What could I have said briefly to explain WDC and why it’s important that we exist?  I could start with our mission statement –
     WDC empowers Anabaptist/Mennonite congregations to:
          Witness & invite others to faith in Jesus Christ,
          Dwell in just & loving relationships,
          Connect to God’s mission in the world.
Or I could list our core tasks –
     Sustaining Transformational Pastors
     Resourcing Healthy, Missional Churches
     Networking Anabaptist Church Planting Partnerships
But maybe it’s through actually sharing my work “testimony”.  I work for WDC, an area conference of Mennonite Church USA.  We’re a grouping of Anabaptist/Mennonite congregations that are seeking authentic ways of joining God’s work in the local (and global) contexts.  We do this through witnessing and inviting others to faith in Jesus Christ and dwelling in just and loving relationships.  I get to help connect individuals, groups, and congregations with resources that help explore witnessing and inviting, disciple-making, relationship-building, justice seeking and more.  I get to hear what’s going on in congregations, celebrate the ways we are together seeking and ushering in God’s Shalom, praying for the brokenness in our world and the ways we fall short of justice, and thanking God for working through, in, and sometimes in spite of us all.
I think I could’ve shared that all quickly – at least before the cake was cut – and let them know why WDC is important.  We are not just another organization that exists to exist.  We (all of us from pastors to babies being dedicated, from conference ministers to first-time attenders) have a place in WDC and work to do – work that is enriched and supported by the conference.  So, the next time you’re at a wedding, talking about your own work, take a second to think about WDC.  Why is it important for you to be a part of our shared good work?