BUILDING COMMUNITY
An overview of the Collaborative Model y now, you are aware that at our 2019 AGM in Waterloo, Ontario, MB delegates voted to implement the Collaborative Model of governance. Since then, the Executive Board and staff have worked diligently to draft several documents to give structure and legal foundation for this governance model. To offer as much relevant information as possible and update you on the latest modifications and additions to the Collaborative Model, I present this abbreviated introduction.
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What is the Collaborative Model?
The MB denomination in Canada has a unique polity that can challenge unity and coordination. Most of our ministries can legally and logistically move independently of each other, leading to duplication of plans, indirectly competing and occasionally silos. Further, the growing regional divide found in the Canadian political world can permeate our ministry. The Collaborative Model is a new form of governance best suited to coordinate multiple independent organizations serving a similar constituency. We have six separate provincial conferences, two national agencies, a national financial organization and a national conference, all who can operate independently in our denomination. Still, we serve and respond to the same constituency. These same churches are telling us what they want to be done on their behalf. This new Collaborative Model helps us to coordinate our efforts to minimize redundancies and maximize results. The Collaborative Model calls us to bring the best that we have for the benefit of the whole. In other words, together, we are thinking about what is best for the MB family of churches in Canada and its called mission. The Collaborative Model also creates a
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M B H E R A L D.C O M
better accountability system than what we have at present, inviting not only church delegates but also provincial and agency boards to speak and vote into relevant matters. Together with church delegates, a board of boards will have greater influence and voice in what we do together. The Collaborative Model also invites all parts of the MB family into the designing and executing phases of our collective plans. The Collaborative Model also acknowledges that there are nuances and contextualization in the different regions of Canada. Thus the importance in the provincial conferences being the coordinators of ministry for their region. The sum of all of us will be known as our collective impact.
What is new with this new system of governance?
The Collaborative Model is in full compliance with our national constitution in all areas, including member churches’ rights to vote on all relevant matters. In addition to churches as voting members, the Collaborative Model introduces a new member class (not in terms of special privilege, but a legal term to identify a membership category), the National Assembly. Elected boards of provincial conferences, MB Seminary, Multiply, and Legacy are now members of the Collaborative Model and can speak and vote as members of the National Assembly. The National Assembly will gather annually to coordinate efforts and propose unified plans for approval at the General Assembly. The General Assembly replaces the national AGM and is the gathering of both member classes in Canada. All voting will occur through the General Assembly either in real-time or by referenda at provincial conventions. These decisions are important because when we make them
