8 minute read
WALKING CLOSELY WITH GOD
Long-time Winnipeg pastor Arno Fast remembered for faithful service
KIND. GENTLE. DEDICATED.
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FAITHFUL. Those are some of the words used to describe Arno Fast, former pastor of Salem Community Bible Church in Winnipeg.
Fast, who served as pastor at that church for 50 years, passed away June 18. He was 91.
For Harold Jantz, former editor of the Mennonite Brethren Herald, Fast was “very kind and sympathetic. He had a gentle way about him. He was the kind of person people easily felt close to.”
Reflecting on Fast’s long tenure at the church, “I doubt anyone in the Mennonite Brethren Conference has ever pastored at one church as long as he did,” he says. “It must be a record.”
For 15 of those years, Fast shared ministry at the church with his grandson, Andy Rapko.
Now senior pastor at Salem, Rapko remembers his grandfather as a man who “walked closely with God for many years. He taught me the centrality of the Word of God.”
Rapko, 37, recalled asking him once what part of pastoral ministry meant the most to him.
“I expected him to say evangelism or preaching, but he said his devotional time with God,” Rapko says. “He would often say ‘Jesus is so precious to me.’”
While Fast was a quiet and unassuming man, reflecting his rural Saskatchewan farm roots, he was highly educated, Rapko notes.
“He always kept things simple, even though he had many years of higher education,” he says, noting he graduated from Mennonite Brethren Bible College (now Canadian Mennonite University). “And yet he was always learning. He never thought he had it all figured out.”
Together, they made a good team, he says.
“I had more energy, and he had more experience,” Rapko says. “He gave me space to try things. He was always happy when I succeeded and did well.”
After he died, many people in the low-income neighbourhood where the church is located offered their condolences, Rapko says.
This including a local man who Fast had befriended, but who had never accepted his invitation to come to church or accept Christ.
“He pulled up in his truck, rolled down the window and express his condolences,” Rapko says. “He told me my grandfather ‘never gave up on me. He had a greater impact on me than he ever realized.’”
Also offering a kind word was a drug dealer at a house near the church.
“My grandfather used to visit him,” says Rapko, marvelling that a man in his 80s would be welcome at the home of someone dealing drugs.
“No one was beneath him because he didn’t have his life together,” Rapko says, noting Fast regularly walked the streets to visit people. “There are people in our church today who first met him on those walks.”
One person who experienced Fast’s ministry first-hand is Agnes Friesen.
“He was soft spoken, and very warm,” she says. “He had a personal touch.”
Friesen, who has attended Salem
Left: Arno and Lena Fast. Right: Arno and his grandson Andy Rapko shared in Ministry for 15 years. “We made a good team,” Rapko says. “I had more energy, and he had more experience. He gave me space to try things. He was always happy when I succeeded and did well.”
since 1980, adds “he was deeply appreciated by the church. He is missed so much.”
Another person who knew him through his ministry at Salem is Linda Robertson.
“He was a faithful servant, a shepherd, humble,” she says.
For Robertson, who has attended Salem since 1996, the phrase that comes to mind about Fast is “he had a Bible in one hand and broom in the other.”
It was not unusual, she says, “to find him doing humble tasks like wiping spills in the church, emptying the dehumidifier or cleaning up garbage that had blown into the churchyard. He didn’t see anything as being beneath him . . . he was a true and faithful servant of Jesus Christ.”
Cam Priebe, who directs the Mennonite Brethren Church of Manitoba, only met Fast once, after starting in his position.
“He spoke words of blessing, letting me know that he was praying for me. It was one short interaction, but I will always remember his kind and gentle spirit and words of blessing and affirmation. It meant a great deal to me having
it come from this experienced leader.”
Elton DaSilva, executive director of the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches, interacted with Fast for a number of years.
“I came to appreciate his continued dependence on God and his family-like approach to ministry,” he says. “He knew the people he served by name, he knew their life stories, and he was a source of support to a community with diverse backgrounds. He took very seriously the sense of calling he received from God to shepherd his people.”
Fast is survived by his wife, Lena, son James (wife Beth) and his daughter Joan Rapko (husband Pat) 12 grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.
JOHN LONGHURST is a freelance writer, religion reporter and columnist for the Winnipeg Free Press.
Finish lines
JOHN NIEBUHR KLASSEN When John heard the diagnosis of his terminal cancer in June 2020, one of the first things he said was, “I always wanted Mary to go first so that I could be with her to the end.” Those who knew him knew that reaction was very much in character: his love for his wife of 67 years was strong and enduring, and evident to all.
After the war, John and Mary met in Germany, having fled their homes in Ukraine with their mothers and siblings. The Soviets had arrested both their fathers. John only learned decades later that his father had been executed ten days after his arrest.
Both families emigrated to Canada. John lost no time catching up with his frequently interrupted basic education and embarked on a life-long continuing education journey, starting with Bible school in Winkler, Manitoba, where his family had settled. In 1953 John joined Mary in Vancouver, where they married and started their family – John Jr. was born in 1954, Ruth, in 1956. Timothy joined them eight years later.
Post-war Germany was not only significant in terms of meeting his future wife. It was also where John found Jesus as his Saviour, or, as he liked to say, Jesus found him. His diaries from the time show his love of the Bible, and his commitment to serving the Lord emerged early in his Christian journey. In 1957 he moved his young family to Winnipeg to attend MB Bible College. Over the years, stints at MB Biblical Seminary in Fresno, Fresno Pacific University and Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena followed. Numerous degrees culminated in a Ph.D. from the University of South Africa at the age of 74.
It was not only John’s thirst for knowledge that motivated his academic endeavours but his desire to be better equipped to follow his calling as a missionary, church builder and teacher. For 50 years, John and Mary served with MB Missions in Germany, pastoring churches, teaching in various bible schools and other institutions and giving leadership in various roles within the MB community in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
When an influx of Mennonites from the Soviet Union arrived in Germany in the 1970s and 80s, the focus of John and Mary’s work shifted to serving and supporting these ‘Aussiedler’ in the often difficult process of integration into a new culture, both socially and spiritually. John was known and respected as a bridge between people and churches with different perspectives and practices. He was instrumental in creating the Bibelseminar Bonn in 1991 with—and for—the Aussiedler communities and taught here until the end of their time in Germany.
Throughout his life, John was a researcher and writer – of diaries, sermons, articles and books. Through his literary legacy, he will continue to contribute to the work he loved for years to come.
John and Mary moved to Abbotsford in 2008, some 15 years after their official retirement. From afar—and to the end—John was actively involved in ministry to which he dedicated his life in Germany. He passed away peacefully with his family by his sideBirth: April 7, 1929
Birthplace: Steinfeld, Ukraine
Death: August 4, 2020
Parents: Johann J. & Elizabeth (Niebuhr) Klassen
Married: Mary Goerzen, Oct. 18, 1953
Family: Mary; children John (Maria), Ruth (Tony), Tim (Kiersten); 6 grandchildren; 5 great-grandchildren
Church: Clearbrook MB, Abbotsford, B.C.
PETER PENNER At 19, Peter moved with his family to Brazil. He immigrated to Vancouver, Canada, to marry Helena in 1955. The year following her death, he married Helene, with whom he raised 3 children. She died in 1981. A year later, he married Hilda. Peter and Hilda enjoyed 34 years together before her death in 2016. Peter built many custom homes in the Vancouver area. For recreation, he loved the outdoors: camping, skiing, and canoeing. He was instrumental in starting a boys’ club in his church and remained engaged in this for many years. After retiring at 59, Peter spent much of his time with Mennonite Disaster Service, helping homeowners rebuild after natural disasters. He worked in Fortuna, Cal., after the 1992 earthquake; in Hannibal, Missouri, after the 1993 flood; in San Fernando, Cal., after the 1994 earthquake; and on St. Thomas in the Caribbean, after the 1996 hurricane. He also helped with maintenance on a school in Paraguay in 1995 and 1996. Peter was committed to his faith in God. He spoke 5 languages, with which he communicated the gospel both locally and overseas.
Birth: August 14, 1931
Birthplace: Filadelfia, Paraguay
Death: January 2, 2020
Parents: Jakob & Katharina (Thiessen) Penner
Married: Helena Nickel, 1955 [d. 1956]; Helene Goossen, 1959 [d. Apr. 15, 1981]; Hilda Willms, 1982 [d. 2016]
Family: children Rudolf, Karl (Cynthia), Lili (Ray); 4 grandchildren; 3 sisters
Church: Clearbrook MB, Abbotsford, B.C.
