Year 2000 marks last global March for Jesus
Marches to continue locally
KEVIN
HEINRICHS
CW Managing Editor
–Winnipeg –
Canadians will march for Jesus in the last globally organized event on June 10, but that doesn’t mean the marches are over.
“We took on a mandate to organize and steward March for Jesus until the year 2000,” says MFJ president Eric Phinney. “Now we’re releasing March for Jesus ministries in towns and cities as they have need of it.”
Instead of the events being coordinated nationally from Winnipeg, and globally from the United Kingdom, each community is invited to organize and plan its own events. Phinney will make an announcement to that effect at the Canadian Prayer Assembly in Ottawa May 26.
Phinney says the marches have been a necessary catalyst to get Christians from various streams together to celebrate a common faith in Jesus Christ. “But if March for Jesus becomes an entity unto itself, it has failed,” he says. However, if event organizers encourage marchers to tap into other ministries like providing overseas aid, then the MFJ becomes the “divine twine that joins communities together,” he says.
Phinney would be pleased to see the marches continue if they can serve a purpose in uniting a community. Training resources will still be available and other MFJ mainstays such as worship music soundtracks will be available in Christian bookstores.
MFJ resource director Ruth Wall has worked to coordinate the marches from Winnipeg for the past six years. What does the end mean for her? “I’ve lost my job. It is literally finished for me. It’s gotten so big in Winnipeg...it’s been a baby for me. It’s going to be hard to lay it down,” she says.
But while at the task, Wall is optimistic about this year’s marches. She says there will be the same number of communities hosting marches as last year, about 148. But total participation in this year’s marches, under the theme, “Jesus, King of Kings,” is expected to be higher than ever. The music, “Jesus Lord of Life,” will be the same used for last year’s march.
While Calgary is restarting its march after a year’s absence due to lack of interest, Edmonton is pulling out, choosing instead to focus on a public prayer and proclamation event the next day called the J2K festival. Winnipeg, meanwhile, will attempt to crack the 50,000 mark. That city is also coordinating a day-long event called Jesus Day 2000. Organizers hope to fill CanWest Global Park–Winnipeg’s baseball stadium–for an ecumenical event. A youth evening is expected to attract up to 20,000 youth to hear rock bands, rap groups and speakers.