Marcus Rempel
BIO:
Background: I serve as the local “Bishop’s Designate,” at the pleasure of the Anglican Bishop of Rupert’s Land, the Rt. Rev. Geoffrey Woodcroft, to offer leadership to this community. This is a huge honour for me. I love and respect Anglicanism, but am not myself an Anglican. My background is Mennonite and I have recently begun the process of seeking ministerial credentials held by that tradition. Over the last several years I have participated significantly in Anglican, United Church, Roman Catholic, and Lutheran churches, as well as with a Burmese Indigenous Baptist community and in Canadian Indigenous traditional spiritual gatherings. Before moving to Beausejour, my family was part of Grain of Wheat Church-Community, a Winnipeg group coming out of the Christian intentional community movement, and with a membership similarly diverse.
Credentials: When asked what denomination I belong to, I half-jokingly identify as an “Ecumenical Bastard,” in the sense that the spiritual houses that have formed me are not formally married into one another. I was deeply moved to be recognized by Bishop Geoff as a legitimate spiritual leader for a gathering such as ours. At the bishop’s encouragement, I recently went back to the Mennonite community I grew up in to seek ordination. Mennonite Church Manitoba now holds my credential. I look forward to my ordination service on May 29!
Music: Rev. Jim Wolf, the beloved former pastor of St. James Anglican, made space for me as a musician and songwriter when we joined the parish in 2010. This became a fruitful time for me creatively. I still use many of the songs that came to me during that time. Many are in the St. Julian’s Table songbook, and I’m starting to upload some to my youtube channel.
Book: I came out with a book in 2017 that captured a lot of how I understand the good and world-shaking news of Jesus: Life at the End of Us Versus Them: Cross/culture/stories. I also have co-hosted a couple of podcasts, The Ferment and The Return of the Buffalo Podcast.