Painful and challenging to leave the MB Conference, but no regrets. Former Artisan Church pastor Nelson Boschman looks back on that experience

2026 is the 5th anniversary of when over 450 Canadian MBs signed an open letter asking the Canadian Conference of MB Churches to discuss the issue of LGBTQ+ welcome and affirmation. The Conference said no. Since that time, seven MB congregations have left or been expelled from the Conference for becoming welcoming and affirming of LGBTQ+ people—as reported by this blog. I paused the blog in 2024, after my church at the time, River East, was expelled. Five years later, I decided to check in with those congregations to hear their reflections and see how things are going. 

Artisan Church in Vancouver was the first to leave. Nelson Boschman was pastor at that church, which he co-founded in 2009, when it left the British Columbia MB Conference in 2021. Here are his thoughts on that experience, five years later. 

We asked to leave out of a desire to become fully inclusive of our LGBTQ+ siblings. My role at the time was Pastor of Spiritual Formation, a position I stepped down from in November 2024. 

Currently, I am privileged to work as a spiritual director, a musician, a writer, and retreat facilitator. These streams all play well with the others, and I’m deeply grateful to get to do this work. 

Looking back, I recall how painful and challenging it was to leave the MB Conference—the denomination I grew up and served in, and was formed by for so many years. But it was a necessary ending, and I have no regrets. 

I feel proud of the Artisan community and its leadership for taking that important step together, and for the way they have sought to live into what it means to not only be fully inclusive, but to create a space of belonging and meaningful participation for folks who identify as LGBTQ+. 

The experience shaped me to continue following Christ into greater openness, wider inclusion, and true freedom and liberation for those who have been excluded, marginalized, and/or harmed by the Church as a whole—not just MBs—for any reason.   

Nelson plans to tell more of his story around that experience in his next book, The Art of Awe: Wonder-Filled Practices for the Weary Soul (coming June 2027, published by Herald Press).    

Peter Mogan was moderator at Artisan when it left the MB Conference in 2021. Click here to read his thoughts five years later.