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Frank thoughts on future directions
Categories: UncategorizedA quantifiable angst hangs in the church air these days. Mennonite Church Canada is in decline. There are exceptions and bright spots, but the trend has long been unmistakable. The…
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‘Be not afraid’
Categories: Uncategorized“Be not afraid“ was an apt theme for the 2015 annual delegate gathering of Mennonite Church Manitoba. Delegates were informed of a $234,647 deficit, the withdrawal of one their fellow…
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Unity has been broken
Categories: UncategorizedIn a letter dated Feb. 4, Tofield Mennonite Church notified the congregations of Mennonite Church Alberta that it had voted 94 percent in favour of withdrawing its membership from the…
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‘Following Jesus today’
Categories: UncategorizedWith a focus on being missional and staying vibrant, healthy and connected, delegates and friends of Mennonite Church British Columbia gathered for annual sessions at Peace Mennonite Church on Feb.…
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A steep price for following his conscience
Categories: UncategorizedDespite risk to his reputation and livelihood as a federal lawyer, for more than a decade Edgar Schmidt has consistently spoken out against the federal government’s practice of proposing bills…
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Called to live in hope
Categories: UncategorizedIn his own words, Reverend Ibrahim Nsier, a pastor of the Arab Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Aleppo, tells about his ministry in Syria. Mennonite Central Committee, through the Fellowship of…
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Everyone has a story
Categories: UncategorizedRuth Zehr believes that everyone has a story worth telling. A decade ago, Zehr overheard a conversation involving Norma Iutzi, program assistant coordinator at the Nithview Community in New Hamburg,…
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‘A window into our shared local history’
Categories: ArtbeatAccording to Paul Heidebrecht, director of Conrad Grebel University College’s MSCU Centre for Peace Advancement, “Advancing peace requires many hands. It requires shoulders to lean on, and to stand on.…
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‘Promoting the telling of stories’
Categories: ArtbeatA buzz of conversation filled the Bethany Manor fellowship hall as about 150 people gathered to celebrate the launch of three new books by Saskatchewan authors. Jake Buhler, president of…
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Rebuilding lives and languages
Categories: UncategorizedJon and Janna Janzen stood in front of St. Michael’s Residential School in Alert Bay, B.C., in February and they say they felt darkness in its presence. During the half-century…
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Top marks for CMU
Categories: UncategorizedAccording to a recent Maclean’s Magazine report, students at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) in Winnipeg are very satisfied with their education and their experience at the Christian liberal arts school.…
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Reaping the whirlwind
Categories: UncategorizedLate arrivals had to find their own chairs as students, academics and commu-nity members filled Marpeck Commons at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) on Feb. 26 to hear Rev. Dr. David…
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Greetings from Bolivia
Bolivia, named after its first president, Bolivar, is about 4,500 miles south and one time zone east of Kitchener. It is a beautiful country with lots of tropical foliage, including…
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Grebel launches book by the late A. James Reimer
Conrad Grebel University College recently hosted a book launch for Toward an Anabaptist Political Theology: Law, Order and Civil Society (Wipf & Stock, 2014), a collection of essays by the…
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“You lost me”? Young adults in/and/of the church
Earlier this month, I was one of many who gathered in the new Marpeck Commons building at Canadian Mennonite University to hear from a panel of “young adults” on their…
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Stewards of the conversation
Categories: Editorial“Many members are not happy with the direction and general content of the magazine,” writes a Mennonite pastor, in a solicited follow-up note after one of his members cancelled his…
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Facing history with courage
Categories: Feature Articles“History,” wrote American poet Maya Angelou more than 20 years ago, “despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.” Canada’s Truth…
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Definition: ‘Settler’
Categories: Feature ArticlesThe term “settler” for Canadians of European descent was popularized by Roger Epp in his 2008 book, We are all Treaty People. This term acknowledges—rather than ignores—the conflicted history of…
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Making ‘restorative solidarity’ work
Categories: Feature ArticlesIn an appendix to Ambassadors of Reconciliation, Vol. II: Diverse Christian Practices of Restorative Justice and Peacemaking (Orbis Books), which I co-wrote, I explored the question of how principles and…
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Readers write: March 2, 2015 issue
Categories: Viewpoints‘A biblical and better way’ is neither Re: “A biblical and better way,” Jan. 19, page 4. I was saddened and disappointed with Ronald J. Sider’s feature article. I have…
