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Picturing her calling
Categories: PeopleWhat she really wanted was a party, but pandemic realities prompted Lois Siemens to find another creative way to celebrate the 10th anniversary of her ordination. Superb Mennonite Church, near…
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‘We had a huge spike’
Categories: NewsWhen COVID-19 struck last March, farmers who sell food directly to customers saw a rush on their products. “It seemed like people were just googling farms to go right to…
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Living in the moment (during COVID-19)
Categories: NewsEven in the midst of a pandemic, six young adults from Germany and France chose to continue with their plans to serve with Mennonite Voluntary Service Adventure in Lethbridge. They…
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‘A marathon of uncertainty’
Categories: Focus on CampsIf you pivot enough times, it becomes dancing. And over this past year, Willowgrove found that, despite its Mennonite roots, it has taken to dancing quite naturally. Johnny Wideman, Willowgrove’s…
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Grief and loss
Categories: Focus on CampsIn the late hours of a wintry night, a cold wind blew hard up the valley. It howled from an unusual direction, bending tree and limb. Under the unaccustomed pressure,…
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Squeah summer camp season uncertain
Categories: Focus on CampsAfter last year’s cancellation of summer camp due to the pandemic, staff at Mennonite Church B.C.’s Camp Squeah are hopeful that a regular camping season can resume in summer 2021.…
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Keeping the excitement of camping alive
Categories: Focus on CampsLast year marked Camp Elim’s 75th anniversary, but it was a challenging year for us. Our plans for running camp as normal were quickly thwarted with the looming pandemic. By…
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A chance to try new ideas
Categories: Focus on CampsAs I reflect on a year of “being camp” during COVID-19, I hear Psalm 32: “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will…
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‘Love thy neighbour’
Categories: Focus on CampsInnovation, creativity and pivoting were key strengths that non-profit organizations used in 2020, especially if their main revenue streams involved gathering people together in large groups. At Youth Farm Bible…
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Two-week music camp being planned
Categories: Focus on CampsOntario Mennonite Music Camp (OMMC) is a two-week camp hosted at Conrad Grebel University College, offering teenagers aged 12 to 16 an opportunity to explore both music and faith. Much…
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Silver Lake marks 60th anniversary in 2021
Categories: Focus on CampsCamp can make such a difference in the life of a camper, even over Zoom. That was the great discovery of the summer of 2020. We were very happy to…
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Camping with a purpose
Categories: Focus on CampsLast year, Fraser Lake Camp’s cabins, which magically turn groups of kids into little families each summer, went empty. There were no echoes of rambunctious camp songs to rattle across…
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Many hands make the work doable
Categories: Focus on CampsAt Shekinah we struggle to sit still. When we decided to shut our doors in March 2020, in response to the coronavirus pandemic, it not only felt foreign, it also…
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Churches helping camps helping churches
Categories: Focus on CampsAfter a week of non-stop activities soundtracked by endless cheering and screaming kids, you might think the staff of Camp Koinonia would sleep in. Instead, every Sunday morning they put…
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Camps ‘pop up’ around Manitoba
Categories: Focus on CampsSummer Camp 2020 was full of innovations. Almost everything needed adjustments. We held staff Zoom parties in the spring to begin to build the camp community feeling that usually happens…
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Focused on the good things
Categories: Focus on CampsIn this year of so many disappointments, it is easy to lose track of the good things. Even when summer camp is cancelled and so many major events are postponed,…
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Transcending borders
Categories: Web FirstCongregations across Mennonite Church Canada have matched a $50,000 donation made by the nationwide church to a COVID-19 relief fund operated by Mennonite World Conference (MWC). The fund, which is…
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‘Cool, clean, compelling’ film festival moves online for 11th iteration
It may have Manitoba’s capital in its name, but anyone anywhere will be able to attend this year’s Winnipeg Real to Reel Film Festival as it moves online for 2021.…
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MDS Canada offering Spirit of MDS Fund again
Categories: Web FirstAfter a successful first year, Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) Canada has announced a new round of funding from its Spirit of MDS Fund. The 2021 round of funding started Jan.…
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Boxes of food help people affected by Beirut explosion
Categories: Web FirstEight of Alice Joubanian’s grandchildren—all under eight years old—lived with her and her daughter in a Beirut camp for Armenian refugees when a massive explosion of ammonium nitrate rocked the…
