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How to get young people into church
When my husband and I joined our church—Waterloo-Kitchener United Mennonite—a few years ago, we joked that we (in our 50s) were the youth group. A year later, the church hired a young adult as our church administrator. She came with excellent skills—and lots of questions about God, the church and faith. It had been years…
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Algorithm override
For once, I don’t actually have much to say, so I heartily encourage you put down your device (not in your pocket) or walk away from your computer. Go outside. Look out the window. Take a breath. Be still and know. Pray. Rest. Wait. Seriously. (Then return to the links below, especially the first one; it’s…
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If one part suffers…
News flooded in last week that a congregation in my city had experienced another tragic loss. Mother and daughter, Jennie and Zoe Wiebe, who attended Waterloo North Mennonite, were killed in a car accident, while Jennie’s son Josh was badly injured. Some of you knew them well and are grieving deeply. Others may never have…
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Sorting good from bad without being defensive
I was interested to attend the annual Bechtel Lecture about Anabaptist beginnings at Conrad Grebel University College delivered by Karl Koop, professor of theology and history at Canadian Mennonite University last Friday. He discussed the widespread social upheaval of 1524-25 which surrounded and informed our forebears, noting that the Schleitheim confession that Anabaptists adopted in…
