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What is ‘good’ and ‘acceptable’?
In a time when western society is rapidly altering its image of marriage and government institutions have legally recognized same-sex marriage, the church is pressed to decide: Shall we follow suit? The church is to discern between the fading form of this passing age and what is “good” and “acceptable” according to God’s will (Romans…
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Witness workers bring forth concerns about ‘Future Directions’
The following is an abridged version of a letter sent to the Future Directions Task Force and Mennonite Church Canada leaders that was signed by all 24 Witness workers in light of the Task Force’s concluding report (commonword.ca/go/469). The report focusses on two central questions: “What is God’s Spirit calling us to in the 21st…
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Witness workers’ concerns acknowledged
On behalf of the Future Directions Task Force I express sincere thanks for the thought and time you’ve put into the open letter received last week from Norm Dyck, Mennonite Church Canada’s Witness Council chair. (See an abridged version of the letter at “Witness workers bring forth concerns about ‘Future Directions.’ ”) The questions and concerns…
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The challenge of diversity
Today, our community of Anabaptist-related churches spans the globe, incorporating people from many different cultural, ethnic and political backgrounds. We are, without a doubt, a diverse community. Whenever we gather, we enjoy this diversity and feel enriched. Still, at times questions arise and we find ourselves irritated. Diversity is also a challenge! Are there limits…
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Clean or unclean?
I was driving from Calgary out to Rosemary, Alta., to attend Bill and Bob Janzen’s mom’s funeral. As I drove I recalled hearing of times when everyone lived in large homes in long rows in Russian villages, each on five-acre plots. The farming was done all around the village and the Mennonites became very prosperous.…
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The shepherd
I still think of myself as a shepherd. Every day, actually every night, I’m out there. I look for the lost, the wanderers and the weary, and I bring them home. It’s a living. At times, it’s easy; they know the way and I just help them along. Other times, it’s dark and cold, and…
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Christmas: A time for giving
Barb and Orrie Gingrich of Holyrood, Ont., have quite a crowd of grandchildren. It was 2008 when Barb began to think of all the gifts being exchanged at her place during the family Christmas festivities. Each family bought gifts for all the children and the adults exchanged names among themselves. What would happen, she wondered,…
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Incubating peace
Innovation is all the rage in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont., the place I now call home. A day does not go by without stories about another high-tech start-up in the local paper, stories that regularly achieve national prominence. It is no longer enough to describe our community as being the home to “Canada’s most innovative university” for…
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Top five reasons why the customer isn’t always right
It seems like every second time I open my computer these days I come across the latest instance of what is becoming a very familiar—and obnoxious—brand of writing: the “five reasons for . . .” genre. Sometimes this takes the form of an “open letter,” a form of writing that is surely unparalleled in its…
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Dis-placed and de-natured
Why should I care for the environment? A lot of Christians today are asking that question. I mean, we know it’s probably the right thing to do, but what’s a Christ-centred perspective on the matter? Sometimes modern Christians, in our excitement about Jesus, think the incarnation of God first happened two thousand years ago in…
