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Holy contradictions
Despite gaping holes in the biblical basis for its elaborate hierarchy, and despite relatively widespread pedophilia among its priests, the Roman Catholic Church holds on to roughly twice as many official adherents—1.2 billion—as all Protestant denominations put together. Despite outlandish contradictions—the Vatican puts Mary on a pedestal while excluding women from leadership, and it condemns…
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For Discussion
1. What is a story from your life or from the history of your congregation that has had an impact on you? What stories from the past are important to pass on to future generations? What is the best way to share these stories so that they are not forgotten? 2. Susan Schultz Huxman says…
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Profiles in education
The Mennonite church is at a unique time in history. Currently, women lead three of the four major institutions of higher learning serving the church in Canada. In October 2010, Sara Wenger Shenk began her term at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Ind.; Susan Schultz Huxman began serving at Conrad Grebel University College, Waterloo, Ont.,…
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Hindsight foresight insight
The ability to see clearly is an important sense to us as Christians and as Mennonites: our theology, The Anabaptist Vision; our music, “Be Thou My Vision”; our scripture, “Without a vision, the people perish.” Mennonite education at its best gives our church a special kind of seeing—akin to high definition or 3D. I call…
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For discussion
1. What motivates you to give? Where did you learn to be generous? When you give to the church or to other charities, how much of it is carefully planned and how much of it is free-spirited? Is it important to you to analyze charities and to carefully plan your giving? 2. Which charities do…
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Join the Big Hearts Club
Giving is about much more than money. What we do with our time, talent and treasure all matter to God. As Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21,
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For discussion
1. Mennonite schools had been designed to keep students separate from the “modernizing secular world” while Conrad Grebel College was deliberately set within a large public university. What are the advantages and challenges of this approach? How has the Mennonite Church changed as it has participated more closely with the world since the 1960s? 2.…
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The Grebel vision at 50 years
An innovative experiment in higher education By Susan Schultz Huxman President, Conrad Grebel University College
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Ministry in a very different world
In 2009, when Dave and Margaret Penner first went to work among Low German-speaking Mennonites in Mexico, they encountered a “vacuum.”
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For discussion
1. How has your church changed since the 1960s and ’70s? Have there been major changes in the church structures and programs? Do congregational leaders feel hopeful or anxious about the future? Are the structures and programs sustainable or does it feel as though it is time for a major shake-up? 2. Whitewater Mennonite Church…
