Menno-Nazi ties in the press
During the week of December 13, the Waterloo Region Record, the Toronto Star (the highest circulation newspaper in Canada) and other TorStar publications ran Terry Pender’s in-depth article, “Bending the rules: How Canada opened its doors to Nazi war criminals,” which discusses Nazi links to Mennonites and Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) specifically. The occasion for…
Irene Baergen honoured for work with newcomers
On December 5, Irene Baergen of Edmonton First Mennonite Church received the King Charles III Coronation Medal at Government House in Edmonton for her years of volunteer service with Edmonton’s Newcomer Centre (formerly, Edmonton Mennonite Centre for Newcomers). “My claim to fame is that the first organization meeting was held in our living room over…
Irma Fast Dueck reflects on lectionaries, honesty and worship
As some churches within MC Canada and MC USA embrace the Narrative Lectionary, Canadian Mennonite caught up with Irma Fast Dueck to ask about the use of lectionaries in Mennonite worship. Fast Dueck is associate professor of practical theology at Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) where she has taught for over 30 years. She attends Bethel…
Alberta writing team creates 2024 Advent resources
Seven people from three Mennonite Church Alberta churches pooled their creative talents to produce worship resources for this fall’s issue of Leader magazine. Leader magazine, a MennoMedia publication for MC Canada and MC USA constituents, publishes worship resources for Advent through Epiphany each fall. The resources include calls to worship, readings, hymn and sermon suggestions…
MCEC reduces salary costs by 17 percent
Due to ongoing budgetary pressure, Mennonite Church Eastern Canada is making a 17-percent reduction in salary costs for the 2025–26 budget year. The leadership have made the difficult decision to lay off four staff. A November 20 open letter to MCEC churches from Ann L. Schultz, intentional interim executive team leader, and moderator Ben Cassels,…
Investment in youth summit pays off
Investing in young adults is a key way to move forward. Mennonite World Conference is the best way I can imagine to do that,” said Doug Klassen, executive minister of Mennonite Church Canada and the North America representative on MWC’s Executive Committee. MC Canada is putting its money where its mouth is, sending one official represen- tative from each of its five regional churches to the Global Youth Summit (GYS). The practice started with the 2022 GYS in Indonesia. The national church gives each region $1,000 toward the cost of their delegate.It’s up to the region to raise to leadership, as well as which sensitive topics…
MCEC reviews 67 church annual reports
Mennonite Church Eastern Canada invited congregations to share their annual reports with regional church staff in order to improve understanding of how MCEC can better support congregations and pastors, and also identify trends in giving and congregational activities.Sixty-seven of 108 MCEC congregations shared their annual reports with the regional church, allowing MCEC to compile a…
Blue Christmas
Walk into any store during this season and the message is clear: it’s the most wonderful time of the year. Sometimes, however, the message to be of good cheer creates its own pain for those who are struggling. That includes the bereaved, those with mental health challenges and the increasing number of people struggling to make ends meet. It’s also the time of year with the least amount of daylight and long, cold…
Peace Train arrives in Ottawa
For Winnipegger Gordon Matties, being part of the November 15-23 Peace Train from Vancouver to Ottawa was about imagining “a hopeful future, a future without war, a future of peace with justice for all of creation.” Gordon was one of four people from River East Church, which is affiliated with Mennonite Church Manitoba, who went…
Ethiopian ‘Joseph’ takes risks to serve
I have been the Tigray relief project coordinator for Meserete Kristos Church Development Commission (MKCDC) for the past four years. Because of this work, people gave me a new name. They called me Joseph, after one of the most renowned figures in the Bible, who saved his family and all of Egypt during the famine.…
