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New church launches in Kelowna
The new year has brought a new church to the Glenmore area of Kelowna, and it has given an old church building new life. Valley Road Church, a ministry of Mennonite Church B.C., held its first worship service on January 7 with Jordan Pilgrim as pastor. Pilgrim relates a remarkable story of how this new…
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The power of the pencil
When it comes to making art, Alvin Pauls isn’t concerned with the outcome. “It’s all in the doing,” the Winnipeg artist says. “The end result is not important.” Dressed in a black sweater over a brown turtleneck, jeans and blue slip-on shoes, Pauls is walking around “From Here to There,” a retrospective exhibit of his…
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‘We’re capable of lots of things’
Welcome to “Life in the 80s,” a semi-regular series in which we ask people in their 80s or 90s to share their wisdom. Margaret Balzer (nee Epp), 82, grew up on a farm near Didsbury, Alberta, and attended Bergthaler Mennonite Church. Following graduation from Rosthern Junior College, she attended nursing school in Calgary. Balzer served…
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Resource centre finds temporary home in Winnipeg church
It’s brighter than ever in the basement at First Mennonite Church in Winnipeg. Sunshine House, a community drop-in and resource centre, is operating there temporarily while its headquarters undergoes renovations. The organization, which offers programming focused on harm reduction and social inclusion, moved into the church at the beginning of November. The Sunshine House community…
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Pursuing a career in worship music
While pursuing degrees in health studies and music at the University of Waterloo, Mykayla Turner stumbled into a plethora of worship songs that left her wondering why and how she’d never heard them before. Growing up, she attended Zurich Mennonite Church in Ontario. In this rural congregation, music consisted of what Turner describes as contemporary…
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B.C. churches mark Christmas and New Year’s
Mennonites in British Columbia celebrated the holidays in a variety of ways last month. With both Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve falling on Sundays, churches were presented with the question: How many services should be held, and what kind? Will congregants come to multiple services on a holiday weekend? United Mennonite Church of Black…
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Landing out of hot water
One winter day in 2022, our family was discussing the problem of our society’s dependence on fossil fuels. One of our young-adult sons, who perhaps felt we were slipping into finger-pointing, brought the focus back around to our own household by asking: “What about our hot water heater?” It was a loaded question. Though we’d…
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Away in a manor
It’s not your typical nativity play. While most Christmas productions feature rosy-cheeked children wearing bathrobes and pillows cases, Bethany Manor’s “Nativity on Wheels” stars senior citizens, many of whom have mobility challenges. The angel Gabriel, played by Paul Friesen. The seniors’ living complex in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, staged its third annual nativity play on December 20,…
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Mennonites protest in Waterloo
On December 19, approximately 250 Mennonites, Palestinians and others gathered in Waterloo’s City Hall to call on Member of Parliament Bardish Chagger to publicly support an immediate and sustainable ceasefire in Gaza. The event was organized for the Mennonite Day of Action for a ceasefire, organized by Mennonite Action. Members of Palestine Solidarity KW staged…
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The language of protest
Whether it’s a vigil for missing and murdered Indigenous women or a march for climate justice, chances are you’ve seen an article about a protest in recent years. In a society marked by increasing violence and polarization, how do non-violent actions such as protests help change society? How do they change participants? Anna…
