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Carrie Lehn ordained at Ottawa Mennonite
Carrie Lehn, associate pastor of Ottawa Mennonite Church, was ordained in the Sunday morning service on June 18. For Carrie, it was a sacred and special moment, and a milestone affirmed and celebrated by Ottawa Mennonite Church (OMC), where she has worked for the past decade. It is also a historic moment for the denomination,…
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From postman to pastor
After eight years of study, Ian Funk was thrilled to finally receive his Master of Divinity degree in May, albeit in absentia. Funk, pastor of Langley Mennonite Fellowship, completed his MDiv courses from Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS), located in Elkhart, Indiana, through the seminary’s distance education program, which combines online and hybrid classes. He…
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Something to tock about
Clockmaking was a skilled trade among certain Mennonites for more than two centuries, and a striking exhibit at Gallery in the Park in Altona, Manitoba, displays the art and heritage of the Kroeger clocks, as they are commonly known. With the rise of the Industrial Revolution, clocks became a common feature in Mennonite homes in…
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Pastor adds music producer to his resumé
Pastor, professor and rock music impresario—David Cramer’s CV is diverse. The Indiana-based 40-year-old divides his work life between Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) in Elkhart, Indiana, where he is an adjunct professor and managing editor of the Institute of Mennonite Studies, and Keller Park Church, a Mennonite Church USA congregation in South Bend, where he…
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Khortitsa oak art installation
I sat in the shade of an oak tree on the first day of summer outside Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo and listened to a recording of the sounds of a spring morning at the site of that oak tree’s parent in Ukraine. A bird I couldn’t identify called repeatedly, dogs barked, vehicles rushed…
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Ojibwe tour of Mennonite reserve
Standing at an intersection of mile roads on the more-or-less open prairie near Neubergthal, Manitoba, David Scott explained how members of the Ojibwe Grass Dance Society once called that area home. “This landscape has changed so much,” he said, noting that he came to the area in his youth for ceremonies. That spot was one…
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Cape Breton church hosts disaster responders
“Everyone is excited—there’s a buzz in the air.” That’s what Dana Feltmate, the minister at Sydney River Protestant United Church in Sydney, Nova Scotia, said about hosting the Mennonite Disaster Service (MDS) response to Hurricane Fiona in Cape Breton. “Hosting MDS is another way for us to do our mission,” he said of the church,…
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Train trip to mark 100th anniversary of Mennonites coming to Canada from Soviet Union
One hundred years ago, the first of 21,000 Mennonites who left the former Soviet Union boarded a train in Quebec City for new lives across Canada. On July 6, some of their descendants, along with others, will replicate that journey. Over 120 people have signed up for all or parts of, “Memories of Migration: Russlaender…
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Tactile land acknowledgment
Land acknowledgments are usually spoken, but Angela Hildebrand was curious how they could be expressed in other mediums. “Being a very visual person, I resonate a lot with things I can see, touch,” she said. “So I began to think about, what would that look like for me, for our fellowship?” Hildebrand is a member…
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Reno with a cause
Cathy Abbott remembers the preacher’s phrase that got her to consider taking a big step toward providing shelter for refugees arriving in Canada. It was 2015 and Canadians were learning about the Syrian refugee crisis. The conflict had pushed millions of people to camps in neighbouring countries, with millions more displaced internally. The Canadian government…
