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Watch: Mailboxes and church membership
What do you do when (1) your church has a rule that people need to be members in order to volunteer in leadership positions, (2) you have an increasing number of people attending your church, (3) these new people aren’t interested in becoming members, but (4) they are still committed to the church and want…
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Mennonite and Reformed representatives seek a common witness
“Reformed and Anabaptist are branches from the same tree,” said Hanspeter Jecker, a Mennonite theologian from Switzerland. “Anabaptist convictions that once were controversial—such as the voluntary nature of church membership and rejection of capital punishment—are now accepted by many Christian groups. Centuries of opposition have turned to reconciliation.” Five centuries after Swiss reformer Ulrich…
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Symposium explores how to preserve Anabaptist history
More than 30 people from 12 countries gathered at Goshen College on June 17-19 to talk about gathering and preserving the sources that are crucial to the history of the global Anabaptist-Mennonite church. The group, composed of historians, pastors, archivists and others, shared a keen interest in keeping the history of the global church alive…
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Spirituality and aging seminar nurtures courage and resilience
“Old age is not for sissies,” quipped Celia McBride, one of six presenters at the annual Aging and Spirituality Seminar sponsored by the Schlegel-University of Waterloo Research Institute for Aging (RIA) and hosted by Conrad Grebel University College on June 13-14. But, McBride said, we all have access to an “infinite well” of spiritual resources…
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Watch: Conrad Grebel’s viral video
Over the last two years, Conrad Grebel University College’s YouTube channel has become a go-to source for quality gamelan videos. This moderate internet fame is spurred on by one performance in particular—a piece called “Hujan Mas” performed by the University of Waterloo Balinese Gamelan at their end-of-term concert in March 2017. Watch it now: This…
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MCC Saskatchewan hosts successful relief sale and auction
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Saskatchewan hosted its 49th annual relief sale and auction at Saskatoon’s Prairieland Park on June 7 and 8. An estimated 750 people took in a supper and concert with Saskatoon bluegrass band, Corner Grass on June 7, while about 2,500 people attended the sale the following day. New to this year’s…
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The first signs of promise
Two broken chalkboards thrown by the 190-kilometre-per-hour winds of Cyclone Idai bake in the sun on what remains of the crumpled tin roof of one neighbourhood’s only preschool. In mid-March, Cyclone Idai slammed into central Mozambique near the coastal city of Beira, tearing off roofs, destroying homes and businesses, downing trees, displacing tens of thousands…
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#ChurchToo conference addresses sexual misconduct
In the midst of the #MeToo movement, in which those in positions of power are being called to account for sexual abuse, a conference hosted by four Manitoba Mennonite organizations acknowledged that it happens in the church, too. From May 31 to June 1, about 100 church leaders and lay people gathered at Canadian Mennonite…
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Watch: ‘Gettin’ it done’ with MDS
The folks who volunteer with Mennonite Disaster Service are “gettin’ it done.” We recently published a photo essay featuring Canadian Mennonites who are volunteering with MDS in Texas. Now, you can watch a short video that highlights the work of the Anabaptist disaster response organization. Last year, more than 5,400 volunteers from churches across Canada and the U.S.…
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Kuri talks ‘No Village’
Almost two years after he started recording it, Kuri has released his new album. Titled No Village, the 10-song collection came out today via Nevado Records. No Village is the follow-up to Human Nature, an EP the Abbotsford, B.C. musician—born Scott Currie—released at the end of 2016. (Nevado Records reissued the EP last October.) It’s…
