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‘Everything was getting better’
Before 2008, Victoria Mamani Sirpa had only ever cooked with four vegetables: carrots, chard, celery and onions. That soon changed after she and her family built a huerta (greenhouse) on their property with the help of Fundación Communidad y Axión (Community and Action Foundation), a Mennonite Central Committee partner that is working to improve access…
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B.C. Festival for World Relief raises $1 million-plus
More than 20,000 people attended the annual Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) British Columbia Festival for World Relief in mid-September, raising more than $1 million to support uprooted people locally and around the world. The annual Bread of Life auction, which raises funds for food security projects, contributed in excess of $230,000 to the festival’s fundraising…
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Japanese Mennonites consider ‘Shared Convictions’
A quiz on global Christianity and Anabaptism (including MWC statistics) prepared participants from Nihon Menonaito Kirisuto Kyokai Kyogikai (Japan Mennonite Christian Church Conference) for a discussion of the “Shared Convictions” of Global Anabaptists. For the annual Peace Missions Centre seminar 15–16 July 2018 at Fukuzumi Mennonite Center in Sapporo, Japan, the group from Japan Mennonite…
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Manitoba Mennonites to explore vulnerability and mission
Embracing vulnerability can help congregations “engage with the world the way Jesus did,” says Ken Warkentin, Mennonite Church Manitoba Executive Minister. Through plenary talks and workshops, Manitoba congregations will have the opportunity to learn about mission and vulnerability at InFuse, a one-day learning event that takes place at Canadian Mennonite University Nov. 3, 2018. “We…
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Anabaptist Peace Network creates space for relationships
Coffee breaks at the triennial Mennonite World Conference (MWC) General Council, Commissions and networks meetings in Kenya, April 2018, allowed Colombia peacebuilder and human rights lawyer Ricardo Esquivia to share with an old friend his vision for the Global Anabaptist Peace Network (GAPN): to build networks supporting peacebuilders in the field and communicating with the…
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Education equips Ethiopian leader to serve
“With the grace of God, I escaped many deaths throughout my journey in Christ,” says Tigist Alamirew. Born to an Orthodox family in Finote Selam, she now serves as distance education director at Meserete Kristos College in Debre Zeit, Ethiopia. “While I was a teenager, one of my friends witnessed to me about the love…
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Voices Together committee seeks input
Six people who have been meeting virtually for the last two years via videoconference gathered together in person for the first and only time this summer to speak through and listen to the worship resources that will be part of Voices Together, a new hymnal to be published by MennoMedia in 2020 for Mennonite Church…
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‘I need to go to school’
Ten-year-old Kanku Ngalamulume fled from his home in the village of Senge after armed groups beheaded his mother and father and his siblings too. He was among 1.4 million people in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo who have been forced from their homes as violence among local militias and the…
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Burns Lake ‘in the thick of’ B.C. fires
As the month of August 2018 ended, British Columbia found itself dealing with rampant wildfires for the second consecutive year. In mid-August, there were 566 wildfires burning in the province, with 29 evacuation orders affecting approximately 3,050 people. As of Aug. 31, there were still 46 “wildfires of note” burning across B.C., according to Global…
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Decades-old sexual abuse comes to light
Ruth-Ann Klassen Shantz has a long history with Silver Lake Mennonite Camp in Sauble Beach, Ont., and a story she has kept long hidden. But earlier this year she shared with the camp’s board of directors her allegations of long-term sexual abuse by a former camp director. Describing herself as a “camp kid” in her…
