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OMMC offers music, fun, connections
When the idea of the Ontario Mennonite Music Camp (OMMC) was pitched to me at Rockway Mennonite Collegiate, I was immediately excited. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but when I got there, I knew it would be awesome. In the hallway, there was the plan for the two weeks of camp, describing what we’d…
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Mennonite diaspora encounters Muslims in the Russian Empire
Aileen Friesen was the go-to person to help visitors order in Russian cafés at a scholarly gathering in Russia’s Far East, according to Marlene Epp, Conrad Grebel University College’s dean. Epp introduced Friesen as the inaugural J. Winfield Fretz Visiting Research Scholar in Mennonite Studies before Friesen’s lecture on ‘Muslim-Mennonite Encounters in the Russian Empire’…
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Kindred Charitable Fund surpasses $1-million mark
Kindred Credit Union has reached a major milestone, marking $1 million in support for churches and charitable organizations since its inception in 1999. A total of 146 groups have benefited from these grants, which have impacted people across southwestern Ontario. Putting total distribution over the $1-million mark in 2018, the Kindred Charitable Fund will be…
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TTV stores to close in Alberta, Ontario, Quebec
In early February 2018, Ten Thousand Villages (TTV) began the process of permanently closing nine stores in four provinces. They include: • Calgary (Heritage) • Saskatoon (2nd Ave.) • St. Jacobs, Ont. • Stratford, Ont. • Montreal, Que. (both Monkland and St. Denis outlets) • Independently operated stores in Red Deer, Alta., and Windsor, Ont.,…
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From hand to hand: the journey to North Korea
It’s been a long trek for eight small bags of medical supplies. They have been packed and re-packed, crossed an ocean, passed through three countries and numerous airport security checks. On this day, the bags have reached their destination—a small medical clinic on a farm near Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. As I watch…
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Singer-songwriter leads ‘Reading the Bible with Jesus’ workshops
Bryan Moyer Suderman believes that paying attention to Jesus as interpreter of Scripture can transform how we, too, engage Scripture and each other. The singer-songwriter and Bible teacher from Kitchener, Ont., experiences this firsthand as he leads interactive “Reading the Bible with Jesus” workshops for congregations across the U.S. and Canada since 2016, as a…
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Argentine Mennonites celebrate one hundred years
Performing before hundreds of Mennonites and passersby at a park in downtown Buenos Aires, a drama troupe from the Mennonite church in Villa Adelina, Argentina, mimed challenges and struggles facing youth: violence, drugs, promiscuity, greed, and death itself. Representing Argentinian youth, actor Laura Burgos sometimes seemed mesmerized as actors impersonated threats, but she also sought…
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‘The level of mechanization was amazing to witness’
For John Mbae, a Canadian Foodgrains Bank conservation agriculture technical specialist based in Kenya, a visit to the Canadian Prairies was informative and inspiring. “I had the privilege of staying with a farm family in Saskatchewan,” says Mbae. “Although their farm operation was very large and profitable, they were very approachable and hospitable to me,…
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Swiss Mennonites speak against nationalism
“Nationalism is on the rise in many parts of the world,” says Juerg Braeker, general secretary of Konferenz der Mennoniten der Schweiz/Conférence mennonite suisse (the Swiss Mennonite church). “Mennonites, because of their view of the relationship between church and state, should be better equipped to point out the dangers of nationalism.” The Swiss Mennonite church…
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Growing projects celebrate a successful 2017
The Canadian Foodgrains Bank likes to talk about its “farm”—the thousands of hectares across Canada, from P.E.I. to B.C., that are planted by community growing projects to raise funds for the work of ending global hunger. In 2017, the “farm” was 6,500 hectares of land that grew crops such as wheat, barley, corn, pulses, soybeans,…
