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MWC responds in solidarity to disasters
Mennonite World Conference (MWC) and Mennonite organizations collaborated to live out their faith with unified action in response to disasters that struck members of the global Anabaptist family in 2017. Peru Torrential flooding caused by El Nino devastated homes and livelihoods of more than a million Peruvians. Together, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), the International Community…
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Anabaptist Christians celebrate Christmas around the world
Christian communities around the world celebrate Christmas, yet each culture has its own traditions. Here, Anabaptist brothers and sisters from different regions share how they celebrate Christmas. Light: The Netherlands Christmas is my favourite time in the year. I associate it with Christmas music, candlelight and good times with family and friends. Most importantly, Christmas…
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‘Along the Road to Freedom’ exhibit tours Alberta
On Dec. 2, 2017, more than a hundred people gathered at Edmonton’s King’s University for the opening of the Along the Road to Freedom art exhibit. This was the first of three stops in Alberta that will end in the spring. Featuring paintings by Winnipeg artist Ray Dirks, the exhibit celebrates the stories of Mennonite…
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MEDA sets a record as donors give $6.5 million
Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) raised a record $6.5 million from donors in the past year, president Allan Sauder told the group’s annual meeting in Vancouver Nov. 2 to 5. Matched by grants from governments and other institutional funders, those gifts allowed MEDA to help 91 million families in 60 countries “realize happier, more economically…
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Mobile app extends reach of Anabaptist prayer book
Users in 15 countries across six continents have downloaded a new free mobile app version of Take Our Moments and Our Days: An Anabaptist Prayer Book in the four weeks since its launch on Oct. 23, 2017. The app contains the entire text of both print volumes of the prayer book—Ordinary Time and Advent through…
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Mennonites join to provide food and shelter in DR Congo
Displaced people who recently received food and shelter supplies distributed by Mennonite churches in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) have seen unimaginable horrors. Innoncente Ngandu Tshalu’s husband was murdered by the local militia. Majilu Mulembo’s house was burned down by another armed group. Monique Meta was forced to…
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Project Ploughshares’ coalition wins 2017 Nobel Peace Prize
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) congratulates Project Ploughshares, a member of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), on winning the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize. Project Ploughshares, of which MCC is a member, was started 42 years ago by a former MCC service worker, Ernie Regehr. Cesar Jaramillo, the executive director of Project Ploughshares, says…
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Indigenous and settler history along the Grand River
The community room at 50 Kent Ave. in Kitchener had standing room only on Oct. 26, with more than 180 adults of all ages there to listen to Phil Monture. Monture, a Mohawk from Six Nations of the Grand River in southwestern Ontario, has spent the last four decades researching in public and private archives…
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Steinbach Mennonite turns 75
Steinbach Mennonite Church celebrated its 75th anniversary over the Sept. 30-Oct. 1 weekend. Church Board Chair Karen Peters said the festivities began on the evening of Sept. 30 with a program called “Stories and songs” that highlighted various aspects of the church’s history. She noted that the next morning there was a thanksgiving anniversary worship…
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Swiss official offers apology for Anabaptist persecution
It can’t change the past, but it can impact the future. In surprise comments delivered in early November 2017, a government official in Bern, Switzerland, requested forgiveness for persecution by the church and state of Anabaptists centuries earlier. The request was issued Nov. 11 by Bernese government councillor and director of churches Christoph Neuhaus at…
