Common Read continues with ‘Been in the Struggle’
Common Read, an initiative of Mennonite Church Canada, Mennonite Church U.S.A. and Herald Press that encourages Mennonites to engage in a shared reading experience, continues January 2022 through March 2022 with Been in the Struggle: Pursuing an Antiracist Spirituality. The book was written by Regina Shands Stoltzfus and Tobin Miller Shearer, co-founders of the Roots…
MC Canada issues call to prayer for Burkina Faso
Leaders from the Evangelical Mennonite Church of Burkina Faso, Mennonite Church Canada’s sibling church through Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission, are calling on MC Canada to pray for security and peace in their country. Violence in Burkina Faso has escalated since 2016, as terrorist attacks wreak havoc in many of the northern and eastern areas. As many…
Top 10 online stories of 2021
Vaccines, sexual misconduct and defunding the police were the subjects of some of the most popular stories Canadian Mennonite published on its website in 2021. Here are the top stories we published last year, based on the number of page views. 10. “A hymn by any other number,” published last February, tells the history of…
Series will explore responses to climate crisis
Mennonite Church Canada is hosting a new online community learning series. “Creator’s Call in a Climate Emergency” starts on Jan. 20 and lasts eight weeks. Co-hosted by the national church’s Indigenous-Settler Relations office and Sustainability Leadership Group, the series is open to anyone wishing to learn about decarbonization and decolonization as ways forward for the…
Watch: Ohio band Girl Named Tom’s big year
Last year was a big one for Girl Named Tom, a sibling band composed of Mennonites from Pettisville, Ohio. On Dec. 14, Caleb, Joshua and Bekah Liechty became the first group to win the NBC singing competition The Voice. Competing on the show’s 21st season resulted in international exposure, US$100,000 and a recording contract for…
Christian Aid Ministries hostages released
After a two-month ordeal in Haiti, the last 12 kidnapped staff members of Christian Aid Ministries made their way to freedom on Dec. 16, 2021. Seventeen people were taken hostage by the “400 Mawozo” gang in October. Christian Aid Ministries (CAM), which is supported by Amish and Conservative Mennonite churches across Canada and the U.S.,…
Ethiopian Mennonites killed, churches burned
More than 400 Mennonite churches in Ethiopia have been affected by civil strife that started in November 2020. Though information is hard to verify and numbers will likely rise, about eight Mennonite churches have been burned and eight church members have died, including two full-time ministers. This according to Pastor Desalegn Abebe, president of Meserete…
Advent 2021 a time of sharing in MC B.C.
Congregations in Mennonite Church B.C. have been observing Advent in various ways through December. Yarrow United Mennonite celebrated First Advent, the Sunday of joy, with a bulletin display set up in the church foyer. Church members could write what brings them joy on the display to share with others. At Cedar Valley Church in Mission,…
Watch: Advent greetings from MC Canada
The executive minister for Mennonite Church Canada extends Advent greetings to the nationwide church in a video posted on YouTube earlier this week. “We are making it through the COVID-19 pandemic,” Doug Klassen says in the video. “Pastors and church boards are bearing much of the stress and strain that comes with carrying a faith…
Remembering the early days of Camp Valaqua
George Heidebrecht fiddled with the knobs of his slide projector in anticipation of a morning of storytelling. Stories about Camp Valaqua. Stories of adventures he had carried for decades. Stories of boys — now men of retirement age themselves — sleeping in lean-tos, getting rain-soaked, eating over an open fire. Stories of tying their provisions…
