Seeking reconciliation through multicultural art
Around 200 people gathered at the Mennonite Heritage Centre Gallery on Jan. 26 to celebrate the opening of Reconciliation Through the Arts, an exhibition of Indigenous and settler art that explores the history and present reality of colonization in Canada and different visions of reconciliation. Clairissa Kelly, coordinator of the Peguis Post-Secondary Transition Program at…
Women’s groups changed focus since 1970s
The golden age of Mennonite women’s organizations in Canada and the United States came in the years between 1940 and 1970, writes Anita Hooley Yoder in Circles of Sisterhood. In both the Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church, women were highly involved, getting together to work at sewing projects on a monthly basis.…
Many Voices, One Song
To celebrate its 30th anniversary, a Vancouver congregation produced a documentary featuring its church. Many Voices, One Song: The Story of Point Grey Inter-Mennonite Fellowship is a 27-minute video telling both the history of Point Grey and how it contributes to and enriches the faith of its members. The church is distinctive in that it…
In the beginning
Last November, the United Mennonite Church of Black Creek launched a new book, In the Beginning—Stories of our Founders, during an evening of speakers, images and history. In the 1930s, several groups of Mennonite settlers emigrated from Russia and Ukraine, and from other communities in Canada and the United States, to Black Creek. Some of…
Illustrator and bakery collaborate
Where Do Sticky Buns Come From? is a picture book illustrated by local artist and designer Jonathan Dyck and written by Jon McPhail, owner of Jonnies Sticky Buns bakery. The book was released on Dec. 16, 2017, to a packed audience in Winnipeg. It tells the story of a father and daughter who creatively imagine…
Painting on borrowed time
Jim Tubb has lived on borrowed time for more than 40 years. In 1975, he was told that he had only a short time to live due to respiratory issues, but he says that in the meantime he’s had “a fantastic life.” A congregant at Waterloo-Kitchener United Mennonite Church, Tubb worked as a personal financial…
‘The price for your glory is their suffering!’
Why is God so silent? Why doesn’t God hear the prayers and stop the endless suffering of believers? These are the questions that lie behind the title of Martin Scorsese’s epic film about Jesuit priests in Japan in 1640. Silence stars Andrew Garfield as Father Rodrigues, a Portuguese Jesuit who comes to Japan in 1640…
Spanish translation slated for Menno Simons biography
Despite Menno Simons’ significant influence in northern Europe during Anabaptism’s infancy in the 16th century, and his name living on by having the Mennonite church named after him, relatively little is known about his early life and his conversion from Catholicism to Anabaptism. Now Helmut Isaak, a British Columbia pastor and scholar, is hoping to…
Syrian ‘souls’ at the Edmonton Fringe
Sometimes bridges built between faith communities are quite literally dramatic. Donna Entz, Mennonite Church Alberta’s community outreach worker who strives to build better relationships between Christians and other faiths, played the part of one of several background connectors helping to piece together the people and stories that brought a play telling of displaced Palestinians to…
A new song for Special Assembly 2017
Planning Special Assembly 2017 worship might be a daunting task, but with the right team—and the right music—the spirit of the event will follow people home. With that idea in mind, the worship committee for Mennonite Church Canada’s special assembly in Winnipeg, to be held from Oct. 13 to 15, 2017, is bringing to the…
