Letting his spirit grow
Like many Mennonites, Larry Krause grew up singing in Sunday school and church choirs. Music has always been an important part of his life, but in the past decade it has taken on greater dimensions. As a singer/songwriter in the roots, western and country gospel traditions, Krause has recorded four albums. His most recent effort,…
More-with-Less cookbook gets a new look
The 40th-anniversary edition of the More-with-Less cookbook, with its many full-page photographs, has an updated and more sophisticated look. Rather than simple black-and-white pages, it has moved to a full-colour format, designed to appeal to the eye. Although most of the recipes are the same, the layout has been reorganized, and the tips for eating…
Mennonite academic launches new book on theology and popular literature
Canadian Mennonite University (CMU) professor Paul Doerksen launched a new collection of essays, Take and Read: Reflecting Theologically on Books, at McNally-Robinson Booksellers in Winnipeg on Dec. 4, 2016. Officially associate professor of theology and Anabaptist studies, Doerksen’s vibrant interdisciplinary work has made him something of an “honorary member” in CMU’s English department. Still it…
‘Marriage geek’ offers her take on love and fidelity
If self-confessed “marriage geek” Katherine Willis Pershey knows one thing after 14 years of marriage, it’s that couples bound together in a sacred covenant need more than cheery how-to advice on achieving marital bliss. The author and pastor offers a bracing dose of reality about the “agony, ecstasy, and tedium of wedlock” in her new…
Insights from film help with Bible study
What do popular films like Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark have to do with the Bible? Gary Yamasaki explores this question by identifying the filmmaking principles underlying such popular films and applying them to understanding the stories of the Bible. His findings have been published in a new book entitled Insights from…
Church growth the result of actions, not words
Recently, I have become curious about the life of the early church. What did its members believe? What did they preach and what did they practise? More to the point, what did they do that made the church grow? We read of no great missionaries spreading the Word after the time of the apostles. Yet…
Seeking peace through post-war theatre
The Winnipeg Mennonite Theatre is a long-standing hidden gem of Manitoba’s fine arts scene. The amateur company is just that—a group of honest-to-goodness theatre lovers, whose Mennonite faith convictions enliven their artwork with a spirit of community service and vivid, conscientious story-telling. They are one of the only theatre companies in Canada that still presents…
Glick family experiences ‘risk and adventure’
A new memoir by Albertans Isaac “Ike” Glick and Mildred “Millie” Alger Glick, Risk and Adventure: Community Development in Northern Alberta (1955-1970), highlights the work of Mennonite Voluntary Service (MVS) participants in Canada from 1955 to 1970. An estimated one-third of approximately 100 people involved in the program were graduates of Eastern Mennonite College (EMC)…
Familiarity breeds good content
Jane Austen once wrote that, for a developing writer, “three or four families in a country village is the very thing to work on.” While Steinbach, Man., is certainly no “country village,” culturally it retains much of its old small-town feel, as so many Bible-belt communities do. Perhaps this is why Steinbach has served local…
A unique treasure
Anna Rehan has logged countless hours of volunteer time as Mennonite Church Saskatchewan’s music librarian. Appointed by the area church council, her mandate was to organize the large collection of music known as the MC Saskatchewan Music Library. At one time, there was an area-church-appointed music committee responsible for planning an annual choral songfest. Rehan…
