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What kind of peace church are we?
As Israel obliterates Gaza, and hostages await sunlight, it’s easy to look away. Indeed, sometimes we must. Not everyone can take every war to heart. But this war demands something of us collectively. Mennonite Church Canada issued a brief statement on November 2, calling churches to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia in Canada and pray for…
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Readers write: December 1, 2023
Don’t ignore pain and rage I was encouraged to see Canadian Mennonite give space to understanding the conflict in Palestine that is currently so front and centre (“Palestinian voices,” October 20; “Attending to war,” November 3). I was especially pleased to see the focus on the stories of Palestinians themselves. Given that our own government…
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Bethlehem Bible College
Bishara Awad stands outside Bethlehem Bible College in Bethlehem in 1985. Awad, a Palestinian Christian, founded the school in 1979. He had previously served with Mennonite Central Committee in a Palestinian school and attended Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary in Fresno, California, in 1981-82. For more historical photos in the Mennonite Archival Image Database, see archives.mhsc.ca. More…
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False unity vs. true unity
In B.C. we’ve heard stories of churches in at least two denomina- tions choosing to use secondary or tertiary doctrines and opinions as litmus tests for belonging. These groups are doubling down on the wrong ways of trying to maintain unity. The more you focus on secondary sources of unity, the farther away you get…
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Cultural or biblical?
It is exactly 100 years ago that my congregation, First Mennonite Church in Kitchener, divided over the issue of women’s head coverings. Two-thirds of the congregation left because they did not want women to be forced to wear head coverings. They moved one block up the hill to create Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church. A century…
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The rally call
Curiosity is a powerful spiritual discipline. Curiosity has blessed me with many opportunities to spend time with kind, intelligent and reasonable people, in many different social, political and theological camps. I’m grateful for the privilege of hearing the typically calm and logical explanations they have for the positions they hold. In these moments, I’ve seen…
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Open communion and intercultural church
One of the contradictions I have observed in intercultural churches in North America is that, while they intentionally strive to welcome all people, almost all of them stubbornly adhere to the “closed” communion tradition, which allows only baptized participants to partake. For these churches, the meaning of welcoming is limited and conditional when it comes…
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Part V: Risking relationship
This six-part series draws on Kara Carter’s PhD studies, for which she conducted five focus groups with Mennonite Church Eastern Canada pastors. “Relationships involve risk,” a pastor from MC Eastern Canada told me. “It’s not a risk to hang out with people that I know, that I love, that are like me. . . .…
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The shoofly pie question
In her new book, Eating Like a Mennonite, Marlene Epp addresses the question of whether there is such a thing as “Mennonite food.” She assumes there is, and declares it should be celebrated, disagreeing with those who say “Mennonite” is a religious label that should not be used as an adjective for food. Food and…
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Call and promise
“I will give you shepherds after my own heart who will lead you with knowledge and understanding.” This is God’s beautiful promise in Jeremiah. Indeed, we need shepherds after God’s heart. In our feature, Nicolien Klassen-Wiebe shares the experiences of three young women who have heeded the call to pastoral work. These women serve to…
