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A new approach to nature
Everyone knows how a good walk in nature makes them feel: relaxed and refreshed. Due to pandemic guidelines, though, many activities have been restricted, but walking is not one of them. Niagara Nature and Forest Therapy is taking walking in nature to a new level. Melissa Bollinger Seiling, a certified forest therapy guide, takes people…
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‘God is at work among us’
Michael Pahl Michael Pahl’s first month as Mennonite Church Manitoba’s new executive minister was a traffic jam of Zoom meetings and a steep drive around the learning curve. Pahl, 50, officially began his role on Jan. 1 and spent several weeks in a rush of year-end reviews, budgeting and planning for MC Manitoba’s upcoming annual…
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Picturing her calling
What she really wanted was a party, but pandemic realities prompted Lois Siemens to find another creative way to celebrate the 10th anniversary of her ordination. Superb Mennonite Church, near Kerrobert, Sask., called Siemens to ministry, and she was ordained there on Jan. 9, 2011. Today she lives in Saskatoon, where she serves as spiritual-care…
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A tribute to Menno Wiebe (1932-2021)
Upon entering the home of Menno and Lydia Wiebe at 10 Concord Avenue in Winnipeg, where they lived for 48 years, one would likely be met not with conventional niceties but with a bright-eyed, depth-probing question, possibly relating to birds and theology, or gardens and ecclesiology, or something else that would never otherwise cross your…
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There is no peace without Christ
What was so important that an Ethiopian Mennonite pastor would go back to Ethiopia with his family during COVID-19 and a war? After much preparation and prayer, Pastor Mezgebu A. Tucho of Bethel International Church-Edmonton Oromo Congregation, together with seven coordinators from across Ethiopia, decided to proceed with their plan to equip Ethiopian leaders, youth…
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Woodworker, pastor dies at 101
Erwin Cornelsen Erwin Cornelsen, former pastor and one of the last Mennonite Aeltesters (elders) in Canada, died Dec. 26, 2020, at Menno Hospital in Abbotsford, B.C., at the age of 101. He was laid to rest on Jan. 5. Erwin was born on May 28, 1919, in Schweingrube, West Prussia, the first of nine children…
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Teachers learn lessons, too
It’s not uncommon for Linda Bartel to meet former students while volunteering, and she’s always delighted to see them. Bartel, who is 86 years old, volunteers two or three days a week, dividing her time between the Good Neighbours Food Centre and the Mennonite Central Committee Clothes Basket in Rosthern, where she lives. In both…
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‘What will happen to us now?’
COVID-19 has given Jake Buhler pause to reflect on his family history and how it has been shaped by pandemics. In 1918, when both the Spanish flu and tuberculosis were wreaking havoc in South Russia, Buhler’s mother Maria was an 11-year-old girl growing up in the Mennonite village of Grigoriewka. She was the second of…
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Strengthening faith for the coming year
When a new year begins, many people resolve to lose weight or begin exercising. But the dawning of a new year is also a good time to consider improving one’s spiritual fitness. Josh Wallace, who is Mennonite Church Saskatchewan’s church engagement minister, says spiritual practice is essential to a healthy faith. “Our lives depend on…
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When change is your only option
When the pandemic hit in March, Chris and Laura Mullet Koop, who own and operate Elmwood Farms Inc., were profoundly impacted. Their farm, located in Jordan, Ont., in the designated green belt area on the Niagara escarpment, is an egg production and grape-growing enterprise, started by Chris’s family in 1932. The farm has seen many…
