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Russian connection comes full circle
Two members of Black Creek United Mennonite Church in British Columbia have found a common heritage that goes back 234 years to the Russian Empire. In the late 18th century, Empress Catherine the Great of Russia conquered land she called “New Russia”—now Ukraine—and invited Europeans, including Mennonite farmers from Prussia, to settle the southern plains.…
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‘There is something beautiful’ about those people
“The people,” he said. “There is something beautiful . . . about all those people . . . being the presence of Christ in their communities.” This was David Martin’s first response when he was asked about highlights from his 15 years as executive minister of Mennonite Church Eastern Canada, a job he will retire…
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Manitoba’s Winter Hour releases debut album
Manitoba musician Mike Wiebe released his debut album, You Made a Shadow, on May 31 under the name Winter Hour. He wrote the album’s 10 songs over a period of five years, starting in 2015. “Those songs all included my experiences in getting to know Winnipeg as a city, getting to know new people in…
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The ‘poet of ironwork’
If you are Mennonite and live in Alberta, you may not know John Wiebe, but you’ll recognize his work. Kate Janzen calls him the “poet of ironwork.” Every year since 1973, Wiebe has been creating artworks made from scraps of steel and donating them to the annual Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Alberta Relief Sale. With…
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Legacy of the last great epidemic
Dave Penner recalls playing in the ditch with his brother in the summer of 1952. He was 5, his brother Henry was three years older. The freshly dug ditch on the expanded Highway 3 next to their yard near Morden, Man., had filled after a rain storm and Dave remembers having a grand time in…
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The movies that have shaped us
The coronavirus pandemic has shut down concert venues and sports stadiums. Even movie theatres have locked their doors. Over the past several months, many people have found themselves stuck at home with more free time and a new Netflix subscription. Six Mennonites talk about the films that have been formative in their lives: Mackenzie Nicolle…
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MC Alberta says farewell to communications coordinator, clown
Mennonite Church Alberta is sad to say goodbye this summer to June Miller. Not only has she served the regional church as its first communications coordinator, she has also used her clowning gifts to bring joy to her congregation, Foothills Mennonite Church, as well as to the MC Alberta community. A graduate of the Ohio…
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104-year-old reader likes to ‘keep in tune’ with the church
Lydia Ann (nee Horst) Bauman may be Canadian Mennonite’s oldest reader. At 104 years of age she still reads the magazine in her assisted-living suite at Fairview Seniors Community in Cambridge, Ont. She gets the magazine through nearby Preston Mennonite Church, where she attended until the COVID-19 pandemic closed churches. She misses church and she…
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To death’s door and back
Vic Winter was admitted to hospital in Leamington on March 20. In short order his wife Marilyn was sent home while he was sent to the intensive-care unit at the Windsor Regional Hospital, where he was diagnosed with COVID-19 and placed unconscious on a ventilator to help him breathe as he fought for his life.…
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Let’s go on an adventure!
Every year Mennonite Church Alberta offers education bursaries to students who attend a regional-church congregation who have successfully enrolled in a Mennonite or Anabaptist post-secondary institution. In 2019, Claire Dueck, a member of Lethbridge Mennonite Church, was one of eight recipients. Dueck, 18, just completed her first year at Columbia Bible College in Abbotsford, B.C.,…
