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Alberta writing team creates 2024 Advent resources
Seven people from three Mennonite Church Alberta churches pooled their creative talents to produce worship resources for this fall’s issue of Leader magazine. Leader magazine, a MennoMedia publication for MC Canada and MC USA constituents, publishes worship resources for Advent through Epiphany each fall. The resources include calls to worship, readings, hymn and sermon suggestions…
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Grateful for community
Mabel and Walter Paetkau of Abbotsford, ages 91 and 89 respectively, met as university students in Edmonton. They were married in 1960 and raised two sons. At different points, Mabel was a registered nurse, homemaker, director of the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) B.C. Refugee Program and a Government of Canada Refugee Board member. Walter did…
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RJC music teacher wins national award
Adelle Sawatzky has a new piece of hardware to put on her desk at RJC High School in Rosthern, Saskatchewan. In early November, the 27-year-old from Kindersley, Saskatchewan, won the 2024 Builders Award for Newer Teachers from the Canadian Music Educators’ Association. “A lot of times [awards recognize] lifetime achievement so it is an encouraging…
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Surely there are more of us
“If I’m here, surely there are more of us, and one of us just needs to start it.” With those words in mind, Rachel Reid decided to reach out to all the churches in Mennonite Church Eastern Canada (MCEC) in hopes of starting a young adult network. Her home church—Hamilton Mennonite in Hamilton—doesn’t have a…
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After the bubble shatters
I felt delight in growing up in the church. Not only did I attend Sunday school and children’s church, but I went to Christian elementary and secondary school. I felt most safe in the Christian bubble around me. As I grew up, I was very active in my church and volunteered in several different capacities,…
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If all the earth…
Nature has always been a source of inspiration for Mennonite children’s author, Aimee Reid. Several years ago, she took her dog for a walk while camping at Valens Lake Conservation Area in Hamilton, Ontario. She returned with a phrase in her mind: If all the earth were forests green and you were the nest. “I…
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Walking through open doors
John and Edna Peters, 87 and 86, respectively, live in Winnipeg, where they are charter members of Charleswood Mennonite Church. Edna worked as a nurse and a pastoral coordinator and served on the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) board, while John taught agriculture at two universities, served with MCC in Paraguay and Bolivia, and worked as…
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Making space might save someone’s life
Notice: This article mentions addiction, rape and abortion. “I never thought I would set foot in another church.” These were the opening words from Grace Ibrahima’s sermon at Rockway Mennonite Church in Kitchener, Ontario on June 2. “Churches can be somewhere warm and comforting and reassuring and accepting, with a lot of hope and aspiration.…
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There’s a gift in every day
Erv and Marian Wiens, both 82, have been married for 60 years. Raised in the Mennonite Brethren Church, they worked with Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) in Kenya, Zambia, and Ontario. Erv also pastored in Breslau, Ontario; Windsor, Ontario; Calgary, Alberta; and in South Korea, before serving as an interim pastor in several congregations. Marian’s first…
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Never forgotten or forsaken
When I was five years old, two forces shook my world to its core. Before this, I had a loving family, a good school and a beautiful country. But that year, 1960, thousands of Ethiopian troops invaded my country of Eritrea. A dark cloud of fear hung over the land and the people. People spoke…
