A supportive space
The mission of Mennonite World Conference (MWC) is to create space for the global Anabaptist family to meet together. Much of the time, it is fulfilled virtually, on social media or through email connections across continents. But once every three years, the General Council, MWC commissions, and the Global Mission Fellowship and Global Anabaptist Service…
#ChurchToo conference tackles painful subject
Many troubling issues and questions arise when a Christian leader engages in professional sexual misconduct. At the #ChurchToo conference at Columbia Bible College over two days in late May 2018, pastors, church leaders, abuse survivors and other interested individuals came together to learn how to deal with sin and forgiveness while confronting offenders and promoting…
A Bible comes home
On May 12, some 125 people gathered at Conrad Grebel University College for an unusual homecoming celebration—for a Bible. This large, centuries-old book is a part of Ontario Amish Mennonite history. The Bender Bible arrived in the wilderness of Upper Canada in 1832 with the Amish Mennonite immigrant family of Jacob and Magdalena Bender, who…
Faith and fixing at the Repair Café
Four years ago, my father Albert Kiang passed away. He was the ultimate Mr. Fix It, whether it was cars, computers or electronics. He was always tinkering away. When he died, the grief I felt spurred a deepened faith in God. So as I reflect on the recent Repair Café event that was held at…
Good neighbours, good food
“In my walk with the food bank,” says Wilmer Froese, “I feel like I am putting my faith into action, and doing so in a more deliberate way than I ever have before.” He and his wife Barb spent many years co-pastoring a number of Mennonite Church Saskatchewan congregations. Now retired from both farming and…
Influential writer also a flawed earthen vessel
For his funeral text, Urie Bender chose the passage from II Corinthians 4:7: “We have this treasure in earthen vessels” (KJV). In his meditation at the funeral, Scott Brubaker-Zehr, pastor of Rockway Mennonite Church in Kitchener, Ont., said that Bender understood himself to be an “earthen vessel,” imperfect and susceptible to cracking. But in spite…
Picture perfect
Jay Siemens was set to begin photography school in Winnipeg when, three days before classes started, his friend called him with a compelling proposition. “He said, ‘You’ve got to drop out of school and film a fishing show with me,’ ” Siemens recalls. So he did. That was in 2010. Siemens and his friend Aaron…
Taking charge
Two young women from Mennonite Church Canada congregations are the creators of a new podcast about entrepreneurship. Katie Steckly from Stirling Avenue Mennonite Church in Kitchener, Ont., and Katie Bentz from Hillcrest Mennonite Church in nearby New Hamburg host Bossy Women (bossywomen.ca), a podcast that spotlights female business owners in Kitchener-Waterloo. “As we’ve become more…
True connections
Walk into Hagar Association, a school in Be’er-Sheva, Israel, and it looks like almost any other school. But if you listen closely, you’ll hear children speaking both Hebrew and Arabic, and see them playing together—uncommon sounds and sights in the region. Hagar is a bilingual school for 330 children of Jewish-Israelis and Palestinian citizens of…
A picture of gradual decline
Often our society relies too much on numbers. In gravitating to quantification we tend to short-circuit the truth, which is nuanced and multilayered. But when it comes to our denomination, I would like to see more numbers. Specifically, how has overall giving to area/regional churches and Mennonite Church Canada changed over time? The charts here…
