Watch: A haunting at Westgate?
The 2018-19 Westgate Mennonite Collegiate Concert Choir has something to help get you into a playful Halloween spirit. Last June, the choir filmed a video for its rendition of “Hall of Snarky Ghosts,” a song written and arranged by Westgate alumnus Dan Wiebe. The school uploaded the video to YouTube last month. Filmed and edited by…
Watch: Doug Klassen addresses MC Canada
Mennonite Church Canada isn’t finished, disbanded, archived or dead. That’s the message Doug Klassen, MC Canada’s executive minister, delivers in a video uploaded to YouTube this past Friday. “Mennonite Church Canada is alive and well because the regional churches that comprise Mennonite Church Canada are alive and well,” Klassen says in the four-minute video, which…
‘Coming out’ as a church
On Sept. 22, Charleswood Mennonite Church in Winnipeg celebrated “coming out” as a church that welcomes and affirms people of every gender and sexual orientation into its community with special worship service celebrating its newly created affirmation statement. Although Charleswood has had a welcoming attitude for years, it was important to make it explicit with a…
The purpose and joy of congregational singing
“I turned the key and the stillness of the morning was shattered by the uneven rumbling of the engine. Everything was ready for the day’s work. In a few minutes, the pickup would drive onto the farmyard and empty its load of Mexican labourers. But for now I was alone. I eased the clutch out…
Watch: MCC is 100
Mennonite Central Committee is gearing up to celebrate its centennial next year, and the relief organization has started producing a number of articles and videos to mark the occasion. You can watch one of those videos—a three-minute-long piece that covers MCC’s history from 1920 until the present day—below. Do you have a video we should…
U.S. Anabaptist groups send joint letter to National Commission on Military, National and Public Service
Thirteen Anabaptist church groups in the United States have sent a joint letter to an independent U.S. federal agency making a strong statement of conscientious objection to war and military service, expressing gratitude for religious freedom guaranteed in the U.S. and urging the freedom not to participate in the military. The church groups include Mennonite…
MWC Commissions strengthen bonds of communion
Approximately 40 leaders and members of the four Mennonite World Conference (MWC) commissions met together in the Netherlands for three days in late June for a time of face-to-face discussion, reflection, worship and strategic planning to advance the mission of MWC. They met at the Mennonite Conference Centre in Dopersduin, one of three retreat centres…
Camp Squeah paddle-a-thon fundraiser reaches million-dollar mark
Rowers and paddlers in Camp Squeah’s annual paddle-a-thon reached their goal, raising over $51,000 on Sept. 21 and bringing the total over the past 21 years to just over $1 million. Rob Tiessen, Squeah’s executive director, reported a “wonderful day on the water,” and added that “an occasional slight headwind kept us honest in our…
Watch: Manitoba Mennonites join climate strike
More than 10,000 people in Winnipeg joined the global climate strike last Friday, Sept. 27, including a strong showing of Manitoba Mennonites. In the video below, Moses Falco—pastor at Sterling Mennonite Fellowship—shares footage from the Winnipeg strike, as well as a multi-faith prayer event that preceded it. The video also includes people briefly explaining why they…
A planet-friendly move to university residence
This September, Andre Wiederkehr moved into the Conrad Grebel University College residence at the University of Waterloo in a unique way—he biked. The second-year science student cycled the 90 km. from his home near Mildmay, Ont. to Grebel in Waterloo, a trip that took him nearly eight hours. He transported everything that he would need…
