AMBS recognizes alumnus Palmer Becker for ministry and service
Palmer Becker of Kitchener, Ont., a long-time church leader, pastor, missionary, church planter, author and educator, was named the recipient of the 2018 Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS) Alumni Ministry and Service Recognition Award. Becker, who earned a Master of Religious Education degree from Mennonite Biblical Seminary (MBS, now AMBS) in 1965, received the award…
A-ha moments in the Holy Land
David Chow recalls sitting in Sunday school as a child and learning about what the nation of Israel meant for Christians in a traditional Christian Missionary Alliance congregation in Calgary, Alberta. Chow grew up believing that the current state of Israel is a continuation of the biblical people of Israel, and that building up the…
Willard Metzger to complete term with MC Canada
After careful consideration and prayer during meetings in Toronto on May 5 and 6, the Joint Council of Mennonite Church Canada discerned with executive director Willard Metzger that it was the time to seek new leadership for the nationwide church. The Joint Council has appointed a search committee, chaired by Geraldine Balzer, to determine leadership…
Nepal church celebrates growth
In 2000, the Brethren in Christ (BIC) church board of Nepal sent Bhagan Chaunde to Surunga, Jhapa, Nepal, to plant churches. The passionate evangelist shared the gospel and planted a church. Starting with one new believer, Surunga Church has grown to 120 baptized members and has planted three daughter congregations with 40–50 baptized members each. …
New Centre for Resilience open for business at CMU
Faculty, students and staff celebrated the grand opening of the $1.7-million Centre for Resilience (CFR)—a co-working lab that will incubate and nurture social enterprises—on April 13, 2018. “We’re thankful for the opportunity to create a space designed to meet the needs of the 21st century,” said James Magnus-Johnston, director of the centre. “The CFR will…
AMBS and Grebel to offer sequential degree for pastoral formation
In North American Mennonite theological education, a regional focus is emerging, as students prefer to access seminary education closer to home. Uprooting families and finding employment for a spouse in another country have become increasingly difficult. To address this reality for students, and to serve the changing needs of the church, Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary…
Displaced Somalis receive school kits, comforters
Many Somali refugee families returning home after years in refugee camps lack basic items, like blankets and school supplies. In the summer of 2017, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) shipped 10,120 school kits and 2,930 comforters to Somalia, which were distributed by Lutheran World Federation (LWF), an MCC partner, at five schools in Kismayo, the capital…
Mennonites join in Kinder Morgan pipeline protest
Three Mennonites were among the faith leaders who blockaded the entrance to Westridge Marine Terminal in Burnaby, B.C. for several hours on April 20, protesting the planned expansion of the Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain pipeline system. Among them was Steve Heinrichs of Winnipeg, originally from Burnaby, who was arrested on criminal and civil charges for…
A tale of two hills outside Lalibela
Two hills, sitting side by side in a valley outside of Lalibela, Ethiopia, have a story to tell. One hill is brown, its vegetation stripped away by livestock and deforestation. Deep gullies are carved through the hillside, where the unprotected soil was washed away by the rain. Trees have disappeared, cut down for firewood. Look…
Supplying food to people displaced by violence
Agnès Ntumba remembers the day her husband and seven children fled the violence that took over their village in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. “I saw people being killed. They were coming to kill us, and we had to escape,” Ntumba said. About a year ago, her village of Tshilundu Ndibunu…
