After 50 years in ministry I have discovered that there is a significant interplay between the divine and human when it comes to physical and emotional healing. All healing is a... Read More
Features
Ralph Lebold, left, and Jim Lapp at the Purdue ’87 Mennonite Church assembly.
September 14, 2011 | Feature | By Ralph Lebold
1. How are the songs and music chosen in your congregation? How much thought is given to the words when songs are chosen? Do you agree that we focus on the style of music more... Read More
August 31, 2011 | Feature |
With words on the big screens, thousands of Canadian and American youths join in spirited singing at the 2005 youth convention in Charlotte, N.C.
"Let me write the songs of a nation. I don’t care who writes its laws.” This statement attributed to 17th-century Scottish politician Andrew Fletcher about countries also applies... Read More
August 31, 2011 | Feature | By Christine Longhurst
César García, at the podium, greets the Sung-Chiang Mennonite congregation in Taipei, Taiwan, in May. To his right are outgoing MWC general secretary Larry Miller, and Joshua Chang, Sung-Chiang pastor and former MWC general council delegate. (Photo by Byron Rempel-Burkholder)
As one amateur Mennonite historian likes to point out, the only real Mennonite name is Menno Simons. From there on down through history, the rest of the family names are just “add... Read More
August 17, 2011 | Feature | By Kathy Heinrichs Wiest
At the last worship service of Mennonite Church Canada Assembly on July 8, Nelson Kraybill reminded the congregation that some of the aboriginal people in southern Ontario moved... Read More
July 27, 2011 | Feature | By Dave Rogalsky
Encounters along the Grand by Judy Gascho-Jutzi hung in the assembly worship space.
A fibre art depiction of the interaction between early Mennonite settlers and Aboriginal people in the Grand River valley was on display at the Mennonite Church Canada assembly... Read More
July 27, 2011 | Feature | By Barb Draper
Willard Metzger, MC Canada General Secretary, takes part in Friday night’s worship, at MC Canada’s Annual Church Gathering in Waterloo, July 8.
“We are the church!” cheered Willard Metzger , general secretary of Mennonite Church Canada, inviting progressively younger age groups to join with him in an ever-louder cheer. “... Read More
July 27, 2011 | Feature | By Dave Rogalsky
Loren Johns
Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, together with Tyndale House Publishers, have unleashed a behemoth industry on the world, Christian and otherwise. The original twelve volumes of... Read More
July 27, 2011 | Feature | By Dave Rogalsky
1. Does your church have ways to connect personally with the individuals it helps? How important is this personal contact? Have you ever experienced awkward moments while... Read More
July 5, 2011 | Feature |
My parents packed me, my sister and a Christmas hamper into the car. We were headed to an address provided by the local Cheer Board. The plan was for us to all go in for a short... Read More
July 5, 2011 | Feature | By Will Braun
1. Have you ever attended a worship service where you didn’t understand the language? What was your emotional response? For how many months or years would you be willing to... Read More
June 22, 2011 | Feature |
Quan
In the late 1950s and early ’60s, the Conference of Mennonites in Canada saw the inauguration of English-only churches across the country. These were often difficult transitions,... Read More
June 22, 2011 | Feature | By Dave Rogalsky
Faith Mennonite Church, Leamington, Ont., grew out of a painful split from Leamington United Mennonite Church in the late 1950s over whether to continue holding services in German or switch to English. (Photo courtesy of Mennonite Archives of Ontario, The Canadian Mennonite Collection)
Faith Mennonite Church, Leamington, Ont., is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, but its memories are tinged with sorrow as the new congregation grew out of a painful... Read More
June 22, 2011 | Feature | By Barb Draper
1. What has been your congregation’s experience with divorce? Does the church respond differently to divorce than it did in the 1970s? Has divorce lost its stigma? Are those who... Read More
June 8, 2011 | Feature |
Becoming a National Church by Adolf Ens. CMU Press, Winnipeg, Man., 2004. Between Two Worlds: The Inner Lives of Children of Divorce by Elizabeth Marquardt. Three Rivers Press,... Read More
June 8, 2011 | Feature |
When a couple divorces, lawyers help decide how jointly held possessions are divided. There are many things, however, such as church attendance, that the couple are left to... Read More
June 8, 2011 | Feature | By Donita Wiebe-Neufeld
1. What percentage of the adults in your congregation attended a church school at some level? Do you agree that fewer young people are choosing Mennonite schools today? What is... Read More
May 25, 2011 | Feature |
Thirty years ago, Anna (a pseudonym) took her first tentative steps through the doors of Rockway Mennonite Collegiate in Kitchener, Ont., and entered a very different world than... Read More
May 25, 2011 | Feature | By Karin Fehderau
1. What emotional responses have you experienced in the presence of creative art? Is something creative always good? When should art be evaluated? Does censorship abuse creativity... Read More
May 11, 2011 | Feature |
Like many pastors, Donita Wiebe-Neufeld, who co-pastors First Mennonite Church in Edmonton with her husband Tim, enjoys creating space for creative gifts to flourish. “It’s... Read More
May 11, 2011 | Feature |
The success of In the Spirit of Humanity, a series of art workshops encouraging acceptance of others across cultures and faith groups, prompted Mennonite Church Canada’s Mennonite... Read More
May 11, 2011 | Feature |
Sashira Gafic: Day 1. Acrylic on Canvas. This is the first of a series of seven pieces inspired by Genesis 1:1-5.
While some creative arts like prose and hymnody have been accepted as natural forms of expression and worship in Mennonite churches, visual arts are often viewed with less... Read More
May 11, 2011 | Feature | By Deborah Froese
Huebner: "Not helpful to understand the situation in terms of 'good guys and bad guys.'"
On the surface, the story is simple and satisfying: The good guys got bin Laden. Justice has been done. The fight against the forces of evil will continue. This is the underlying... Read More
May 4, 2011 | Feature | Will Braun
Ross T. Bender
Ross T. Bender, dean emeritus of Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, died late Thursday, April 21, in Goshen, Ind. In his 81 years of life, he devoted himself to service and... Read More
April 27, 2011 | Feature | Mary Klassen