When recalling a significant Christmas memory, Claire Ewert Fisher goes back some 30 years. The executive director of Mennonite Central Committee ( MCC ) Saskatchewan, Fisher and... Read More
Features
Hinke Loewen-Rudgers, second from left, poses with the Arab Christian family that took her in as their daughter. From left to right: Rajaa, Andera and Eman.
“I felt a very intense homesickness and wanted to go home [to Manitoba] for Christmas. Christmas is a very important holiday to me.” It was Christmas 2010 and Hinke Loewen-Rudgers... Read More
November 23, 2011 | Feature | By Evelyn Rempel Petkau
'We began reading it out loud to each other in 1981, and have done so every year since, finding more gems to think about each time.' (Photo by Aaron Epp)
Thirty years ago this Christmas, my wife Annemarie and I began a Christmas tradition we’ve continued year after year, with variations. Our first child was in utero the first time... Read More
November 23, 2011 | Feature | By Dave Rogalsky
1. Why might the idea of learning from other faiths make us uncomfortable or fearful? What are the risks and benefits of honest dialogue with other faiths? What are the faith... Read More
November 9, 2011 | Feature |
A group of Muslim men gather for prayer at a mosque in Israel/Palestine. Palmer Becker wonders if Mennonites, through their example and witness, might eventually help both male and female Muslim believers to pray and worship side by side.
In our increasingly multicultural and multi-faith society, can we learn from belief systems other than our own? I believe so, and offer what I have learned from two faiths—... Read More
November 9, 2011 | Feature | By Palmer Becker
Naomi Unger, standing, leads a small group discussion on the BFC 3 process at this summer’s MC Canada assembly in Waterloo, Ont.
Delegates to the 2011 Mennonite Church Canada assembly responded to the Being a Faithful Church (BFC) 3 process with more than 750 recorded comments being turned in from the 800... Read More
October 26, 2011 | Feature | Story and Photo by Dan Dyck
After more than two decades of being married, birthing and adopting children, and annually teaching two college sexuality courses, I have come to the not-terribly-startling... Read More
October 26, 2011 | Feature | By Keith Graber Miller
Andrew Suderman, right, preaches at Harvest Time Ministries, a church located in Mthatha, Eastern Cape, South Africa, with Pastor Ntapo handling translation duties. (Photo courtesy of Andrew Suderman)
One thing that I find so inspiring in South Africa is the countless people who participate in miraculous activities as they strive to make their communities better. In working for... Read More
October 12, 2011 | Feature | Andrew Suderman
1. Professional hockey is known for fighting and violence. Should this deter Mennonites from being avid hockey fans? Is hard hitting and fighting an essential part of the game? Is... Read More
September 28, 2011 | Feature |
It is nothing new to say that Winnipeg and southern Manitoba boasts an abnormally high concentration of Mennonites, although I suppose the Mennonites don’t boast. And given our... Read More
September 28, 2011 | Feature | By David Driedger
Canadian hockey fans have a reason to celebrate. Fifteen years after the last NHL game was played in Winnipeg, Man., the league is coming back to the city. With other teams having... Read More
September 28, 2011 | Feature | By Dan Swartzentruber
1. Ralph Lebold says that “the congregation is the central reality for gathered Christians.” Do you agree? What are some ways that people from your congregation engage... Read More
September 14, 2011 | Feature |
Ralph Lebold, left, and Jim Lapp at the Purdue ’87 Mennonite Church assembly.
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
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