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
Features
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
1. How are conflicts in the faith community different from those in other organizations? Do you think such conflicts show a lack of a caring community? What is the most important... Read More
April 27, 2011 | Feature |
While the church may try to keep conflicts from becoming ‘messy and public,’ that doesn’t mean they aren’t messy and private.
Pastor Epp (a pseudonym), finding himself in conflict with his church board, became increasingly depressed. Sharing his emotional ill health with the board, they arrived at a... Read More
April 27, 2011 | Feature | By Rachel Bergen
1. What aid agencies do the people of your congregation support? Do Mennonites in Canada see Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) as primary or just one of many agencies? How strong... Read More
April 13, 2011 | Feature |
I grew up with the admonition, “self-praise stinks,” a phrase best expressed in the Pennsylvania-German dialect. During my years as executive secretary of Mennonite Central... Read More
April 13, 2011 | Feature | By John A. Lapp
Canadian Mennonite has dedicated significant analysis to the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Wineskins process (Dick Benner’s Nov. 29, 2010 editorial, “ Congregations, too, want... Read More
April 13, 2011 | Feature | By Robert J. Suderman
Keynote speaker Sue Johnson: “We are designed to live in community and in close relationships.”
“We have cracked the code of love,” announced Sue Johnson, EdD, author of Hold Me Tight to 1,200 people attending “Conversations on Attachment – Integrating the Science of Love... Read More
April 12, 2011 | Feature | by Bonnie Price Lofton
Hilda Epp, holds a blanket symbolizing the exposure to new diseases (small pox, tuberculosis, measles) that arrived with the European settlers on Turtle Island—an aboriginal term for North America—as Diane Tiessen looks on. On the far left is Denise Bartel and on the far right is Eve Klassen. (Photo by Dick Benner)
Early relationships between European settlers and aboriginals were characterized by cooperation and interdependence, John Bartel , a farmer from Drake, Sask., and a member of... Read More
April 7, 2011 | Feature | Dick Benner, editor/publisher
One of the issues is the cutting of $7 million in renewed CIDA funding to Kairos of which Mennonite Central Committee is a member
It’s election time in Canada once again. You might be wondering if this election really matters, or if your vote can really make a difference. That’s why it is timely to draw... Read More
April 6, 2011 | Feature | Dan Dyck