Volume 14, Number 15
Listen to the ‘wild goose’
Plans are underway for a version of the family friendly Greenbelt Christian Arts Festival to come to North America in 2011 under the name “Wild Goose Festival.”
U2, Bruce Cockburn, the Emerging Church Movement and Mennonites share one thing in common: each has been present, active and influential at the Greenbelt Christian Arts Festival. Established in 1974, it presently draws more than 20,000 people each year to the Cheltenham Racecourse in western England.
Clothing gifts from one immigrant family to another
Bags of clothing from Vietnamese immigrants in Abbotsford have found their way to help clothe Karen refugees in Surrey, thanks to a cooperative effort between church groups.
The little church that can
Visitors to Riverton Fellowship Circle receive a mug “full of love.” Church leader Barb Daniels, centre, presents church mugs to translator Ed Toews, left, Brigido Loewen of Paraguay, Alina Itucama of Panama and translator Liz Drewnisz.
Riverton Fellowship Circle, a Mennonite Church Manitoba congregation since 2006, thinks it can.
When it comes to the church’s goals to be Christ-centred, welcoming to visitors and a place where everyone is treated equally, it has been successful for the past 14 years, despite many roadblocks.
South meets North
Alina Itucama, left, of the Wounaan tribe just outside of Panama City, Panama, was given a star blanket commemorating the relationship between Latin and North American aboriginal people groups. Also pictured are Neill and Edith von Gunten, MC Canada Native Ministry co-directors.
A year after members of Hollow Water First Nation in central Manitoba travelled to Paraguay for the Mennonite World Conference (MWC) assembly and a subsequent tour of indigenous colonies, two Latin American indigenous representatives came north for a similar visit.
Through the wall into Jesus’ world
Katie Penner of Vineland, Ont., stands among the art and graffiti found along the security wall between Israel and Palestine.
My first reaction to seeing the wall that separates Israel and Palestine was the enormity of it. This isn’t any little chain-link fence that marks a property line. It’s an enormous eight-metre-tall concrete wall that has a security tower every kilometre or so.
Usufruct and the church
Think much about use of fruit?
In January, Beryl Jantzi, a U.S. stewardship educator, told a gathering of pastors at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Ind., that they should spend some time pondering the concept of usufruct.
Love the one you’re with
On a Friday afternoon in summer, chances are good you’ll find me with a few friends outside an ice cream stand, soaking in the pleasures of summer. Probably I’ll be licking a cone—something with chocolate and peanut butter if I’m lucky. The conversation will be easy: trips we’re planning or returning from; books we’re reading; light chatter about work, family and church.
The church we were meant to be
Farewell messages never feel adequate, with so many more challenges to identify, concerns to articulate, gratitude to express, and hopes to inspire.
For discussion
1. How involved is your congregation with Mennonite Church Canada? How do you get information about what MC Canada is doing? What would strengthen the connection between MC Canada and your congregation?
‘Reclaim the Name’ assembly theme song
Klassen and Miller
When the Worship Committee for Assembly 2010 couldn’t find a song that captured the essence of the theme, “Reclaiming Jesus™: Gladly Wear the Name,” Chad Miller and Doug Klassen teamed up to write one, aptly titled “Reclaim the Name.”
Q: What inspired you to write this piece?
Quilting for art and prayer
Participants take a walking tour through Art for Peace, a collection of artistic quilts, at Assembly 2010.
For Bev Patkau, quilting is a labour of love, her fabric and thread a form of expression.
Financial trends: Healthy or worrisome?
Congregational giving is up, so why are donations to area and national church bodies falling?
Peace in public is breaking out all over
What started out as a small Saskatchewan church’s 2008 resolution to take acts of peace public has become a fairly widespread Canadian campaign with people all over the world getting on board.
Bible Q & A
Jack Suderman, retiring Mennonite Church Canada general secretary, addresses this year’s annual delegate assembly in Calgary, Alta.
After leading three study sessions on Colossians 3:15-17, the Bible theme text for Assembly 2010—Reclaiming Jesus: Gladly Wear the Name—retiring general secretary Robert J.
That new class of seniors
Doreen Martens
“One of the many things no one tells you about aging is that it is such a nice change from being young. Being young is beautiful, but being old is comfortable,” was one of the more endearing lines coming out of Assembly 2010 in Calgary, Alta.
