Volume 16, Number 7
A great year for spiritual films
My four favourite films of 2011 all had Christian themes, something that has certainly never happened before. Two of them—Of Gods and Men and The Way—were reviewed in Canadian Mennonite last year.
Reading Mennonite novels as works of art
Paul Tiessen , English and film studies prof at Wilfrid Laurier University.
Although sailing troubled waters over the past 50 years, Mennonite novelists have taught Mennonite readers how to approach their texts with boldness and humility as “we learn more about ourselves through their works of art,” Paul Tiessen said last month in wrapping up a nine-week series of lectures by Mennonite writers at Conrad Grebel University College.
African goat project demonstrates group power
Toyia Sekento, six, holds a goat that her family is raising. Her family received the goat because her father is part of a self-help group in Kenya that is supported by Mennonite Central Committee. The goats are an incentive for the formation of 60 self-help groups among the Maasai people that each work together to do community projects.
A goat project among Kenya’s Maasai people is giving birth to more than baby goats. It is powering to life a cooperative group ethic that is helping 2,000 Maasai families cope with cultural change and ecological challenges.
What aid work looks like in Africa
Two Ethiopian men work on a river-diversion project that uses a gravity-fed system to irrigate their crops and that permits more than one growing season per year.
The invitation arrived last September: “Would you like to accompany the Canadian Foodgrains Bank on a media study tour of Ethiopia?”
Greening Africa
By participating in the award-winning program run by the Migibare Senay Children and Family Support Organization, a Mennonite Central Committee partner in Ethiopia, Tiruneh Mitiku has doubled the income he can make off his farm in the country’s Amhara region.
By participating in an environmental award-winning program run by the Migibare Senay Children and Family Support Organization, a Mennonite Central Committee partner in Ethiopia, Tiruneh Mitiku has doubled the income he can make off his farm in the country’s Amhara region.
At a February ceremony in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Migibare Senay Children and Family Support Organization received a first place “green award” from President Girma Wolde-Giorgis.
The trouble with normal
“You can’t be serious. Pork! Pork is what you eat for breakfast, not fish, not lobster and definitely not sushi! What is this world coming to? Fish for breakfast? This is an outrage! Bacon, ham, sausage, eggs: these are proper breakfast foods. Everybody knows this!”
Have a blessed, refreshed summer
We are nearing the end of another Canadian winter and looking forward to a change of seasons. Some of you may already be making plans for your summer vacation. Some may have plans for renovation projects, while others are planning time to relax by the lake or in the backyard.
Paying tribute
When my dad died, I worked with family members to prepare a eulogy. I gave the first draft to my husband, and asked for feedback.
Dust off your Bibles!
Over the years, the Faith and Life Committee of Mennonite Church Canada has often heard questions about the place of Scripture in our lives:
Readers write
‘Regular guys’ who went off to war
Still in need of a village square
Graeme Stemp-Morlock
This is the time of year when Canadian Mennonite’s 12 board members gather for their annual meeting to look backward and forward to see how the national publication has met the needs of its readers, has ongoing financial viability and is meeting the challenges of a New Media age.
