Volume 27, Number 9
Dispatches from the front lines
Ross W. Muir, with camera bag in tow, among a Grade 1 class at the Unyama IDP Camp in northern Uganda, 2004. (Photo by Michael Oruni)
Students look out from holes in the bamboo walls of their school at the Unyama Internally Displaced Persons Camp in northern Uganda, in 2004. (Photo by Ross W. Muir)
Members of the Meetinghouse editors and publishers group pose for a photo at Morrow Gospel Church, Winnipeg, during their 2009 meeting. Pictured from left to right, back row: Wally Kroeker, MEDA Marketplace; Ross W. Muir, Canadian Mennonite; Dora Dueck, MB Herald interim; and Terry Smith, The Messenger; and front row: Paul Schrag, Mennonite Weekly Review, at the time; Gordon Houser, The Mennonite; Rebecca Roman, The Messenger; Lil Goertzen, The Recorder; and Karla Braun, MB Herald, at the time. (Meetinghouse photo)
On his second birthday, Ross points to a typo in the local newspaper, and his future career path is set in stone. (Photo by Eunice Muir)
I’m basing the form of this final missive on the last book I read, Dispatches—a harrowing and sometimes hilarious memoir by Michael Herr, who covered the insanity of the Vietnam War for Esquire magazine during two years in the late 1960s. (How insane is it that Esquire thought it needed a war correspondent in the first place?)
MC Alberta hosts first ever Taste of MCA event
Reuben Tut, left, Manas Ngongjock, Shim Beack, Joon Park, Tim Wiebe-Neufeld, Tracy Brown Ewert and Zander Ewert share smiles and stories around the table. (Photo by Jan Wilhelm)
A Taste of MCA event drew people from ages 1 to 100, including young Sarah Sin and her mom, Lal Pui. (Photo by Jan Wilhelm)
A large crowd packs out the Bergthaler Mennonite Church near Didsbury. (Photo by Tim Wiebe-Neufeld)
A chin choir performs at the event. (Photo by Tim Wiebe-Neufeld)
There was no shortage of delicious cuisine served up at A Taste of MCA. (Photo by Tim Wiebe-Neufeld)
Italians Lahna, Walter, and Emily Giugovaz sit beside South Sudanese Reuben Tut and Manas Ngongjock. (Photo by Jan Wilhelm)
When most people think of Mennonite cuisine, they think of perogies and farmer sausage, or perhaps fresh rollkuchen dipped in Rogers Golden Syrup.
Yet at A Taste of MCA, a Mennonite Church Alberta event at Bergthaler Mennonite Church near Didsbury, on April 12, the menu featured dishes like chicken biryani, chicken kabobs and roti, injera and spicy lamb, corn soup and sticky rice.
In-house acknowledgment
A selection of covers designed by Ross W. Muir, managing editor of Canadian Mennonite from 2005-2023, that feature his own photography. (Collage designed by Betty Avery)
With this issue of Canadian Mennonite, Ross W. Muir completes his time with the magazine. As managing editor for almost 18 years, he has undertaken a central piece of the work required to put the magazine together every two weeks.
Online church in 2023
(istock photo by doidam10)
From households clustered around computer screens to sanctuaries filled with people, church services have taken a variety of forms since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic more than three years ago.
Kelowna church sells property and moves
Kelowna First Mennonite Church, built in 1989, sold its property to an MB church, and now worships next door in the theatre room at the Northwood Retirement Resort. (Northwood Retirement Resort photo)
Members of Kelowna First Mennonite Church are selling their church building, but that doesn’t mean they are closing their doors. As of May, the small congregation is meeting in a nearby seniors residence.
Two congregations withdraw from MC Manitoba
Carmen (Man.) Mennonite Church (MC Canada facebook photo)
Springfield Heights Mennonite Church, Winnipeg (Gameo photo by Bert Friesen)
In the same year that two congregations joined Mennonite Church Manitoba, adding new member churches for the first time in a decade, two congregations have also withdrawn from the regional church.
U2’s Mennonite string section
The Joshua Tree made U2 superstars. The band—Larry Mullen, Jr., Adam Clayton, Bono and The Edge—is pictured here in 2017. (Photo by Olaf Heine)
The Armin String Quartet, pictured circa 1960. From left to right: Adele, Paul, Otto and Richard. (The Canadian Mennonite photo collection / Mennonite Archives of Ontario)
U2 performs at Soldier Field in Chicago, Ill., in June 2017 as part of a tour commemorating The Joshua Tree’s 30th anniversary. (Photo by Aaron Epp)
There was nothing unusual about it when Richard, Paul and Adele Armin walked into the recording studio on New Year’s Eve in 1986. It was just another job, really.
CPT receives International Peace Award
CPT's award depicts two hands, the smaller hand cradled by the larger, and both cradling a globe. (Supplied photo)
Community Peacemaker Teams (CPT) was awarded the International Peace Award by the Community of Christ Church and the Shaw Family Foundation on April 22 during the church’s international conference.
Ottawa group uses unique fundraising method
Linda Redekop, left, and Maria Rigby have been part of Ottawa Mennonite Church's refugee resettlement work since its start. (Photo by Carla Klassen)
For more than 20 years, a refugee support group at Ottawa Mennonite Church has used an unusual fundraising method that has allowed it to provide hundreds of thousands of dollars in rent subsidy to newcomers. The rising cost of living has made this support all the more important.
Readers write: May 5, 2023 issue
(Graphic by Betty Avery)
Reader finds assurance in the Holy Spirit’s presence
Troy Watson has exposed us to the topic of the Holy Spirit among us as believers, in his April 7 column, “Many Christians do not believe in the Holy Spirit.”
‘Camp shapes people’
(Photo courtesy of Facebook.com/campswithmeanin)
I am looking ahead to my last summer as associate program director of Mennonite Church Manitoba’s Camps with Meaning (CwM) program; my last summer spent travelling to and from Assiniboia and Koinonia; my last summer training and supporting an amazing group of young adults; and my last summer watching staff, volunteers and campers make connections and have ridiculous fun.
Pauingassi Trading Post
(Photo: Conference of Mennonites in Canada / Native Ministries Collection)
This picture is of the Pauingassi Trading Post, located 276 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg and 16 km from the Manitoba and Ontario border.
Talking more about power
(Photo by JESHOOTS.COM/Unsplash)
It was Easter Sunday, and after the sun came up over the horizon during our congregational sunrise service, we all tramped inside to share an amazing potluck breakfast spread. My husband Keith landed at a men’s table, and I watched with interest as they became very animated in their discussion.
Darkness and light in worship
(Photo by Carolina Pimenta/Unsplash)
When Sarah Kathleen Johnson was an undergraduate student at Conrad Grebel University College in Waterloo, Ont., she wrote a hymn text based on Psalm 139. More than a decade later, Len Enns, her former choir director at Grebel and a prominent Mennonite composer, would set the text to music, and the pairing would become Voices Together No. 200: “Darkness is not Dark to You, God.”
Extending grace instead of labelling enemies
(Photo by Jackson David/Unsplash)
According to a recent Wall Street Journal-Norc poll, the smallest percentage of Americans (12 percent) said they were “very happy” since 1972. These “very happy” people share a number of common traits. They are more likely to value community, personal relationships and marriage, above things like careers and money.
Revisiting intentionality
(Photo by Brett Jordan/Unsplash)
Once upon a time, there was a belief in the Canadian Mennonite church that if it welcomed new people of colour, immigrants and refugees, these newcomers would eventually join and integrate into the church. This was an illusion.
