Beauty from loss
It is indescribable, the feeling of losing a loved one, especially when that person is lost as the result of a murder. Cliff, Wilma and Odia Derksen have experienced this firsthand, having lost Candace, their daughter and sister, in 1985, when she was grabbed off the street, bound and left to freeze in an industrial…
Making room for faith in the corporate world
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (II Timothy 2:15). These are words that Barry Rempel’s grandfather instilled in him as a child and words that he carries with him in his job as…
With one heart: A prayer
Almighty God, we pray today for all people of the Middle East, who face a time of change and uncertainty. With one mouth and one heart, together with our brothers and sisters there, we pray that God would console those who have lost loved ones. We pray for strength for the church in the Middle…
Humanitarian crisis looming in the Middle East
Alarmed by the continuing violence in Syria, and consistent reports that unrest is likely to escalate and spread to neighbouring countries in the coming months, Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) has begun preparing for a humanitarian crisis in the region. About 20,000 Syrians have already fled to Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, and the flow of people…
Building a lasting peace
The greatest threat to world peace today is the Kalashnikov AK-47 rifle, Samantha Nutt told an engaged audience who had come out on Feb. 27 to celebrate 35 years of Project Ploughshares’ work at building lasting peace. But the co-founder of War Child, an international agency assisting war-affected children and women, had high praise for…
Prairie church looks to further relations with aboriginal neighbours
For the 200 or so delegates who crowded into the Shekinah Retreat Centre for the Mennonite Church Saskatchewan annual delegate sessions at the end of February, it was a time of looking beyond borders. Although the theme for the weekend was centred on connections with God and aboriginal issues, delegates also voted to move forward…
Looking back, looking forward
Celebrating 75 years together as a church in British Columbia, Mennonite Church B.C. came together to celebrate God’s presence with the theme, “Yesterday, today, forever,” on March 3 at its annual general meeting. This year’s business sessions, held at Emmanuel Mennonite Church, Abbotsford, were reduced to one afternoon, rather than the usual whole day, due…
Being a Faithful Church process avoids sexuality issue
While the conversation and participation were good at Sargent Avenue Mennonite Church on a Saturday morning to discuss the Being a Faithful Church (BFC) document, Pastor Marla Langelotz told a Mennonite Church Manitoba leadership seminar on Feb. 24 that she was frustrated that participants didn’t engage the sexuality issue. She had hoped that the process…
Seeking to be a ‘faithful church’
“Church life as we know it is changing,” Willard Metzger, executive director of Mennonite Church Canada, told delegates at the annual MC Manitoba meetings in Winnipeg last month. “Indicators suggest that the structures that served us so well in the past can no longer be sustained.” Metzger provided a post-Christendom context for the 130 delegates…
