‘With sadness and lament’
In order to manage as yearly donations are decreasing, Mennonite Church Canada announced publicly on April 12 that, regrettably, it must reduce expenditures by terminating or altering positions and programs. The announcement comes a month after MC Canada councils met to identify the core responsibilities of the national church, those that are integral to its…
The light that we have
Most regular readers of Canadian Mennonite now know that Mennonite Church Canada is adopting a smaller structure to reduce ministry expenditures by a half-million dollars. The question of “why” persists. While it is tempting to find and blame a single scapegoat, reality is less straightforward. In a recent MC Canada news release, general secretary Willard…
The truth about marriage
I’ve imagined a column with this title for some time. While it sounds more than a little presumptuous, it is a topic to which I’ve given a great deal of thought. For starters, as a counsellor and pastor, I have been invited into deep conversations with many individuals and couples about their marriages. I’m also…
Missing the mark
As parents, many of us go to great lengths to ensure that our children and youths get the best of everything. We sign them up for hockey camps, music and snowboarding lessons, swim teams, tutors and after-school clubs, all in an effort to guarantee their success. But many of us don’t teach our children biblical…
Readers write
Call on whatever God you worship for comfort when grieving I was interested in “A heart for grieving people,” March 7, page 22, which featured Hank Friesen in his role as an assistant funeral director in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley. For 45 years I have had the privilege to be a licensed funeral director in…
For discussion
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 thing we can do to reduce such conflicts? 2. Do you think employees of Mennonite churches or institutions have higher expectations of their employers…
‘The ministry of war’
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 compromise about the number of times he should preach. Or so he thought. Agreeing that there were enough good speakers to cover for him, he rested gratefully in…
