Congolese Soccer and Song
When a Belgian school inspector needed to recruit singers for the 1958 World’s Fair in Brussels, he entrusted the task to two missionary women, one of whom was Lodema Short. Short served from 1947-1981with Congo Inland Mission, now Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission (AIMM). Her musical abilities, her organizational skills and her relationships with hundreds of students…
Congolese Mennonites celebrate 100 years of God’s faithfulness
Fifty-some young musicians walked nearly 100 miles carrying their drums, luggage and a few babies to attend the centennial celebration of Communauté Mennonite au Congo—CMCO (Mennonite Community in Congo), July 16-22. For a week, the choir members from Djoko Punda, one of the first Mennonite mission stations in this central African country, travelled along rugged…
Rejoice with the Congolese
It is much too easy in these days of self-examination as Anabaptist Christians in the 21st century to punish ourselves for colossal blunders when “spreading the gospel” here and around the world in the last century. Such could be the case as we celebrate, with what is the Africa Inter-Mennonite Mission and its predecessors, 100…
Young couple to lead church plant in Germany
Jennifer Otto and Gregory Rabus, from Ontario and Connecticut respectively, have accepted an invitation to lead an urban church plant in southern Germany in partnership with the Verband deutscher Mennonitengemeinden (VdM) and the Deutsches Mennonitisches Missionskomitee (DMMK). While Otto and Rabus complete advanced studies in Tübingen, Germany, they have been developing relationships with partner congregations,…
Sharing what they have gained
The way Ken Bechtel, Wanner Mennonite Church historian, puts it, the “175” in this year’s celebration refers only to the construction of the first dedicated church building. The congregation had been meeting since around 1800, as several Bechtel families settled in the area, having left the United States, where they did not trust the revolutionaries’…
God is not in the violence
Is the New Testament inherently violent? What does Jesus’ brutal death on the cross mean to persons holding a more passive view of non-resistance? How does one seriously read the text and make sense of Jesus’ teaching of non-violence and his behaviour with the money-changers in the Temple, for instance? These are the tough questions,…
Recognizing God at work
After 12 years as Mennonite Church Eastern Canada’s conference minister, Muriel Bechtel will be moving into retirement this summer. On June 24 she also celebrated 20 years since her ordination, when she was pastor of Warden Woods Mennonite Church, Toronto. As she looks back on her years of ministry in a variety of celebrations in…
MCC material aid reaches Syrian refugees in Jordan
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) continues to address needs of refugees fleeing from increasing violence in Syria. Caritas Jordan, an MCC partner, is distributing comforters, relief kits, school kits and hygiene kits in five governorates, similar to provinces or states. In the Mafraq governorate, milk powder and diapers also are distributed. Those fleeing became refugees because…
Portage Mennonite Church closes
For over 35 years “the little church that could” nurtured faith, built community, and sent many of its members out into the wider world to work in with MCC, Canadian Foodgrains Bank or Mennonite Church Canada programs. It was a place for those Christians who moved into the city of Portage la Prairie to grow…
