Discovering the kingdom at summer camp
Swimming, archery, horseback riding and campfires are typical summer camp experiences. While children and teens enjoy these activities each year at Youth Farm Bible Camp near Rosthern, so do about 250 adults with intellectual disabilities. Youth Farm has offered camps for adults with special needs since the 1970s. Back then, the Mennonite Youth Farm, where…
Stories and images of Assembly 2014
From July 3 to 6, 2014, Mennonite Church Canada held its biennial assembly, in Winnipeg, Man. Focusing on the theme, “Wild Hope: faith for an unknown season,” the church delegates and their families, church-wide staff and volunteers, along with international guests, worshipped together, discussed issues, participated in seminars, and connected with friends and acquaintances. Coverage…
It’s the images that linger
Words, words, words—millions of them filled the Loewen Auditorium during the four days of Assembly at Canadian Mennonite University, Winnipeg, earlier this month. Conversations, greetings, drama, spirited singing and good humour made this another inspirational gathering for delegates to the biennial event of Mennonite Church Canada. But what lingers are the images, those symbols that…
‘Finding faith for an unknown season’
A tornado warning was issued for southern Winnipeg just as Willard Metzger, Mennonite Church Canada’s executive director, was giving the final announcements at Assembly 2014 on July 5. Should delegates proceed to their seminars or should they stay in the Loewen Athletic Centre on the campus of Canadian Mennonite University (CMU), where the assembly was…
Sexuality has ‘the potential of taking us into fragmentation’
With the future of the church and issues of sexuality being prominent issues up for discussion at Assembly 2014, Karl Koop, a Canadian Mennonite University professor, asked César García, Mennonite World Conference’s general secretary who spoke about the global Anabaptist mosaic, how these topics could affect the global church. While García said he recognizes that…
For discussion:‘Finding faith for an unknown season’
1. As Mennonite Church Canada ponders the future, it recognizes that the church is changing. What changes have been happening in your congregation? What fears do you have about the future of your congregation and the denomination? Is maintaining the status quo an option? 2. David Driedger says that claiming to have the final revelation…
The changing face of congregations
In the face of an uncertain future, trepidation of shrinking budgets and programs, tired and fewer volunteers, and changing realities, encouraging stories were shared over two days of Assembly 2014 of vibrant Mennonite churches that are responding in creative and varied ways. In the small Manitoba town of Pinawa, which was created by the government…
Biblical visions of ‘wild hope’
Where in the Bible can Christians turn to for “wild hope” if they are to have faith in an unknown season? That was the question Dan Epp-Tiessen, associate professor of Bible at Canadian Mennonite University in Winnipeg, addressed during the seminar he led at Assembly 2014 on July 4. In the seminar, entitled “Wild hope:…
Deconstructing Muslim myths
The biggest obstacle to working with people of other faiths is to deconstruct all the stereotypes and myths that the media have created and perpetrated, especially about Islam, Donna Entz told her packed “Experiencing hope with people of other faiths” workshop. After 20 years of living in a Muslim village in Burkina Faso, she established…
‘There is abundance’
What might a flashlight symbolize about how you were brought up to believe about generosity? That was one of the questions faced by participants during a weekend seminar at Assembly 2014 that aimed to get young adults thinking about the way they use their money. Arnie Friesen and Dori Zerbe Cornelsen, stewardship consultants for Mennonite…
